- When
- 1836
In one line: Martin Van Buren (Democratic) succeeded Andrew Jackson against several Whig candidates; this page holds three Van Buren items and three Harrison items, and none for White, Webster or Mangum.
Context
Van Buren won 170 of 294 electoral votes; William Henry Harrison received 73, Hugh Lawson White 26, Daniel Webster 14 and Willie P. Mangum 11 [1]. The popular vote was 764,176 for Van Buren, 550,816 for Harrison, 146,107 for White and 41,201 for Webster [2]. The Whig Party, formed in the early 1830s in opposition to Jackson's presidency, ran several regional candidates, which the cross-check source describes as an attempt to deny Van Buren an electoral majority and force the election into the House of Representatives [3]. No vice presidential candidate won a majority, and the Senate chose Richard M. Johnson [1].
Voters were reached by printed electors' tickets, lithographed cartoons and newspapers.
Campaign literature
| Candidate (party) | Objects in the archive |
|---|---|
| Martin Van Buren (Democratic) | 3 |
| William Henry Harrison (Whig) | 3 |
| Hugh Lawson White (Whig) | 0 |
| Daniel Webster (Whig) | 0 |
| Willie P. Mangum (Whig) | 0 |
Van Buren and Harrison each have three objects. White, Webster and Mangum have none located. The Van Buren objects are Ohio electors' tickets; the Harrison objects are three cartoons published by H. R. Robinson of New York, which the Library of Congress attributes to Edward Williams Clay. This does not show that nothing survives for the other candidates.
Martin Van Buren (Democratic)
- Democratic ticket, "Liberty & equal rights" (Ohio electors for Van Buren and Johnson), 1836 (leaflet, 1836): An Ohio electors' ticket for Van Buren and Johnson shows Van Buren as a "Magician" projecting "Liberty & Equal Rights" onto the Capitol, with Jackson's sword and bugle at his feet.
- Democratic tickets, "Go it, ye Cripples!" and "Stop Van!!!" (Ohio electors, Van Buren and Johnson), 1836 (leaflet, 1836): A sheet of two Ohio tickets carries hog-race woodcuts in which Webster, Harrison and White trail Van Buren under the caption "Go it, ye Cripples!" and a rider calls "Stop VAN!!!".
- Democratic ticket, "Going the whole hog" (Ohio electors for Van Buren and Johnson), 1836 (leaflet, 1836): An Ohio electors' ticket for Van Buren and Johnson is topped by a man carrying a hog, with the slogan "Going the whole Hog" and the price "Pork 10 cts. pr. lb.".
William Henry Harrison (Whig)
- "Grand match between the Kinderhook poney and the Ohio ploughman", April 1836 (cartoon, 1836-04): A billiards cartoon puts Harrison under a portrait of Washington and Van Buren with Jackson under a portrait of Napoleon, while backers announce "Harrison wins the game".
- "Political race course - Union Track - fall races 1836" (cartoon, 1836): A horse-race lithograph shows Harrison ("Old Tippecanoe") leading Van Buren (the "Kinderhook Poney", ridden by Jackson), White and Webster, with riders' speeches announcing the result.
- "Set-to between the champion Old Tip & the swell Dutchman of Kinderhook", 1836 (cartoon, 1836): A boxing-ring cartoon shows Harrison, backed by "the people", landing a blow on Van Buren, who is labelled "Dutchman" and "Cold Blooded Kinderhooker" and, in one label, with a racial slur.
Hugh Lawson White (Whig)
No item for White is catalogued in this archive.
Daniel Webster (Whig)
No item for Webster is catalogued in this archive.
Willie P. Mangum (Whig)
No item for Mangum is catalogued in this archive.
Techniques visible
The same definitions apply to every candidate. Each list below is generated from the techniques tags in the entries.
- Bandwagon: Buren (Democratic tickets, "Go it, ye Cripples!" and "Stop Van!!!" (Ohio electors, Van Buren and Johnson), 1836, Democratic ticket, "Going the whole hog" (Ohio electors for Van Buren and Johnson), 1836); Harrison ("Grand match between the Kinderhook poney and the Ohio ploughman", April 1836, "Political race course - Union Track - fall races 1836"). The tell is the same for each: a slogan, verse or picture announcing that the candidate is winning or that others are joining.
- Name-calling: Buren (Democratic tickets, "Go it, ye Cripples!" and "Stop Van!!!" (Ohio electors, Van Buren and Johnson), 1836); Harrison ("Political race course - Union Track - fall races 1836", "Set-to between the champion Old Tip & the swell Dutchman of Kinderhook", 1836). The tell is the same for each: a derisive or loaded label, animal or ethnic image attached to a candidate, his backers or his opponents in place of an argument.
- Transfer: Buren (Democratic ticket, "Liberty & equal rights" (Ohio electors for Van Buren and Johnson), 1836); Harrison ("Grand match between the Kinderhook poney and the Ohio ploughman", April 1836, "Set-to between the champion Old Tip & the swell Dutchman of Kinderhook", 1836). The tell is the same for each: the standing of a person, place, symbol or event is attached to a candidate.
- Glittering generalities: Buren (Democratic ticket, "Liberty & equal rights" (Ohio electors for Van Buren and Johnson), 1836). The tell is the same for each: virtue words offered with no testable claim.
One standard for card-stacking: it is tagged only where the object itself presents selected one-sided claims or incidents, for any side; a slogan, a price or a single satirical contrast is not tagged.
Sources
- National Archives, "Electoral College: 1836 Election", https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/1836
- American Presidency Project, "Elections: 1836", https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/elections/1836
- Wikipedia, "1836 United States presidential election" (cross-check only), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1836_United_States_presidential_election
- Library of Congress records for the objects described: democratic-ticket-liberty-equal-rights-van-buren-1836, democratic-ticket-stop-van-van-buren-1836, democratic-ticket-whole-hog-van-buren-1836, grand-match-kinderhook-poney-ohio-ploughman-harrison-1836, political-race-course-union-track-harrison-1836, set-to-old-tip-kinderhook-harrison-1836.