If you think that conspiracy theories began with the aftermath of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, well, maybe that’s just what they want you to believe. Here are some wild ideas thrown around in contentious world of 19th century presidential politics.

Thomas Jefferson, the French, and the Illuminati

Implicated in thousands of conspiracy theories, the Illuminati probably isn’t a mysterious underground organization that secretly and ruthlessly rules the world. But such a group really did once exist. It was founded in the late 1700s in Europe as one of many ritualistic men’s groups, like the Freemasons or Oddfellows, but went dormant by 1800. Nevertheless, conspiracy theories were convinced that the Illuminati was pulling the strings on the United States’ fourth-ever presidential election in 1800. The organization’s desired result: Vice President Thomas Jefferson to defeat incumbent President John Adams, so that he would give over power of the U.S. to France. (Jefferson won, but France never took control of the United States government.)

John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and the Electoral College

The 1824 election was nothing short of political chaos. Four different candidates, all representing a different faction of the Democratic-Republican Party, vied for the presidency. Andrew Jackson captured more of the popular and electoral vote than Henry Clay, William Crawford, and John Quincy Adams, but because he didn’t take a majority in the Electoral College, the election would be decided by the House of Representatives. Conspiracy-minded thinkers of the day claimed that Clay — Speaker of the House — threw the election in Adams’ favor, because he’d been promised an appointment to Secretary of State. 

Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and tariffs

Lingering resentments over the 1824 election, and conspiracy theories, influenced the presidential election of 1828. Various officials in the Adams administration believed that Jackson’s supports would overthrow the government if their man lost the popular or electoral vote. They accused the Jackson contingent, so irritated by Adams’ imposition of tariffs, of secretly conspiring to dissolve the government and install Jackson in the presidency by force. Jackson went on to win the election fair and square.

Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and John Wilkes Booth

In April 1865, just after the end of the brutal Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated as he watched a play in Washington, D.C. Confederate-siding actor John Wilkes Booth was identified as the assassin by eyewitnesses, but conspiracy theories suggested he was just the gunman, a hired patsy for more powerful figures. One popular theory of the day held that Vice President Andrew Jackson enlisted Booth to do the deed so that he would ascend to the highest office in the land. Booth had apparently left a note at Johnson’s office hours before the murder, and they really did know each other. But that’s the only “evidence” for the notion — although it’s documented that the conspiracy theory was spread by Lincoln associates looking to discredit Johnson, the incoming president born and raised in the South.