Quiet, even tempered William Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the United States, was an excellent politician. A national hero for his role in the War of 1812, Harrison was the first person to make successful use of parades, catchy slogans, and songs in campaigning for the office of President. Though he was born on his father's prosperous plantation in Virginia, the Whig Party painted him as a hero of the common citizen, born in a log cabin, with a love for fighting and a thirst for hard cider. Harrison is perhaps best remembered as the first President to die in office. His term lasted only thirty days.
William Henry Harrison was born on February 9, 1773 in Berkeley, Virginia. He was the youngest of seven children born to Elizabeth and Benjamin Harrison. Benjamin Harrison was a prosperous Virginia planter who had served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, as Governor of Virginia, and had been a signer of the Declaration of Independence. William Henry Harrison received an exemplary elementary education. When he was fourteen he enrolled in Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. At the bequest of his father, William Henry left Hampden-Sydney and moved to Philadelphia to study medicine under Dr. Benjamin Rush, a prominent physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence. In 1791 Benjamin Harrison died, allowing William Henry to discontinue his study of medicine, a subject for which he had neither interest nor aptitude.
After leaving medicine, William Henry Harrison joined the United States Army where he was commissioned as an aide to General Anthony Wayne at Fort Washington (near Cincinnati) with the rank of lieutenant. In 1794 Harrison distinguished himself at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. He was promoted captain in March and charged with the command of Fort Washington later that same year. In 1798 President John Adams appointed Harrison Secretary of the Northwest Territory (now Indiana). In 1799 the people of the Northwest Territory nominated him as a delegate to Congress. Then in 1800 President John Adams appointed William Henry Harrison governor of the Northwest Territory, a position which he held until 1812.
William Henry Harrison gained national attention in 1811 when he led the Indiana Territory Militia against a federation of Native Americans under the leadership of the Shawnee Indian Chief Tecumseh. Though the Battle of Tippecanoe Creek was more or less a draw, it earned Harrison a popular reputation and the nickname "Tippecanoe." When war was declared against England in 1812, Harrison was appointed commander in chief of the United States Army in the Northwest, with the rank of major general. As major general, Harrison met up again with Tecumseh who had by this time allied himself with the British; the two forces met at the Thames River in Ontario. The Battle of Thames River was an overwhelming victory for the United States, and, along with Commodore Perry's naval victory on the Great Lakes, it ended the war in Canada and solidified United States possession of all of the Great Lakes except Lake Ontario.
After the war, Harrison was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Representative of the Northwest Territory. He was then elected to serve on the State Senate of Ohio. In 1828 President Jackson appointed William Henry Harrison ambassador to Colombia. Severe debt forced him to retire after only eight months. He returned to his farm in North Bend, Ohio to get his personal business affairs in order. In 1834 Harrison took a job as the county clerk of the small claims court in his home district to earn some money to pay off his debts. It was during his time as the county clerk that Harrison began to seek the Whig Party nomination for President of the United States.
In 1836 Harrison won the nomination as the Whig candidate, but lost the election to Democratic-Republican Martin Van Buren. Though Harrison had lost to the Jackson-supported Van Buren by a considerable amount of votes, his unexpectedly strong showing in the election of 1836 (he took seven states) made him a contender for the nomination as the Whig candidate in 1840.
Harrison's campaign in the 1840 race for the Presidency was the first to successfully make use of parades, slogans, and campaign songs. Despite Harrison's wealthy background, his supporters portrayed him as a hero of the common man. Harrison's supporters succeeded in portraying incumbent President Van Buren as a rich snob who was indifferent to the economic hardships which the common citizen suffered during the depression. The campaign successfully capitalized on Harrison's military victories as well as those of his running mate's, John Tyler.
On March 4, 1841 William Henry Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address in history; it lasted one hour and forty five minutes. In his address Harrison called for an amendment to the Constitution limiting the President to only one term in office, vowing that he himself would only serve one term. Unfortunately Harrison did not get the chance to prove his sincerity. It rained during the entire parade to the Capitol and continued to rain through all one hundred and five minutes of Harrison's speech. As a result of being outside in the rain, Harrison contracted pneumonia. President William Henry Harrison died on April 4, 1841, one month, to the day, after his inauguration.
