Mudslinging by definition is: the use of insults and accusations, especially unjust ones, with the aim of damaging the reputation of an opponent. In the election of 1828, mudslinging was a tactic used by both candidates (John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson) to slander the other’s name and earn favor in the eyes of the people. It was possible because of the technological improvements in the printing of newspapers and the greater accessibility in the Union through more roads. Mudslinging was significant in that it helped to create the modern ways of political campaigning. For the first time candidates really campaigned for the people and a tactic they used to convince people to vote for them was mudslinging.
