1840: Presidential Election of 1840

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Description

Prior to the election of 1840, the Whigs and Democrats gathered at their prospective conventions to nominate a candidate for the president of the United States. The Democrats chose to continue their support for the incumbent president, Martin Van Buren; however, the party was divided over this decision and did not fully support him. [1] His presidency had been plagued by an economic depression, the financial panic of 1837. The panic resulted in the foreclosure of many farms and a decrease in the prices of agricultural goods. This depression affected thousands of American farmers who would look for new leadership. [2] Also Van Buren was a quiet man and a lifetime politician. His opponent, on the other hand, the Whig’s candidate, William Henry Harrison, was a famous general from the War of 1812 and an esteemed Indian fighter. He ran under the “Log Cabin and Hard Cider” campaign which compared him the beloved Ex-president Andrew Jackson and gave him the “common man” image that so appealed to Americans of the day. The American people turned out to vote in record numbers, over 80%, to elect William Henry Harrison as President of the United States. The outcome of the election resulted from the “critical voter realignments”[3] that occurred between 1836 and 1840 due to the hard times of the depression and the failure of the Democratic party to appeal to the common man.[4]

Sources

[1]“The Late Election.” The United States Magazine and Democratic Review. Vol. 8, No. 35 & 36 (Nov/Dec, 1840), pp. 390 (385-398).; [2]Ibid 393; [3] Formisano, Ronald P. “The New Political History and the Election of 1840.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History. Vol. 23, No. 4 (Spring, 1993), pp. 665 (661-682). [JSTOR http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-1953%28199321%2923%3A4%3C661%3ATNPHAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1 Accessed November 2006] [4] Ibid 670; “The History and Moral Relations of Political Economy.” The United States Magazine and Democratic Review. Vol. 8, No. 34 (Oct, 1840), pp. 289-310.; Carey, Charles W. “Presidency.” The Encyclopedia of the United States in the 19th Century. Vol. 2, Ed. Paul Finkelman. New York: Charles Schribner’s sons, 2001. pp. 559-561.

Related Events

1812: War of 1812, 1837: Panic of 1837, 1840: Independent Treasury Reform