William Henry Harrison was a military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. His presidency was the shortest in U.S. history, as he died just 31 days after his inauguration. Harrison was the first president to die in office, leading to a brief constitutional crisis. He was known for his military career, including victories in the Battle of Fallen Timbers and the Battle of the Thames. Harrison's political career included serving as governor of the Indiana Territory and representing Ohio in the House of Representatives. He won the 1840 presidential election but died shortly after taking office.
William Henry Harrison was born into an elite family in Virginia. His father, Benjamin Harrison, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and served as governor of Virginia. His mother, Elizabeth Bassett Harrison, came from a prestigious family in the colony.
William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, was born on February 9, 1773.
The last president born before the United States gained independence from Great Britain.
In 1790, William Henry Harrison, future ninth president of the United States, studied medicine under Dr. Andrew Leiper in Richmond, Virginia.
William Henry Harrison learned about his father's sudden death in April 1791 after arriving in Philadelphia to study at the Medical School of Pennsylvania. This event significantly altered his financial status.
During the campaign against the Indians, William Henry Harrison served as aide-de-camp to General “Mad Anthony” Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794. This battle opened most of the Ohio area to settlement.
William Henry Harrison married Anna Symmes on November 22, 1795.
On November 25, 1795, William Henry Harrison married Anna Tuthill Symmes, the daughter of a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. They moved into a log cabin on the Ohio River near Cincinnati.
In 1796, Captain Harrison took command of Fort Washington, near present-day Cincinnati, an installation established to protect settlers against Native Americans and the British agents who incited them.
Harrison defeated Arthur St. Clair Jr. by one vote to be elected as the Northwest Territory's congressional delegate.
In 1799, Harrison was elected as a delegate to the United States Congress for the Northwest Territory, after being named secretary of the territory by President John Adams.
In May 1800, William Henry Harrison was appointed by President John Quincy Adams as the first governor of the Indiana Territory, which was created when Congress subdivided the Northwest Territory. He served as governor for twelve years.
In 1801, William Henry Harrison became Governor of the Indiana Territory, serving for 12 years. His main task as governor was to obtain title to Indian lands so settlers could press on.
The construction of Grouseland Indiana Territorial Mansion, also known as the William Henry Harrison's Presidential Home, began in January 1804.
In late 1805, William Henry Harrison orchestrated a massive and largely fraudulent landgrab of 51 million acres from the Native Americans, taking advantage of their communal approach to territory and exploiting their poverty and corrupt leadership. He manipulated minor chiefs from the Sac tribe with alcohol and persuaded them to sign away one-third of modern Illinois, as well as sizable chunks of Wisconsin and Missouri, for one penny per two hundred acres.
In 1809, William Henry Harrison negotiated the Treaty of Fort Wayne with more than a thousand Native Americans, offering to buy nearly three million acres of their land for just under two cents an acre. This action further inflamed Indian tensions, particularly with Tecumseh, and led to increased efforts to assemble a confederacy of tribes to retake lost Indian lands.
William Henry Harrison gained fame for his victory over the Native Americans at the Battle of Tippecanoe, leading to him being nicknamed Tippecanoe and considered a war hero. This battle partially contributed to his election as president.
In the summer of 1812, America declared war against Britain, further emboldening the Native American tribes in the Northwest.
By fall of 1812, William Henry Harrison commanded all forces in the Northwest with the rank of major general, amid the disastrous summer for the American cause.
Gen. James Winchester, ordered by Harrison to surprise Fort Maiden, was forced to surrender to Col. Henry A. Procter at Frenchtown (now Monroe, Michigan) on January 22, 1813, after turning back to rescue the threatened American settlement.
Harrison decisively defeated the British and their Indian allies at the Battle of the Thames in Ontario, Canada. Tecumseh was killed in the battle, and the British-Indian alliance was permanently destroyed, ending resistance in the Northwest.
In May of 1814, William Henry Harrison resigned from the Army and settled into life on his farm in North Bend, near Cincinnati. This decision marked the end of his military career and transition into civilian life.
