President Thomas Jefferson reappoints William Henry Harrison governor of the Indiana Territory and later adds the District of Louisiana acquired in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase from France. But Harrison continued stumping for himself, suspending his speaking tour later in June after his son Benjamin Harrison died, but resuming in September to huge crowdsan estimated 100,000 people turned out for a speech in Dayton, Ohio. Updates? The following year, Harrison was elected the territorys delegate to Congress in Philadelphia. Nevertheless, the couple married and bought a log cabin and a large piece of property from Symmes on the north bend of the Ohio River about thirteen miles west of Cincinnati. The popular vote margin was much closer, at fewer than 150,000 votes, though he carried nineteen of the twenty-six states. William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Gazlay. [5] Tecumseh informed Harrison that he had threatened to kill the chiefs who signed the treaty if they carried out its terms and that his confederation of tribes was growing rapidly. Brief Summary of William Henry Harrison [55] He donated $100 to encourage Lemen with abolition and other good works, and later another $20 to help fund the church known as Bethel Baptist Church. Eustis demanded to know why Harrison had not taken adequate precautions in fortifying his camp against the initial attack, and Harrison said that he had considered the position strong enough. He reported to the Secretary of State that the country was on the edge of anarchy, and that Simn Bolvar was about to become a military dictator. The campaign slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too" became one of the most famous in American politics. Vice President Tyler rushed back from his Williamsburg house and was sworn in as the tenth president of the United States, becoming the first vice president to assume the presidency following the death of the president. [43] The Territory's general assembly convened in 1810, and its anti-slavery faction immediately repealed the indenturing laws previously enacted. He said little of the national bank, except he mentioned he was open to paper money, rather than metallic currency. President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia several weeks after taking office. [116] A few days later, however, Treasury Secretary Thomas Ewing reported to Harrison that federal funds were in such trouble that the government could not continue to operate until Congress' regularly scheduled session in December; Harrison thus relented, and proclaimed the special session on March 17, in the interests of "the condition of the revenue and finance of the country". Harrison briefly served as a major general in the Kentucky militia until the government commissioned him on September 17 to command the Army of the Northwest. He won recognition for his bravery during the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794). Page 430. [119] The doctor then gave him castor oil and medicines to induce vomiting, and diagnosed him with pneumonia in the right lung. But what Harrison is probably best known for is his short stint in office: less than a month after taking the Presidency, Harrison died. Harrison's daughter-in-law, Jane Irwin Harrison, widow of Harrison's son, had served as hostess of the White House in Anna's place while Harrison was President. A brother, Carter Bassett Harrison, served six years in the House of Representatives. "[115], Harrison's only other official decision of consequence was whether to call Congress into a special session. The Whigs encouraged womens participation throughout Virginia, overturning long-standing cultural constrains on public partisanship by women. FELLOW-CITIZENS: Before my arrival at the seat of Government the painful communication was made to you by the officers presiding over the several Departments [103] He resisted pressure from other Whigs over partisan patronage. 2020 Virginia Humanities, All Rights Reserved , Native Lands Appropriated for White Settlement in the Northwest Territory. Expand. William Henry Harrison arrives in Washington, D.C., on his sixty-eighth birthday. I remember distinctly how the window glass would break and rattle to the ground, after each report of the cannon they were firing in the burial ground. "[97], Harrison came from a wealthy, slaveholding Virginia family, yet his campaign promoted him as a humble frontiersman in the style popularized by Andrew Jackson, while presenting Van Buren as a wealthy elitist. Illustration by Sterling Hundley. [109], Clay was a leader of the Whigs and a powerful legislator, as well as a frustrated presidential candidate in his own right, and he expected to have substantial influence in the Harrison administration. He did not discuss the tariff and distribution. [51] Biographer Freehling asserts that the Indians perceived the ownership of land was as common to all, just as the air that is breathed. The following year Harrisons mother died. [120] Washington society had noticed his uncharacteristic absence from church on Sunday. [12] He was initially assigned to Fort Washington, Cincinnati in the Northwest Territory where the army was engaged in the ongoing Northwest Indian War. This was 3,000 words more than Taft 's which [32][41], Harrison began his duties on January 10, 1801, at Vincennes, the capital of the Indiana Territory. [153] On February 19, 2009, the U.S. Mint released the ninth coin in the Presidential $1 Coin Program, bearing Harrison's likeness. However, the death of his father caused Harrison to discontinue his studies. He died one month later of pneumonia, believed to In 1799, he was elected as the territory's non-voting delegate in the United States House of Representatives. In November 1791, at age 18, he enlisted in the army as an ensign in the 10th Regiment at Fort Washington near Cincinnati (in what is now Ohio). Harrison was assigned to Fort