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The 14th episode in a very long series about the American presidential elections from 1788 to the present. In 1840, the Whig Party brings Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, and Van Buren faces an uphill battle as the U.S. economy struggles.

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The 14th Presidential election in American history took place from Friday, October 30, to Wednesday, December 2, 1840. Martin Van Buren fought for reelection during a time when the economy was not doing so well. The country was in the middle of a horrible recession began as a financial crisis referred to as the Panic of 1837. Due to this, President Van Buren was unpopular. But you know who was more unpopular? His Vice President, Richard Mentor Johnson. The Democratic Party actually refused to renominate him. In fact, they didn’t officially nominate anybody, although many wanted James Polk or Littleton Tazewell.

The Whig Party, meanwhile, was gaining strength, and learned their lesson from the last election, this time uniting behind just one candidate for President William Henry Harrison. Not only was Harrison a well established politician, but, like Andrew Jackson, he was a bit of a war hero. Harrison’s running mate was John Tyler, a former Senator from Virginia.

Harrison was the first candidate to actively campaign to be President. His supporters came up with a pretty catchy slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler too.” Get it? Of course you don’t. Well basically, Tippecanoe referred to Harrison’s military victory over the Shawnee Indians on November 7, 1811 at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Because of this, the Whigs aggressively organized to promote him as a war hero.

But the Democrats argued that Harrison was too old to be President.. Many called him “Granny,”implying that maybe he was senile. The Whigs fought back by portraying Martin Van Buren as a rich snob out of touch with the people and Harrison as a man of the common people from the Western frontier. In reality, it was Harrison who was richer than Van Buren, but most Americans wouldn’t know that by the campaign.

The election of 1840 was more about image and less about substance. In fact, the Whigs were just fine if Harrison didn’t argue policy or about issues, because the country was pretty divided at the time. Instead, the Whig strategy was to avoid difficult national issues such as slavery and instead focus on how the Van Buren administration ruined the economy.

Interestingly enough, the AntiMasonic Party also nominated William Henry Harrison for President, but with Daniel Webster as his running mate instead of Tyler.

Also, one notable third party, the Liberty Party, sprung up in 1840 with its primary goal to end slavery. They ran abolitionist James Birney for President and Thomas Earle as his running mate.