In 1816, William Henry Harrison successfully secured a position to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, marking a significant milestone in his political career. This role allowed him to actively participate in the legislative process and contribute to the governance of the United States.
Harrison declined an appointment to the position of Secretary of War under President Monroe in 1817.
Harrison was elected as an Ohio State Senator in 1819.
After his term in Congress, William Henry Harrison lost a bid for governor of Ohio in 1820.
At the age of 59, William Henry Harrison made an unsuccessful attempt to return to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1822.
In 1824, William Henry Harrison was elected to the U.S. Senate.
From 1825 to May 1828, William Henry Harrison served as a member of the U.S. Senate from Ohio.
In 1828, William Henry Harrison was appointed as an ambassador to Colombia with the help of his old friend Henry Clay, who was the secretary of state to the new President, John Quincy Adams.
In March 1829, Andrew Jackson, upon assuming the presidency, recalled William Henry Harrison from his post in Colombia as a political favor. Harrison's public siding with the opposition to President Simón Bolívar had angered Colombia, leading to the decision to expel the envoy.
In 1831, William Henry Harrison failed in a new election bid for the U.S. Senate.
William Henry Harrison was born on a farm by the Ohio River below Cincinnati. He later attended Miami University in Ohio and became a prominent figure in Indianapolis as a lawyer and a member of the Republican Party.
Harrison ran for the presidency in 1836 but was defeated by Democrat Martin Van Buren.
In December 1839, William H. Harrison was nominated for president at the Whig Party convention in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. John Tyler was nominated for vice president. The compromise Harrison-Tyler ticket was a result of behind-the-scenes politicking.
In November-December 1840, William Henry Harrison was elected as the ninth president of the United States in a significant victory for the Whig party.
William Henry Harrison was inaugurated as the ninth president of the United States on March 4, 1841, but tragically died just thirty-one days later, making him the shortest-serving U.S. president.
A special message was delivered on March 5, 1841.
Proclamation 45B was issued on March 17, 1841, convening an extra session of the Congress.
Harrison fell ill and died of pneumonia on March 26, 1841, making his presidency the shortest in the history of the office.
William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia on April 4, 1841, just 31 days after being sworn into office. His presidency was the shortest in the history of the U.S., and he was the first U.S. President to die in office.
On April 5, 1841, an announcement was made to the representatives of foreign governments in the United States regarding the death of President Harrison.
Following President Harrison's sudden death, Vice President Tyler was informed by Harrison's cabinet and promptly arrived in Washington, D.C. to discuss the matter of succession. The cabinet members swiftly agreed that Tyler should take the oath of office, establishing the procedure for presidential succession and averting a potential constitutional and political crisis.
The nation observed a day of mourning to honor the late president, William Henry Harrison, who passed away after a short tenure in office.
In 1853, William Henry Harrison married Caroline Lavinia Scott.
William Henry Harrison was unfairly stigmatized as 'Kid Gloves' Harrison by the Democrats, leading to his defeat in the 1876 Governor of Indiana election.
In the 1880s, William Henry Harrison served in the United States Senate, where he advocated for the rights of Indians, homesteaders, and Civil War veterans.
In 1887, Harrison attempted to make the tariff more acceptable by including reciprocity provisions. This involved removing the tariff from imported raw sugar and providing a two cents a pound bounty to sugar growers within the United States to cope with the Treasury surplus.
The first Pan American Congress met in Washington in 1889, establishing an information center which later became the Pan American Union.
President Harrison signed substantial appropriation bills for internal improvements, naval expansion, and subsidies for steamship lines in 1890. This marked a significant financial allocation by the government.
In 1892, President Harrison was defeated by Cleveland in the presidential election, marking the end of his administration.
President Harrison submitted to the Senate a treaty to annex Hawaii, but it was later withdrawn by President Cleveland, causing disappointment to Harrison.
The Index to the William Henry Harrison Papers was published in Washington, D.C. in 1960. It serves as a finding aid for researchers looking to access the papers of William Henry Harrison.