The 1828 presidential election, pitting the incumbent John Quincy Adams against Andrew Jackson, was one of the nastiest in American history. Jacksonian newspapers such as the Richmond Enquirer, the Argus of Western America, and the New York Enquirer not only reminded voters that Adams had stolen the presidency by making the alleged "corrupt bargain" with Henry Clay but also accused him of being a monarchist and a spendthrift who had used public funds to purchase a billiard table. He was even accused of prostituting a young American girl to the Russian czar when he was the United States minister to Saint Petersburg. Rumors circulated that Adams's wife was illegitimate and that the couple had engaged in premarital sex. Jackson, noting, "I never war against females," made sure that the charges against Louisa Adams were not repeated, but the damage was done...