[Footnote 2: James G. Birney and his Times, pp. 184-194.]
This attempt having failed, the mobs again took up the work, and began to smash and destroy the presses of antislavery newspapers. One paper, twice treated in this manner in 1836, was the Philanthropist published at Cincinnati by James Gillespie Birney. Another was the Observer, published at Alton by Elijah Lovejoy, who was murdered in defending his property.[1] The Pennsylvania Freeman was a third.
[Footnote 1: Wilson's Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America, Vol.
II., Chap. 27; James G. Birney and his Times, pp. 204-219, 241-255.]
%350. The Gag Rule%.—Not content with attacking the liberty of the press, the proslavery men attacked the right of petition. The Constitution provides that "Congress shall make no law … abridging … the right of the people … to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Under this right the antislavery people had long been petitioning Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and the petitions had been received; but of course not granted. Now, in 1836, when John Quincy Adams presented one to the House of Representatives, a member moved that it be not received. A fierce debate followed, and out of it grew a rule which forbade any petition, resolution, or paper relating in any way to slavery, or the abolition of slavery, to be received. This famous "Gag Rule" was adopted by Congress after Congress until 1844.[1]
[Footnote 1: Morse's _Life of John Quincy Adams, _pp. 249-253, 306-308.]
%351. The Liberty Party formed%.—The effect of these extreme measures was greatly to increase the antislavery sentiment. But the men who held these sentiments were largely members of the Whig and Democratic parties. In the hope of drawing them from their parties, and inducing them to act together, the antislavery conventions about 1838 began to urge the formation of an antislavery party, which was finally accomplished at Albany, N.Y., in April, 1840, where James G. Birney was nominated for President, and Thomas Earle for Vice President. No name was given to the new organization till 1844, when it was christened "Liberty party."
%352. The Log Cabin, Hard Cider Campaign%.—The candidate of the Democrats (Martin Van Buren) was a shrewd and skillful politician. The candidate of the Whigs (Harrison) was the ideal of a popular favorite. To defeat him at such a time, when the people were angry with the Democrats, would have been hard, but they made it harder still by ridiculing his honorable poverty and his Western surroundings. At the very outset of the campaign a Democratic newspaper declared that Harrison would be more at home "in a log cabin, drinking hard cider and skinning coons, than living in the White House as President." The Whigs instantly took up the sneer and made the log cabin the emblem of their party. All over the country log cabins (erected at some crossroads, or on the village common, or on some vacant city lot) became the Whig headquarters. On the door was a coon skin; a leather latch string was always hanging out as a sign of hospitality, and beside the door stood a barrel of hard cider. Every Whig wore a Harrison and Tyler badge, and knew by heart all the songs in the Log Cabin Songster. Immense mass meetings were held, at which 50,000, and even 80,000, people attended. Weeks were spent in getting ready for them. In the West, where railroads were few, the people came in covered wagons with provisions, and camped on the ground days before the meeting. At the monster meeting at Dayton, O., 100,000 people were present, covering ten acres of ground.[1]
[Footnote 1: Shepard's Van Buren, pp. 323-335.]
[Illustration: William H. Harrison]
%353. William Henry Harrison, Ninth President; John Tyler, Tenth President%.—Harrison was triumphantly elected, and inaugurated March 4, 1841. But his career was short, for on April 4 he died,[2] and John Tyler took his place. Tyler had never been a Whig. He had always been a Democrat. Nevertheless, the Whigs, confident of his aid, tried to carry out certain reform measures.