View source for 1840 United States presidential election

{{Short description|none}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}{{for|related races|1840 United States elections}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1840 United States presidential election
| country = United States
| flag_year = 1837
| type = presidential
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 1836 United States presidential election
| previous_year = 1836
| next_election = 1844 United States presidential election
| next_year = 1844
| votes_for_election = 294 members of the [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]]
| needed_votes = 148 electoral
| turnout = 80.3% <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.electproject.org/national-1789-present|title=National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789-Present|work=United States Election Project|publisher=[[CQ Press]]}}</ref> {{increase}} 23.9 [[percentage point|pp]]
| election_date = October 30 – November 23, 1840<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dubin |first1=Michael J. |title=United States Presidential Elections, 1788–1860: The Official Results by County and State |date=2002 |publisher=McFarland & Co. |location=Jefferson, NC |page=xvi}}</ref>
| image_size = x200px
| image1 = William Henry Harrison crop.jpg
| nominee1 = '''[[William Henry Harrison]]'''
| party1 = Whig Party (United States)
| alliance1 = [[Anti-Masonic Party|Anti-Masonic]]
| home_state1 = [[Ohio]]
| running_mate1 = '''[[John Tyler]]'''
| electoral_vote1 = '''234'''
| states_carried1 = '''19'''
| popular_vote1 = '''1,275,390'''
| percentage1 = '''52.9%'''
| image2 = Martin Van Buren circa 1837 crop.jpg
| nominee2 = [[Martin Van Buren]]
| party2 = Democratic Party (United States)
| alliance2 = 
| home_state2 = [[New York (state)|New York]]
| running_mate2 = ''N/A''{{efn|While there was no official Democratic nominee, the majority of the Democratic electors still cast their electoral votes for incumbent vice president [[Richard Mentor Johnson]].}}
| electoral_vote2 = 60
| states_carried2 = 7
| popular_vote2 = 1,128,854
| percentage2 = 46.8%
| map_size = 350px
| map = {{1840 United States presidential election imagemap}}
| map_caption = Presidential election results map. <span style="color:#e3af2a;">Yellow</span> denotes states won by Harrison/Tyler and <span style="color:blue;">Blue</span> by Van Buren. Numbers indicate the number of [[United States Electoral College|electoral votes]] cast by each state.
| title = President
| before_election = [[Martin Van Buren]]
| before_party = Democratic Party (United States)
| after_election = [[William Henry Harrison]]
| after_party = Whig Party (United States)
}}
[[United States presidential election|Presidential elections]] were held in the [[United States]] from October 30 to December 2, 1840. In the shadow of an incomplete economic recovery from the [[Panic of 1837]], [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] nominee [[William Henry Harrison]] defeated incumbent President [[Martin Van Buren]] of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. The election marked the first of two Whig victories in presidential elections, but was the only one where they won a majority of the popular vote. This was also the third rematch in American history.

In 1839, the Whigs held a national convention for the first time. The [[1839 Whig National Convention]] saw 1836 nominee William Henry Harrison defeat former Secretary of State [[Henry Clay]] and General [[Winfield Scott]]. Van Buren faced little opposition at the [[1840 Democratic National Convention]], but controversial Vice President [[Richard Mentor Johnson]] was not renominated. The Democrats thus became the only major party since 1800 to fail to select a vice presidential nominee.

Referencing vice presidential nominee [[John Tyler]] and Harrison's participation in the [[Battle of Tippecanoe]], the Whigs campaigned on the slogan of "[[Tippecanoe and Tyler Too]]." With Van Buren weakened by economic woes, Harrison won a popular majority and 234 of 294 [[Electoral College (United States)|electoral votes]]. Voter participation surged as white male suffrage became nearly universal,<ref>{{cite web |title=White Manhood Suffrage |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/democracy-exhibition/vote-voice/getting-vote/demanding-vote/white-manhood-suffrage |website=National Museum of American History |access-date=6 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629070524/https://americanhistory.si.edu/democracy-exhibition/vote-voice/getting-vote/demanding-vote/white-manhood-suffrage |archive-date=29 June 2021 |language=English |url-status=live}}</ref> and a contemporary record of 42.4% of the voting age population voted for Harrison.<ref name="turnout">Between 1828–1928: {{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/turnout.php|title=Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections: 1828–2008|work=The American Presidency Project|publisher=[[UC Santa Barbara]]|access-date=2012-11-09}}</ref> Van Buren's loss made him the third president to lose re-election.

