Political parties. For better or worse, they are a major component of American politics, to the point where it is hard to imagine an America without the Democratic and Republican parties. Well, believe it or not, Democrats and Republicans are not as old as the United States itself. In fact, the Founding Fathers weren’t even sure if they wanted to allow for political parties. It was one of the many topics debated by the Continental Congress at the Philadelphia Congress. Interestingly, George Washington himself (cough cough) warned against letting “factions” divide the nation in his farewell address from office.

Despite Washington’s warnings, political parties began to form in America almost immediately. However, the birth of the parties that we know so well today didn’t occur until several decades after the constitution was ratified. Unsurprisingly, the formation of both parties wasn’t what I would call pleasant. It all started with one of the ugliest, most petty, and just downright wild elections in American history: the election of 1828.

The death of the Federalist Party, which was one of the original American political parties, ushered in what historians like to call The Era of Good Feelings, even though there weren’t actually that many “good feelings” during this period. The Era of Good Feelings is used to refer to the only time in American history where there was only one dominant political party, and Americans were feeling big in their britches after beating the British for the second time following the War of 1812. That almighty party was the Democratic-Republican party.

Unfortunately, just because there was only one dominant party during this period, that did not mean everyone agreed with one another and were all buddy-buddy.

Contention began with our involvement in the War of 1812. Even though we technically did win the War of 1812, it was through the skin of our teeth. And to make matters worse, America suffered a lot of humiliating defeats at the hands of the British during the war. After the war, the Democratic-Republican party became weakened by the differing opinions on how best to ensure we wouldn’t get our butt whooped like that again.

The “young” faction, who were in favor of building a strong national defense, included prominent politicians like Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, and John C. Calhoun. The “old” faction staunchly opposed beefing up the military because they feared it would give too much power to the federal government. So, things were a bit awkward when, in the election of 1824, all the candidates, despite having drastically different political opinions, were running on the same ballot.

The final two candidates of the election came down to John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Adams was the Massachusetts-born son of America’s second president, John Adams, and was practically born into politics. Andrew Jackson, on the other hand, was a Tennessee frontiersman who had somehow worked his way up from being a poor settler to a general during the War of 1812.

Many people heralded Jackson as a war hero for his resounding defeat of British troops at the Battle of New Orleans. The gag is that the battle actually took place after the official end of the war. Back then, it could take weeks before word reached the troops on ye ole horseback; this time, the news was coming all the way from treaty negotiations in the Netherlands. Unaware that the war was actually over, Jackson led the attack against New Orleans. It was only after word of Jackson’s victory rippled through the country that word officially came in from the Netherlands that the Treaty of Ghent ended the war.

Many Americans assumed Jackson’s victory was the cause for the end of the war and he became a national hero overnight for winning a war that was already over. The irony of it all is just so sweet.

Later on, the wave of popularity from the War of 1812 won him the governorship of Tennessee and his place on the 1824 ballot. When all the votes were tallied up, Jackson had won the most electoral and popular votes yet failed to win the majority. So, the final decision went to the House of Representatives. Henry Clay, who had gotten fourth place in the election and who thought Jackson was a lunatic (which wasn’t an unfair assumption), threw his support behind Adams, allowing him to win the presidency.

A few short weeks later, Adams named Henry Clay his Secretary of State, which had historically been viewed as a one-way ticket to the presidency. Well, safe to say, Jackson and his supporters were furious and accused Adams and Clay of making a “corrupt bargain” to boot Jackson out office. The thing that is integral to this story is that Andrew Jackson was one intense, ballsy SOB. As early as on his way back to Tennessee from D.C. after the election, Jackson began crafting his comeback.

Am I being dramatic? Only a little bit. This dude was not here to play games.

By the time the election of 1828 rolled around, there was no doubt that it would become a showdown between Adams and Jackson. In disgust with the events of the previous election, Jackson had left the Democratic-Republican party, and his supporters, who were mostly the “old faction” mentioned before, formed around him, creating the Democratic party. In response, Adams ran under the new National Republican party for the “young faction,” effectively putting an end to the Democratic-Republicans.

This election is considered the birth of political campaigns in America. Previously, the elite politicians of each party would meet and elect who they thought would be the best choice for president, and the public did not get a huge amount of say in how that happened. However, the election of 1828 was revolutionary in that instead of Jackson campaigning to those elites, he campaigned to the people. His supporters presented him as a self-made man, a common man, and a “man of the people” who fought bravely for our country. He traveled around the country, and wherever he stopped, large festival-like gatherings would take place.

Until this point, there wasn’t an official mascot or symbol associated with political parties. If posters or newspapers used any, it would be something patriotic, like a bald eagle or the American flag. However, Jackson decided to give the middle finger to his opponents who had begun referring to him as “jack-ass” and made the donkey his new party’s mascot.

That’s right, folks. The democratic donkey mascot was created out of sheer pettiness.

Funny enough, it actually turned out to be a brilliant political move for Jackson. His demographic support came largely from rural farmers and small-town people with whom the donkey was vital to their livelihood. While Jackson’s elitist opponents scoffed, “common man” Jackson won the support of common men all across the country.

