Within days, he had a cold, which developed into pneumonia. [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. WebAt age sixty-eight, Harrison was the oldest President elected in his century. His funeral on April 7 was the first for a sitting president. "[81] A very similar sentiment of the situation is related by biographer Samuel Burr. Troops led by William Henry Harrison defeat Native Americans led by the Shawnee chief Tecumseh at the Battle of Tippecanoe near the Tippecanoe River in Indiana. In summary, President Harrisons speech mainly discussed how the "[112] U.S. Harrison died on April 4, 1841, making him the first U.S. president to die in office, and was buried in the William Henry Harrison tomb in North Bend, Ohio. Van Buren won easily, but Harrison was the top Whig vote getter. Harrisons slogan, Tippecanoe and Tyler Too, referring to his running mate, former U.S. senator from Virginia John Tyler, became one of the most famous campaign slogans. [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. "[83] He also cultivated corn and established a distillery to produce whiskey, but closed it after he became disturbed by the effects of alcohol on its consumers. Harrison was promoted to captain in 1797 and, for a brief period, served as commander of Fort Washington, resigning from the army in June 1798. Corrections? Harrison named his cabinet and called for Congress to return on May 31 for a special session. [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. 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. [154][155], Equestrian statue of Harrison in Cincinnati, by Louis Rebisso, 1950 issue of Harrison on Indiana statehood stamp. This followed closely with Harrison's Whig political ideology. [120] Harrison was then administered laudanum, opium, and camphor, along with wine and brandy. While serving in this capacity, he devised a plan for distributing public lands to settlers and also assisted in the division of the Northwest Territory. WebWe're going to talk about William Henry Harrison, who's the president who gave us the longest inaugural address it was nearly two hours long and then had the shortest presidency. [62] Despite being 13 years removed from military action, Harrison convinced Madison and Eustis to allow him to assume command. Harrison drew his sword, and Tecumseh's warriors backed down when the officers presented their firearms in his defense. [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. Thus ended resistance in the Northwest. His nickname was "Old Tippecanoe" and he was a well-respected war 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. [93] Van Buren won the election with 170 electoral votes. In 1799, he was elected as the territory's non-voting delegate in the United States House of Representatives. The Staunton Spectator made favorable note of womens attendance at Harrison rallies, and the Richmond Yeoman reported on a woman who refused to marry her suitor until he declared for Harrison. [5], The press did not cover the battle at first, until one Ohio paper misinterpreted Harrison's first dispatch to mean that he was defeated. He narrowly lost Virginia even though both he and Tyler were born there. On November 25, 1795, Harrison eloped with twenty-year-old Anna Tuthill Symmes, the well-educated daughter of John Cleves Symmes, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey who was one of southwestern Ohios biggest land speculators. Harrison died just past midnight on the morning of April 4, 1841, thirty-two days after being inaugurated. WebWilliam Henry Harrison, an American military officer and politician, was the ninth President of the United States (1841), the oldest President to be elected at the time. President Andrew Jackson replaces Harrison in March 1829. WebOn March 4, 1841, President William Henry Harrison gave the longest inaugural speech in American history. On June 6, 1840, on the steps of the National Hotel in Columbus, Harrison became the first presidential candidate to give a campaign speech for himself, which was considered shocking. [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. "[5] Matters eventually became cordial with the father-in-law, who later sold the Harrisons 160 acres (65ha) of land in North Bend, which enabled Harrison to build a home and start a farm. Harrison told friends that he was so busy that he hardly had time to perform the necessary functions of nature., Harrison took daily walks around Washington, sometimes in the rain and cold. The assertion is based upon the White family's oral history. On April 24, 1791, Benjamin Harrison died at age 65 while he was Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. [104] Freehling opines that speeches like this were actually common at the time, and that its irony was rich, as Harrison, "a lifelong office seeker, elected by deeply partisan politics, criticized both".[105]. 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 William Henry Harrison negotiates the Treaty of Fort Wayne, under which the United States acquires 2.5 million acres of land from Native American tribes. During the address, the new president wore no coat or hat. [42] Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were members of the Democratic-Republican Party, and they reappointed him as governor in 1803, 1806, and 1809. With his homespun image in mind, he left his silk hat at home and wore his farmers clothes. Congress. Miller applied mustard plaster to his stomach and gave him a mild laxative, and he felt better that afternoon. He was the oldest man, at age 67, ever elected president up to that time, the last president born under British rule, and the first to die in officeafter only one months service. The following year, Harrison was elected the territorys delegate to Congress in Philadelphia. [96] A memorable example was the Gold Spoon Oration that Pennsylvania's Whig representative Charles Ogle delivered in the House, ridiculing Van Buren's elegant White House lifestyle and lavish spending. In the end, Harrison came in second, and carried nine of the twenty-six states in the Union. 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. Harrison waited for the election results in Cincinnati. But researchers in 2014 proposed a different reason. [12] He was initially assigned to Fort Washington, Cincinnati in the Northwest Territory where the army was engaged in the ongoing Northwest Indian War. He stepped into the barouche but the crowd pressed forward so impetuously, that the horses became frightened and reared frequently. In one sentence, this described the new American political process. of United States", "Biographical SketchWilliam Henry Harrison", "William Henry Harrison (17731841) Biography", "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Corydon Historic District", "William Henry Harrison: Shady Treaty Maker (quoting Owens)", "A Brief History of Race and Politics in Indiana", "Presidential Series William H. Harrison", "Treaty with the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawnees, Senecas, and Miamis (1814)", "William Henry Harrison: Campaigns and Elections", "How Close Were The Presidential Elections? The Whigs encouraged womens participation throughout Virginia, overturning long-standing cultural constrains on public partisanship by women. [90] The Village of North Bend, Ohio as well as the alumni of Ohio State University claim that the state's use of the nickname "Buckeyes" began with Harrison's campaign message. Have Any U.S. Presidents Decided Not to Run For a Second Term? [119] A reporter for the New York Commercial indicated that "the country's people were deeply distressed and many of them in tears. [99][102], When Harrison came to Washington, he wanted to show that he was still the steadfast hero of Tippecanoe and that he was a better educated and more thoughtful man than the backwoods caricature portrayed in the campaign. 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. [144], Harrison's son John Scott Harrison represented Ohio in the House of Representatives between 1853 and 1857. President James Madison appointed Harrison general of the Army of the Northwest after the United States had suffered several early defeats near Canada in the War of 1812 against the British. 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. Although the Whig Party was in the minority in Illinios, Lincoln agreed with its policies and supported the party's He won the Electoral College by a landslide: 234 electoral votes to 60 for Van Buren. [119] A Washington paper reported on Thursday, April 1, that Harrison's health was decidedly better. [17] Harrison was promoted to captain in May 1797 and resigned from the Army on June 1, 1798. [26][27] In her 2012 biography of Harrison, author Gail Collins describes this as an unlikely story, although White believed it to be true.