The Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Club

From "Selma; Her Institutions, and Her Men" by John Hardy, pub. 1879:

About the 10th of June 1840, the political cauldron commenced simmering, and soon got the boiling heat. On one side was the State’s Rights party, supporting Martin Van Buren for President, and Richard M. Johnson, for Vice President; and on the other was the Whig Party, supporting W. H. Harrison, for President, and John Tyler for vice President. It was really a contest between that of killing coons and selling their skins on the one side, and that of raising and selling cabbages on the other; and just about as much principle actually involved. But whatever the importance of the issue, the population, both male and female, of Selma, took a deep interest. A State’s Right’s Club was formed, on the 18th of July 1840, composed of the following persons: James Kenan, J. White, George W. Gayle, E. S. Bint, James A. Pope, J. L. Jeffrey, J. F. Conoley, L. M. Chapman, R. A. Chappell, David Cooper, W. H. Smith, P. J. Miller, R. O. Shaw, Jeremiah Johnson, David R. Bell, James Cannte, N. W. Kennard, G. Tooks Thos. Kenan, jr., John M. Strong, William Donaldson, P. H. Delane, John H. Miller, H. H. Webb, A. Rankin, James S. Dunn, Thomas k. Kornegay, A. H. Conoley, A. J. Saffold, G. R. Evans, Jesse Beene, Samuel M. Hill, d. fair, Paul H. Earle, A. C. Johnson, W. E. Bird, R. House, J. P. Saffold, Bruce H. Mitchell, S. B. Crocheron.

The Whig party being largely in the majority, could not rest easy, and chafed under this bold action of the Democrats, and consequently, at once formed a "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" club, as follows: R. Rufus king, Francis M. Phillips, J. S. White, W. Waddill, jr., H. Lee, Adam Taylor, J. W. Lapsley, John Swift, J. Morgan, George Seaman, Frederick Dressel, Thomas King, Thomas J. Frow, E. W. Marks, W. Plattenburg, J. W. Jones, D. H. Norwood, Phillip Fulford, P. H. Fulford, P. A. Berry, Joseph Fulford, A. Jones, Alex. George, M. C. Wiley, J. F. Lee, Thomas J. Rice, Henry H. Davis, Thomas W. Street, William Barlow, A. R. McNair, Samuel R. Browning, R. L. Downman, Joseph Hillyard, J. D. Echols, E. A. Mixon, H. Traun, J. C. Bell, J. Bradshaw, Nelson Myers, N. Childers, John K. Campbell, James H. Curtis Allen Townsend, William W. Rea, Moses Jones, John. H. Valentine, B. Burges, David Weaver, John M. Shearer, D. A. Boyd, William Choat, R. N. Philpot, Robert Willis, A. S. Jeffries, William Flanagan, Joseph Lawley, Alex. Porter, John G. Owen, Lorenzo Griffin, Jeremiah Pitman, Hamblin Kirkland, Wm. Henry Austin, Robert Walker, Alfred Gantt, W. P. Givhan, George Brewer, j. Russell, Thomas s. Fellows, William Russell, George Blunt, John Taggart, C. G. Edwards, L. S. Thompson, W. Tuton Waddill, W. Kirkpatrick, H. Gardner, Benjamin A. Glass, William Palmer, R. C. Morrison, P. Carmichael, Hugh McIlwaine, Caleb Tait, John Logan Alexander Porter, jr., T. P. Ferguson, S. Newton Morrison, James Drenon, Henry Gilmer, William Campbell, James E. Morrison, T. L. Craig, W. A. Stone, Wm. R. Morrison, John J. Estes, E. Woodnut, Wm. Rogers, E. Swain, Robert English, jr., G. C. Phillips, Wm. J. Goodwin, J. W. L. Childers, B. C. Brown, W. L. Dodge and Geo. Patrick; Josephus D. Echols, M. D., President; R. L. Downman, N. Childers, J. W. Lapsley, T. H. Lee and G. M. Ormand, Vice Presidents; Henry Traun, Secretary; John G. Owen, Treasurer.

This action on the part of the Whigs was not looked for by the Democrats; the consequence was, a challenge sent to the Tippecanoe Club, to debate publicly, the issues of the day before the people of the country; the Whigs having some of the ablest men of the State in their ranks, accepted this challenge with delight, and the following names were selected for the discussion.

For Harrison.--Col. W. S. Phillips, Dr. P. W. Herbert, Dr. J. W. L. Childers, Robert L. Downman.

For Van Buren.-- Joseph P. Saffold, Esq., George r. Evans, Esq., Hon. E. Pickens, Col. George W. Gayle.

These Champions of their respective parties done well the task imposed upon the, and we have no hesitancy in saying it was the most able and closely contested election ever witnessed in this or any other of the States. The Whigs had largely the advantage in point of numbers. Delegates were sent from Selma to almost every Convention and meeting in the State. They had a large canoe hewed out of a large poplar tree, almost sixty feet long and as wide as the tree would permit. This canoe was mounted on a large four-wheel vehicle decorated with flags, coon skins, cider barrels, a log cabin, and every other emblem of he party, and in this way traveled through the country to their destination. A delegation composed of the following "Young Tippecanoes" went to the Convention at Montgomery.

W. Plattenburg, James B. Harrison, David Douglass, E. C. Russell, W. Waddill. Jr., Moses C. Willey, W. C. Woods, W. B. Hall, P. A. Berry, Samuel F. Jones, R. L. Downman, Robt. S. Hatcher, T. S. Fellows., P. H. DeLane, T. W. Street, G. C. Phillips, Wm. Blevins, Caleb Tate, M. B. McKeagg, J. F. Lee. George Brewer, James Adams, B. C. Brown, Jacob Givhan and Thomas J. Rice.

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