Tippecanoe and the party press too: Mass communication, politics, culture, and the fabled presidential election of 1840

The presidential election of 1840 has long been regarded as a clear instance where the voters of the United States were ill served and perhaps even deceived. Specifically, the "log cabin and hard cider campaign" is famous for the success achieved that year by the Whig party and its presidential candidate, William Henry Harrison. The "fable of 1840 tells us that the Whigs triumphed over baffled and listless Democrats by convincing voters that Harrison lived in a log cabin and that he was a great war hero when, so the legend goes, neither claim was true. The mystique of successful demagoguery that surrounds 1840 makes it an exceptionally compelling object of analysis for the student interested in the relationship between mass communication and political deliberation.;To examine the implications that the presidential election of 1840 might hold for us today, this study adopts a communications analysis model and details five aspects of that year's campaign rhetoric: its audience, sources, context, primary medium and content.;A comprehensive reading of national newspapers from 1840 reveals a surprising conclusion: Whigs did not say that Harrison lived in a log cabin and in fact went into great detail describing his actual house. The "log cabin" was much more symbol than claim. Similarly, Whig treatments of Harrison's military career were certainly flattering but they were not notably deceptive, much less fraudulent. The parades, songs and hoopla that the Whigs sponsored were not new, nor were they the province of only one party that year. Democrats were neither listless nor baffled: in fact their vote total on behalf of President Martin Van Buren was much larger than what they'd posted in 1836. Democrats---or at least their leading national newspaper---had sought to win support in 1840 primarily by painting their opponents as "the party of abolition." The campaign was exciting, at times frivolous and certainly not without demagoguery. Still, voters had access to substantial amounts of political information and both candidates published their positions on virtually every major issue. It would appear, therefore, that the fabled "log cabin and hard cider campaign" merits a reconsideration.