US Presidents, Day 9: WH Harrison

He was the man you had to like. He was the conquering war hero and the all around good natured fellow. He was William Henry Harrison, and as our nation’s shortest termed president he abandoned the Whig Party at a time when he could have revolutionized the nation. “The death of Harrison,” Henry dams stated, “Was the greatest tragedy in Henry Clay’s life.” Why was this so? What did men like Clay and Webster have in store for the Granny General, and how did his death spoil their plans?

To start off Harrison was not a warrior or a politician, but he became both. His dream as a young man growing up on his father’s (who signed the Deceleration of Independence) giant Virginia estate was to be a doctor. His father was proud of this ambition and promised to send the lad to medical school. However, in 1791 Harrison’s father died, and his older brother refused to give him any money to attend law school. In desperation Harrison joined the U.S. Military. He was known as “The Patrician of the Army.” His experiences in battle helped Harrison become more of a “people’s man.” He ate, slept, and lived with poor Americans, and thus he saw exactly what they were all about. He heard the settlers complain about Indian raids and he wanted to do something about that. From 1791 to 1810 Harrison fought Indians in the Northwest Territories and rose to the rank of General. When the War of 1812 began he took control of many Northwestern Troops and fought against the Shawnee Indian leader Tecumseh. General fought the Shawnee Indians and routed Tecumseh at the Thames in 1814 (he never claimed to have killed Tecumseh, but the myth began anyway).

Harrison's greatest victory came in 1810 before the war even began. As Governor of the Ohio Territory Harrison led a troop of 3,000 men against Tecumseh’s warriors at Tippecanoe Creek. The battle was bloody, and Harrison lost most of his boys. The United States came out on top in the end, and Tecumseh’s dream of uniting all Native American tribes was ended in the victory result. This battle would become known as Harrison’s greatest victory and would be used by Whigs in 1840.

The campaign of 1840 was a lot of fun for the Whigs. Instead of nominating capable and intelligent politicians like Clay or Daniel Webster, the party nominated a man whom they felt was like General Jackson: William Henry Harrison. They called him “Old Tippecanoe” and after nominating former Democratic Governor of Virginia John Tyler as his running-mate the Whigs cried, “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!” Harrison was born very wealthy to a father who had been Governor of Virginia, yet the Whigs cast Harrison as a “man of the people.” They built log cabins, drank cider, and “sung out” the Presidency of Martin Van Buren. A people ravaged by the recession of 1837 wanted the log cabin man of the people, not the wine-sipping Van Buren.

The Whigs took majorities in both Houses of Congress in 1840 and won the White House. The reason why the day Harrison died is Clay’s most tragic one is because Harrison was to be Clay’s stooge. Clay wanted the National Bank restored, more national roads and canals, and higher tariffs. He wanted his “American System” top become law. Harrison was playing along fine. He appointed Clay men to the Cabinet (including Daniel Webster as Secretary of State), appointed Clay’s friends to federal offices, and then he was going to introduce Clay written legislation to the Congress. Clay’s plan would have worked splendidly had Harrison chosen to wear his coat on March 4th, 1841.

The bitter cold day of March 4th, 1841, was not a day to walk around without a coat and hat, but Harrison chose to. The reason was because during the 1840 campaign the Democrats said Harrison (at 68) was too old and tired to be President. Harrison decided to prove them wrong by participating in all outdoor events and giving the longest Inaugural Address in history (at 8,445 it took almost 2-hours to read) without a coat, hat, or gloves. The elderly Harrison soon grew sick. He caught a cold, but recovered by mid-March. In early April he went riding without his hat and it started to rain. He got sick again and expired one month after he took office.

Had Harrison lived our nation’s history would have been altered. A National Bank would have been established again, new high tariffs would have effected international trade, and Webster would have dominated all foreign affairs. The state of Texas may never had joined the Union. Clay opposed its annexation, but Vice-President Tyler did not. When Tyler, the state’s rights Whig became President, he would find out that he and Clay disagreed on much more. The stage for a political showdown was set the day Granny Harrison passed into eternity.

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