9. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON (You give me fever)
Born: February 9, 1773, Charles City County, Virginia
Died: April 4, 1841, Washington DC (died in office, pneumonia)
Term: March 4, 1841- April 4, 1841
Political Party: Whig
Vice President: John Tyler
First Lady: Jane Irwin Harrison (daughter-in-law)
Before the Presidency: William Henry Harrison grew up in an elite Virginia family and was old enough to remember at least some of the events of the Revolutionary War, particularly since he was raised just 30 miles from Yorktown where the British surrendered in 1781. The youngest of seven children, his father, Benjamin Harrison, wanted William Henry to pursue a medical career, but the elder Harrison died in 1791, and William Henry had other plans.
So, he went into the military. Harrison used his family connections with the Lee’s and Washington’s and procured an officer’s rank in the infantry. He started out as an Ensign, but he rose through the ranks rather quickly, becoming the aide to General Mad Anthony Wayne at Fort Washington. He fought bravely against Indian raids on this fort in Western Ohio and won praise from his General. Harrison, by this time in 1794, was now a Lieutenant.
In 1796, he took command of Fort Washington but after marrying into a well-to-do family despite his now father-in-law’s objections, he resigned his commission as a captain. His father-in-law was not pleased, but as a judge with connections of his own, he was able to get President John Adams to make Harrison secretary to the Northwest Territory. He also would become a delegate representing that territory.
In 1800, Harrison was named as the Governor of Indiana. Harrison, as Governor, was known as something of a land grabber. But he also had a reputation for being honest and was credited in improving the infrastructure and roads in his territory.
But he was primarily charged with acquiring as much land as he could from the Native Americans and exploited them into signing seven treaties from 1802 to 1805. He took advantage of the weaknesses and naivety of the Sac tribe and was able to wrestle much of Indiana and one third of Illinois as well as parts of Wisconsin and Missouri for use by settlers.
But not all of the natives were so easily duped. There was a chief known as Tecumseh, who was angered at the rush of white settlers. So, he formed an alliance with the British, still holding hope of getting the colonies back. Harrison, meanwhile, was trying to purchase more land, three million acres in fact, in hopes of establishing Indiana as a state. Tecumseh wasn’t invited to the negotiations and when the treaty of Fort Wayne was signed, Harrison found himself with a formidable nemesis.
The territory of Indiana found itself at war with Tecumseh and his warriors and it all led to what would become known as the battle of Tippecanoe. Harrison was taking charge of a group of 950 men when they were surprised by Tecumseh. It looked like all was lost.
But Harrison was not a man who liked retreat. He rallied with his surviving soldiers. The Indians couldn’t break though and Harrison ordered a counter attack and would rout the Indians by the next day. Unfortunately, they celebrated by also desecrating some Indian graves.
News of the battle reached the press and Harrison was touted as something of a national hero. And, while it made Tecumseh a legend among Native Americans (and still a force to be reckoned with), it also propelled Harrison into greater military glory as the War of 1812 broke out. Harrison, proved to be a crafty General, holding out on an invasion of Detroit until he knew that the supply lines to the British had been cut off. Once that happened, all systems were go, and Harrison’s forces retook Detroit in 1813.
After taking Detroit, General Harrison again pursued Tecumseh along with the British forces. They engaged and, after routing the outnumbered British, they killed Tecumseh, and thus, ended the Indian threat, at least for the time being.
So, like Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison would be seen as a great military hero. Unlike Jackson, however, who seemed hungry for more war, Harrison basked in his celebrity status, touring the East until he resigned from the Army in 1814.
His political career proved to be a mixed bag losing as many elections as he won. He did serve in the House of Representative for two terms and won a State senate seat in Ohio but lost a bid for Governor the next year. He lost three more political contests before finally winning a Senate seat in 1824. He still had connections and, through Henry Clay, won an ambassadorship to Colombia.
The Ambassadorship wasn’t Harrison’s finest moment. He sided with the opposition against the Government led by Simon Bolivar. Jackson was now President and had Harrison recalled and he settled to a private life in Ohio.