Adams and his supporters continued to sneer at the newly formed Democratic party. In true campaign style, the rivalry between Adams and Jackson was extremely public. Both candidates and their party attacked the moral character of their opponent instead of focusing on any actual politics. Both were also guilty of promising political favors to politicians and newspapers in order to gain more public support. During this period, the number of publications doubled with everyone being desperate to cash in on the drama.

Ultimately, these new publications added fuel to the already boiling fire. Jackson’s supporters’ main argument was that Adams and Clay were corrupt, elitist politicians who had cheated Jackson out of office. Many critics also accused Adams of trying to turn America into a monarchy again with his strong government policies. It didn’t help that Adams’ father was infamously known for his Alien and Sedition Acts, which limited the rights of immigrants and freedom of speech. More triflingly, some people attacked Adams for being a “spendthrift” who needlessly spent American money on gambling (the reality was he simply owned a billiards table).

As for Jackson, his critics painted him as a war criminal, an adulterer, and a murderer. Jackson was known for his temper, and the National Republicans played off this fact, citing how violent he was during the War of 1812 and his attacks against Native American men, women, and children (which is true). To incite further outrage, the “coffin pamphlets” were published, which displayed the biographies of six militiamen that Jackson had executed during the war along with drawings of coffins at the top. It also apparently included a 16-stanza poem condemning Jackson to add some dramatic flair.

Where it got really dirty, though, was when members of the National Republican party began attacking Jackson’s divorcee wife, Rachel Jackson. A rumor was spread that Jackson stole Rachel away from her husband and married her illegally. In fact, Rachel’s first husband had left her, and by the time she and Jackson met, they had incorrectly assumed enough time had passed for the marriage to be considered annulled (remember, folks, this was back in Tennessee during the 1800s, where women did not have the right to ask for a divorce, even if their husbands had left them). The two quickly remarried when they realized the mistake, but the damage had already been done.

The papers attacked Rachel, calling her and adulteresses’ paramour. She wasn’t the only female member of Jackson’s family to be publicly insulted—even Jackson’s mother was accused of once being a prostitute.

By the time the 1828 election came around, the whole nation was strung tight with tension. However, Andrew Jackson won in a landslide, winning every electoral vote except those in New England, Adams’ home region. Although Jackson supporters celebrated all over the country, the victory came as a bittersweet triumph for Jackson himself. Rachel Jackson, who had been a very religious and proper woman, underwent so much stress from the election that she became ill. Two months before Jackson’s inauguration, Rachel died from her illness.

Jackson vehemently blamed his opponents for the death of his wife and allowed his grief to fuel many of his political actions throughout his presidency. Tensions remained high and icy between Jackson and Adams, with Jackson refusing to meet Adams after the election and, in return, Adams refusing to attend the inauguration.

Others did not have the same problem as Adams; thousands of Americans flooded Washington D.C. to see Andrew Jackson be sworn into the presidency. Even though there was poor weather, an estimated 10 to 20 thousand people showed up. Also, Jackson refused to have a military parade for his inauguration and instead walked from his hotel to the Capitol.

That evening, Jackson opened the doors of the White House to the public in what became one of the wildest ragers in American history. The onslaught of people almost crushed the new president, so a protective circle escorted him out. The party did not stop there and continued until morning, essentially trashing the White House. As a result, Jackson spent his first night in office in a hotel in D.C.

Jackson’s victory did not mean an end to political tensions. In fact, throughout his presidency, Jackson often seemed to purposely go out of his way to incite public outrage.

As time went on, tensions would only rise between the two parties, culminating in the Republican party forming under an anti-slavery platform in direct opposition to Jacksonian politics. A few short years later, the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, was elected in 1860, and all of the tension boiling between the two parties (with Democratic members largely being Southern citizens and Republicans typically being Northern) over the last few decades finally exploded. Days later, the south seceded and the American Civil War began.

And even though the Southern Confederacy experiment was ultimately put down, the divide between the two parties was now too steeped in anger and blood for any tensions to be resolved. Each parties power and influence continued to grow. In fact, even though the Democratic donkey was set as an informal tradition by Jackson, the political symbols for both parties weren’t nationally accepted until the 1870s. Prominent political cartoonist Thomas Nash (considered to be the father of American political cartoons) forever immortalized the Democratic donkey symbol, as well as the Republican elephant, in his cartoon, “Third Term Panic,” which warned the Republican party that infighting would hurt them in upcoming elections. The captions underneath it read: “‘An Ass, having put on the Lion’s skin, roamed about in the Forest, and amused himself by frightening all the foolish Animals he met with in his wanderings.’ — Shakespeare or Bacon.”

I don’t know about you, but I can’t say that any of this is particularly shocking to me. Surprise, surprise—American politics have always been petty and scandalous. So much for the good ol’ days, amiright? Though, in a way, realizing that the past was pretty chaotic is comforting. While modern American politics are stressful and seem totally crazy, just remember: here in America, we’ve always been crazy.