The Whigs did not enjoy the benefits of victory. The 67-year-old Harrison, the oldest U.S. president elected until [[Ronald Reagan]] won the [[1980 United States presidential election|1980 election]], died a little more than a month after inauguration. Harrison was succeeded by John Tyler, who unexpectedly proved not to be a Whig. While Tyler had been a staunch supporter of Clay at the convention, he was a former Democrat, a passionate supporter of states' rights, and effectively an independent. As President, Tyler blocked the Whigs' legislative agenda and was expelled from the Whig Party, subsequently the second independent (after Washington) to serve as president. Van Buren would be the last incumbent president to lose his reelection bid in a general election until fellow Democrat [[Grover Cleveland]] in [[1888 United States presidential election|1888]]. This was also the last time a challenger to an incumbent President got a majority of the vote until [[1932 United States presidential election|1932]]. This was also the last time as of 2024 where the incumbent president seeking re-election flipped a state yet failed to secure re-election, with Van Buren winning South Carolina, despite losing it four years earlier, and losing re-election to Harrison.  

== Nominations ==

=== Whig Party nomination ===
{{main|1839 Whig National Convention}}

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
|-
| style="background:#f1f1f1;" colspan="30"|<big>'''1840 Whig Party ticket'''</big>
|-
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#F0DC82; width:200px;"| [[William Henry Harrison|{{color|black|William Henry Harrison}}]]
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#F0DC82; width:200px;"| [[John Tyler|{{color|black|John Tyler}}]]
|-  style="color:#000000; font-size:100%; background:#F0DC82;"
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:lightyellow; width:200px;"|'''''for President'''''
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:lightyellow; width:200px;"|'''''for Vice President'''''
|-
| [[File:William Henry Harrison crop.jpg|center|200x200px]]
| [[File:John Tyler (cropped 3x4).png|center|200x200px]]
|-
| United States Minister for Gran Columbia<br /><small>(1829)</small>
| [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]]<br />from [[Virginia]]<br /><small>(1827–1836)</small><br>[[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore of the Senate]]<br /><small>(1835)</small>
|-
| colspan=2 |[[William Henry Harrison 1840 presidential campaign|'''Campaign''']]
|-
|}

The first national convention of the Whig Party was called for by members of the party in Congress and it was attended by almost 250 delegates in [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]]. [[Henry Clay]], William Henry Harrison, and [[Winfield Scott]] ran for the party's presidential nomination. The delegations of each state balloted separately before meeting together with the other representatives of the states. Clay initially led on the first ballot, but Harrison won on the final ballot with 148 votes compared to Clay's 90 votes and Scott's 16 votes after supporters from Scott switched to Harrison. [[John Tyler]] was selected as a factional and geographical balance to Harrison.<ref name="nomination">{{cite book |date=1979 |title=National Party Conventions, 1831-1976 |publisher=[[Congressional Quarterly]]}}</ref>

=== Democratic Party nomination ===
{{Main|1840 Democratic National Convention}}

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; text-align:center;"
|-
| style="background:#f1f1f1;" colspan="30"|<big>'''1840 Democratic Party ticket'''</big>
|-
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#3333FF; width:200px;"| [[Martin Van Buren|{{color|white|Martin Van Buren}}]]
! style="width:3em; font-size:135%; background:#3333FF; width:200px;" |[[None of the above|{{color|white|None}}]]
|-
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#C8EBFF; width:200px;"|'''''for President'''''
| style="width:3em; font-size:100%; color:#000; background:#C8EBFF; width:200px;"|'''''for Vice President'''''
|-
| [[File:Martin Van Buren circa 1837 crop.jpg|center|200x200px]]
|-
| 8th<br />[[President of the United States]]<br /><small>(1837–1841)</small>
| [[N/A]]
|-
|}

Democratic members of the [[New Hampshire General Court]] made a call for the [[1840 Democratic National Convention]] which was held in [[Baltimore, Maryland]] in May 1840. Delegates from twenty-two states attended the convention, but the sizes of the delegations varied with New Jersey having fifty-nine delegates to cast its eight votes while Massachusetts only had one delegate to cast its fourteen votes.<ref name="nomination" />

A committee was formed to make recommendations for the nominations and the committee supported Van Buren for renomination which was approved by acclamation. However, the vice-presidential nomination was left vacant due to opposition to Vice President [[Richard M. Johnson]]'s personal life.<ref name="nomination" />

