Hard cider and log cabins (December 1839 to March 1840) Harrison accepted his nomination in a letter dated December 19, 1839. At age 66 then (67 by the election), he was the oldest presidential candidate to that point. He pledged to serve only one term, but was vague about other stances, writing that his public career made stating his positions unnecessary. There was no
party platform; most Whigs did not favor binding candidates to a legislative plan. If the Whigs did not leave Harrisburg completely united, they achieved this within weeks of the convention. A testimonial dinner to Senator Clay in Washington on December 11, attended by convention delegates and other politicians, healed many wounds, and a series of huge public meetings, held to ratify the nominations of Harrison and Tyler, showed the Whigs willing to put the nomination fight behind them. The Democratic press was unimpressed by Harrison's nomination, and attacked him for not publishing his views on the main issues of the day, dubbing him "General Mum". The
New York Herald mocked the aging general, "Mrs. Harrison of Ohio is undoubtedly a very excellent matron for her time, but if we must take a woman president, let's have youth and beauty, and not age and imbecility."
John de Ziska, Washington correspondent for the Baltimore
Republican (a Democratic paper) who wrote under the initialZ, alleged that one particularly embittered Clayite had wondered how to "get rid of" Harrison, and the paper printed Z's suggestion: "Give him a barrel of hard cider, and settle a pension of two thousand a year on him, and my word for it, he will sit the remainder of his days in his log cabin by the side of a 'sea coal' fire, and study moral philosophy." This gibe was quickly reprinted by other Democratic papers. The taunt hit home in an America where the log cabin was seen as part of the national heritage; though relatively few lived in one by 1840, many had resided in one earlier in life, or had parents who had.
Alexis de Tocqueville, the French diplomat who toured America in the 1830s,
chronicled them as the pioneer's first dwelling. Hard cider was seen as a drink of the common man. The Whigs decided to take pride in the cabin and cider the Democrats had derided. The origins of how this came to be are uncertain, though the most commonly rendered version of events has, in January 1840, Pennsylvania Whig operative
Thomas Elder coming up with the idea of making log cabins a symbol of the Harrison/Tyler campaign. Robert Gray Gunderson, in his account of the 1840 election, described how one was displayed at a Harrisburg ratification meeting on January 20, and "within the month, cabins, [rac]coons, and cider became symbols of resurgent Whiggery." John Gasaway, in his doctoral thesis on communications in the 1840 campaign, noted that Harrison was called the "log cabin and hard cider candidate" in one paper as early as December 20, 1839, and that images of Harrison and humble abodes he was deemed to have protected date as far back as the War of 1812. An early casualty of Harrison's 1840 campaign was Democratic Michigan Congressman
Isaac Crary who on February 14, 1840, as the House of Representatives debated funding for the
Cumberland Road, essayed an attack on Harrison's record as an Indian fighter, deeming him a bogus hero. Crary sat down to applause from his fellow Democrats. But the next day, Ohio's
Thomas Corwin, known as a humorist, rose in the House, and depicted Crary, a militia general in his home state, having to deal with the terrors of the militia's parade day, until afterwards, safe with the survivors, "your general unsheathes his trenchant blade... and with an energy and remorseless fury he slices the watermelons that lie in heaps around him." As word reached newspapers in February and March, there was much amusement across the nation; Crary failed to be renominated to Congress. By the time of the Ohio Whig Convention in Columbus on February 22, the theme and enthusiasm had taken full hold. Tens of thousands of delegates and spectators filled the streets as a mile-long parade featured log cabins on wheels, with the builders drinking hard cider on the roof, and giant wooden canoes with the image of Old Tippecanoe, though General Harrison was not in attendance. Many of those who came to Columbus dressed as pioneers, in
buckskins with
coonskin cap. Barrels of hard cider were provided on every corner. Serious business was accomplished; the national ticket was endorsed and Congressman Corwin nominated for governor. Thirty thousand people attended; "no political rally like this had ever taken place in America." The 1820s and 1830s had seen a large increase in the franchise in the United States, which by 1840 was granted to many white males, even poor men, and the Whigs sought to recruit among new voters. There was concern that the Harrison campaign would not be able to keep up momentum, but supporters proved inventive. Some Clevelanders who had journeyed to Columbus had made a gigantic paper ball, in diameter, with pro-Harrison and anti-Van Buren slogans written on it. As a newly coined phrase went, they kept the ball rolling, taking it from town to town. This inspired a Harrison supporter from
Zanesville, Ohio, Alexander Coffman Ross to write new lyrics to an old minstrel song called "Little Pigs", which immediately became a huge hit. In so doing, Ross coined what Shafer called "the first—and the most famous—slogan of any presidential campaign", for the song began,
What has caused this great commotion, motion, motion Our country through? It is the ball a-rolling on, For Tippecanoe and Tyler too, Tippecanoe and Tyler too... Keeping the ball rolling (April to August 1840) The campaign was generally administered by a group of Whig congressmen in Washington, including Clay, who pooled their mailing lists; there were organizations in each county tasked with running the local campaign and getting out the vote. Much work was also done by the new political bosses, like Thurlow Weed of New York, who also took charge of much of the fundraising. Greeley, by then editor of the widely circulated Harrison campaign journal,
The Log Cabin, worried that the constant demands for money would drive the wealthy from politics; this did not occur. Much of the money came from those, such as land speculators, who would benefit from the internal improvements to transportation that were backed by the Whigs. Funding for local operations was expected to be raised locally, sometimes through arrangements like
kickbacks from Pennsylvania canal contractors, something implemented by Thaddeus Stevens.
