(1840) Brass Token HT-815B, W.H. Harrison

Coin Details

Description

This brass William Henry Harrison campaign token from the 1840 presidential election features designs celebrating "Old Tippecanoe" and the Whig Party's masterful campaign to unseat incumbent Martin Van Buren. The 1840 election was the first modern American political campaign, pioneering the use of slogans, songs, mass rallies, and manufactured merchandise—including tokens like this one—to mobilize voters. The Whigs brilliantly co-opted a Democratic insult. When a Baltimore newspaper sneered that Harrison would be content to sit in a log cabin drinking hard cider, the Whigs embraced the imagery, making the log cabin and cider barrel into campaign symbols that positioned their wealthy Virginia-born candidate as a man of the people. Campaign tokens, medals, ribbons, and ceramics featuring these motifs were produced in enormous quantities. Harrison's military reputation as the hero of the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe against Tecumseh's Native American confederation provided the basis for the campaign's most famous slogan: "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too." Campaign tokens typically featured Harrison's portrait, the log cabin, or patriotic symbols, with reverses carrying slogans like "The People's Choice" or "Our Country's Hope."

Rarity Notes

Scarce. Brass. William Henry Harrison 1840 campaign token.

Cross References

Rulau HT-815B