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Indiana University 
acter of the convention. On April 2, 1840, a so-called national 
convention was held at Albany, N.Y. Birney was again nom- 
inated for president and Thomas Earle for vice-president. 
Six states were represented at a still larger meeting which 
was held May 11, 1840 to indorse this ticket."^® 
The new party received very little support. Enthusiasm 
drew nearly all the voters to one of the great parties. The 
Garrison Abolitionists denounced the movement as “the worst 
form of proslavery”. In all, the party was able to poll less 
than eight thousand votes in the presidential election of 1840. 
The Democrats used party patronage in the national arena 
as both the Whigs and Democrats did in the states. The Globe 
approved of the article in the Baltimore Republican that 
Our custom house, too, should be thoroughly reformed, . . . Those 
among the employed in this department who are known to be with us 
. . . scarcely make up half the number of its officers. This is not as 
it should be, and the evil ought to be amended at once, and thoroughly.” 
The New Hampshire Patriot speaks of a slashing business 
in removing Whig office-holders and upholds it on the basis 
of rotation in office. This only suggests what could be ex- 
pected from the re-election of Van Buren, but Congdon speaks 
of a more immediate use of party patronage. He said that 
he had seen a confidential circular sent out by Amos Kendall 
calling upon every deputy postmaster to do everything in his 
power to re-elect Van Buren, and holding out the promise that 
no one who did this service would have cause to regret his 
exertions."^^ While first-hand statements of this kind are 
scarce, yet it can hardly be doubted that much of this kind 
of politics was practiced. 
After the Democratic press had almost ceased to attack the 
Whigs on the charges before mentioned, it still attacked Har- 
rison’s record. This was kept up till some time after the elec- 
tion, and some of the criticism has been sustained by a recent 
writer.^^ The only trouble was that the Whigs were not run- 
ning Harrison on his record. Letters of prominent Whigs 
at that time show that they knew he was a man of very ordi- 
nary ability. The complete correspondence of Croghan and 
Harrison was published by the Democrats, which aimed to 
™ Birney, Sketch of the Life of James G. Birney, 28. 
Globe, October 27, 1838. 
New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette, July 1, 1839. 
Congdon, Reminiscences of a Journalist, 66. 
Professor Homer J. Webster, who spent much time on this subject, thinks Har- 
rison’s war record was largely a myth. 
