Daniel Putnam King
 

December 1839, Whig Convention, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Daniel P. King served as Vice-President of the Convention [1] He returned to Danvers with great aspirations for the defeat of Martin Van Buren, the “little Magician”; he had defeated three Whig candidates in the previous election and the Whigs were determined to prevent a repeat in 1840.
            Various factions that developed in the early 1830's as anti-Jackson Democrats and the Anti-Mason party, united in 1834 to fight “King Andrew the First”.  They welcomed all who detested Jackson into their ranks, even if they happened to dislike each other too.  They were too loosely united to hold a national convention in 1836 so no single ticket could be agreed upon.  As a result, they developed a favorite-son strategy which caused three Whig candidates to be nominated by state legislatures and popular conventions.[2]
            Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster, a supporter of the Anti-Masons and Henry Clay, took New England.  Tennessee Senator Hugh L. White took most of the South and Ohio's William Henry Harrison appealed to the West.  Harrison was the strongest candidate of the three but was defeated by Van Buren.
            At the first Whig National Convention that Daniel attended, Harrison, a general in the War of 1812 and a former territorial governor of Indiana, was chosen “a candidate by continuation.”  The Whigs intended to pull out all the stops and capitalize on the General's war record, mainly his routing of Tecumseh's Indians at Tippecanoe.[3] 
            With the relaxing of property requirements for suffrage in the 1830's, more people voted in the election of 1840 than in any previous presidential contest.  The Whigs capitalized on this new political interest by the masses, and undertook elaborate, energetic electioneering tactics. The strategy was to paint Harrison as a military hero and a man of the people - even though he was an unlikely “people's candidate”.   Harrison was well-born and college-educated and lived comfortably on a farm in Ohio.  His battle with Tecumseh in 1811 had resulted in numerous casualties and he had a reputation as a merely competent commander.
            The local Whigs modeled their electioneering on the highly successful Whig rallies that drew thousands of spectators.  They planned a long parade, speeches, songs, and cheers.  Choruses of patriotic Whig verses were practiced by the small crew at Dustins (Sun)Tavern, shortly to be learned by children and townsfolk alike: Cold water may do for the Locos, Or a little vinegar stew, But give me hard cider and whiskey,  And hurrah for Old Tippecanoe!
         The town's passage of a law prohibiting the sale of alcohol  in Danvers presented somewhat of a problem for the temperance men in town.[5]  How could they condone the usage of hard cider?  Since it was well-known that even with the passage of the town's law in 1818,  Danvers men would routinely cross the town line to partake of liquor served at Salem establishments, a solution was struck.  Both sweet and hard cider, would be provided - the justification being that the planned parade would pass through Danvers and end in Salem at the Common, where Daniel Webster would deliver a speech.              
         Daniel took charge of another task to be funded by the Danvers Whig Association.  He agreed to make arrangements for artist Abel Nichols to paint a portrait of William Henry Harrison which would be placed on exhibit at Mechanics Hall and elsewhere in Salem in the fall.  The group commissioned Nichols and sent him to Cincinnati, where he painted a “mediocre” portrait of Harrison, as well as portraits of other Cincinnati notables.[7]      
         It was infectious, the excitement of that political season, and the turnout for the Fourth of July parade was spectacular.  Perley Tapley had constructed a rugged frontier hut, a log cabin to be drawn on wheels in the parade.  A variety of rude and simple pieces of furniture were suspended from the sides of the cabin.  There were coonskin caps and a barrel of hard cider too.  The cabin had a balcony where musicians and entertainers performed along the entire route from Danvers to Salem.  A moving throng of people followed the cabin which was drawn by forty yoke of oxen steered by burly Perley Tapley.[8]Boys ran alongside the oxen or cabin, sometimes jumping aboard and thrusting themselves among the musicians.  There never was such a stir, such commotion, such fun and cheering and chanting,

                        “What has caused this great commotion, motion, motion,
                        Our country through? 
                        It is the ball a-rolling on,
                        For Tippecanoe and Tyler too. 
                        Tippecanoe and Tyler too. 
                        And with them we'll beat the little Van, van, van;
                        Van is a used-up man,
                        And with them we'll beat little Van!”

            The attendant carriage, quadrupeds, bipeds and the rustic procession,  rumbled through the streets and entered Salem, threading its way and finally reaching the crowded common.[9]
            An aristocratic Whig of the old school as well as an outstanding statesman, orator and lawyer, Daniel Webster held the crowd with his great skill.  Commenting on the “humble birth of their candidate for the Presidency” he said, “It did not happen to me, gentlemen, to be born in a log-cabin; but my elder brothers and sisters were born in a log-cabin, raised amid the snow-drifts of New Hampshire, at a period so early that, when the smoke first rose from its rude chimney and curled over the frozen hills, there was no similar evidence of a white man's habitation between it and the settlements of the rivers of Canada.  It remains still exist.  I make to it an annual visit; I carry my children to it, to teach them the hardships endured by the generations which have gone before them.  I love to dwell on the tender recollections, the kindred ties, the early affections, and the touching narratives and incidents which mingle with all I know of their primitive family abode.  I weep to think that none of those who inhabited it are now among the living; and if ever I am ashamed of it, or if ever I fail in affectionate veneration of him who reared it and defended it against savage violence and destruction, cherished all the domestic virtues beneath its roof, and, through the fire and blood of a seven years' Revolutionary war, shrunk from no danger, no toil, no sacrifice, to serve his country and to raise his children to a condition better than his own, - may my name and the name of my posterity be blotted for ever from the memory of mankind!”[10] 
            Although Webster was not a leader the citizens voted for, he was highly esteemed and respected and the people of  Massachusetts were honored when he was asked by Harrison to serve in the Whig cabinet as Secretary of State.    Rufus Choate was chosen to complete Webster's term in the U.S. Senate.  In November, Salem and Danvers celebrated.  Buildings were illuminated as victorious Whigs took to the streets.  Some disappointed Democrats assembled outside of their headquarters on Central Street and as the procession of celebrants passed by, they hooted and jeered.[11}
            As President of the Senate, Daniel received an invitation from the Whigs of Boston to the Grand Ball held at Faneuil Hall “to celebrate the accession of General Harrison to the Presidency of the United States.”[12]
            It seemed the celebrating had barely stopped when the Whigs suffered an unbearable disappointment.  After a month in the White House, Harrison, the oldest President ever inaugurated, died.  John Tyler of Virginia became the “accidental” President.