The 9th President William Henry Harrison is dead. And just 32 days after he took office. The government has been thrown into chaos, and Vice President John Tyler is stuck in limbo. William Henry Harrison’s cabinet met within one hour of his death, and debate about Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution began. This particular clause governed intra-term presidential succession, which had never had to be used up until this point. The cabinet determined that this clause only gave Vice President Tyler the powers of the presidency, and not the actual office of the Presidency. Well John Tyler whole heartedly disagreed with this. He quickly summed William Cranch the Chief Judge of the United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia to this hotel room. In that hotel room Tyler had Cranch administer the oath of office of the Presidency, and John Tyler became our 10th President.

Tyler, like Harrison, was born into a prominent Virginia family descending from colonial Williamsburg. His father, John Tyler Sr. was a great friend and college roommate of Thomas Jefferson, served in the Virginia House of Delegates (with William Henry Harrison’s father), became a state judge, and U.S. district judge, and governor of Virginia. So as you can see, John Tyler was familiar with politics from birth.

Tyler entered college at William and Mary at the age of 12 and graduated from college at 17. He then studied and apprenticed in law for 2 years, and at age 19 was admitted to the Virginia bar (which was under the 21 years of age limit, but the admitting judge never asked him how old he was….). And 2 years after that, he would enter politics for the first time after being elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. He was elected to this position in 1811, and war was quickly looming over the horizon.

When the War of 1812 broke out, it wasn’t long until the British would invade Virginia. When they did so, Tyler organized a militia, and led it as their captain. They helped to defend the capital of Richmond

Over the next two decades, Tyler would serve in the U.S House of Representatives and the Virginia House of Delegates. And in 1824 as the Governor of Virginia, just like this father. Then in 1828 he would be elected to the U.S. Senate. Throughout Tyler’s career he was known to be an extremely strong supporter of state’s rights. Voting again and again against anything that would add more government oversite or regulation. This came to a crescendo with him being alienated from his party, which prompted him to join the newly formed Whig party, and eventually becoming President Pro Tempore of the Senate when the Whig party took control.

With the economy in it’s first recession largely due to Martin Van Buren’s administration, the election of 1840 was a critical one. William Henry Harrison was chosen as the Whig’s Presidential candidate. And John Tyler was chosen as the Vice-Presidential candidate. To be frank, not much thought was given into making Tyler the Vice-Presidential candidate. No President had ever not finished their term, and the role of Vice President was very minimal at that time. Tyler was a southern slave owner, and had support state’s slave rights, and they figured he would better be able to help secure the southern vote against the northern Van Buren.

This election of 1840 would go on to set the standard for the modern Presidential campaign. You would see the first true campaign ticket slogan and theme song, complete with attack ads and mudslinging. This was mainly due to the fact that the newly formed Whig party had no platform, they were brand new. Their opposition and distain for Van Buren was all they had to run on. They started out on a national speaking tour, included speeches given by Tyler, which was unusual for a Vice President candidate at the time. They were also the first campaign to mobilize women in their efforts, despite the fact that women couldn’t vote.

When the mudslinging started, the modern campaign was born. The Whigs labeled Van Buren as a wealthy snob, and out of touch with the common man. And in turn the Democrats labeled Harrison and Tyler as backwoods country boys, who would just want to sit around drinking hard cider and living in log cabins (a reference to Harrison’s time living in a log cabin in the western frontier), and Harrison as an old washed up military man. The Whigs used these insults as fuel, and the “Log Cabin Campaign” was born. They turned around the insults and labeled Harrison “the log cabin and hard cider candidate”, who understood and could relate to the everyday citizen (even though both Harrison and Tyler were likely both wealthier than Van Buren). The two candidates created the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler too”. Referring to William Henry Harrison’s nickname from the battle of Tippecanoe and his military service.

Playing to the insult, an image of a log cabin was used on all campaign materials, and hard cider was dispersed at their political rallies. Then came the songs. Glee clubs sprang up all across the U.S. singing campaign songs in support of the two. The most famous of which read “What has caused this great commotion, motion, our country through? It is the ball a-rolling on, for Tippecanoe and Tyler too, Tippecanoe and Tyler too, and with them, we’ll beat little Van, Van, Van. Van is a used-up man”. And “We shall vote for Tyler therefore/without a why or wherefore”.

As was discussed in the Martin Van Buren article, due to the country’s hard economic times, and Harrison and Tyler being seen as more in touch with the common man, they easily won the election. Tyler would travel to Washington and be sworn in as Vice President. He was also present during Harrison’s two-hour inauguration speech. Again, going back to an earlier point, Tyler was seen as unimportant, and even left Washington D.C. to go back and spend his time in Virginia. If Harrison had a question for his Vice President, he would send a letter down to Virginia for Tyler to respond too (which wasn’t often). Then Tyler started to get letters of Harrison’s sickness and rapidly degrading health. Not wanting to seem like he was anticipating Harrison’s death, Tyler didn’t even travel to Washington until he received word that Harrison had already passed away.

