A Revolution in Politics: An Investigation into the Election Of 1840

William Henry Harrison revolutionized electioneering during his presidential campaign in 1840. He accomplished this by distributing mass quantities of merchandise, compiling a song book of ditties, creating a huge “Get Out the Vote” campaign, and rallying the American people in large numbers. In addition to electioneering strategies, Harrison successfully personified himself as an ordinary America. This “common man” spirit and new campaign tactics truly changes electioneering in the United States and made Harrison the first manufactured presidential candidate.

The election of 1840 was a battle between then-President Martin Van Buren, who ran on the Democratic Party’s ticket, and Harrison, the Whig Party candidate. Each candidate came to the game with a different plan of attack, but both had to deal with the American public’s cry for reform. During the previous twenty-five years, the country had experienced many trials and tribulations that the American people could no longer countenance. The economy was crumbling, the federal government was infringing on states’ rights, and corruption within the government was expanding rapidly. For all of those reasons, Harrison’s campaign committee devised new tactics.

One of these tactics was to personify Harrison as an ordinary person. This in itself was not difficult because he had been affected by the same hardships as the rest of America. Harrison grew up on a wealthy plantation in Virginia and attended the University of Pennsylvania until his father died. Following his father’s death, Harrison joined the military and climbed the ranks to become a general, in which role he successfully cleared the new frontier of the Native American population. At the conclusion of his mil...

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