Tippecanoe and Tyler too !

Tippecanoe and Tyler too was the 1840 US presidential campaign slogan of William Henry Harrison -- the first president to campaign actively for office.

While Tyler was Harrison's running-mate, Tippecanoe was a nickname referring to a battle fought by Harrison while he was governor of the newly formed Indiana Territory.

As governor, Harrison arranged to buy large areas of Indian land for use by white settlers. The land cessions were opposed by the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, who organized armed resistance.

Harrison and Tecumseh met in battle in 1811 in Tippecanoe near present-day West Lafayette. Although the battle was indecisive (Harrison lost more men than the Indians) it was claimed as a government triumph.

Harrison's military record figured strongly in his successful campaign against incumbent Van Buren. His theme song (another first) was written by Alexander Coffman Ross, a jeweler of Zanesville, Ohio, with music based on the tune Little Pigs. The first verse was:

What's the cause of this commotion, motion, motion,

Our country through?

It is the ball a-rolling on

For Tippecanoe and Tyler too.

For Tippecanoe and Tyler too.

And with them well beat little Van, Van, Van,

Van is a used up man.

And with them well beat little Van.

Harrison, aged 68, was criticized as too old for the presidency. After an opposing newspaper claimed

Give him a barrel of hard cider, and a pension of two thousand a year and he will sit the remainder of his days in his log cabin.

Harrison campaigned as the log cabin and hard cider candidate -- a man of the common people.

When elected, Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address in American history -- without a coat in bad weather. A month later he was dead of pneumonia - to be succeeded by Tyler who served the rest of the 4-year term.

John Tyler

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