Historical Elections I’ll Be Thinking About On Election Day 2024

While you stew in anxiety, why not read about six elections with parallels to today's contest?

Grover Cleveland’s Nonconsecutive Terms

Cleveland's two nonconsecutive terms are an inconvenience for historians, but they also tell us a lot about the Democratic Party of the Gilded Age.

Why do you ask?

President John Quincy Adams faced an angry Democratic Party ready for a rematch. Was there anything he could have done to stop them?

To Jackson supporters, this election represented everything that was wrong with the corrupt government. Could there have been another outcome?

The Era of Good Feelings masked deep divisions in the US. Could this have been the Union's breaking point?

The War of 1812 had produced mixed results. If a few more things went the wrong way, it could threaten the stability of the Union!

The War of 1812 was inevitable. But was James Madison the right person to lead to country as tensions rose?

Jefferson's second term threatened the stability of his party and set up the War of 1812. Could things have gone differently?

In our world, Jefferson's party dominated for over two decades. But we came very close to a totally different reality!