Presidential Election of 1840: A Resource Guide

Harrisonian rally. (Vignette of the log cabin , the barrel of hard cider, and of Willaim H. Harrison behind the plow). Broadside, 1840. Prints & Photographs Division. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-7565

The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of material associated with the presidential election of 1840, including political cartoons, broadsides, newspaper articles, and sheet music. This guide compiles links to digital materials related to the presidential election of 1840 that are available throughout the Library of Congress Web site. In addition, it provides links to external Web sites focusing on the 1840 election and a selected bibliography.

1840 Presidential Election Results [1]

Library of Congress Web Site | External Web Sites | Selected Bibliography

American Memory Historical Collections

The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana

Alfred Whital Stern (1881-1960) of Chicago presented his outstanding collection of Lincolniana to the Library of Congress in 1953. This online release presents more than 1,300 items with more than 4,000 images and a date range of 1824-1931.

• Poll book for president. Morgan County Illinois. November, 1840.

An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera

The Printed Ephemera collection comprises 28,000 primary-source items dating from the seventeenth century to the present and encompasses key events and eras in American history. While the broadside format represents the bulk of the collection, there are a significant number of leaflets and some pamphlets.

• Atlas ----- Extra !! Sunday, November 8, 1840. Glorious news!!! Whig triumph.
• Courier Extra. Sunday, Nov. 8, 11 1-2 o'clock. The elections. Great and glorious news. New York. Nov. 8 [1840].
• Daily Gazette Extra. Boston, Thursday morning. Nov. 5, 1840.
• The eagle of liberty strangling the serpent of corruption. True American ticket. For president. Wm. Henry Harrison. For vice president Francis Granger...
• Election returns. Georgia journal extra. Milledgeville, October 16, 1840.
• Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison's cabin at North Bend. [n. p. c. 1840.]
• Harrisonians attend! The Tippecanoe boys of the City of Alton, are requested to meet in the Old Court room...
• Harrisonian rally! Keep the ball rolling.
• Harrison! and reform!! To the Log cabin boys...
• Morning Post extra. Boston, Wednesday Nov. 4, 1840. The elections. [Boston, 1840].
• Order of procession of the Harrison convention at Carlinville, July 25th, 1840. [Carlinville? Ill.].
• Our country's hope. Harrison & reform. 4th may 1840. Published by J. S. Horton, corner Baltimore and South St. Baltimore, Md.
• Proceedings of the Whig state convention, at Worcester, Mass., June 17, 1840.
• Public meeting A general meeting of the friends of Harrison & reform in the City of Alton will be held at the Old Court room...
• Sir: On behalf of the Republican committee of seventy-six, appointed by the citizens of the District of Columbia friendly to the election of General William Henry Harrison to the Presidency of the United States...
• A sketch of the life and public services of General William Henry Harrison, candidate of the people for president of the Unit d States, to which is annexed an appendix. Washington City. Printed by Jacob Gideon, jr. 1840.
• To the voters of Jersey County [Campaign broadside ticket for Jersey county] Jerseyville [Ill.] July 24, 1840.
• In the last paper a few of the inscriptions on the flags of the Log Cabin were given.

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875

This collection consists of published congressional records of the United States of America from 1774 to 1875.

• On February 10, 1841, the Electoral College votes for the presidential election of 1840 were counted by a joint session of Congress and reported in the Congressional Globe, as well as in the Senate Journal and the House Journal.

Map Collections

The focus of Map Collections is Americana and Cartographic Treasures of the Library of Congress. These images were created from maps and atlases selected from the collections of the Geography and Map Division.

• Political chart of the United States: Shewing the progress of reform, or sober second thoughts of the people. (contains the results from 1836 and 1840 presidential elections)

Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, 1820-1860

Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, ca. 1820-1860 consists of over 15,000 pieces of sheet music registered for copyright during the years 1820 to 1860. Included in this collection are sheet music related to the 1840 presidential election, including thirty-three pieces about William Henry Harrison's campaign.

The Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals

This collection presents twenty-three popular periodicals digitized by Cornell University Library and the Preservation Reformatting Division of the Library of Congress.

• The Late Election. [The United States Democratic Review. / Volume 8, Issue 35, November - December 1840]
• Mr. Van Buren's Title to Re-Election. [The United States Democratic Review. / Volume 7, Issue 28, April -May 1840]
  

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers

Chronicling America

This site allows you to search and view millions of historic American newspaper pages from 1836-1922. Search this collection to find newspaper articles about the presidential election of 1840.

