American History: 1840 U.S. Presidential Campaign

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‘ll sing you now a new Whig song,
Made to a good old rhyme,
Of a fine, true-hearted gentleman,
All of the olden time;
By birth and blood, by kith and kin,
A sound, true Whig was he,
For his father signed the charter
That made our country free.
Like a fine, true-hearted gentleman,
All of the olden time.

The ‘fine, true-hearted gentleman’ saluted in the song was General William Henry Harrison, ‘Old Tippecanoe,’ the Whig party’s nominee for president of the United States in 1840. His opponent was the incumbent, Martin Van Buren. The lyric ‘I’ll sing you now a new Whig song’ was no idle promise. For while music had always played a role in political campaigns, this campaign produced’song after song in which truth was second to sense, and both were second to rhyme.’ During this singing campaign, issues took such a back seat to images that the year’s electioneering produced, in the words of historian Richard S. Elliot, ‘a landmark in the carnivalization of American politics.’

Make way for Old Tip, turn out, turn out,
make way for Old Tip, turn out!
‘Tis the people’s decree, Their choice he shall be,
So Martin Van Buren, turn out, turn out,
So Martin Van Buren, turn out!

President Martin Van Buren faced some serious reelection challenges. A Depression–the Panic of 1837–had sent prices soaring, ruined banks, and filled poorhouses. In addition, Van Buren suffered from generally unfavorable comparisons with his popular predecessor, Andrew Jackson. Yet Van Buren was not facing an imposing opponent. General William Henry Harrison was nearly 68 years old, had a checkered military and political career, and had been one of three candidates Van Buren defeated in 1836. Furthermore, Harrison had no discernible stand on any issue, while Van Buren’s well-organized Democratic Party had clear positions on hotly debated issues such as the Bank of the United States, the tariff, and internal improvements. With the still-popular Andrew Jackson championing his successor, the Democrats felt confident about the election. An opening salvo from the floor of the House of Representatives, however, quickly dampened that confidence and sounded the tone of the upcoming campaign.

No ruffled shirt, no silken hose,
No airs does Tip display.
But like the ‘pith of worth’ he goes
In homespun hodding gray.

On April 14, 1840, as the House considered the appropriation of $3,665 for landscaping the grounds and repairing the White House furniture, Representative Charles Ogle of Pennsylvania took the floor to catalog the alleged effeminate tastes and monarchical leanings of the president some Whigs called ‘Sweet Sandy Whiskers.’ Ogle brought his listeners on an imaginary stroll through the ‘Presidential Palace,’ a building ‘adorned with regal splendor far above any of the grand saloons at Buckingham Palace, Carlton House, or Windsor Castle.’ At dinner, one would see a ‘massive gold plate and French sterling silver services . . . gilded French plateaus . . . and gaudy artificial flowers.’ The fare was not ‘those old and unfashionable dishes . . . fried meat and gravy,’ but a five-course French meal. ‘How,’ Ogle sneered, ‘would a plain, frank, intelligent, republican farmer feel . . . if he were caught at a table like that?’ In one speech, Charles Ogle had fixed in the public’s mind the image of Martin Van Buren as an aristocratic dandy housed in palatial splendor. He also provided Whig songwriters a rich source for musical allusions.

Old Tip he wears a homespun coat
He has no ruffled shirt-wirt-wirt.
But Mat he has a golden plate
And he’s a little squirt-wirt-wirt.

The Whig’s nominee was hardly the homespun farmer in buckskin his proponents portrayed. Son of Declaration of Independence signer Benjamin Harrison, William Henry Harrison was born in a three-story brick mansion in Charles County, Virginia, in 1773. He joined the infantry in 1791 and was posted to Ohio where he involved himself in the politics of the Northwest Territory. Following his army career, he was appointed governor of the Indian Territory with full authority to negotiate and conclude treaties with the Indians. Harrison established his fame when he fought the forces of Shawnee Chief Tecumseh at the Battle of Tippecanoe on November 7, 1811. The battle, in which 188 Americans and an unknown number of Indians were killed or wounded, accomplished little and drove the Indians into an alliance with the British. Harrison was nonetheless heralded as a hero and named supreme commander in the Northwest.

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Tags: American History, Music, Politics

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