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William Henry Harrison Brief History
William Henry Harrison has the dubious distinction of being the president of the United States for the shortest duration. He was just president for 32 days before he died due to pneumonia. He was also the first Whig president. |
Harrison was born on February 9, 1773 in an influential political family of Virginia. He was born two years after the American Revolution and was the youngest of the seven siblings. Harrison's father was the governor of Virginia for three terms.
Although Harrison was studying medicine, he suddenly decided to have a career in the military. This greatly disappointed his father, who wanted him to study medicine and become a physician.
After joining the military, Harrison moved to the Northwest Territories under General "Mad Anthony" Wayne. Here Harrison earned a reputation as a good fighter of Indians. In 1798, President John Adams appointed Harrison as the Secretary of the Northwest Territory. Two year later, he was appointed the governor of Indian Territory, a position that he held for 12 years.
During his time as the governor, Harrison waged many battles against the Indians to acquire their land. However, the Shawnee chief Tecumseh tried organize a resistance against Harrison and the settlers. But Harrison was effective in defeating the Indian warrior at the Tippecanoe Creek on November 7, 1811. This battle earned Harrison his nickname, Old Tip.
Then came the war of 1812 where Harrison fought a combined force of the British and Indians. In this war, Harrison defeated the British and managed to kill Tecumseh, who had joined the forces with the British. This immediately made Harrison into a national hero.
After the war, Harrison became a representative from Ohio. However, during this time, General Andrew Jackson raided Spain held Florida and Harrison joined other members to reprimand him. This lead to Jackson and Harrison not liking each other. Harrison was also pro slavery even though he lived in the West, and was constantly opposing any attempts by the Congress to stop the spread of slavery.
Harrison was the minister to Columbia, but once Jackson became the president, he lost the position. This prompted him to return to civilian life.
In 1836, opponents of Andrew Jackson wanted to defeat Martin Van Buren who was chosen by Jackson himself as his successor. So, these opponents formed the Whigs Party and fielded four candidates for the presidential election from four different regions. They hoped that with this tactic, Van Buren would not get a electoral vote majority and the election would then be directed to the House of Representatives. Harrison was the Whig presidential candidate from the west. In the election, Harrison came in second but Van Buren still won the majority of both electoral college as well as the popular vote.
Four years later, the Whig selected Harrison as their presidential candidate. This campaign used a lot of media and advertising resources, and in the end, Harrison won the election against incumbent president Martin Van Buren. John Tyler was his running mate.
At the time of his inauguration, Harrison was 68 years old. This made him the oldest president to ever sit in office, a mantle that is now owned by Ronald Reagan. The inaugural address took place in March when the whether was quite cold, and Harrison gave an hour and 40 minutes inaugural address without wearing a hat or coat. This led to Harrison catching a cold, which turned into pneumonia. On the thirty-second day in office, Harrison died.
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