The depression had its roots in Jackson's economic hard money policies that blocked investment using paper money, insisting on gold and silver. But he had retired so his chosen successor van Buren was blamed for the disaster. In the 1840 presidential election, he was defeated by the Whig candidate William Henry Harrison. However, his presidency would prove a non-starter when he fell ill with pneumonia and died after only a month in office. John Tyler, the new vice president, succeeded him. Tyler was not popular since he had not been elected to the presidency, and was widely referred to as "His Accidency". He rejected Wake economic policies, so that party expelled him, and The Whigs lost their opportunity to reshape government policy.