Article: "He put his thumb up to his nose, and twirl'd his fingers at his foes". (presidential campaign songs in 1844)

[Whigs, Now's the Time, Vote and Sing, Sing and Vote --National Clay Melodist (1844)

On 17 August 1844, a Tennessee schoolteacher named Jason Niles joined a large crowd of spectators to watch the raising of a "Clay pole" celebrating the Whig party's presidential ticket of Henry Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen. Local party organizers were undoubtedly embarassed when the pole fractured and had to be sent to the local blacksmith's shop for swift repairs. Despite the loss of about forty-five feet, the pole went up successfully and there was "shouting and singing all night." Not to be outdone, Democratic partisans carted in their own pole a week later "drawn by some 20 ...

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