=== Anti-Masonic Party nomination ===
After the negative views of Freemasonry among a large segment of the public began to wane in the mid-1830s, the [[Anti-Masonic Party]] disintegrated. Many leaders began to move to the Whig party. Remaining leaders met in September 1837 in Washington, and agreed to maintain the party. The third Anti-Masonic Party National Convention was held in Philadelphia on November 13–14, 1838. By this time, the party had been almost entirely supplanted by the Whigs. The delegates unanimously voted to nominate William Henry Harrison for president (who the party had supported for president the previous election along with [[Francis Granger]] for vice president) and [[Daniel Webster]] for vice president. However, when the Whig National Convention nominated Harrison with John Tyler as his running mate, the Anti-Masonic Party did not make an alternate nomination and ceased to function and was fully absorbed into the Whigs by 1840.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"
|+ Convention vote
|-
! Presidential vote
!
! Vice presidential vote
!
|-
| align=left | [[William Henry Harrison]]
| 119
| align=left | [[Daniel Webster]]
| 119
|}

=== Liberty Party nomination ===

[[James G. Birney]], [[Myron Holley]], [[Joshua Leavitt]], and [[Gerrit Smith]] proposed the creation of an anti-slavery party. In July 1839, two resolutions proposed by Holley at the [[American Anti-Slavery Society]]'s meeting in Cleveland, called for the creation of an abolitionist party. They failed. Nevertheless, the supporters nominated Birney and [[Francis Julius LeMoyne]] as a presidential ticket at a meeting in [[Warsaw, New York]]. However, Birney declined the presidential nomination as he preferred a nomination to be made by a regular body of abolitionists and LeMoyne also declined the vice-presidential nomination. Smith and Holley made a call for an abolitionist nominating convention to be held on April 1, 1840, in [[Albany, New York]]. 121 delegates attended the delegation and selected a presidential ticket of Birney and [[Thomas Earle (American politician)|Thomas Earle]]. which was accepted. It took the name [[Liberty Party (United States, 1840)|Liberty Party]].<ref name="liberty">{{cite book |last=Hesseltine |first=William B. |author-link=William B. Hesseltine |date=1962 |page=33 |title=Third-Party Movements in the United States |publisher=Van Nostrand Company}}</ref>

Birney was unable to campaign during the election as he was in England until November. The Liberty Party received opposition from followers of [[William Lloyd Garrison]] and abolitionist Whigs. The Liberty Party received 7,453 votes.<ref name="liberty" />

== General election ==

=== Campaign ===
[[File:The times panic 1837.jpg|thumb|Caricature on the aftermath of the panic of 1837]]
In the wake of the [[Panic of 1837]], Van Buren was widely unpopular, and Harrison, following [[Andrew Jackson]]'s strategy, ran as a war hero and man of the people while presenting Van Buren as a wealthy snob living in luxury at the public expense. Although Harrison was comfortably wealthy and well educated, his "[[log cabin#Symbolism|log cabin]]" image caught fire, sweeping all sections of the country.

Harrison avoided campaigning on the issues, with his Whig Party attracting a broad coalition with few common ideals. The Whig strategy overall was to win the election by avoiding discussion of difficult national issues such as slavery or the national bank and concentrate instead on exploiting dissatisfaction over the failed policies of the Van Buren administration with colorful campaigning techniques.

==== Log cabin campaign of William Henry Harrison ====
{{main|William Henry Harrison 1840 presidential campaign}}
Harrison was the first president to campaign actively for office. He did so with the slogan "[[Tippecanoe and Tyler too]]". Tippecanoe referred to [[Battle of Tippecanoe|Harrison's military victory]] over a group of [[Shawnee]] Native Americans at a river in Indiana called [[Tippecanoe River|Tippecanoe]] in 1811. For their part, Democrats laughed at Harrison for being too old for the presidency, and referred to him as "Granny", hinting that he was senile. Said one Democratic newspaper: "Give him a barrel of [[hard cider]], and ... a pension of two thousand [dollars] a year ... and ... he will sit the remainder of his days in his log cabin."<ref>{{Cite web |title=1840: The Log Cabin and Hard Cider Campaign · Voices and Votes: Democracy on Delmarva · Nabb Research Center Online Exhibits |url=https://libapps.salisbury.edu/nabb-online/exhibits/show/voices/the-machinery-of-democracy/1840--the-log-cabin-and-hard-c |access-date=2023-01-07 |website=libapps.salisbury.edu}}</ref>