Erie Canal workers were expected to pay a toll to Weed to finance Whig operations. Feeling every hand was needed to defeat Van Buren, Whig leaders allowed women to help: although they could not vote, they could influence men. This was the first time an American political party included women in campaign activities on a widespread scale. In April, the Whigs used the House of Representatives for an attack on President Van Buren.
Charles Ogle of Pennsylvania, a law student and political disciple of Thaddeus Stevens, utilized a debate on White House renovations to spend three days accusing Van Buren of living in luxury at considerable public expense: "If he is vain enough to spend his money in the purchase of rubies for his neck, diamond rings for his fingers, Brussels lace for his breast, filet gloves for his hands, and fabrique de broderies de bougram à Nancy handkerchiefs for his pocket—if he chooses to lay out hundreds of dollars in supplying his toilet with 'Double Extract of Queen Victoria', Eau de Cologne, Corinthian Oil of Cream... if, I say, Mr. Van Buren sees fit to spend his cash in buying these and other perfumes and cosmetics for his toilet, it can constitute no valid reason for charging the farmers, laborers and mechanics of this country with bills for HEMMING HIS DISH RAGS, FOR HIS LARDING NEEDLES, LIQUOR STANDS, AND FOREIGN CUT WINE COOLERS." Democrats called Ogle's address the "Omnibus of Lies"; Whigs called it the "
Gold Spoons speech" and reprinted it in large numbers, attempting to paint Van Buren, who was in fact of far more humble birth than Harrison, as an aristocratic dandy being challenged by a man of the people. The
1840 Democratic National Convention opened at Baltimore's Music Hall on May 4, 1840. A subdued affair, it was greatly overshadowed by a huge "Whig Young Men" gathering that took place in Baltimore at the same time, featuring speeches by Senators Clay and Webster. President Van Buren was nominated for a second term, but the convention made no endorsement for vice president. The incumbent,
Richard Mentor Johnson of Kentucky was controversial because he had lived with an African American woman and had tried to introduce their children into society, and the influential former president, Andrew Jackson, insisted that Johnson be dumped from the ticket. Johnson, who had fought under Harrison during the War of 1812, was popular in the western states as an Indian fighter (he was alleged to be the one who killed Tecumseh), and Van Buren stalled. The lack of an endorsement left the matter up to state parties, and Johnson's rivals soon withdrew, leaving him as the
de facto vice presidential candidate. The huge crowds that Harrison's campaign events attracted were unprecedented, though Jackson's campaigns for the presidency had seen rallies on a smaller scale. These gatherings both promoted the Whig ticket and were themselves entertainment for the participants, thus attracting even more attendees; as
New York Governor William H. Seward, a Whig, put it, "nothing attracts a crowd so rapidly as the knowledge that there is a crowd already." The Democrats were shocked by the outpouring of support, with Pennsylvania Senator
James Buchanan noting that the people had "abandoned their ordinary business for the purpose of electioneering". As the log cabin theme took hold, alternative nicknames for Harrison such as "Old Buckeye" were dropped, and Whigs, heretofore more associated with the wealthier classes, sought to appeal to the humbly-born. Senator Webster, in his speeches, regretted that he was not born in a log cabin (his older siblings were), but he told of annual pilgrimages to the old cabin with his children to instill its values in them. Former
Postmaster General Amos Kendall, who managed Van Buren's re-election campaign, instructed that Democrats should not try to defend the administration but attack the opposition's candidate. By the end of May 1840, Harrison had made no public appearances that year. Even though there was a custom that presidential contenders did not campaign, he was still mocked by the Democratic press. One article alleged he had been shut up in an iron cage with a mug of hard cider, and that he was seeking help from the abolitionists to get released. As was usual for candidates of that era, he made his views known by answering letters from citizens, knowing some would be reproduced in newspapers. Harrison, however, felt the need to speak out and accepted an invitation to make an address at the June 13 commemoration of the 1813
Siege of Fort Meigs, where he and his troops had held out against British and Native American forces. En route to
Perrysburg, when leaving his hotel in Columbus, he made what Shafer called "the first presidential campaign speech in history", speaking to a small crowd of supporters, and defending his record against what he deemed personal attacks. In his Fort Meigs speech, Harrison told the crowd, "See that the Government does not acquire too much power. Keep check upon your rulers. Do this, and liberty is safe." Harrison had planned additional speeches, but his swing was cut short when news arrived of the death of his son Benjamin from
