Food, Spirits, and Votes
Election day in New York, Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Another story in our series Stumping and Eating, which examines the role of food in election campaigns. During the antebellum period party operatives used “election day treating,” a practice rooted in British political culture, to get people to vote (your vote in exchange for food and spirits—especially whisky and rum). Historically the tactic had a strong class dimension to it and particularly so after 1828 when Jacksonian Democrats increased popular participation in elections by reducing residency requirements for voting, eliminating the practice of voting by voice, and increasing access to voting places.