| Show this 1940 campaign may seem exciting but it s pretty tame compared to the riotous harrison van buren raw race in 1840 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON released by western New newspaper r union ITH two such colorful WITH personalities as president roosevelt and wendell willkie as opposing candidates Fandi candidates dates and the third term issue supplying material for heated debate this years campaign promises to become on one e of the hottest presidential contests in recent years but it is doubtful if it will be as exacting as the one which stirred america years et ago go when martin van buren was the democratic nominee and gen william henry harrison was the champion of the whigs although the campaigns of 1840 and 1940 are a full century apart they off offer ersome some interesting parallels in both cases there has been a crossing of party lines in in the selection of presidential or vice presidential candidates in 1840 harrisons running mate on the whig ticket was john tyler a democrat in 1940 the democratic vice presidential nominee is a former republican and the republican candidate for president is a former democrat in 1840 the democrats who had been in power for 12 years were trying to keep a president in the white house for another four years opposed to them was a young vigorous party which had been defeated four years earlier in 1940 the democrats who have been in power for eight years are trying to extend that period to 12 years under the same leader pitted them is a re juvena ted republican pa party arty striving to stage a comeback aft er two successive defeats A tacked packed convention for a proper understanding of 0 the tumultuous 1840 campaign it i is necessary to go back to the th 1836 presidential jacv race before the end of his second term dent andrew jackson had deter mined to make vice president I 1 M n 1 1 M 0 MARTIN VAN BUREN martin van buren his successor in the white house so old hickory arranged to have a nominating convention held a year and a halt half before the election by packing this convention which was held in baltimore in may 1835 with delegates which he controlled jackson dictated the nomination of van buren for president and richard M johnson of kentucky for vice president despite the opposition of the southern wing of the party this wing bolted the party and nominated sen hugh L white of tennessee for president and john tyler of Virginia for vice president despite this defection in the party ranks van buren and johnson managed to win the election of 1836 because the whigs were also split they had nominated gen william henry ha harrison arison of ohio for president and francis granger for vice president but there was another whig ticket in the field headed by daniel webster of massachusetts for president and the same vice presidential nominee francis granger in the election van buren carried 15 states and received electoral votes enough to win for him over harrisons 73 electoral votes websters 14 whites 26 and the 11 of south carolina which went to willis P mangum of north carolina an unhappy administration van burens administration was an unhappy one he inherited all of the difficulties growing out 0 of jacksons financial policies then came the panic of 1837 which resulted from a boom period caused by the craze for internal improvements despite these troubles and a growing dissension within the democratic party van buren managed to win the nomination for reelection election re in 1840 the whigs again nominated harrison and in an attempt to attract tract the dissatisfied democrats to their banner they chose for ILI 0 G c A dij f 1 iz vi v i rry w C i V t ia ii 1 lutei lf tei 01 cot TIT T Z TZ T za ANO AND TO tf x GEN ena W bl RA makas R ua S 0 N JIT ax C BATHER YR T THOY PLO Y futlz if r joh C dekarz title page of a campaign song of 1810 1840 harrisons running mate the democrat john tyler harrisons rAili military tary record was his chief recommendation as a presidential ident ial candidate the son ol of benjamin harrison of virginia a signer of the declaration of independence he had joined the army as an ensign at the ageos age 01 ol 19 and had served against the indians in ohio under st clair and wayne in 1795 he was promoted to captain and placed in command of fort washington on the present site of cincinnati two years later he resigned his commission and was appointed secretary of the northwest territory from which in 1790 he was chosen a delegate to congress when the territory was divided in 1801 he was made governor of the new territory of indiana and in that position won the victo victory r y over the indians which gave him the sobriquet of old tippecanoe at the outbreak of the war of 1812 he was appointed brigadier general placed in command of the northwest frontier and defeated the british and indians at the th e battle of the thames at which the famous shawnee chief tecumseh was killed promoted to the rank of major general he resigned from the army in 1816 i when he was elected to congress from ohio after serving three years in congress he was elected a state senator in 1819 and five years later he was sent to the united states senate in 1828 he was appointed minister to colombia but he was recalled when jackson became president A candidate minus a platform in nominating harrison for president in 1840 the whigs failed to provide him with any platform of party principles for the very good reason that they had none except that of wanting to be in power but as it turned out they need a platform despite the fact that there was great dissatisfaction with van burens administration largely due to the depression which followed the panic of 1837 and a growing feeling that van buren had become too aristocratic for the common people the democrats might easily have won the election they were the party in power had all the resources of patronage and their leader was known as the little magician a tribute to his astuteness as a politician clan but van burens followers made several very bad political blunders and the whigs were quick to take advantage of them one of the whig newspapers which was not very enthusiastic about the bartys candidate printed the statement that give him a barrel of hard cider and a pension of 2000 a year and our word for it he will sit the remainder of his days in a log cabin by the side of a sea coal fire and study m moral or philosophy candidate of the plain people despite the fact that harrison lived as a well to do country gentleman at his home north bend in ohio the whigs industriously cultivated the idea that he lived in alog a log cabin tolled toiled in the fields as a simple farmer and was indeed one of the plain people iq Irl i contrast atto to his simplicity was the palatial luxury in which the aristocratic van buren was was said to be living at the white house whig orators denounced the democratic candidates extravagance they declared he was maintaining a royal establishment at the cost of the n vion nation wm will the people feel inclined to support their chief servant in a palace as splendid as that of the caesars caesara and as richly adorned as the proudest asiatic mansion man slon instead of defending their candidate from such exaggerated charges as this the democrats added fuel to the flame by the names they called harrison a super annulated old woman a pitiable dotard a granny a red petticoat general and the hero of forty defeats all of this plus the whigs depicting him as a great military hero and a simple farmer served to ende endear ar harrison to the common pee pul especially the farmers and back woodsmen woodsman woods men the alliterative tippecanoe and tyler tool became their favorite slogan and when they shouting that they were chanting ivari van van is a used up danl or with ti tip and tyler well bust vans kilerl A Sif tring symbol got flot only did the ahe whigs have such effective slogans as those quoted above but they also had a striking symbol for their cause I 1 t T ar 3 y af tr they mounted log cabins on wheels and drew them through the streets with teams of white horses at their rallies hard cider was freely dispensed in in fact the campaign of 1840 has come down in history as the log cabin hard cider campaign never before and never since had there been such a noisy campaign and one so completely dominated by emotion and so william henry harrison was wag borne into the white house on this flood of ballyhoo even though that word yet been coined but it was a hollow victory for the whigs within a month after harrisons inauguration he died and john tyler the democrat became president throughout his administration he quarreled with the leaders of the party that had elected him so four years later they turned at last to henry clay but he was defeated by james K polk the democratic nominee and the first dark horse in american political history |
