U.S. presidential election, 1840

Facing bad economic times and a Whig Party unified behind war hero William Henry Harrison, President Martin Van Buren was easily defeated for re-election in 1840 by "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too."

The U.S. presidential election of 1840 was also unique in that electors cast votes for four men who had been or would become President of the United States: current President Martin Van Buren; President-elect William Henry Harrison; Vice-President-elect John Tyler, who would succeed Harrison upon his death; and James Polk, who received one electoral vote for Vice President.

The tale of the Election of 1840 has been retold by They Might Be Giants in their song Tippecanoe and Tyler Too , which appears on MoveOn.org's Future Soundtrack for America collaboration CD.

Contents

1 General election 1.1 Results 2 Electoral college selection 3 See also 4 External link

General election

Results

|- | James Knox Polk | Tennessee | style="text-align:right;" | 1

|- | James G. Birney | Liberty | New York | style="text-align:right;" | approx. 7,000 | style="text-align:right;" | 0.3% | style="text-align:right;" | 0 | Thomas Earle | Pennsylvania | style="text-align:right;" | 0 ^(a) The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.
^(b) '

Electoral college selection

Method of choosing Electors	State(s)
each Elector appointed by state legislature	South Carolina
each Elector chosen by voters statewide	(all other states)

See also

• History of the United States (1789-1849)

External link

• The Green Papers: A Historical Analysis of the Electoral College