Description
In this woodcut designed for the Whig campaign of 1840, presidential candidate William Henry Harrison offers a soldier the chance to join his comrade and relax with a glass of hard cider. The Whigs portrayed Harrison as the log cabin and hard cider candidate—a man of the people from the frontier West—in opposition to Martin Van Buren, whom they depicted as wealthy and out of touch with the working man. (In reality, Harrison came from a wealthy, privileged family, and Van Buren was from humble origins.) This design was probably created for use on broadsides and banners during the campaign.