For a while anyway. For, in 1836, he found himself as one of the leaders of an anti-Jacksonian faction known as the Whigs. This was a conservative party to be sure and Harrison would be one of the candidates to run against Van Buren, representing the West in his case. Like the other two, he couldn’t defeat the Jackson backed Van Buren, but he made a strong showing, and he was more or less anointed to be the Whig’s candidate in 1840.
Summary of offices held:
1791-1798: United States Army
1798-1799: Secretary of the Northwest Territory
1799-1800: US Delegate, Northwest Territories
1801-1812: Governor, Indiana Territory
1811: Major General, Indiana Militia
1812-1814: Major General, US Army
1816-1819: House of Representatives
1819-1821: Ohio Senate
1825-1828: US Senator
1829: Minister to Grand Colombia
1836: Whig candidate for US President
What was going on: Not a lot, March 1841 was quiet.
Scandals within the administration: he didn’t have any time for a scandal
Why he was a good President: Maybe because he died before he could do any damage. Judging from his early life, he was just as bad as Van Buren, putting his own interests ahead of the American people.
Why he was a bad President: Because he again put his ego first which led to his cold and, consequently, his death
What could have saved his Presidency: The dummy could have at least worn a coat.
What could have destroyed his Presidency: Had he lived, I fear he might have been another Van Buren, albeit with a more Populist edge.
Election of 1840: President Van Buren, it’s safe to say, was not a popular man in 1840 and the Whigs seized the opportunity to put their man in the White House. The obvious candidates were the legislative stalwarts Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, but neither could garner widespread support.
But Harrison, even with all his foibles, proved to be immensely popular. I mean, everybody loves a military hero, right? He wouldn’t be the first to be elected President and he certainly wouldn’t be the last.
So, the Whigs nominated the war hero to run against Van Buren. Van Buren was counting on the varying factions within the Whig party and there were quite a few.
But he didn’t count on the one thing that unified all the Whigs, their hatred of Andrew Jackson. They weren’t too crazy about Van Buren either as they painted him as being uncaring, which may have been true. Meanwhile, they advertised the ticket of Harrison and John Tyler as Tippecanoe and Tyler too, taking advantage of Harrison’s glory as a war hero. They even used the Democrats’ attack of Harrison as a log cabin and hard cider candidate, the Dems not realizing that proved to be appealing to the Populist mood of the country. Indeed, this election was something of an entertainment spectacle, as the gregarious Harrison toured the country entertaining the masses with native American war whoops among other things.
And with that, Harrison won in pretty much of a cakewalk, winning 234 electoral votes to Van Buren’s 60. The next four years were about to become quite interesting.
First term: But not for the reasons you would expect, for the fun began as early as inauguration day. For now President Harrison, sixty -eight years old, but still wanting the attention like a rambunctious puppy, refused to wear a coat in the chilly Washington weather (It was early March for Caesar’s sake). He didn’t go inside very quickly either as he orated his nearly two hour inauguration speech.
So, the dummy caught a cold and, three weeks later, that cold developed into pneumonia.
And, after 33 days in office, President Harrison was dead, and the first true Constitutional Crisis in American History was upon us.
Post Presidency: As noted, the death of President Harrison left us with a Constitutional crisis. The Constitution has stated that the Vice President, in this situation, would more of less act as acting President, but it didn’t stipulate whether he would in fact be the President or even if a special election would be held to determine the next President.
But more on that later as we cover the administration of John Tyler.
Odd notes: His father in law refused to give Harrison his daughters hand in marriage.
https://www.ducksters.com/biography/...ryharrison.php
Final Summary: As noted, I wasn’t too impressed with his early history as he relied on important connections as he stepped up the ladder. He certainly had a bit of military acumen, but he was too easily swayed by the accolades his military conquests afforded him.
As far as his Presidency goes, we really don’t know what direction he would have taken the nation. I imagine he would have at least tried to address the financial depression that was still gripping the nation as he deeply had the need to be popular, but I saw no real indications of anything he stood for during his campaign, which was very much personality driven.
But, I’ll be fair and let him go down as the only President not to get a grade.
Overall rating: I (Incomplete)
https://millercenter.org/president/harrison