[[File:PresidentialCounty1840ExtentColorbrewer.gif|right|thumb|350px|Results by county explicitly indicating the percentage of the winning candidate in each county. Shades of yellow are for Harrison (Whig) and shades of blue are for Van Buren (Democrat).]]
Whigs took advantage of this quip and declared that Harrison was "the log cabin and hard cider candidate", a man of the common people from the rough-and-tumble West. They depicted Harrison's opponent, President [[Martin Van Buren]], as a wealthy snob who was out of touch with the people. In fact, it was Harrison who came from a family of wealthy planters, while Van Buren's father was a tavernkeeper. Harrison however moved to the frontier and for years lived in a log cabin, while Van Buren had been a well-paid government official.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

Nonetheless, the election was held in the wake of the Panic of 1837, one of the worst economic depressions in the nation's history,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Campbell |first=Stephen |date=2020-11-12 |title=Panic of 1837 |url=https://economic-historian.com/2020/11/panic-of-1837/ |access-date=2023-01-07 |website=The Economic Historian |language=en-US}}</ref> and voters blamed Van Buren, seeing him as unsympathetic to struggling citizens. Harrison campaigned vigorously and won.

==Results==
31.9% of the voting age population and 80.3% of eligible voters participated in the election.{{sfn|Abramson|Aldrich|Rohde|1995|p=99}} This was the first time that a majority of southern voters participated in the election. (A majority in the north had first participated in an election in 1828.){{sfn|Black|Black|1992|p=214}}

Harrison won the support of western settlers and eastern bankers alike. Of the 1,179 counties/independent cities making returns, Harrison won in 699 (59.29%) while Van Buren carried 477 (40.46%). Three counties (0.25%) in the South split evenly between Harrison and Van Buren.

The extent of Van Buren's unpopularity was evident in Harrison's victories in New York, the president's home state, and in Tennessee, where Andrew Jackson himself had come out of retirement to stump for his former vice-president.

This was the first time a Democratic president lost re-election, as well as the first of only two times (the other being 1980) that a Democratic president lost re-election and lost the popular vote.

This was also the first election in U.S. history in which a candidate won more than a million popular votes.

This was the last election where  Indiana voted for the Whigs. It was also the only election where the Whigs won Maine, Michigan, and Mississippi. The election was also the last time that a majority of voters in Mississippi voted against the Democrats until 1872, the last in which a majority of voters in Indiana voted against Democrats until 1860, and the last in which a majority of voters in Maine and Michigan voted against Democrats until 1856. This is the only election in American history in which a majority of voters in Alabama and a majority of voters in Mississippi voted for different candidates.

The 1840 presidential election was the only time in which four people who either had been or would become a U.S. President (Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, and Polk) received at least one vote in the Electoral College when it voted for president and vice-president.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.270towin.com/1840_Election/|title=1840 Presidential Election|access-date=23 November 2020|website=[[270toWin]]}}</ref>

Harrison's victory won him precious little time as chief executive of the United States. After giving the [[Inauguration of William Henry Harrison|longest inauguration speech]] in U.S. history (lasting about 1 hour and 45 minutes, in cold weather and rain), Harrison served only one month as president before dying of pneumonia on April 4, 1841. 

[[File: United States Electoral College 1840.svg]]

{{Start U.S. presidential ticket box|pv_footnote=<sup>(a)</sup>|ev_footnote=}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=[[William Henry Harrison]]|party=[[United States Whig Party|Whig]]|state=[[Ohio]]|pv=1,275,583|pv_pct=52.87%|ev=234|vp_name=[[John Tyler]]|vp_state=[[Virginia]]}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box rowspan|name=[[Martin Van Buren]] (incumbent)|party=[[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]]|state=[[New York (state)|New York]]|pv=1,129,645|pv_pct=46.82%|ev=60|vp_count=3|vp_name=[[Richard Mentor Johnson]] (incumbent)|vp_state=[[Kentucky]]|vp_ev=48}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box vp subrow|vp_name=[[Littleton W. Tazewell]]|vp_state=[[Virginia]]|vp_ev=11}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box vp subrow|vp_name=[[James K. Polk]]|vp_state=[[Tennessee]]|vp_ev=1}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row|name=[[James G. Birney]]|party=[[Liberty Party (United States, 1840)|Liberty]]|state=[[New York (state)|New York]]|pv=7,453|pv_pct=0.31%|ev=0|vp_name=[[Thomas Earle (American politician)|Thomas Earle]]|vp_state=[[Pennsylvania]]}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box other|footnote=|pv=13| pv_pct=0.00%}}
{{End U.S. presidential ticket box|pv=2,412,694|ev=294|to_win=148}}

