William Henry Harrison | Biography, Politics & Death (1773-1841)

William Henry Harrison Summary

William Henry Harrison was the 9th President of the United States of America. He joined the military at eighteen and fought alongside Anthony Wayne in the War of Fallen Timbers. He was born into such a politically important family. He was appointed secretary for the Northwest Territories around 1798 and ruler of the newly created Indiana Territory around 1800. 

He signed agreements among the Indians that gave the U.S. millions of hectares more of territory in response to demand from European settlers. Harrison headed a U.S. army to beat the Indians in Tippecanoe Battle in 1811 when Tecumseh planned a rebellion, a success that cemented his image in the public eye.

Even during the war of 1812, he was promoted to military commander. In the War of the Thames in Ontario, he routed the British and his Indian collaborators. He relocated to Ohio after the war, where he became prominent in the Democratic – republican party. He participated in the U.S. Senate (1816–19) and the State legislature (1816–19). (1825–28). He almost missed the Whig nomination for President throughout the 1836 election. 

With the catchphrase “Tippecanoe and Tyler too,” which highlighted Harrison’s victory in the west, he and his campaign partner John Tyler won the election in 1840. Harrison, 68, gave his inaugural address in a chilly rain without needing a hat or an outer layer. He became the first American president to die unexpectedly while in office when, a month later, he succumbed to pneumonia.

Explore the full list of Presidents in the United States to understand their legacy and impact.

Fast Facts

Born	February 9th, 1773, William Henry Harrison was conceived near Berkeley Farm, Virginia, The state of America
Died	April 4th, 1841, near Washington, D.C., United States
Wife	Anna Harrison (married in 1795) is his wife
Parents	Benjamin Harrison V > Elizabeth (Bassett) Harrison

William Henry Harrison Early Life

William Henry Harrison was born on February 9th, 1773, At Berkeley Farm, the Virginian Harrison family’s residence on the James River near Charleston City District, the seventh and younger son of Benjamin Harrison V with Elizabeth (Bassett) Harrison. William Henry Harrison was the final American President who wasn’t born an American resident. He hailed from a well-known political dynasty of English heritage whose ancestors had lived in Virginia from the 1630s. 

The Independence Proclamation was endorsed by his father, a Virginia plantation owner who participated as a member of the Constituent Assembly (1774–1777). During and following the American Civil War, his grandfather also participated in the Virginia Assembly as the state’s fifth governor (1781–1784).

Carter Bassett Harrison, Harrison’s older sibling, served as Virginia’s member in the House (1793–1799). William Henry repeatedly alluded to himself as a “son of the republic,” which he undoubtedly was given that he grew up less than 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the site of Washington’s victory over the British at the Yorktown battle.

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Up to 14, Harrison received home tutoring before enrolling in Virginia’s Hampden-Sydney Institution, a Presbyterian campus. During his three years of study there, he received a great education that comprised Greek, Latin, French, reasoning, and debating. At the College of Pennsylvania, he temporarily attended university alongside William Shippen Senior. and Dr. Benjamin Rush. 

He did not have the money for additional medical study, which he also learned he did not like because their older brother had acquired their dad’s wealth. As a result, he decided to drop out of med school, yet school records identify himself as a “non-graduate alumni of Penn’s undergraduate medical cohort of 1793.

William Henry Harrison’s Political Career

William Henry Harrison was involved with politics just after the American Revolutionary War. He campaigned for more liberal pension legislation and militia formation during his time in the U.S. House of Delegates (1816–19). William H. Harrison opposed James Tallmadge’s proposal to the Missouri statehood enabling legislation, which limited the expansion of slavery. He undertook an unsuccessful attempt to become governor of Ohio around 1820.

Governor Andrew Jackson chose William Henry Harrison to serve as the first American minister for Colombia. Jackson’s rewards system made him an early casualty, and he was summoned back after just under a year. After returning from Colombia, Harrison spent some time retiring in North Bend, Ohio. He gave a few speeches on politics or agricultural subjects at this time.

William Henry Harrison had been touted initially in his profession as a potential presidential contender for the fledgling Whig Party throughout the 1836 election. He was chosen with one of three choices at massive public forums throughout Pennsylvania, Nyc, and Maryland. Harrison won a sizable percentage of Republican and Anti-Masonic support in the Midwestern and Western regions.

The Whigs thought they had discovered a new Jackson, appealing as a frontiersman and a military hero. The first presidential nominee to be “packaged” became William Henry Harrison, who was portrayed as a down-to-earth country boy. The campaign purposefully avoided discussing major national concerns in favor of party anthems, political tunes, and fitting symbols. Van Buren received Sixty electors, while Harrison received 234 votes.

