The Election of 1840 was one of the most colourful and modern-feeling campaigns in early American history. Incumbent Democrat Martin Van Buren, weakened by economic crisis, faced off against Whig candidate William Henry Harrison in what was essentially a rematch from 1836. The result was not only a decisive Whig victory but also the shortest presidency in U.S. history.
Van Buren’s Presidential Woes
Martin Van Buren had won the presidency in 1836, but by 1840 his chances of re-election looked slim. The country was still reeling from the Panic of 1837, a devastating financial collapse caused in part by Andrew Jackson’s destruction of the Second Bank of the United States and his Specie Circular policy. Banks failed, unemployment soared, and prices plummeted.
Although Van Buren inherited many of these problems, he bore the political blame. His calm, managerial style seemed inadequate in the face of national suffering, and critics accused him of indifference.
The Democrats also looked divided. Van Buren’s Vice President, Richard Mentor Johnson, had become a liability — absent for long stretches and controversial for his personal life. He was dropped from the ticket, but no consensus replacement emerged. For the first time in U.S. history, a major party candidate ran without a vice-presidential running mate.
Tippecanoe and Tyler Too
The Whig Party, formed just a few years earlier, sensed its chance. After their failed multi-candidate strategy in 1836, they united behind William Henry Harrison, the hero of Tippecanoe and the War of 1812. Harrison had run strongly in 1836, and now, with the economy collapsing under Van Buren, he looked like the perfect standard-bearer.
At their first national convention in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the Whigs nominated Harrison and chose Virginia Senator John Tyler as his running mate. The catchy slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” became one of the first great campaign rallying cries in American politics.
Harrison’s Manufactured Image
The Whigs borrowed directly from Jacksonian Democrats’ playbook, turning Harrison into a symbol of the common man.
Democrats had originally mocked Harrison by saying he would be content to retire to a log cabin with a pension and hard cider. The Whigs seized on this insult, flipping it into a badge of honour. Soon, log cabins and hard cider became central campaign symbols. Whig rallies featured barrels of cider, miniature log cabins, and slogans that branded Harrison as a man of the people.
In reality, Harrison was wealthier than Van Buren, but perception mattered more than reality. His reputation as “Old Tippecanoe” — the general who defeated Native American forces at Tippecanoe and fought in the War of 1812 — was promoted with campaign songs, merchandise, and parades.
Mudslinging and Modern Campaigning
The election quickly devolved into one of the dirtiest in U.S. history up to that point.
- Democrats mocked Harrison as too old and senile, calling him “Granny” Harrison, and derided him as “General Mum” for avoiding discussion of major issues.
- They promoted Van Buren with the nickname “Old Kinderhook,” shortened to “O.K.” — a campaign slogan that helped popularise the term “OK” in American English.
- Whigs fired back by branding Van Buren “Martin Van Ruin,” portraying him as an out-of-touch aristocrat living in luxury while ordinary Americans suffered.
Neither side debated slavery or other major issues, focusing instead on personal image. It was one of the first elections to resemble modern campaigns, with slogans, branding, and merchandising overtaking policy.
Record Voter Turnout
The election of 1840 also set records for political participation. Nearly 80% of eligible voters cast ballots — the highest turnout in American history up to that point. The Whigs’ campaign style of parades, rallies, and symbols had succeeded in energising the electorate.
The Results
The Whigs’ strategy worked brilliantly. Out of 294 electoral votes, Harrison won 234, leaving Van Buren with only 60. Harrison secured 52.9% of the popular vote, while Van Buren managed 46.8%.
Van Buren thus became the first one-term Democratic president and the first president since John Quincy Adams to be defeated for re-election. The Whigs had finally broken through, capturing the White House for the first time.
The President Is Dead
Yet Harrison’s victory quickly turned tragic. At 67 years old, he was the oldest man ever elected president at that time. On Inauguration Day in March 1841, he rode to the Capitol without a coat or hat in the cold and delivered a nearly two-hour inaugural address — the longest in U.S. history.
Just 31 days later, Harrison was dead. Long believed to have succumbed to pneumonia caught during his inauguration, modern historians argue he died from typhoid fever, contracted from contaminated drinking water at the White House. His one-month presidency remains the shortest in U.S. history.
The Transfer of Power
Harrison’s sudden death created the first true test of presidential succession. The Constitution stated that in the event of the president’s removal, death, or resignation, power passed to the vice president — but it was unclear whether the vice president became president outright.
John Tyler insisted he was now the 10th president of the United States, not merely an acting figurehead. Critics derisively called him “His Accidency,” but Tyler’s stance set a vital precedent: vice presidents fully assume the presidency upon a president’s death, a rule later codified in the 25th Amendment.
Significance
The Election of 1840 was a landmark in U.S. political history:
- It was the first truly mass national campaign, with slogans, songs, merchandise, and rallies dominating public opinion.
- It saw the highest voter turnout yet, showing the growing power of mass democracy.
- It demonstrated the role of economic downturns in dooming incumbents.
- It was the Whigs’ first presidential victory, though their triumph was short-lived with Harrison’s sudden death.
- It established the precedent of full presidential succession — a question that would recur in later crises.
Legacy
The Election of 1840 followed Van Buren’s win in 1836 and the Panic of 1837, which devastated his re-election hopes. The Whigs capitalised with Harrison’s log cabin campaign, sweeping him into office, only for him to die a month later.
Next came the Election of 1844, where John Tyler’s fractious presidency and the Democratic push for expansion would set the stage for James K. Polk and the politics of Manifest Destiny.