Martin Van BurenWilliam Henry Harrison

andJohn Tyler

1. Depression – a period of low economic activity and widespread unemployment

2. Laissez-faire – a policy that government should interfere as little as possible in the nation’s economy

• With support from Andrew Jackson and the Democratic Party, Martin Van Burendefeated the Whig candidates in the election of 1836

• Van Buren had been Jackson’s vice president during his second term

• Soon after Van Buren’s election, the country entered an economic depression

• This led to the Panic of 1837

• During this time:

- land values dropped- investments declined

- banks failed- businesses closed

- people lost jobs- farmers lost land

• President Van Buren believed in the principle of laissez-faire

• However, he did persuade Congress to establish and independent federal treasury in 1840. The government would store its money in this treasury rather than in private banks

• The new system would prevent banks from using government funds to back their banknotes (paper money)

• Van Buren was criticized by the Whig Party as well as his own party

• In 1840, the Whigs led the “log cabin campaign”

• Their candidate, William Henry Harrison, needed to win the support of farmers and laborers

• The Whig Party used a log cabin as their symbol to show Harrison as a candidate for the common man (even though he was a wealthy Virginian)

• Harrison’s running mate was John Tyler.

• Their campaign slogan was “Tippacanoe and Tyler Too”

• Harrison won the election

• Unfortunately, he died on April 4, 1841 – one month after his inauguration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8N7BSsU5oo

• John Tyler became the first vice president to gain the presidency because the elected president died in office

• Though he belonged to the Whig Party, Tyler supported many ideals of the Democratic Party

• He believed in states’ rights, and he vetoed a bill to re-charter the Bank of the United States

• The Whigs expelled Tyler from the party

• In the next election in 1844, the Whig’s candidate Henry Clay lost to Democrat James Polk