Washington in the small village of Cincinnati in the future Ohio Territory. [106], Harrison promised to re-establish the Bank of the United States and extend its capacity for credit by issuing paper currency in Henry Clay's American system. William Henry Harrison becomes the commander of Fort Washington. His friends included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry. William Henry Harrison gives the longest inauguration speech in history, one hour and 45 minutes. He was a son of Benjamin Harrison V, a Founding Father of the United States. Lieutenant Harrison, who rendered the most essential service by communicating my orders in every direction conduct and bravery exciting the troops to press for victory. [119] A Washington paper reported on Thursday, April 1, that Harrison's health was decidedly better. [105] The address began with Harrison's sincere regard for the trust being placed in him: However strong may be my present purpose to realize the expectations of a magnanimous and confiding people, I too well understand the dangerous temptations to which I shall be exposed from the magnitude of the power which it has been the pleasure of the people to commit to my hands not to place my chief confidence upon the aid of that Almighty Power which has hitherto protected me and enabled me to bring to favorable issues other important but still greatly inferior trusts heretofore confided to me by my country. On April 24, 1791, Benjamin Harrison died at age 65 while he was Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. His farm stretched over 2,800 acres and the original log cabin had been expanded to a twenty-two-room home to house his growing familythe Harrisons had ten children, and Anna Harrison was often in poor health because of frequent pregnancies. Miller also applied heated cups to the president's skin to enhance blood flow. [152] The Gen. William Henry Harrison Headquarters in Franklinton, Ohio, commemorates Harrison. His vice president, John Tyler, assumes the office of president. Democrats mocked him as General Mum and said the Whigs were keeping their aged candidate locked in an Iron Cage. Then Harrison accepted an invitation to speak at a celebration of the siege at Fort Meigs. This letter is addressed to general Harrison; he demands that the Indian lands be returned. [145] Harrison's grandson Benjamin Harrison of Indiana served as the 23rd president from 1889 to 1893, making William and Benjamin Harrison the only grandparent-grandchild pair of presidents.[146]. His tenure, from March 4, 1841, to April He was serving in the Army at the time and sold the land to his brother. Soon thereafter, funds were cut off for Harrisons schooling, and at age eighteen he joined the First Infantry of the U.S. Army as an ensign after receiving a recommendation from Virginia governor Henry Light-Horse Harry Lee. [4] William Henry often referred to himself as a "child of the revolution", as indeed he was, having grown up in a home just 30mi (48km) from where Washington won the war against the British in the Battle of Yorktown. Gen. James Winchester, whom Harrison had ordered to prepare to cross Lake Erie on the ice and surprise Fort Maiden, turned back to rescue the threatened American settlement at Frenchtown (now Monroe, Michigan), on the River Raisin, and there on January 22, 1813, was forced to surrender to Col. Henry A. Procter. They invited women to Harrison rallies and parades, where they waved white handkerchiefs as the marchers passed. Burr describes the letter as "replete with wisdom, goodness, and patriotismand the purest of principles". Instead, in May 1800, Adams appointed Harrison governor of the newly created Indiana Territory, which comprised, until 1809, a much larger area than the present state of Indiana. Exactly one month after taking the oath of office, Harrison was dead. He attended Hampden-Sydney College in Prince Edward County and the School of Medicine of the College of Philadelphia (todays University of Pennsylvania). William Henry Harrison, our ninth president, was the first to have an inaugural parade, in 1841. I bid farewell, if forever, fare thee well. Anna Harrison was in poor health and stayed home; she planned to join her husband in Washington in the spring. [103] He intended to rely on the judgment of Congress in legislative matters, using his veto power only if an act were unconstitutional, and to reverse Jackson's spoils system of executive patronage. In response, Bolvar wrote that the United States "seem destined by Providence to plague America with torments in the name of freedom", a sentiment that achieved fame in Latin America.[80]. A very long speech and a very short Presidential term. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/william-henry-harrison-1773-1841 [28], Harrison began his political career when he temporarily resigned from the military on June 1, 1798, and campaigned among his friends and family for a post in the Northwest Territorial government. [97] Harrison won a landslide victory in the Electoral College, 234 electoral votes to Van Buren's 60. WebWilliam Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States.Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, the shortest presidency in United States history. [106], Harrison's lengthy speech offered vague clues about what his Presidency would offer to the people of the United States. Harrison rebuffed his aggression, saying, "Mr. Clay, you forget that I am the President. [5], Harrison was tutored at home until age 14 when he attended HampdenSydney College, a Presbyterian college in Virginia. He asked Harrison to nullify it and warned that Americans should not attempt to settle the lands sold in the treaty. [19] The 26-room home was one of the first brick structures in the territory;[44] and it served as a center of social and political life in the territory during his tenure as governor. I ask nothing more.. Mary Steger of Richmond wrote excitedly to a friend about the events at the local Log Cabin Whig headquarters and said, I never took so much interest in politics in my life. Democrats derided these women as shameless and reminded them that their husbands represented them in politics, but Whigs argued that womens presence could purify the public sphere. [130][132][133] Harrison's wife Anna was still in Ohio packing to be with her husband in Washington, scheduled for May, when she was informed of Harrison's death. William Henry Harrison's inauguration speech comprised of 8,845 words, and it took Harrison one hour and 45 minutes to give the speech. "[122] Harrison died at 12:30a.m. on April 4, 1841, Palm Sunday, nine days after becoming ill and exactly one month after taking the oath of office;[119] he was the first president to die in office. Encyclopedia Virginia, Virginia Humanities. It was a cold and windy day, but Harrison didnt wear a coat or hat. He named it Fort Meigs in honor of Ohio governor Return J. Meigs Jr. He rejected Tecumseh's claim that all the Indians formed one nation and said that each tribe could have separate relations with the United States if they chose to do so. In his address to the nation, Tyler did not give any personal consolation to Harrison's widow Anna or family members. On his 32nd [5] Biographer James Hall claims that Harrison found in Columbia a military despotism and that "his liberal opinions, his stern republican integrity, and the plain simplicity of his dress and manners, contrasted too strongly with the arbitrary opinions and ostentatious behaviour of the public officers, to allow him to be long a favourite with those who had usurped the power of that government. The Whigs planned a traditional presidential campaign until a political attack forever changed campaigning. She was less-than-happy about the prospect. [113] Conflicting and unconfirmed newspaper reports were based on leaks by people with contacts in the White House. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. At first Harrison took no part in these raucous rallies. [61], Harrison was concerned that Tecumseh's actions would endanger the statehood of Indiana, as well as his political future, leaving it "the haunt of a few wretched savages". The speech is well over 8,000 words double that of any other. [64][65], When reporting to Secretary Eustis, Harrison had informed him of the battle near the Tippecanoe River and that he had anticipated an attack. The Whigs saw in Harrison a born southerner and war hero, who would contrast well with the aloof, uncaring, and aristocratic Van Buren. "[87] DeBaptiste became his valet, and later White House steward. [5] While benefiting from land speculation on his own behalf, and acquiring two milling operations, he was credited as a good administrator, with significant improvements in roads and other infrastructure. [70], The Americans suffered a defeat in the siege of Detroit. Harrison, after leaving his post but while still in the country, wrote his roughly ten-page letter to Bolivar, which is reproduced in full in the Hall and Burr biographies. [18], Harrison met Anna Tuthill Symmes of North Bend, Ohio in 1795 when he was 22. After hearing news of her husbands election, Anna Harrison said: I wish that my husbands friends had left him where he is, happy and contented in retirement.. Life Facts. When was there ever before such a spectacle . Harrison's political career began in 1798, with an appointment as secretary of the Northwest Territory. [48] Harrison thought that the Treaty of Grouseland (1805) appeased some of the Indians, but tensions remained high along the frontier. [58] The leaders of the group were escorted to Grouseland, where they met Harrison. All this only weakened Harrison further, and three weeks after taking office, he was clearly dying. Virginia Humanities acknowledges the Monacan Nation, the original people of the land and waters of our home in Charlottesville, Virginia. WebAt age sixty-eight, Harrison was the oldest President elected in his century. Upon him you had conferred your suffrages for the first office in your gift, and had selected him as your chosen instrument to correct and reform all such errors and abuses as had manifested themselves from time to time in the practical operation of the Government. [96] Freehling relates that, "One bitter pro-Van Buren paper lamented after his defeat, 'We have been sung down, lied down and drunk down.' [7][8] His Episcopalian father removed him from the college, possibly for religious reasons, and after brief stays at an academy in Southampton County, Virginia, and with his elder brother Benjamin in Richmond, he went to Philadelphia in 1790. Harrison responded, "by my sword, and my own right arm, sir". He was promoted to major general in the Army during the War of 1812, and led American infantry and cavalry to victory at the Battle of the Thames in Upper Canada. [5], He pursued the treaty process aggressively, offering large subsidies to the tribes and their leaders, so as to gain political favor with Jefferson before his departure. Harrison built a brick governors mansion at the territorial capital of Vincennes on the Wabash River that he named Grouseland because he hunted grouse in the area. Because her father objected to the match, the couple married in secret. A rope was brought, and attached to the carriage, by which the people drew it to the Marshall House. As he was about to conclude his remarks, Harrison incorporated his reliance upon the country's freedom of religion while taking pains to present himself as part of the religious mainstream rather than a dissenter or member of a minority faith: I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to justify me in expressing to my fellow-citizens a profound reverence for the Christian religion and a thorough conviction that sound morals, religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility are essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness; and