Show U o 0 0 a i tales and traditions from Arne amerian rican political jl history FRANK E HAGEN AND ELMO SCOTT TT WATSON ROOSTER CROW frield THE HE gooding tavern in green field ind has long since disappeared but it deserves to be remembered as the birthplace of a familiar emblem of one of the major political parties a symbol that is still in use after nearly a century back in the thirties it was owned by joseph chapman an ardent democrat who had the habit of imitating a rooster when exulting over victories by his party so when his political enemies won they taunted him by shouting now crow chapman crowl in 1840 chapman was a candidate for the state legislature from hancock county in that year democratic prospects were far from bright the country still remembered the panic of 1837 and blamed president van buren for it moreover the singing whigs were making a powerful appeal to the voters with their shouts of tippecanoe and tyler too and their log cabin and hard cider symbols in the midst of the campaign george pattison editor of the indianapolis di constitution wrote a letter to william sebastian of greenfield in which he said 1 I have been informed by a democrat that in one part of your county 30 van buren men have turned for harrison please let me know if such be the fact I 1 think such a deplorable plo rable state of facts can not exist if so I 1 will visit hancock and address the people relative to the policy of the democratic party I 1 have not time to spare but I 1 will refuse to eat or sleep or rest so long as anything zan an be done do for heavens sake stir up the democracy mo cracy see chapman tell him not to do as he did heretofore he used to create unnecessary alarms he must crow we have much to crow over I 1 will insure this county to give a democratic majority of votes spare no pains this letter accidentally fell into the hands of the whigs and was published in an indianapolis paper with a view to ridiculing the democrats but it proved to be a boomerang for the whigs crow chapman crow became the slogan of the indiana democrats and spread all over the country when the indiana sentinel was launched in 1841 it carried at the top of its front page the picture of a proud rooster and under tinder it was the slogan crow chapman crow other democratic newspapers began carrying the same picture and slogan and soon the rooster crowing proudly whether in victory or defeat became the accepted symbol of the democratic party despite the later popularity of the donkey it is still 4 a favorite symbol thanks to john chapman of greenfield ind who taught his fellow democrats how to crow I 1 WINNING WITH BUCKEYES W WHEN HEN martin van buren bosom friend and successor to fiery andrew jackson undertook to succeed himself in the white house in the race of 1840 something new in political history was the result van buren not only was defeated he insured the election of gen william henry harrison of ohio and he endowed ohio with the name of the buckeye state which flourishes today it all came about when the cry was taken up by van burens campaigners paig ners that harrison was more perfectly fitted to live in a log cabin and drink hard cider than to go to washington as the nations head what a boomerang that proved to be the only background for the attack was that when the hero of tippecanoe retired from batth he selected a site overlooking the ohio river in the southwestern part of the state built a double log house and finished it with shining white clapboards ohioans naturally resented the slur on their habits of living including the charge of tippling miniature log cabins symbolic of pioneer life and the vigor which pushed civilization westward from the more effete east made their appearance throughout the state these cabins were reproduced from buckeye logs so were vere the canes carried by thousands of marchers barchers mar chers who participated in parades to advance the candidacy of harrison the cabins were mounted on wagons and within each was a horny handed frontiersman qu quaffing quaff ing hard cider van buren wab not neglected while this was going on he was attacked by the ohioans as a snob with a penchant for europea cus toms by th time the buckell Buck Buc keyL eyb parades popularized and spread east of the alleghenies van burens managers realized their mistake and tried in vain to stern stem the tide it was too late gen harrison won the election hands down ay aid d ohio has been known ever su since i ace as the buckeye state 0 western newspaper New News union |