Paige Whidbee

During the election of 1840, incumbent Democrat President Martin Van Buren was pitted against William Henry Harrison, the Whig candidate who gained a surprising amount of popularity during the previous election of 1836. The country was in the midst of an economic crisis after the Panics of 1837 and 1839, and as a result the economy was the biggest political issue of the time. Growing tensions over slavery and maintaining the balance between slave and non-slave states also played a significant role in the election, even though slavery was more often indirectly alluded to rather than explicitly mentioned in both candidates’ campaigns. The election also displayed the distinct clash between Democrat and Whig political ideologies, with the Democrats supporting states’ rights, laissez-faire economic policies, and the general adaption of Jeffersonian ideas to the issues of their day, while Whigs focused more on improving the American nation as a whole and advocated adopting a more planned national economy.

In crafting my Pro-Van Buren video, I faced the difficulty of trying to portray Van Buren in a positive light when his stance on the biggest issue of the election – the economy – was widely unpopular. True to his belief in laissez-faire ideology, Van Buren had done little during his presidency to alleviate the economic downturn, so the public largely blamed him for letting the economy decline and for failing to fix it. Therefore, in my video, I purposefully did not address the economy directly (since that would immediately bring up negative associations) and focused instead on three distinct, non-economic ideas to portray Van Buren as the best candidate for the presidency. First, I used images and quotes to link Van Buren to Andrew Jackson – Van Buren’s much more popular predecessor who was still a celebrity figure tied to the idea of popular sovereignty– as strongly as possible. Second, I portrayed Van Buren as a candidate dedicated to preserving the Union, which during the time of the election, people would understand to be an allusion to his support of southern planters’ right to own slaves. And finally, because Van Buren’s campaign focused largely on demeaning Harrison, I included a section in the video that accused the Harrison and the Whig party of attempting to trick voters with their Log Cabin and Hard Cider campaign, and portrayed their political stances as constituting a clear threat to the Union.

For the beginning section of the video, I chose to use “My Country, ’Tis of Thee”[1] for the music. First performed in 1831, this song by Samuel Francis Smith would have been widely heard and known by the election of 1840, and its patriotic overtones fit the purpose of my video very well. Since it is a fairly religious song, I also hoped it would appeal to some of the Christian (and particularly evangelical) voters that otherwise might be drawn more towards the Whig candidate. I started the video by zooming in to a Democratic campaign print with an image of Martin Van Buren[2] as the music began, both to introduce my candidate to the viewer and to immediately associate him with a sense of American pride and patriotism. Then I quoted Andrew Jackson[3] calling Van Buren a “pure republican” dedicated to “promoting the best interests of his country,” both to indicate Jackson’s approval for Van Buren, and to portray him as a true Jeffersonian Republican. Jeffersonian Republicanism was strongly tied to the ideals of liberty and popular sovereignty during this time period, so this association would have had particularly positive connotations.

Next, I used the image of a Democratic campaign poster of all the presidents together, including Van Buren, to portray the idea that Van Buren belongs with them (in contrast to Harrison, whom the Van Buren campaign tried to portray as an old man who was more fit to sit around and drink hard cider than be president).[4] Then I zoomed into the part of the image with Van Buren and Jackson next to each other, where they appear to be holding hands and holding up a banner that says “The Union must be Preserved” together. I wanted to emphasize this part of the image to further link Van Buren with Jackson, and also to portray the idea that they were working together to preserve the Union. After I let the rest of the image fade to black to add emphasis to the section with Van Buren, Jackson, and the banner, I added a quote underneath the banner declaring “the Jackson cause is the cause of the people against a corrupt and abandoned aristocracy.”[5] This tied Van Buren into the “Jackson cause” and reminded the viewer of his dedication to popular sovereignty.

Next, I moved into the second section of the video focusing on attacking Harrison. I abruptly changed music to a piece that is more dramatic and threatening.[6] I showed one of the few anti-Whig political cartoons[7] on the screen, calling the Log Cabin and Hard Cider campaign a “Federal-Abolition-Whig Trap” meant “to catch voters in.” I thought it was important to demean the Log Cabin and Hard Cider campaign in my video because it had become a very popular pro-Harrison symbol at this point in the campaign (even though the saying originated as an insult leveled at Harrison by the Van Buren campaign), so to encourage viewers to vote for Van Buren I needed to decrease the popularity and appeal of the slogan. So first, I showed the whole cartoon, including the top section where it says the “Federal Bank Whig Motto” is “We Stoop to Conquer.” Then I zoomed in on the man stooping down under the cabin to drink from the hard cider barrel to emphasize how falling for the campaign made one look silly and forced the voter to stoop to pathetic levels. Next, I emphasized the idea that voting for Harrison would be falling into a “Federal-Abolition-Whig Trap.” I went to a blank screen, then pulled up an image of John Adams[8] labeled “Federal” (since he was a Federalist), then an image of John Quincy Adams[9] labeled “Abolition” (since by this time he was an outspoken abolitionist), and then an image of Harrison,[10] since he was the Whig candidate for the presidency. By associating Harrison with John Adams and John Quincy Adams – both of whom were unpopular, largely failed presidents with political ideologies (federalism and abolitionism) that were widely disagreed with at this time – I hoped to discredit him even further as a presidential candidate. To drive this point home, in the video I cut to an image of just Harrison labeled with the word “Trap.”

Finally, I ended this section with a quote from Jackson[11] claiming that “systematic efforts” were being made to “excite the South against the North” and vice-versa. In the context of the movie, the quote clearly implies that the Whigs were threatening the Union with their controversial ideas, and abolitionism in particular. Then I transitioned into the last section of the video by switching back to the music from the beginning (“My Country ’Tis of Thee) and showing another quote from Jackson that says “but by every hazard and by every sacrifice this Union must be preserved.”[12] Bringing up the image from earlier in the video of Van Buren, Jackson, and the banner saying, “The Union must be Preserved,” the video clearly suggests that reelecting Van Buren for President is the only way for voters to do their part to preserve the Union. Then I took that image and faded it back into the Democratic campaign banner with the all the presidents, re-emphasizing how Van Burn belongs among the Presidents.  Finally, I brought the image of Van Buren from the beginning back and finished the video with a quote from Van Buren himself saying that he will “tread generally in the footsteps of Andrew Jackson,”[13] strengthening the tie between Van Buren and his popular predecessor one last time before ending the video.