2018-06-05T12:15:45Ztag:sursumcorda.salemsattic.com,2018:/isso/thread/post/how-far-have-we-come-in-200-yearsComments for sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/how-far-have-we-come-in-200-yearstag:sursumcorda.salemsattic.com,2018:/isso/1435/4863Comment #48632018-06-05T12:15:45ZSursumCorda<p>The Democrats having thus made asses of themselves in the 1828 elections, the Whigs proceeded to use similar tactics in 1840.</p>
<p>"Exactly <em>why</em> Harrison should be voted in and Van Buren out was never made clear and didn't have to be. It was depression time, hard cider was flowing freely, and Old Tippecanoe was an honest soldier who was plain-spoken and without frills—what more did anyone want? It was this campaign, added on to the memory of Jackson, that encouraged later politicians running for office to pretend to be poorer, coarser, and more ignorant than they really were. (Many of them managed this very convincingly, too.) ... In actual fact, Harrison ... was not a man of the people. He was born on a Virginia plantation ... [and] it was the wealthy conservatives who were backing [him] now. But who cared about logic in this particular election?"</p>