tuberculosis. He returned home to take care of his wife,
Anna Harrison, and did not make another speech until July 28. Lines had been hardening on the matter of slavery, and Democrats accused Harrison of being an abolitionist because of his membership, a half century earlier, in the Richmond Humane Society, an anti-slavery group; he had posted a mixed record on the issue while in Congress. On August 20, he gave a speech on the slave question at
Carthage, Ohio, saying what happened regarding slavery in a state was that state's business alone. He ignored the question of slavery in the District of Columbia and in the territories, both under the jurisdiction of the federal government. The general had pledged that his door would always be open to his old soldiers, but others came as well, and he hosted an unending series of guests. This was especially difficult for him on Sundays, when Anna Harrison forbade political discussion. The economy continued to be poor in 1840, a fact the Whigs never ceased to press, arguing that Van Buren had done little and Harrison's inauguration was needed to put a stop to the hard times.
Final days (September to November 1840) Harrison's health was a minor campaign issue; it was presented by the Whigs as robust, and by Democrats as decrepit. The campaign released a letter from his doctor, testifying to his good health; this was a presidential election first. Another testament to Harrison's health was his speeches: he gave 24 addresses between June and October, all in Ohio and lasting up to three hours; Van Buren did not give any. Harrison did not have the campaign trail to himself; Vice President Johnson told Van Buren the President should "go out among the voters as I intended doing". Democrats tried to paint Johnson as the true hero of the Battle of the Thames, but the Vice President refused to criticize Harrison's conduct in combat. Nevertheless, Johnson spoke with such enthusiasm that he may have set off a riot in Cleveland, and was followed onto the trail late in the campaign by John Tyler, who had difficulty staying on message and resorted to telling questioners, "I am in favor of what General Harrison and Mr. Clay are in favor of." Clay and Webster were at the head of perhaps 5,000 Whig speakers who criss-crossed the nation in Harrison's cause. Clay was unenthusiastic about the idea of being a stump speaker, but warmed to it as he sought to boost himself to be Whig presidential candidate in 1844 (Harrison had promised to serve only one term), and spoke widely, especially in the South, though he mentioned Harrison infrequently. Another prominent speaker was a Whig state assemblyman from Illinois and candidate for presidential elector from that state,
Abraham Lincoln, who spoke to a crowd of 15,000 in
Springfield, Illinois, wearing
jeans. The aristocratic South Carolina former congressman,
Hugh Legare also spoke widely, and took to wearing a coonskin cap on the campaign trail, drinking hard cider as he partied with the "Log Cabin Boys". John Bear, the "Buckeye Blacksmith", from
South Bloomfield, Ohio, was a prominent Whig speaker. After making a hit in his first speech outside his home town at the February Columbus rally, the Whigs sent him on the road as a person who could appeal to the tradesmen and farmers who made up much of the electorate. He also got to associate with the elite, meeting Harrison at North Bend and attending a party at the Washington home of former president John Quincy Adams. Bear made 331 speeches, the most of any Whig surrogate, and inspired other craftsmen like
Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, the "
Natick Cobbler", who would rise to the vice presidency under
Grant. The Democrats had seen the Whigs build log cabins, drink huge amounts of hard cider, hold outsized conventions and publish subsidized newspapers; they asked where the money was coming from to provide such expensive operations. There were no campaign finance disclosure laws in 1840, and the Democrats noted that prominent Whig speakers were paid, "from Daniel Webster down to the traveling Bear". Webster had gone to Britain in 1839, and he was accused by one Democratic newspaper of colluding with the British to spend $5million given to him to subvert American liberties. Columbus editor
Sam Medary wrote to Van Buren that "were it not for the secret influence of
money, there would be no contest at all." The Whigs did well in the state elections held in September, capturing the governorship in traditionally Democratic Maine. On October 14, Jackson weighed in on the race, with a public letter published, "it is my serious belief that if General Harrison should be elected President it will tend to the destruction of our glorious Union and Republican system." Jackson made speeches through his home state of Tennessee on behalf of Van Buren. The Baltimore
Republican, originator of the "log cabin" gibe, alleged that Maryland's slaves believed a Harrison victory would see their immediate emancipation. == Election 1840: Whig victory ==