Campaign Buttons, Bumper Stickers, and More! Teaching the Log Cabin Campaign with Political Artifacts

In this practitioner article, the authors explain how to foster political thinking in high school students by using three activities examining political artifacts from the Log Cabin Campaign used by the Whigs in the 1840 presidential election. A historical overview of the 1840 presidential election is provided offering historical context for the activities. A literature review describing the best practices advocated for in the C3 Framework, published by the National Council for the Social Studies, is included. The authors also share a review of Wayne Journell’s scholarship on political thinking and how it can be used to teach civics using the ideas highlighted in the C3 Framework. Each of the three activities described in the article focuses on different political artifacts from the Log Cabin Campaign used in the 1840 presidential election. A summative assessment allows students to use their political thinking skills by drawing on their analysis of the political artifacts. The authors provided the steps and resources needed to implement the activities.