35 HARRISON, TYLER 



features were long processions in which log cabins 

 mounted on wheels were dragged about and kegs of 

 hard cider were broached, while in stump speeches the 

 heartless Van Buren was accused of having a silver ser- 

 vice on his table and otherwise aping British manners. 

 A kind of lilliburlero was sung, with its chorus : 



" For Tippecanoe and Tyler too Tippecanoe and Tyler too ; 

 And with them we'll beat little Van, Van. 

 Van is a used-up man ; 

 And with them we'll beat little Van." 



Thus borne upon a wave of popular excitement, 

 " Tippecanoe and Tyler too " were carried to the White 

 House. There were 234 electoral votes for Harrison 

 and 60 for Van Buren. But a glance at the figures 

 of the popular vote shows that then, as always in 

 American politics, the approach to equilibrium was 

 too close for a party to presume too much upon the tri- 

 umph of the moment. Harrison's vote was 1,275,016; 

 Van Buren's was 1,129,102; and there was a third 

 candidate, James Birney, who obtained only about 

 7000 votes, and carried no state. He stood for the 

 abolition of negro slavery, and at that moment counted 

 for little. 



The inauguration of the new government in March, 

 1841, brought with it some surprises. Perhaps the 

 only distinct pledge to the people during the clamorous 

 canvass had been the promise of civil service reform. 

 That promise had been definite enough to induce some 

 Democrats to vote for the Whig candidates, but it 

 now appeared that the Whig idea of reform agreed 

 substantially with Jackson's ; it was summed up in 

 "turning the rascals out." The pressure of office- 