'''Source (Popular Vote):''' {{Leip PV source| year=1840| as of=July 27, 2005}}
'''Source (Electoral Vote):''' {{National Archives EV source| year=1840| as of=July 31, 2005}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1840&f=0&off=0&elect=0|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120070955/https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1840&f=0&off=0&elect=0|archive-date=January 20, 2022|url-status=live|title=1840 Presidential General Election Results |website=[[Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections]]}}</ref>

<sup>(a)</sup> ''The popular vote figures exclude [[South Carolina]] where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.''

{{bar box
|title=Popular vote
|width=600px
|barwidth=410px
|bars=
{{bar percent|'''Harrison'''|{{party color|Whig Party (United States)}}|52.88}}
{{bar percent|Van Buren|{{party color|Democratic Party (US)}}|46.81}}
{{bar percent|Others|#777777|0.31}}
}}
{{bar box
|title=Electoral vote
|width=600px
|barwidth=410px
|bars=
{{bar percent|'''Harrison'''|{{party color|Whig Party (United States)}}|79.59}}
{{bar percent|Van Buren|{{party color|Democratic Party (US)}}|20.41}}
}}

===Geography of results===
====Cartographic gallery====
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
PresidentialCounty1840Colorbrewer.gif|Map of presidential election results by county
WhigPresidentialCounty1840Colorbrewer.gif|Map of Whig presidential election results by county
DemocraticPresidentialCounty1840Colorbrewer.gif|Map of Democratic presidential election results by county
LibertyPresidentialCounty1840Colorbrewer.gif|Map of Liberty presidential election results by county
OtherPresidentialCounty1840Colorbrewer.gif|Map of "Other" presidential election results by county
CartogramPresidentialCounty1840Colorbrewer.gif|[[Cartogram]] of presidential election results by county
CartogramWhigPresidentialCounty1840Colorbrewer.gif|Cartogram of Whig presidential election results by county
CartogramDemocraticPresidentialCounty1840Colorbrewer.gif|Cartogram of Democratic presidential election results by county
CartogramLibertyPresidentialCounty1840Colorbrewer.gif|Cartogram of Liberty presidential election results by county
CartogramOtherPresidentialCounty1840Colorbrewer.gif|Cartogram of "Other" presidential election results by county
</gallery>

