ey feared to nominate their one
masterful leader, and in weak imitation of the Jackson men of 1828
turned to William Henry Harrison, a frontier general of no great ability
or reputation. John Tyler, a Virginia politician of the Calhoun school,
was made the candidate for the Vice-Presidency. On the matter of a
program it was impossible for the Whig groups to agree, and consequently
they offered no platform at all. But the West received notice from the
leaders that in the event of success, the debts of their States would be
laid upon the broad shoulders of the Union and that internal
improvements would be resumed. In the East the restoration of the
National Bank and the renewal of the high tariff schedules of 1832 were
the assurances of men like Webster and Clay. With differences so great
dividing the opposition it was impossible to make a campaign on the
issues of the time, serious as these were acknowledged to be.

The contest which followed was unlike any other in the history of the
Union. "Hard cider," "coon skins," and "log cabins" became the slogans
of the campaign, because once in his life General Harrison had lived in
a cabin and "drunk the beverage of the common people." Van Buren could
not meet such cries. His canvass became a defense, and his followers
half acknowledged their defeat when it was seen that the West rallied to
Harrison. The plain citizen was carried off his feet, and he voted
against the man in the White House who was said to use gold and silver
on his table and dress himself before costly French mirrors. Nor was he
certain in his more serious vein whether after all Jackson had not made
a sad blunder in choosing the New York politician to carry out his
policies. Without real argument or any serious presentation of the
issues the Whigs, appealing to what were considered Western prejudices,
built log cabins on the public squares, wore coonskin caps, and sang Van
Buren out of office to the tune of "Typ and Ty," "Little Van is a
used-up man," and other like vanities.

The result was an overwhelming victory for Harrison and Tyler, the
President carrying only one New England State and Virginia, South
Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois, and receiving only
sixty electoral votes out of a total of 294. The popular vote was
2,400,000, almost twice as great as in any previous election. The people
were learning to vote if nothing more. Van Buren and his lieutenants,
including Calhoun, were ch