William Henry Harrison 1840 presidential campaign

In 1840, William Henry Harrison was elected President of the United States. Harrison had served as a general and as United States Senator from Ohio. He defeated the incumbent president, Democrat Martin Van Buren, in a campaign that broke new ground in American politics. His death a month later marked the firsttime an American president had failed to complete his term.

About William Henry Harrison 1840 presidential campaign in brief

In 1840, William Henry Harrison was elected President of the United States. Harrison had served as a general and as United States Senator from Ohio. He defeated the incumbent president, Democrat Martin Van Buren, in a campaign that broke new ground in American politics. Harrison’s victory was the first time the Whig Party won a presidential election. A month after taking office, Harrison died and his running mate John Tyler served the remainder of his term. Harrison was born into wealth in 1773. He started a military career before using his father Benjamin Harrison V’s connections to gain office on the frontier. After a decade as governor of Indiana Territory, Harrison made his reputation fighting the Native Americans, notably at the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe and, once the War of 1812 began. He was triumphant over both at the Battle of the Thames in 1813. After the war, he was elected to Congress from Ohio and served in a variety of offices over the next two decades. A regional Whig candidate for the White House in 1836, he did not stop running for president until he won the office four years later. The unofficial campaign motto, \”TippecAnoe and Tyler Too\”, has been called the most famous presidential campaign slogan in American history. The Whigs adopted the cabin and cider as emblems, both of which were commonly seen at their rallies, and became symbolic of the party’s connection with the grass roots. Harrison rallies grew to unprecedented size, and the candidate delivered speeches at some of them, breaking the usual custom that the office should seek the man and presidential hopefuls should not campaign.

His death a month later marked the firsttime an American president had failed to complete his term, and he was expelled from the party. On the presidents under the presidents, Harrison secured as much land as he could from the Indians, sometimes loaning chiefs money and taking the land when they could not repay the land. In late 1810, an influential Native American, Tecumseh Vum, came to confront Harrison at the territorial capital of incincennes, telling him there could be no more land for white settlement. This led to increased tensions between natives and settlers, and ended in a meeting that ended badly, with Harrison telling the white settlement leaders there could no more take more for more money. In 1800, the Indiana Territory was separated from the Northwest, and Harrison was made territorial governor by President Adams, a position he would hold for over a decade. When Harrison purchased a large tract of land from his father-in-law at the Ohio River at North Bend, there was a log cabin on the property, but by 1840 the structure had been absorbed into the mansion that stood there. Harrison was already seeking another position through his government connections, and was appointed by President John Adams as secretary of the Northwest Territory. The following year, the territorial legislature narrowly elected him the territory’s delegate to Congress. The same year, Harrison was appointed as Secretary of the NW Territory.

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