Studies in American History 
181 
all the different states. In Virginia one Democratic elector 
voted for James K. Polk for vice-president; in South Carolina 
the entire college voted for Littleton W. Tazewell ; in the other 
five Van Buren states the electoral votes were cast for Richard 
M. Johnson for vice-president.'^* 
Stung by defeat, the Democratic press from one end of the 
country to the other now gave vent to its disappointment 
in an outburst of unseemly rage. The following quotations 
will illustrate the type of statements appearing in Democratic 
organs : 
The standard-bearer of the Federalist and Abolition party has been 
elected, if the process by v/hich this has been brought about may be called 
an election. It was a hollow mockery, a result produced not by the action 
of the popular will, but in spite of it.^'* 
For the first time in the history of the Eepublic the power of money 
has triumphed over intelligence. Democracy has been beaten by a new 
description of voters, some having flesh and bones, and others mere men 
of straw. The former, raked and scraped from the jails and peniten- 
tiaries, had been gathered at the log-cabin lendezvous and organized for 
action. The latter were the pipe-layers, the illegal voters, the fraudulent 
voters trained to perpetuate fraud by voting twice, changing their names 
and dress, going to different polls, putting in two votes and using every 
device the ingenuity of man could devise. 
The Bourbons are restored! Let the people, the real betrayed people, 
prepare for the new reign of terror that is approaching. For the first 
time since the adoption of the Constitution a Democratic president has 
been defeated when placed before the people. Painful and mortifying 
as the reflection is to the mind of every true patriot, discouraging as it 
must be to the advocates of popular liberty, fatal as it may be to the 
stability of our government, we trust in Heaven that the obsequiousness 
to wealth that has marked the conduct of those who have turned the 
scale against us will not become habitual with any great portion of the 
true people. As a lover of freedom and good order, an ardent advocate 
of the supremacy of sober thought over noise and senseless mummery, we 
sincerely hope the political buffoonery of 1840 will ever stand, solitary 
and alone, on the page of history, a damning stain on the brow of 
Federalism. No more may the world see coons, cabins, and cider usurp 
the place of principles, nor doggerel verse elicit a shout while reason is 
passed by with a sneer.®^ 
Our contempt is increased for Federal Whiggery and its election 
paraphernalia. We detest its principles, scorn its treachery, and defy 
its power. Does it follow that because a majority of the electors have 
declared against the candidates of the Democratic party, the principles 
VI, 589. 
The Globe, November 9, 1840, quoted in McMaster, op. rit., VI, 589. 
Ibid., November 11, 1840, quoted in McMaster, op. cii., VI, 589. 
New Era, November 9, 1840, quoted in McMaster, op. cit., VI, 590. 
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