William Henry Harrison’s Presidency

William Henry Harrison stood for President in 1836 but lost to Martin Van Buren, a Democratic. But in 1840, he ran once more and won over Van Buren. Against Van Buren’s Sixty votes cast, Harrison received 234. Approximately 150,000 votes separated them in the public election, or 8.9% of the 1.7 million votes counted.

On March 4th, 1841, William Henry Harrison was inaugurated as President. He became sick and died from pneumonia on March 26th, 1841, rendering his term as President the shortest in the office’s tenure.

Harrison convened a special meeting of Congress dated March 17th, 1841, to debate and make an effort to address “the situation of the income and economy of the country.” The start of the session was originally planned for May 31st, 1841.

William Henry Harrison the Presidential Election of 1836

Harrison represented the western area as one of four local Whig presidential candidates during 1836. Hugh L. White, Willie P. Mangum, and Daniel Webster were among the other participants. The popular Jackson-selected Democrat, current VP Presidential Martin Van Buren, was challenged by several Whig candidates. The Democrats claimed that by fielding many competitors, the Whigs intended to drive the vote into the House rather than allow Van Buren to win the popular vote. Whatever the situation, the plan—if there ever was one—failed. Harrison ultimately finished second and won eight of the twenty-six territories that comprise the Union.

Martin Van Buren received 170 electoral points to win the race. Harrison might have received Pennsylvania’s 30 electors, which could have determined the campaign in the Legislature with a swing of over 4,000 votes.

William Henry Harrison the Presidential Election of 1840

In the 1840 campaign, William Henry Harrison was the lone Whig running against Van Buren, the President. The Whigs believed that Harrison, a native of the South and a military hero, would provide a better comparison to the aloof, insensitive, and arrogant Van Buren. He got elected over more contentious party leaders like Clay and Webster; throughout his campaign, he emphasized his military experience and the shaky U.S. economy brought by the Panic of 1837.

To make the candidates seem more approachable to the “ordinary man,” their campaign manufactured hard cider containers in the style of log cabins. It employed emblems on posters and banners. Freehling states, “one angry pro-Van Buren publication mourned after his loss, ‘We have now been singing off, lied down, and wasted down.” 

This effectively summarized the modern American political system. Despite coming from a wealthy, slave-owning Virginia family, Van Buren was painted as a wealthy aristocrat during Harrison’s candidacy, which portrayed him as a modest outdoorsman inside the Andrew Jackson vein.

William Henry Harrison Inauguration (1941)

William Henry Harrison elected not to wear a cap or an overcoat arrived at the formal event on horseback and gave the 8,445-word commencement address, the highest in American history. The inauguration speech rebuked Jackson’s and Van Buren’s actions and Harrison’s first official declaration of his presidential philosophy.

By printing paper money under Henry Clay’s American economy, William Henry Harrison vowed to revive the United States Bank of Commerce and increase its capability for credit. He planned to depend on the wisdom of Parliament in legislative affairs, exercising his veto solely in cases when an act would violate the Constitution. Overall, Harrison vowed to have a weak administration and adhere to Whig ideas by submitting to “the First Part,” the Congress.

Harrison’s long address gave hazy hints about what the American people may expect from his Presidency. He said he would only hold office for one term and refrain from using his veto inappropriately. Harrison opposed coming up with national financial plans, preferring to leave it entirely up to Congress. He opposed stirring up tensions around enslavement in the Southern United States. He avoided talking about the allocation and tariff. 

He didn’t say anything about the national bank other than that he preferred paper money over metallic currency. Harrison had a pretty constrained idea of what the President was. This was strongly related to Harrison’s Whig political theory.

The Patronage Press of William Henry Harrison

Clay anticipated having a significant impact on the Harrison administration since he was the head of the Whigs, a strong lawmaker, and a failed presidential contender on his terms. He tried to sway Harrison’s decisions before and throughout his brief term in power, particularly by putting up his choices for Cabinet positions and other presidency appointments, despite his campaign pledge to abolish the “spoils” process.

The Executive Mansion was constantly crowded with crowds of job applicants, and no system was in place for screening them. According to one account, Harrison would have to be carried out of an opening, travel the whole of the White House’s perimeter, and then return via another glass to move from one bedroom to another.

Harrison was serious about his promise to change executive selections; he visited all six executive agencies to study how they operated and, through Webster, issued an order stating that any staff campaigning would cause termination. He defied pressure from fellow Whigs over party favoritism. On March 16th, a group came to his workplace to request that all Democrats be removed from all political appointments.

Harrison was removed from power in March 1859 because he refused to cave into Whig pressures over political patronage. The only other significant choice Harrison had to make was whether to convene a special meeting of Congress, which he originally opposed. Following Thomas Ewing’s assessment that federal coffers were in such bad shape that the administration couldn’t continue functioning until December, he gave in. If Harrison had survived, the meeting would have started on May 31st.

The Death of William Henry Harrison

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