===Results by state===
Source: Data from Walter Dean Burnham, ''Presidential ballots, 1836–1892'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1955) pp 247–257.
{|class="wikitable"
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
|States/districts won by [[Martin Van Buren|Van Buren]]
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
|States/districts won by [[William Henry Harrison|Harrison]]/[[John Tyler|Tyler]]
|}<div style="overflow:auto">
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
|-
! colspan=2 |
! align=center colspan=3 | William Henry Harrison<br />Whig
! align=center colspan=3 | Martin Van Buren<br />Democratic
! align=center colspan=3 | James G. Birney<br />Liberty
! colspan="2" |Margin
! align=center colspan=2 | State Total
|-
! align=center | State
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" | electoral<br />votes
! align=center | #
! align=center | %
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" | electoral<br />votes
! align=center | #
! align=center | %
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" | electoral<br />votes
! align=center | #
! align=center | %
! style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" | electoral<br />votes
!#
!%
! align=center | #
!
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Alabama|Alabama]]
! 7
| <span style="display:none">00013618</span>28,515
| 45.62
| -
| <span style="display:none">00048669</span>33,996
| 54.38
| 7
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
| -5,481
| -8.76
| 62,511
! AL
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Arkansas|Arkansas]]
! 3
| 5,160
| 43.58
| -
| 6,679
| 56.42
| 3
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
| -1,519
| -12.84
| 11,839
! AR
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Connecticut|Connecticut]]
! 8
| 31,598
| 55.55
| 8
| 25,281
| 44.45
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|6,317
|11.10
| 56,879
! CT
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Delaware|Delaware]]
! 3
| 5,967
| 54.99
| 3
| 4,872
| 44.89
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|1,095
|10.10
| 10,852
! DE
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Georgia|Georgia]]
! 11
| 40,339
| 55.78
| 11
| 31,983
| 44.22
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|8,356
|11.56
| 72,322
! GA
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Illinois|Illinois]]
! 5
| 45,574
| 48.91
| -
| 47,441
| 50.92
| 5
| 160
| 0.17
| -
| -1,867
| -2.01
| 93,175
! IL
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Indiana|Indiana]]
! 9
| 65,302
| 55.86
| 9
| 51,604
| 44.14
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|13,698
|11.72
| 116,906
! IN
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Kentucky|Kentucky]]
! 15
| 58,488
| 64.20
| 15
| 32,616
| 35.80
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|25,872
|28.40
| 91,104
! KY
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Louisiana|Louisiana]]
! 5
| 11,296
| 59.73
| 5
| 7,616
| 40.27
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|3,680
|19.46
| 18,912
! LA
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Maine|Maine]]
! 10
| 46,612
| 50.23
| 10
| 46,190
| 49.77
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|422
|0.46
| 92,802
! ME
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Maryland|Maryland]]
! 10
| 33,528
| 53.83
| 10
| 28,752
| 46.17
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|4,776
|7.66
| 62,280
! MD
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Massachusetts|Massachusetts]]
! 14
| 72,852
| 57.44
| 14
| 52,355
| 41.28
| -
| 1,618
| 1.28
| -
|20,497
|16.16
| 126,825
! MA
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Michigan|Michigan]]
! 3
| 22,933
| 51.71
| 3
| 21,096
| 47.57
| -
| 321
| 0.72
| -
|1,837
|4.14
| 44,350
! MI
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Mississippi|Mississippi]]
! 4
| 19,515
| 53.43
| 4
| 17,010
| 46.57
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|2,505
|6.86
| 36,525
! MS
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Missouri|Missouri]]
! 4
| 22,954
| 43.37
| -
| 29,969
| 56.63
| 4
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
| -7,015
| -13.26
| 52,923
! MO
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in New Hampshire|New Hampshire]]
! 7
| 26,310
| 43.88
| -
| 32,774
| 54.66
| 7
| 872
| 1.45
| -
| -6,464
| -10.78
| 59,956
! NH
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in New Jersey|New Jersey]]
! 8
| 33,351
| 51.74
| 8
| 31,034
| 48.15
| -
| 69
| 0.11
| -
|2,317
|3.59
| 64,454
! NJ
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in New York|New York]]
! 42
| 226,001
| 51.18
| 42
| 212,733
| 48.18
| -
| 2,809
| 0.64
| -
|13,268
|3.00
| 441,543
! NY
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in North Carolina|North Carolina]]
! 15
| 46,567
| 57.68
| 15
| 34,168
| 42.32
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|12,399
|15.36
| 80,735
! NC
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Ohio|Ohio]]
! 21
| 148,157
| 54.10
| 21
| 124,782
| 45.57
| -
| 903
| 0.33
| -
|23,375
|8.53
| 273,842
! OH
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]]
! 30
| 144,010
| 50.00
| 30
| 143,676
| 49.88
| -
| 340
| 0.12
| -
|334
|0.12
| 288,026
! PA
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Rhode Island|Rhode Island]]
! 4
| 5,278
| 61.22
| 4
| 3,301
| 38.29
| -
| 42
| 0.49
| -
|1,977
|22.93
| 8,621
! RI
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in South Carolina|South Carolina]]
! 11
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no popular vote''
| colspan=2 align=center | ''no popular vote''
| 11
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no popular vote''
| -
| -
| -
! SC
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Tennessee|Tennessee]]
! 15
| 60,194
| 55.66
| 15
| 47,951
| 44.34
| -
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
|12,243
|11.32
| 108,145
! TN
|-{{Party shading/Whig}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Vermont|Vermont]]
! 7
| 32,445
| 63.90
| 7
| 18,009
| 35.47
| -
| 319
| 0.63
| -
|14,436
|28.43
| 50,773
! VT
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
! style"text-align:left" | [[1840 United States presidential election in Virginia|Virginia]]
! 23
| 42,639
| 49.35
| -
| 43,757
| 50.65
| 23
| colspan=3 align=center | ''no ballots''
| -1,120
| -1.30
| 86,394
! VA
|-
! TOTALS:
! 294
! 1,275,585
! 52.87
! 234
! 1,129,645
! 46.82
! 60
! 7,453
! 0.31
! -
!145,938
!6.05
! 2,412,694
! US
|-
! TO WIN:
! 148
! colspan="17" |
|}</div>

