Sarah Herr
For Harrison
In many ways, the 1840 election was a transitionary campaign, combining many of the hallmarks of older presidential elections and of “modern” campaigns in America. The campaign was “boisterous” and such a break from the past that John Quincy Adams described it as “a revolution of the habits and manners of the people.”[1] The presidential election was no longer reserved for the rich, “enlightened statesmen” of the early republic, but candidates now had to do as Jackson had done: the must sell themselves to the people. Thanks to more liberal suffrage laws and technological innovations like the newspaper printing press and US Postal Service, the election was accessible to new portions of the population. Harrison’s campaign managers sought to capitalize on all of this and the presidential race became a battle between the man-of-the-people Harrison and the aristocratic Van Buren. Harrison’s campaign actively tried to paint Harrison as a backwoods, straight-shooting, cider-drinking war hero. Although he was actually from a wealthy, slave-holding family in Virginia, Harrison’s campaign managers turned an insult––that he was “a provincial, out-of-touch old man who would rather ‘sit in his log cabin drinking hard cider’” than run the country––into a campaign that appealed to the majority of the population.[2]
Harrison’s camp learned mass marketing techniques from the preachers of the Second Great Awakening, and used those techniques to galvanize the population and to sell Harrison to the public. Songs, slogans, attack ads, rallies, and noticeably, stumping all became part of the election. Harrison parades resembled camp revival meetings, except rather than drinking the Holy Spirit, revelers drank hard cider, and sermons and hymns, were replaced by campaign speeches and campaign songs. So that they wouldn’t alienate the “temperate” Harrison’s campaign also provided sweet cider. Harrison was given a variety of nicknames and slogans, some reminiscent of the log cabin and hard cider comment, but many referring to his victory at Tippecanoe. The most common was the ubiquitous “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!” which came from a campaign song of the same name. “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!” became the inspiration for my campaign video.
The driving force of this video is the song itself. One of the most popular and most remembered campaign slogans and songs, the song captures the spirit of the campaign and––I think many of my classmates will agree––it’s undeniably catchy. I quickly realized how difficult it would be to incorporate large quotes like had in my previous video, so I tried to coordinate images with the song’s lyrics. The opening shot is the front page of a newspaper that has both Harrison’s and Tyler’s name on it, and sets the stage for the rest of the ad. This is followed by a quote from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans. I chose to highlight the word “motion” to complement the song. A painting of a young General Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe follows. I chose this painting because I wanted to remind viewers of Harrison’s service, the source of his nickname, and to contrast him with the decidedly un-heroic Van Buren. The Times-Picayune page appears again, but in a more zoned out format. I included “ball” in this shot to coordinate with the song, but also because the Harrison’s campaign actually included large balls of twine, paper and wood that they would literally roll down the streets during parades. Next, I chose portraits of Tippecanoe, Tyler and Van Buren that appeared in conjunction with the song. Immediately before Van Buren’s portrait, “Cutting Down the Hickory Tree & Disturbing the Crow’s Nest,” a political cartoon from Harper’s appears. The cartoon depicts a strapping Harrison chopping down a hickory tree (Jackson’s legacy) with a Van Buren-crow falling out. After Van Buren’s portrait another cartoon of Van Buren smiling at a glass of champagne and frowning at one of hard cider––another dig at his supposed aristocratic character. The next political cartoon is “The North Bend Farmer and His Visitors.” Harrison is the plain-spoken farmer talking to his frontier followers, once again in contrast to Van Buren and his cronies. This is followed by another political cartoon, again depicting Harrison as the normal backwoods man with a log cabin and hard cider. The front page of the first edition of Horace Greeley’s Log Cabin newspaper which was created to further Harrison’s campaign came next, followed by a campaign poster circulated by Harrison’s followers. The images appear again as the chorus repeats, and is immediately followed by another portrait of General Harrison. The ad ends with a campaign painting that says “Tip & Ty” with another campaign song overlying the image.
Bibliography
1) Boller, Paul F. Jr. Presidential Campaigns. (New York: Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984)
2) Campaign Poster of William Henry Harrison (New York : Published by N. Currier, [between 1835 and 1856]) Found at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WmHHarrison-campaign_poster.jpg
4) Dacre, Henry; Robinson, Henry R. “The North Bend Farmer and His Visitors.” (N.Y. ; Washington, D.C. : Printed & published by H.R. Robinson, 1840.) Found at: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008661371/
5) Greely, H. & Co. The Log Cabin. Vol. 1, Number 1. 2 May 1840. Found at: http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/scriptorium/americavotes/harrison-log-cabin.jpeg
6) “John Tyler, Ninth President of the United States.” (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA) Found at: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3b50589/
7) Ross, Alexander Coffman, “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” (singer unknown). Found at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxf5dTL3sg0
8) Times-Picayune, published as The Daily Picayune.; 29 August 1840; Page: 2; Location: New Orleans, Louisiana. http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/HistArchive/?p_product=EANX&p_theme=ahnp&p_nbid=C46V46SBMTMzMzU4OTI4MC43MDMxNjQ6MToxNDoxMzcuMTY1LjI3LjEzOQ&p_action=doc&s_lastnonissuequeryname=5&d_viewref=search&p_queryname=5&p_docnum=4&p_docref=v2:1223BCE5B718A166@EANX-1224715A6AB401C0@2393347-1223D2FDD942B878@1-124FB3E7A59B5D96@[William+Henry+Harrison]
9) “Tip & Ty” Political Banner. Found at: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Tip_and_Ty_banner.jpg
10) “Untitled Harrison & Tyler Campaign Poster.” HarpWeek. Accessed 3 April 2012. Found at: http://loc.harpweek.com/LCPoliticalCartoons/IndexDisplayCartoonMedium.asp?SourceIndex=People&IndexText=Harrison%2C+William+Henry&UniqueID=1&Year=1840
11) Van Buren Political Cartoon. Found at: http://www.vahistorical.org/elections/vanburen.jpg
[1] Boller, p. 65
[2] Wikipedia. “Election of 1840.”