'Two Dollars a Day, And Roast Beef': Whig Culinary Partisanship and the Election of 1840

In old Virginia, "treating" formed a key component of elections in which alcohol and other tasty forms of refreshment-rum punch, cookies, ginger cakes, and barbecued meats-were dispensed not specifically to bribe voters but to demonstrate the largesse and generosity of the gentry presiding...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of the early Republic 2020-03, Vol.40 (1), p.83-115
Main Author:	Arendt, Emily J
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	1840 19th century American history Antebellum period Baptists Beef Bribery Cakes Catholics Cultural factors Culture Economic crisis Election Elections Food Food habits Generosity Historians History Identity politics Ideology Immigrants Partisanship Political activism Political aspects Political culture Political economy Political parties Politics Presidents Rituals Sociocultural factors United States Voter behavior Voters Whig Party (U.S.) Women
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	In old Virginia, "treating" formed a key component of elections in which alcohol and other tasty forms of refreshment-rum punch, cookies, ginger cakes, and barbecued meats-were dispensed not specifically to bribe voters but to demonstrate the largesse and generosity of the gentry presiding over the events. Whether by using domestically produced ingredients or creating recipes such as "Federal Pan Cake" and "Independence Cake," women engaged in the process of nation-building through their cookery.2 Given the fraught political culture of the early American republic, it is unsurprising that there are some moments when food, rather than creating national (or even local or regional) unity, contributed to partisan divides. [...]perhaps more significant, Whigs were able to use food to mobilize a segment of the population traditionally excluded from partisan politics, especially the rituals of political eating, treating, and toasting: white women. Democrats did well among Catholics, Southern Baptists, and Methodists, as well as among immigrants.5 Much recent scholarship on the election focuses on politics beyond the ballot box and demonstrates the degree to which gendered ideology, alongside other sociocultural factors, played into cultural politics at work in 1840.
ISSN:	0275-1275 1553-0620 1553-0620