====States that flipped from Democratic to Whig====
*[[Connecticut]]
*[[Louisiana]]
*[[Maine]]
*[[Michigan]]
*[[Mississippi]]
*[[New York (state)|New York]]
*[[North Carolina]]
*[[Pennsylvania]]
*[[Rhode Island]]

====States that flipped from Whig to Democratic====
*[[South Carolina]]

====Close states====
States where the margin of victory was under 1%:
#'''<span style="color:#F0C862;">Pennsylvania 0.12% (334 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:#F0C862;">Maine 0.46% (422 votes)</span>'''

States where the margin of victory was under 5%:
#'''<span style="color:blue;">Virginia 1.3% (1,120 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:blue;">Illinois 2.01% (1,867 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:#F0C862;">New York 3.0% (13,268 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:#F0C862;">New Jersey 3.59% (2,317 votes)</span>''' (tipping point state)
#'''<span style="color:#F0C862;">Michigan 4.14% (1,837 votes)</span>'''

States where the margin of victory was under 10%:
#'''<span style="color:#F0C862;">Mississippi 6.86% (2,505 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:#F0C862;">Maryland 7.66% (4,776 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:#F0C862;">Ohio 8.53% (23,375 votes)</span>'''
#'''<span style="color:blue;">Alabama 8.76% (5,481 votes)</span>'''

====Method of Electoral college selection====
{{Start electoral college selection}}
{{Electoral college selection row|method=Each Elector appointed by state legislature|states=[[South Carolina]]}}
{{Electoral college selection row|method=State's electors chosen as general ticket by plurality of voters statewide|states=The other 25}}
{{End electoral college selection}}

==Campaign songs/slogans==

=== Harrison ===
"[[Tippecanoe and Tyler too]]"

{{Listen|filename=Tip and Ty first.ogg|title=Abbreviated version|description=First verse and chorus.|format=[[Ogg]]}}
{{Listen|filename=Tip and Ty again.ogg|title=Full version|description=All twelve verses.|format=[[Ogg]]}}

=== Van Buren ===
{{blockquote|
:: Rockabye, baby, Daddy's a Whig
:: When he comes home, hard cider he'll swig
:: When he has swug
:: He'll fall in a stu
:: And down will come Tyler and Tippecanoe.

:: Rockabye, baby, when you awake
:: You will discover Tip is a fake.
:: Far from the battle, war cry and drum
:: He sits in his cabin a'drinking bad rum.

:: Rockabye, baby, never you cry
:: You need not fear of Tip and his Ty.
:: What they would ruin, Van Buren will fix.
:: Van's a magician, they are but tricks.
}}

== Election paraphernalia and history ==
<gallery>
Image:TippecanoeClubRibbonWilliamHenryHarrisonPrezCampaign1840.jpg|Harrison "Tippecanoe Club" ribbon
Image:WilliamHenryHarrisonCampaignRallySilkRibbon09101840.jpg|Ribbon for Harrison political rally
Image:1840 HarrisonConvention DanversMA engr byGGSmith DanversPublicLibrary.png|Ribbon for Danvers, Mass. delegation to Harrison Rally, Bunker Hill, 1840; engraved by [[George Girdler Smith]]
Image:DelegateRibbonMassachusettsNatlDemConvention1840.jpg|Delegate badge, Democratic convention
Image:1840 Boston Harrison Club.png|Cover of Boston Harrison Club's ''Harrison Melodies,'' 1840<ref>Boston Harrison Club. Harrison melodies: Original and selected. Boston: Weeks, Jordan and company, 1840. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vsg9AAAAYAAJ Google books]</ref>
</gallery>

In the 1997 film ''[[Amistad (film)|Amistad]]'', Van Buren (played by [[Nigel Hawthorne]]) is seen campaigning for re-election. These scenes have been criticized for their historical inaccuracy.<ref>[[Eric Foner|Foner, Eric]] (March 1998). [http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/74/ "The Amistad Case in Fact and Film"].</ref>

== See also ==
* [[1840–41 United States House of Representatives elections|1840–1841 United States House of Representatives elections]]
* [[1840–41 United States Senate elections|1840–1841 United States Senate elections]]
* [[History of the United States (1789–1849)]]
* [[Second Party System]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Works cited==
* {{cite book|last1=Abramson |first1=Paul |last2=Aldrich |first2=John |last3=Rohde |first3=David |title=Change and Continuity in the 1992 Elections |publisher=[[CQ Press]] |date=1995 |isbn=0871878399}}
* {{cite book|last1=Black |first1=Earl |author-link1=Earl Black (political scientist) |last2=Black |first2=Merle |author-link2=Merle Black |title=The Vital South: How Presidents Are Elected |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |date=1992 |url=https://archive.org/details/vitalsouthhowpre0000blac |isbn=0674941306}}

