The Election of 1840

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VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.

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As the American national election of eighteen-forty drew closer,
the Whig Party felt more and more hopeful that it could put its
candidate in the White House. The Whigs believed they could defeat
President Martin Van Buren in his attempt to win a second term. The
Whig leaders turned away from their early choice of Senator Henry
Clay of Kentucky as their candidate. There was too much popular
opposition to him.

The more extreme anti-slavery
groups were opposed to Clay because he owned slaves. Then, many were
hostile to Clay because of his close ties to the business interests.
They considered him a pro-bank man. Besides, there was a growing
feeling among the Whig leaders that they should choose a military
hero as their presidential candidate...a general like Andrew
Jackson.

VOICE TWO:

Thurlow Weed, one of the important Whig leaders in the state of
New York, remembered how the people had loved Jackson, the hero of
the War of 1812. Weed thought General William Henry Harrison, one of
the candidates in eighteen-thirty-six, might be the man the Whigs
needed. Harrison had led an attack on Indians in the Indiana
territory in eighteen-eleven.

Westerners believed the battle -- at a place called Tippecanoe --
was a great victory for Harrison. Weed also thought of General
Winfield Scott, who had kept the border with Canada quiet. Scott was
a southerner, from Virginia. He had not been involved in politics
and had no political enemies. Weed finally decided that Scott might
be a better candidate than Harrison or Clay.

VOICE ONE:

But other party leaders remembered
that Harrison had received many votes in eighteen-thirty-six,
although not enough to win. When the Whig convention opened, all
three men -- Clay, Scott, Harrison -- were possible candidates. The
convention delegates finally chose General Harrison. For vice
president, they decided on another southerner, John Tyler. Tyler was
a strong believer in states' rights. He had worked hard to win the
nomination for Senator Clay. One report said he felt so strongly
about it that he cried when Clay was not chosen. Southern Whigs
agreed to support Harrison only because Tyler was the vice
presidential candidate.

VOICE TWO:

Clay was not at the convention. He stayed in Washington and
waited for news from the convention. On the final day, as he waited
for word, he drank glass after glass of wine. When the news came
that the Whigs had chosen Harrison, Clay said in anger: "I am the
most unfortunate man in the history of parties. Always chosen as a
candidate when sure to be defeated. And now, tricked out of the
nomination when I, or anyone, would surely be elected."

The Democrats were happy that Clay was not the Whig presidential
candidate. They were glad the whigs chose the sixty-seven-year-old
Harrison. Democrats spoke of Harrison as an "old lady." They called
him "Granny Harrison." One democratic newspaper said the old man did
not really want to be president. It said Harrison would be happier
with a two-thousand-dollar-a-year pension, a barrel of hard cider to
drink, and a log cabin to live in.

VOICE ONE:

Working men drank hard apple cider. And a great many farmers
still lived in houses, or cabins, made of rough logs. The Whigs put
the democratic statement to their own use. They saw a way to
represent their party of bankers and businessmen as the party of the
working man and the small farmer. "The statement is right!" they
cried. "The Whig Party is the party of hard cider and log cabins."

They made Harrison -- a Virginia aristocrat -- a simple man of
the people. His big home in Ohio became a log cabin. He exchanged
his silk hat for the kind worn by farmers. Whig leaders would not
let their candidate make many speeches. They would not let him write
anything. All his letters were written by his political advisers.
When Harrison did speak in public, it usually was about nothing
important. No one really knew what the old man thought about any of
the important issues.

VOICE TWO:

The Democrats opened their
nominating convention in Baltimore in may, eighteen-forty. Van Buren
was chosen to be the party's candidate again. The president received
the votes of all the party representatives at the convention. But
the representatives were not able to agree on a vice presidential
candidate. They finally decided to let the states nominate
candidates for the job.

The election campaign was one of the wildest in the nation's
history. Both parties did everything possible to show that they were
the friend of the common man. The Whigs put up log cabins everywhere
and offered free hard cider to everyone. They organized huge outdoor
meetings for thousands, with food and drink for all. They held
parades and marched with flags, bands, and pictures of William Henry
Harrison. Many campaign songs were written. These songs told of
Harrison's bravery against the Indians. They told how Harrison loved
the hard and simple life of the common man.

VOICE ONE:

At the same time, the Whig campaign songs said Van Buren lived
like a king in the White House. A Whig congressman from Pennsylvania
made a wild speech against the president. Copies of it were spread
throughout the country. The congressman charged that the White House
had become a palace. He said Van Buren slept in the same kind of bed
as the one used by the French King, Louis the Fifteenth. He said the
president ate French food from gold and silver dishes. The carpets
in the White House, he said, were so thick that a man could bury his
feet in them. The congressman charged that President Van Buren wore
silk clothing, and even put French perfume on his body to make him
smell sweet as a flower.

VOICE TWO:

Van Buren and other Democrats called the charges foolish. But no
one seemed to hear. The Democrats made charges just as foolish. They
claimed that Harrison could not read or write. They said he would
not pay people the money he owed them. And they charged that
Harrison even sold white men into slavery. Henry Clay said the
campaign was a struggle between log cabins and palaces...between
hard cider and champagne.

The state of Maine held elections in September of eighteen-forty.
Voters in Maine elected Whig Edward Kent as governor. They gave the
state's electoral votes to Harrison, the hero of Tippecanoe. The
election results produced a new song for the whigs. "And have you
heard the news from Maine, and what old Maine can do. She went
hell-bent for Governor Kent, and Tippecanoe and Tyler, too. And
Tippecanoe and Tyler, too. "

VOICE ONE:

One by one, the other states voted. It was clear early in the
election that General Harrison would win. The election was close in
total votes. But Harrison received two-hundred thirty-four electoral
votes, and Van Buren only sixty. And so, Harrison became the ninth
president of the United States.

Whig leaders had made most of Harrison's campaign decisions. Some
of them -- especially Henry Clay and Daniel Webster -- believed they
could continue to control him, even after Harrison moved into the
White House. But Harrison saw what was happening. He made a trip to
Kentucky, Clay's home state, late in eighteen-forty. Harrison made
it clear that he did not want to meet with Clay. He was afraid such
a meeting would seem to show that Clay was the real power in the new
administration.

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VOICE TWO:

You have been listening to the Special English program, THE
MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Jack Moylesand Jack Weitzel.
Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. THE MAKING OF A NATION
can be heard Thursdays.