Get Out The Vote!

The election of 1840 is widely regarded as the first modern campaign for the U. S. presidency. As in earlier elections, character defamation was a key campaign strategy, as was the veneration of a military hero. Most memorably of all, Whig campaigners formulated a catchy slogan. "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too" remains one of the best-known political catchphrases in American history.

Four years earlier, the Democratic Party, represented by Martin Van Buren, had upset the Whigs in an acrimonious election. During the months leading up to the 1840 election, the Whig party designed a campaign that pitted a heroic William Henry Harrison against the patrician Van Buren, whom they called "Van Ruin," blaming him for the disastrous banking failures of 1837. Their strategy centered on casting Harrison as a folk hero, capitalizing on his military triumphs during the War of 1812. His nickname, "Tippecanoe," refers to his victory over Tecumseh and the Shawnee peoples at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Party supporters were offered an array of campaign paraphernalia that featured log cabins and barrels of hard cider, two potent symbols of Harrison’s honest, hard-working, independent mind.

Whig strategies proved very successful, but Harrison’s victory was hollow. His thirty-one-day presidency was the shortest in American history. After delivering his inaugural address (the longest in history at two hours) while standing outside without a coat on a cold March day, Harrison fell ill. He died of pneumonia one month later.

Log Cabins

Harrison’s detractors felt that at sixty-seven, he was too old to assume the highest office in the land. Baltimore editorialist John de Ziska ridiculed Harrison in print, writing, “Give him a barrel of hard cider, and settle a pension on him . . . he will sit the remainder of his days in his log cabin by the side of the fire and study moral philosophy! ” Harrison’s Whig campaigners seized on the derisive remark and forged it into an asset. They were able to connect Harrison’s lifestyle with that of hardworking, self-reliant pioneers who lived in log cabins. In fact, Harrison was an aristocratic Virginian whose father had signed the Declaration of Independence. Although he had once lived in a home made partly of logs, in 1840 he lived on a sizeable property in Ohio. Much of Ohio, however, was still considered frontier land in 1840, and many Ohioans lived in humble log cabins.

Log cabins and kegs of cider appeared on a variety of campaign paraphernalia for Whig supporters. Even mundane items such as plates, handkerchiefs, and teapots were used to promote Harrison’s candidacy.

Harrison Ribbons

Music

Henry Schmidt (composer), The Tippecanoe or Log Cabin Quick Step, 1840.

Music played a key role in building party unity during the 1840 election. The Whigs were especially active in commissioning new tunes and lyrics to support their candidate. The Tippecanoe or Log Cabin Quick Step is just one of many campaign songs written that year, all featuring references to log cabins, hard cider, and “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too. ”

Van Buren