Dressed to Kill, Dressed to Till
While commemorative buttons were made to celebrate George Washington’s first inauguration, the first documented use of true campaign buttons occurred during the Jackson campaign of 1828. In 1840, William Henry Harrison was the first candidate to actively campaign for office and did so under the Whig Party umbrella with the slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" (referring to Harrison’s 1811 victory over the Shawnee and his running mate, respectively). The Democrats called him “Granny” and insinuated that he was too old to hold office and senile (he was 67). A Democratic paper wrote, "Give him a barrel of hard cider, and … a pension of two thousand [dollars] a year … and … he will sit the remainder of his days in his log cabin." Whigs took advantage of this quip and declared that Harrison was "the log cabin and hard cider candidate", a man of the common people from the rough-and-tumble West and the log cabin soon became a leading symbol of the campaign and buttons were struck with this device. This fine example of an American "citizen’s coat" (double-breasted tailcoat) of fine, blue broadcloth is a rare political relic of the Harrison campaign and is fully trimmed with gilded brass “log cabin” buttons. It is the earliest American garment associated with a political campaign known today. There are five 21mm diameter, 2-piece, convex buttons down on each breast, with raised rim and featuring a cider barrel in front of a log cabin, all back-marked “Benedict & Burnhm [sic] Extra” (Albert PC152B), two of the same on the hips, with one on the bottom of the left plait (right plait missing its button). The cuffs are slit on the underside and closed with three small buttonholes and corresponding buttons, the latter being 1-piece, convex buttons of 14mm diameter, with cabin on face (not in Albert), only the shank remaining from the uppermost on left cuff (18 buttons total, 13 large and 5 small). Purchased in Ohio in 2000, sold in 2006 and reacquired in 2016. The coat is in very good condition, with a few random moth nips; one on the right shoulder was filled and a small tear near the backseam at hip was restored by Historic Costume Services in 2021.
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