Presidential Election of 1840

AT THE END of Martin Van Buren's tumultuous first term as president of the United States, the divergent Whig Party reemerged under a unified party platform to engage in one of the most memorable campaigning spectacles ever seen in American politics. This was due, in part, to increased suffrage rights for white male voters and newfangled party organization, as well as a multitude of colorful, politically-charged negative advertisements propagated by the competitors, especially from the campaign of Whig Party candidate William Henry Harrison. Ending an era of lukewarm public interest in voting, the presidential election of 1840 garnered a staggering 80 percent voter turnout, soliciting nearly 2.5 million voters. The result of the election was a landslide Electoral College victory for the Whigs over incumbent Van Buren, despite a close popular vote.

Martin Van Buren was groomed for the presidency by his revered predecessor, Andrew Jackson, and took office after a decisive victory against an unorganized Whig Party in the presidential election of 1836. Van Buren's tenure as the eighth president of the United States oversaw the Panic of 1837, one of the most severe financial crises in the history of the United States to that point, which had ghastly effects on his presidency and his bid for re-election in 1840. The Panic's ensuing unemployment, bank and business closures, and economic depression were largely attributable to Van Buren's predecessor Andrew Jackson's refusal to renew the charter of the Second Bank of the United States, as well as his Specie Circular executive order, which required payment for public lands in “hard money,” such as gold or silver.

Van Buren inherited the consequences of Jackson's policies just weeks after taking office, but vowed to continue his predecessor's vision of American fiscal policy. Many believed that Van Buren's unwillingness to involve the government in the resuscitation of the economy was a major factor in prolonging the Panic's duration. As such, the economic depression became a central focus in the presidential election of 1840 and a major motivating force in uniting the Whig Party.

The Whig Party, after nearly obtaining a House majority in 1837, inferred that they had enough political clout to run a single candidate for the presidency in 1840, rather than running several sectional Whig candidates to muddle the Electoral College. The desire to run a single candidate and aim for a win brought together the party faithful. The three Whig candidates who emerged for the party's nomination were Winfield Scott of Virginia, Henry Clay of Kentucky, and William Henry Harrison of Ohio.

The Whig's 1839 national convention was held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and marked a new precedent in American political history as the first such delegation to be called by a central party group. The Whigs also restricted the number of delegates from each state to its allotment of presidential electors, rather than allowing all of the states' electors to vote individually (and possibly tipping the scale by their attendance). At the nominating convention, political maneuvering by shrewd Whig politicians in attendance shifted the nomination in favor of Harrison over Henry Clay, who was portrayed as a candidate who could not defeat Van Buren in the general election. Clay indignantly declined an invitation to run as Harrison's vice presidential candidate on the party ticket after conceding the Whig nomination. John Tyler, a Virginian and close friend [Page 573]of Clay, was chosen as the vice presidential candidate instead. A ratifying convention was later held in Baltimore, Maryland, at the same time and in the same city as the Democratic gathering.

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