Chris Riegg

The 1840 United States presidential race featured the debut of the modern campaign. General William Henry Harrison’s Whig machine capitalized on emerging mass media, engaged in deliberate image-building, and used songs and alcohol to woo an impressionable electorate that was deeply disillusioned with the past four years of Democratic rule. Historians credit the Harrison campaign with pioneering election tactics that endure to this day. Utilization of the media, image projection, and pandering now define the American presidential race.

Harrison’s victory unfolded as a referendum on incumbent Marin Van Buren’s disastrous economic policy in the wake of the Panic of 1837. Whig slogans ridiculed the president as “Martin Van Ruin” and framed him as a cold-hearted elitist who failed to empathize with the nation’s struggles. In contrast, the Whigs pitched their own well-to-do candidate as a humble frontiersman. Ironically, Whig leaders consciously modeled Harrison’s populist campaign after the successful strategies of his opponent’s mentor. Andrew Jackson won the popular vote in 1824 and the presidency in 1828 with the same credentials and message: both candidates were war heroes, both were wealthy, and both ran somewhat disingenuously as champions of the common man.

The Democratic Baltimore Republican memorably assisted Harrison’s image rehabilitation by attempting to mock him as a simpleton and inadvertently birthing the Whig campaign theme: “Give [Harrison] a barrel of Hard Cider, and settle a pension of $2,000 a year on him, and my word for it, he will sit the remainder of his days in his Log Cabin.” The Whigs seized on the idea of Harrison as a hard-working, cider-swigging farmer and marketed him as the “Log Cabin Candidate”. Whig rallies integrated revivalist tactics such as a push for commitment as well as less spiritual ploys, including kegs of hard cider and rowdy sing-alongs.

Van Buren and the Democrats halfheartedly attempted to keep pace with their opponents’ innovation and enthusiasm, but their efforts fell flat in the face of Whig momentum and popularity. For instance, while my research uncovered over forty pro-Harrison songs, I discovered only one pro-Van Buren tune. This disparity reflects the broader inability of the Democrats to match the Whigs on the ground. A weak economy meant that Van Buren faced long odds from the start of the race. His campaign’s energy deficit rendered those odds insurmountable.

My campaign advertisement is intended to neutralize Harrison’s reputation as a general, attack his ineptitude as a statesman, and punish him for supporting failed policies. This three-part critique is reflected in the advertisement’s structure. Quotes are organized into three sections: Harrison’s military history, his political qualifications, and his record. Each of these sections is demarcated by an introductory header slide. The advertisement begins with a bold thesis—“[Harrison] is one of the weakest of all candidates…ever brought forward”)—and ends by reaffirming this thesis: Harrison is “A candidate of…the last resort”.

A slide-by-slide explanation of the advertisement follows.

Slide 1 (Over black): “In qualification, [Harrison] is one of the weakest of all the candidates…ever brought forward” (1836)[1]

Explanation: This quote establishes the advertisement’s thesis: Harrison is grossly underqualified for the presidency.

Slide 2 (Harrison at Tippecanoe): “even as a military man, [Harrison] was imbecile and incompetent” (1836)[2]

Explanation: This slide introduces the advertisement’s first section, an indictment of Harrison’s military record. Harrison’s reputation as a war hero was his only significant personal political asset. This quote introduces the idea that Harrison’s key asset might in fact be a liability.

Image: “The Tippecanoe quick step”, Samuel Carusi (c.1840)[3]

Explanation: In keeping with the focus on Harrison’s military record, this print shows the general at the Battle of Tippecanoe. The titular “Tippecanoe quick step” was a Democratic campaign ditty; this piece originally appeared on the cover of the sheet music.

Slide 3 (Harrison on horseback): “[Harrison’s] Impetuosity led him in the midst of danger and slaughter…he left one hundred and fifty devoted patriots to defend themselves against a superior enemy…Years after, their bones still bleaches on that fatal field of slaughter” (1836)[4]

Explanation: This quote refers to the Battle of Fort Stephenson during the War of 1812, in which Major George Croghan and his men heroically defended Fort Stephenson against a superior British force after ignoring Harrison’s hasty order to retreat. Harrison abandoned Croghan before the battle, withdrawing his troops to minimize the casualties from the defeat that he saw as inevitable.

Image: “General William H. Harrison, at the Battle of Tippecanoe”, Nathaniel Currier (c.1840)[5]

Slide 4 (Portrait of Jackson): “Harrison resigned his commission during the last war, during the hottest and thickest of the fight…leaving the fighting to be done by the gallant and intrepid Jackson” (1840)[6]

Explanation: This quote criticizes Harrison for allegedly forsaking the struggle against the British at the peak of the War of 1812. The quote implies that disaster was averted only through the leadership of Democratic icon Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren’s mentor.

