William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States from March 4 to April 4, 1841, the shortest presidency in U.S. history. He was also the first U.S. president to die in office, causing a brief constitutional crisis since presidential succession was not then fully defined in the U.S. Constitution. Harrison was the last president born as a British subject in the Thirteen Colonies and was the grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd U.S. president.
Harrison was born into the Harrison family of Virginia in 1773 as a son of Benjamin Harrison V, a U.S. Founding Father. In 1794, Harrison participated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers, an American military victory that ended the Northwest Indian War. In 1811, he led a military force against Tecumseh’s confederacy at the Battle of Tippecanoe, where he earned the nickname “Old Tippecanoe“. He was promoted to major general in the Army during the War of 1812, and led American infantry and cavalry to victory at the Battle of the Thames in Upper Canada.
Harrison’s political career began in 1798, with an appointment as secretary of the Northwest Territory. In 1799, he was elected as the territory’s non-voting delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives. He became governor of the newly established Indiana Territory in 1801 and negotiated multiple treaties with American Indian tribes, with the nation acquiring millions of acres. After the War of 1812, he moved to Ohio where, in 1816, he was elected to represent the state’s 1st district in the House. In 1824, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, though his Senate term was cut short by his appointment as minister plenipotentiary to Gran Colombia in 1828.
Harrison returned to private life in Ohio until he was nominated as one of several Whig Party nominees in the 1836 U.S. presidential election, in which he lost to Democratic vice president Martin Van Buren. In the 1840 presidential election, the party nominated him again, with John Tyler as his running mate, under the campaign slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”, and Harrison defeated Van Buren. Just three weeks after his inauguration, Harrison fell ill and died days later. After resolution of an ambiguity in the constitution regarding succession to the powers and duties of the office, Tyler became president. Harrison is remembered for his Indian treaties, and also his inventive election campaign tactics. He is often omitted in historical presidential rankings because of his brief tenure.
