Description: This broadside, titled "Proposals for the Log Cabin," promotes the candidacy of William Henry Harrison, who went on to defeat President Martin Van Buren in the U.S. presidential election of 1840. The broadside bears the signatures of Harrison supporters who are advertising the availability of "13 numbers of a paper" titled "Log Cabin." The document is dated February 29, 1840. During the campaign, Harrison's supporters portrayed him as a common man who was born in a log cabin and liked to drink hard cider. It was not the first or last time that exaggerated and inaccurate claims have been made about a candidate by his friends. A rugged log cabin became the campaign's iconic symbol. William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) was an American political and military leader and the ninth President of the United States. Born in Charles County, Virginia, he graduated college and then studied medicine at his father’s insistence. After his father’s death in 1791, he joined the U.S. Army and served in the military until 1798. In the Northwest Territory he assisted General Anthony Wayne as an aide-de-camp. He participated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers and was present at the negotiating and signing of the Treaty of Greeneville. After leaving military service, Harrison was Secretary of the Northwest Territory and later represented the Northwest Territory in the U.S. Congress. He served as governor of Indiana Territory (modern-day Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan) from 1800 to 1813. While he was governor, Harrison also was the Superintendent for Indian Affairs in the American Northwest. He convinced many Native Americans to relinquish millions of acres of land in what is now the Midwestern U.S. Because the United States had reserved this land to the Native Americans in the Treaty of Greeneville, some Native Americans refused to forsake their claims. Chief among these people were the Shawnee, led by Tecumseh and the Prophet, Tecumseh's brother. These two men worked to form a confederation of all Native American tribes west of the Appalachian Mountains. Harrison marched against Tecumseh in late 1811. While Tecumseh was away seeking additional followers, Harrison attacked the Shawnees' major village, Prophetstown. On November 7, 1811, at the Battle of Tippecanoe, the U.S. army destroyed the village and hindered the success of the native alliance. During the War of 1812, Harrison rose to the rank of brigadier-general and commanded the Army of the Northwest. In October 1813 the Army of the Northwest fought a joint British and Native American force led by General Henry Proctor and Tecumseh in the Battle of the Thames. The British ran from the battlefield, leaving the Native Americans to fight on alone. The Americans defeated the Native Americans, killing Tecumseh. Following the War of 1812, Harrison returned to politics. He made his home at North Bend, just west of Cincinnati, Ohio. He represented Ohio in the U.S. Congress for two terms and also was U.S. ambassador to Colombia. In 1836 he ran as a Whig Party candidate for the presidency of the United States but lost to Martin Van Buren. With John Tyler as his running mate during the 1840 presidential campaign, Harrison emphasized his military record against Tecumseh and the British in the War of 1812. His famous campaign slogan was "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too." The American voters elected Harrison with the wide margin of victory of 234 electoral-college votes for Harrison to Van Buren's sixty. The sixty-eight-year-old Harrison took office in 1841. He served the shortest time in office of any man elected to the presidency. He died of pneumonia on April 4, 1841, one month after taking office. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: OVS4980_B58
Subjects: Harrison, William Henry, 1773-1841; Broadsides--1800-1890; Political campaigns; Presidential campaigns; Propaganda; Presidents; Ohio History--Presidents and Politics
Places: Ohio History Connection Archives/Library