During the campaign and election in 1824, then-Secretary of State John Quincy Adams found himself ultimately vying against a popular Andrew Jackson. When the votes were tallied, neither had enough votes in the Electoral College to be declared the victor. Thus the job of choosing between the two fell to the House of Representatives per the Twelfth Amendment.
Jackson was sure that he had this in the bag and was completely shocked when the House voted in favor of Adams on February 9, 1825. He was so angry at what he saw as betrayal from friends in the House that he said, “…the Judas of the West has closed the contract and will receive the thirty pieces of silver . . . Was there ever witnessed such a bare faced corruption in any country before?”