Image: “Jackson, New Orleans, Jany. 8th, 1815”, James Akin (1832)[7]

Slide 5 (Senate): “the Senate of the United States immediately after the war refused to present Harrison with a medal…the name of Harrison was stricken from the resolution.” (1840)[8]

Explanation: This quote concludes the examination of Harrison’s war record by appealing to the higher authority of the Senate. In reality, this quote is highly misleading: although the Senate initially refused to recognize Harrison’s service as punishment for his resignation, a subsequent investigation determined that his actions were justified and he was awarded a medal.

Image: “Senate Chamber”, P. Haas (1837-1845)[9]

Slide 6 (Harrison as marionette): “Whatever Gen. Harrison may have been as a General, he is nothing as a Statesman.” (1836)[10]

Explanation: This quote introduces the second section, an attack on Harrison’s political competence.

Image: “The political dancing Jack: a holiday fift for sucking Whigs!!”, Robert Elton (1840)[11]

Explanation: This cartoon portrays Harrison as a “dancing jack” manipulated by Whig leaders. Taken together with the quote, the image underscores Harrison’s inexperience and alludes to the artificiality of his public image.

Slide 7 (Portrait of Harrison): “inveterate office-seeker” (1836)[12],  “notorious incompetency” (1836)[13], “weak imbecile old man” (1836)[14]

Explanation: This series of quotes attacks Harrison as addicted to political power, yet unable to wield it with good judgment. The last quote is from Governor Robert Lucas of Ohio, Harrison’s home state.

Image: “William Henry Harrison of Ohio”, John Sartain (1840)[15]

Explanation: The dark tones and shadows in this portrait make Harrison appear particularly menacing.

Slide 8 (Over red): “[Harrison’s] incompetency—his utter deficiency in business habits, & his abounding in habits of a different kind…entirely disqualifies him” (1836)[16]

Explanation: This quote synthesizes the advertisement’s second section: Harrison is incompetent and unfit for office.

Slide 9 (Harrison as donkey): “[Harrison is] one of the most profane men living…an open adulterer” (1840)[17]

-Reverend Brooks of Northampton

Explanation: The New-Hampshire Patriot attributes this quote to a “Reverend Brooks of Northampton”. Further research revealed that the Patriot’s allegations of adultery were baseless. The New Hampshire Sentinel published a rebuttal attesting to Harrison’s character and calling the existence of “Reverend Brooks” into question.[18]

Image: “Going up Salt River”, John Childs (1840)[19]

Explanation: This cartoon lampoons Harrison as the clueless victim of exploitation by Whig politicians Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and Henry Wise. A barrel of the candidate’s famous hard cider is lashed to his tail. Martin Van Buren looks on at the spectacle with obvious amusement.

Slide 10 (Hard Cider Express™):

“supporter of the sedition law” (1836)[20], “will raise…an oppressive tariff” (1836)[21]

Explanation: These quotes attack Harrison for two unpopular policy positions. The first quote was reported secondhand from Senator John Randolph of Virginia.  The article includes a response from Harrison that acknowledges Randolph’s accusations to be true.

Image: “The people’s line–Take care of the locomotive”, Robert Elton (1840)[22]

Explanation: This pro-Whig cartoon imaginatively depicts Harrison as a locomotive comprised of a hard cider barrel engine and a log cabin caboose. I cropped this image to remove its left half, which shows Van Buren’s cab crashing on a pile of rocks labeled “Clay”.

Slide 11 (Log cabin trap): “advocated and voted for a law to sell white persons as slaves…Its passage would have dishonored the most barbarous nation upon earth.” (1836)[23]

Explanation: This quote refers to a controversial law that would have forced white debtors into indentured servitude. Harrison voted for this proposal in Ohio, where it met Governor Lucas’ veto. Harrison later signed a similar law in Indiana.

Image: “Federal-Abolition-Whig trap, to catch voters in”, anonymous (1840)[24]

Explanation: This broadside inverts the Whig symbols of hard cider and the log cabin, transforming them from icons of frontier independence into instruments of deception. Allegorically, this image connects the quote’s accusations of support for “white slavery” with Harrison’s attempt to capture unsuspecting voters in a rhetorical trap. The camera intentionally pans to the “Federal bank Whig Motto” at the top: “WE STOOP TO CONQUER.”

Slide 13 (Portrait of Harrison): “a candidate of…the last resort” (1836)[25]

Explanation: This quote reiterates the advertisement’s thesis: Harrison is unfit for the presidency and received the nomination as “an available candidate—not a suitable candidate, not a worthy candidate merely—a candidate of whom [Whigs] make use in the last resort—a candidate whom they dislike less than they hate Van Buren.”

Image: “Harrison”, unknown (1830-1850)[26]

Explanation: This sinister portrait of a grim and scowling Harrison concludes the advertisement on an ominous note.

Music: “Symphony No. 9 – First Movement” by Ludwig Von Beethoven (1824)

Explanation: Beethoven’s Ninth builds slowly and steadily toward the salvos at the end of the advertisement.