ABSTRACT
John Tyler, the second name in the Whig campaign jingle “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too,” was used to get out the vote in 1840. No incumbent president had as yet died in office, and the Whig party bosses who managed the 1840 election never dreamed that Tyler might actually become president. Hardly a true party member, he was a “States Rights Whig,” which in the eyes of most northern Whigs was a contradiction in terms-a rare
breed found only in Tyler ‘s Virginia and a few odd places in the Deep South. He had been given second place on the Whig presidential ticket only because his presence might win the support of Virginians, states’ righters, and Democratic malcontents like himself.
