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HARRISON, William Henry
(1773–1841), ninth president of the U.S. (1841).
His claim to fame rests not on his administration—for he
died of pneumonia one month after his inauguration—but
on the strange campaign by which in 1840 he attained the high office.
A minor military hero, he rode to glory by saying nothing (General
Mum, his critics called him), while his party, the Whigs, capitalized
on a propaganda blunder by their Democratic opponents to proclaim
Harrison a simple man used to living in a log cabin.
Harrison was born on Feb. 9, 1773, to one of the wealthiest,
most prestigious, and most influential families in Virginia, on
a great plantation in Berkeley Co. From the early 17th century on,
the Harrisons had accumulated vast landholdings, occupied the highest
political and judicial positions, and intermarried with the leading
families of Virginia. William Henry’s youthful military
career and his appointment, when he was not yet 30 years old, to
the prominent post of governor of Indiana Territory were due more
to the influence of his father, Benjamin Harrison, who had been
governor of Virginia, than to any military or administrative talent that
he himself had demonstrated.
Harrison had a modest career that was highlighted by two significant military
successes. After devoting his tenure as territorial governor to
negotiating the western Indian tribes out of millions of acres,
he commanded a force of militia and regulars that put down a Shawnee
uprising at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Although Harrison’s
own policies as governor had helped provoke the rebellion, his victory
won him a reputation that helped vault him to the presidency a generation
later. In the year following the outbreak of the War of 1812, Harrison
won another important battle, fought near Canada’s Thames
River in the province of Ontario, that ensured continued American
control of the western territory.
Although Harrison’s career was moderately successful—he
was several times elected to the Ohio Senate and the U.S. House
of Representatives—his life at this time was beset by financial
difficulties. For a short period in 1828 he served as minister to
Colombia, but President John Quincy Adams, who appointed him to the
diplomatic post because of his connections, had low regard for Harrison’s
ability, and this poor opinion was shared by political figures in
Washington, D.C. The nation, however, remembered his military exploits, and
in the mid-1830s and again in 1840 Whig party managers decided to
exploit them. As one of a number of Whig candidates in 1836, Harrison
was an also-ran. In 1840, however, benefiting from the artful campaign tactics
of his party, Harrison succeeded.
Seeking victory at almost any price, the Whig party in 1840 passed
over Henry Clay, its true leader, choosing the aging general instead.
To appeal to the South, they chose a states’ rights southern
Democrat, John Tyler, as his running mate. Convinced that they could
win by blaming the severe economic depression on the policies of
President Martin Van Buren, they also derided “Van” for his
alleged aristocratic manners, commanded Harrison to be silent on
the issues, refused to present a party platform, and waged a rousing
campaign, using the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler too.” Taking
advantage of a sneering Democratic reference to Harrison as a man
content to sit in his log cabin sipping hard cider, the Whigs’ propaganda
transformed the Virginia aristocrat into a poor farmer. Seldom has
demagoguery paid off so well.
Perhaps Harrison’s most significant act in his abbreviated
term—he died on April 4, 1841—was his appointment
of Daniel Webster as secretary of state.