==Further reading==
* Chambers, William Nisbet. "The Election of 1840" in Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (ed.) ''History of American Presidential Elections, 1789–1968'' (1971) vol 2; analysis plus primary sources
* Cheathem, Mark. R. ''[https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/coming-democracy The Coming of Democracy: Presidential Campaigning in the Age of Jackson]'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018)
* Ellis, Richard  J. ''Old Tip vs. the Sly Fox: The 1840 Election and the Making of a Partisan Nation'' (U of Kansas Press, 2020) [https://www.wsj.com/articles/two-on-john-tyler-tippecanoe-and-tyler-too-11591368355?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1 online review]
* Formisano, Ronald P. "The new political history and the election of 1840", ''Journal of Interdisciplinary History,'' Spring 1993, Vol. 23 Issue 4, pp.&nbsp;661–82 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/206278 in JSTOR]
* {{cite book |last=Gunderson |first=Robert Gray |title=The Log-Cabin Campaign |location=Lexington |publisher=University of Kentucky Press |year=1957}}
* {{cite book |last=Greeley |first=Horace | author-link = Horace Greeley |title=Recollections of a Busy Life |url=https://archive.org/details/recollectionsab00greegoog |year=1868}}
** Greeley's description of the 1840 election is posted on [[s:The “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” Campaign|Wikisource]].
* Holt, Michael F.  "The Election of 1840, Voter Mobilization, and the Emergence of the Second American Party System: A Reappraisal of Jacksonian Voting Behavior", in Holt and John McCardell, eds. ''A Master's Due: Essays in Honor of David Herbert Donald'' (1986); emphasizes economic factors; See Formisano (1993) for criticism
* {{cite book |last=Holt |first=Michael F. |year=1999 |title=The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-505544-6}}
* Leahy, Christopher J. ''President without a Party: The Life of John Tyler'' (LSU, 2020), a major scholarly biography; [https://www.amazon.com/President-without-Party-Life-Tyler/dp/0807172545/ excerpt] also [https://www.wsj.com/articles/two-on-john-tyler-tippecanoe-and-tyler-too-11591368355?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1 online review]
* Shade, William G. "Politics and Parties in Jacksonian America", ''Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography'' Vol. 110, No. 4 (Oct. 1986), pp.&nbsp;483–507 [https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20120312030146/http://dpubs.libraries.psu.edu/DPubS?verb=Display&version=1.0&service=UI&handle=psu.pmhb/1172617006&page=record online]
* Zboray, Ronald J., and Mary Saracino Zboray. "Whig Women, Politics, and Culture in the Campaign of 1840: Three Perspectives from Massachusetts", ''Journal of the Early Republic'' Vol. 17, No. 2 (Summer, 1997), pp.&nbsp;277–315 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3124448 in JSTOR]

===Primary sources===
* Chester, Edward W  ''A guide to political platforms'' (1977) [https://archive.org/details/guidetopolitical0000ches online]
* Porter, Kirk H. and Donald Bruce Johnson, eds. ''National party platforms, 1840-1964'' (1965) [https://archive.org/details/nationalpartypla00port online 1840-1956]

== External links ==
{{Commons}}
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/elections/election1840.html Presidential Election of 1840: A Resource Guide] from the Library of Congress
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101122161441/http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=553  "The Campaign of 1840: William Henry Harrison and Tyler, Too"] high school level lesson plans and documents
* [http://geoelections.free.fr/USA/elec_comtes/1840.htm 1840 popular vote by counties]
* [http://www.countingthevotes.com/1840/ Election of 1840 in Counting the Votes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213010150/http://www.countingthevotes.com/1840/ |date=December 13, 2017 }}

{{William Henry Harrison}}
{{Martin Van Buren}}
{{1840 United States presidential election}}
{{USPresidentialElections}}
{{State Results of the 1840 U.S. presidential election}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1840 United States presidential election| ]]
[[Category:Presidency of William Henry Harrison]]
[[Category:William Henry Harrison]]
[[Category:Martin Van Buren]]
[[Category:John Tyler]]
[[Category:Richard Mentor Johnson]]