A selection of articles on the 1840 presidential election includes:

• "Voice of the Whig Press," Vermont Watchman and State Journal. (Montpelier, Vermont), December 23, 1839.
• "Proceedings of the National Convention,"Burlington Free Press. (Burlington, Vermont), December 27, 1839.
• "Tippecanoe Club," Boon's Lick Times. (Fayette, Missouri), May 2, 1840.
• "The Union Redeemed," Jeffersonian Republican. (Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania), November 20, 1840.

Music Division

Performing Arts Encyclopedia (PAE)

The PAE is a guide to performing arts resources at the Library of Congress and provides information about the Library's unsurpassed collections of scores, sheet music, audio recordings, films, photographs, and other materials.

Includes the following sheet music from the 1840 presidential election:

• The gallant old hero
• Gen. Harrison's quick step
• Good hard cider
• The Harrison song
• The Harrison waltz
• The log cabin
• Log cabin
• Log cabin march and quick step

Prints & Photographs Division

Pictorial Americana: Selected Images from the Collections of the Library of Congress

Pictorial Americana, a Library of Congress publication, contains a chapter listing selected images related to the 1840 presidential election.

Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)

Search PPOC using the following subject headings to find additional prints, political cartoons, and other digital images related to the presidential election of 1840.

• Hard cider (Harrison campaign symbol)
• Harrison, William Henry,--1773-1841
• Log cabins--1840
• Political cartoons--1840
• Presidential elections--United States--1840
• Van Buren, Martin,--1782-1862

Today in History

December 5

Martin Van Buren, eighth president of the United States and a founder of the Democratic Party, was born on December 5, 1782, in New York. Van Buren's inability to alleviate the depression, along with his opposition to the annexation of Texas on grounds it would divide the nation over the expansion of slavery, led to his drubbing by Whig candidate William Henry Harrison in 1840.

External Web Sites

The American Presidency Project: Election of 1840

The American Presidency Project Web site presents election results from the 1840 presidential election.

Getting the Message Out! National Political Campaign Materials, 1840-1860

The Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project Web site provides histories of the presidential campaigns from 1840-1860, as well as primary source material, such as campaign biographies and campaign songbooks. Recordings of some of the songs are also available.

The Campaign of 1840: William Henry Harrison and Tyler, Too

The EDSITEment Web site, a project of the National Endowment for the Humanities, contains three lesson plans on the presidential election of 1840.

Selected Bibliography

Primary Sources

Address of J.C. Alford. Washington, D.C.: 1840. [Catalog Record] [Full Text]

Address of the Whig Convention for the Nomination of Electors. Richmond, Va., 1840. [Catalog Record] [Full Text]

A Brief Account of the Life and Political Opinions of Martin Van Buren. n. p., 1840. [Catalog Record] [Full Text]

Facts for the People. The Various Charges against General W. H. Harrison Briefly Stated and Refuted, and Some of the Objections to the Present Administration Enumerated. Jonesborough, Tenn.: Brownlow and Garland, 1840. [Catalog Record] [Full Text]

The Presidential Question. n. p., 1840. [Catalog Record] [Full Text]

Proceedings of the Democratic Whig National Convention, which Assembled at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on the Fourth of December, 1839, for the Purpose of Nominating Candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States. Harrisburg: Printed by R. S. Elliott & Co., 1839. [Catalog Record] [Full Text]

Proceedings of the National Democratic Convention, held in ... Baltimore, on the 5th of May, 1840. Embracing Resolutions, Expressive of the Sentiments of the Democratic Party of the Union: and an Address, in Support of the Principles and Measures of the Present National Administration. Baltimore: Printed at the Office of Blair & Rives, 1840. [Catalog Record] [Full Text]

Dana, Edmund P. A Voice from Bunker-Hill, and the Fathers of the Revolutionary War, in Favor of the Hero of North-Bend, Being a Few Candid Remarks and Observations on the Approaching Presidential Election, and Subjects Connected therewith. Agreeably to the Request of Whig and Democratic Friends. Bunker-Hill, 1840. [Catalog Record] [Full Text]

Greene, Charles Gordon, and Benjamin Franklin Hallett. The Identity of the Old Hartford Convention Federalists with the Modern Whig, Harrison Party. Boston, 1840. [Catalog Record] [Full Text]

Rives, William C. Letter from the Hon. William C. Rives, of Virginia. Washington, D.C.: s.n., 1840. [Catalog Record] [Full Text]

Wilmot, Robert. A New Work, in Favor of the Whig Cause, and the Election of General Harrison to the Presidential Chair. Cincinnati: J. B. & R. P. Donogh, 1840. [Catalog Record] [Full Text]

Secondary Sources

Collins, Gail. William Henry Harrison. New York: Times Books/Henry Holt and Co., 2012. [Catalog Record]

Gunderson, Robert Gray. The Log-Cabin Campaign. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1957. [Catalog Record]

Notes

1. Presidential Elections, 1789-2008. (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2010), 129, 219.