to that good Being who has blessed us by the gifts of civil and religious freedom, who watched over and prospered the labors of our fathers and has hitherto preserved to us institutions far exceeding in excellence those of any other people, let us unite in fervently commending every interest of our beloved country in all future time. On April 4, 1841, having only served 31 days in office, President William Henry Harrison died. The traditional story is that his long inaugural speech led to a fatal pneumonia. This strategy backfired when Harrison and running mate John Tyler adopted the log cabin and hard cider as campaign symbols. Harrison was the last president born as a British subject in the Thirteen Colonies and was the paternal grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president of the United States. [90] The Democrats charged that, by running several candidates, the Whigs sought to prevent a Van Buren victory in the electoral college, and force the election into the House. [5] Tecumseh was traveling in 1811, leaving Tenskwatawa in charge of Indian forces. [135] The cabinet consulted with Chief Justice Roger Taney and decided that, if Tyler took the presidential oath of office, he would assume the office of president. Harrison named his cabinet and called for Congress to return on May 31 for a special session. He was advised to have an administration in place before the inauguration but declined, wanting to focus on the festivities. Congress awarded Harrison a gold medal for his services during the war. For nearly two hours, Harrison addressed the crowd. [71][5], In 1814, Secretary of War John Armstrong divided the command of the army, assigning Harrison to an outlying post and giving control of the front to one of Harrison's subordinates. On April 3, Harrison uttered his final words, apparently directed at Vice President Tyler: Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of the government. [60] After the meeting, Tecumseh journeyed to meet with many of the tribes in the region, hoping to create a confederation to battle the United States. [50] Harrison was also able to conduct matters unquestioned by the government, as the administration changed hands from Jefferson to Madison. Anna never moved into the White House. The Constitution clearly provided for the vice president to take over the "Powers and Duties of the said Office" in the event of a president's removal, death, resignation, or inability, but it was unclear whether the vice president formally became president of the United States, or simply temporarily assumed the powers and duties of that office, in a case of succession. [113] Another anecdote of the time recounted that the halls were so full one afternoon that in order to get from one room to the next, Harrison had to be helped out a window, walked the length of the White House exterior, and then helped in through another window. [32] The 1804 Treaty of St. Louis with Quashquame required the Sauk and Meskwaki tribes to cede much of western Illinois and parts of Missouri. On July 7, 1841, Harrison was buried in the family tomb in North Bend. Pennsylvania senator James Buchanan marveled that the people had abandoned their ordinary business for the purpose of electioneering. At a rally in Richmond, a pickpocket being marched off to jail jumped on a box to deliver an impromptu speech for Old Tippecanoe. In summary, President Harrisons speech mainly discussed how the Harrison is often omitted in historical presidential rankings due to his brief tenure, with the rankings where he is ranked placing him significantly below average. [59] Tecumseh then began shouting at Harrison and called him a liar. [84] Harrison went on to serve as a vestry member through 1819, and then again in 1824. [119] At 4:00a.m. Sunday, March 28, Harrison developed severe pain in the side and the doctor initiated bloodletting; the procedure was terminated when there was a drop in his pulse rate. [119] According to papers in Washington on Friday, Harrison had rallied, despite a Baltimore Sun report that his condition was of a "more dangerous character". [105] He promised to use patronage to create a qualified staff, not to enhance his own standing in government, and under no circumstance would he run for a second term. WebAt 68 years, 23 days of age at the time of his inauguration, he was the oldest president-elect to take office until Ronald Reagan in 1981 . On April 9, Tyler gave a brief inaugural address. Jefferson directed Harrison to buy land for white settlement from the Native Americans, instructing him in a February 1803 letterto provide the tribes with effectual protection against wrongs from our own people, but to use trade to run up debt with the Indians so they would lop off some of their lands and sell them. [136] The precedent that Congress set in 1841 was followed on seven occasions when an incumbent president died, and it was written into the Constitution in 1967 through Section One of the Twenty-fifth Amendment. They then eloped and were married on November 25, 1795, at the North Bend home of Stephen Wood, treasurer of the Northwest Territory. As the day advanced, the procession made its appearance, coming slowly through the Avenue, carriage after carriage, in long succession, while thousands upon thousands followed on footall moving to the sound of melancholy music. He and Clay had disagreed over the necessity of such a session, and Harrison's cabinet proved evenly divided, so the president initially vetoed the idea. In subsequent years Harrison held several government positions. Tyler did compliment Harrison by saying Harrison had been elected for a "great work" of purging the federal government of corruption. Harrison was appointed governor of the new Indiana Territory in 1800, where he served until 1812. When he was fourteen, he was sent to Hampden-Sydney College, where he was educated in the classics.

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