Now the man who was serving in the Vice Presidency as more of a formality, was all of a sudden in the role of President after only 32 days since the start of the term. Tyler would serve as President without being elected to the office longer than any other person who took over the office mid-term. As Tyler had always demonstrated in his political beliefs, he held to the fact that federal power should be limited (which isn’t often the President’s political thought process haha), and his Presidency was no different. His political opponents referred to him as “His Accidency” for the way he grabbed the position, and any mail they sent to him they labeled “vice president” or “acting President” (which he promptly returned unopened every time).

Adhering to his beliefs in limited federal power and decision making, Tyler vetoed numerous pieces of legislation dealing with things from national banks, to raising tariffs to pay for the recession’s budget deficit, to funds to make necessary repairs to the White House. His own party became so frustrated with his lack of support, that his whole cabinet resigned, and his Whig party-controlled Congress started impeachment proceedings against him (the first impeachment proceedings to ever take place against the President).

Even to the point that in the election on 1844 he tried to run as President representing the other party! (which obviously didn’t work). He formed his own third party but took so much heat that he stated he would drop out of the Presidential race and back the other candidate if the media and the party members would cease the attacks on him. They agreed, and Tyler removed himself from the election and endorsed the Democratic Party candidate.

After the presidency, some years later, Tyler would vote for Virginia to secede from the Union and was even elected to the Confederate House of Representatives. But he passed away from a stroke before the Confederate House’s first session.

Fun fact, John Tyler was born in 1790, and has two living grandsons in 2019 (yes, you read that correctly, but feel free to read again. GRANDSONS). Tyler’s son Lyon was born when Tyler was 63 (he had a daughter at 70), and Lyon’s two sons were born in 1924 and 1928 when Lyon was 71 and 75……. One currently lives in Franklin, TN and the other lives in John Tyler’s home town and in the family home in Charles City County, Virginia. The home is open daily for tours from 9am-5pm and you can meet grandson Harrison Ruffin Tyler. It’s the longest frame house in the United States and features 25 acres of gardens and landscaping.

Next week we will look at the man who Tyler promised he would endorse for President, who would go on to win the election of 1844.

March 4th, 1841 was a very cold and wet Thursday. William Henry Harrison, our 9th President, was in the middle of giving the longest inaugural address that a President has ever given. At nearly two hours and 8,445 words (after being edited for length…. Wowzers), he literally went over every campaign agenda point of the Whig Party. Despite the cold and rain, Harrison wore no coat, no hat, and was delivered to the ceremony riding on open horseback. He wanted to appear tough and live up to his war general and tough guy reputation, and not the backwoods uneducated man his election opponents had cast him. Harrison would get severely ill and die 31 days later, making him the man who was President for the shortest amount of time. But was it the cold and rain of his 2-hour address that killed him? Or did our first President to die in office, and serve the shortest term, die of something that would soon claim the lives of 2 more Presidents? A Killer White House.

But let’s start from the beginning. Up to this point as we have seen, we have had Presidents come from extremely prominent families, and on the other end of the spectrum ones who had been orphaned or born into poverty. William Henry Harrison fell on the prominent end of the spectrum. His father, Benjamin Harrison V was a prominent politician, signer of the Declaration of Independence, served in the Virginia Legislature, and as Governor of Virginia. William’s older brother Carter was also a U.S. House representative from Virginia. So, William grew up around politics, and entered college at age 14. He studied there for 3 years, and then pursued medicine. He was not a fan of medical studies, and when his father died when he was 18, he discovered the family was out of money. He left medical school, and joined the military, thus setting the course that would determine his future path.

Harrison was quickly commissioned to the army and stationed in what is present day Cincinnati (They were NOT eating watery chili over spaghetti noodles at this time), in the Northwest Territory. By 1793 he was commanding troops in the frontier, battling numerous Indian tribes and winning some famous battles. A few years later he would resign from the military and begin his political career when President Adams appointed him the secretary of the Northwest Territory, and he often served as governor. By this time the Northwest Territory had gained enough population to warrant a seat in Congress. So, at age 26 Harrison ran for election and became the territory’s first congressional delegate. Two years later at age 28 President Adams would appoint him as governor of the Indiana Territory.

He would serve in this post for several years, that is until the War of 1812. Not being able to keep a good man down, he resigned the governorship and resumed his role in the military. Harrison once again led troops against battling Native Americans. This time it was against the fierce Shawnee. The Shawnee launched a surprise attack against Harrison and his men. Harrison would win this fight, known as the Battle of Tippecanoe, and become a national war hero. This would also give him his nickname of “Ole Tippecanoe”. Harrison would soon become brigadier general of the United States Army.

After the war, William Henry Harrison would enter politics once more. Over the years he would run for U.S House of Representatives, the Ohio Senate, the governor of Ohio, the U.S. Senate, and appointed the minister to Colombia. Around 1830 he retired from the political life. That was until he was bored once again and ran for the Presidential election of 1836, where he was unsuccessful against Martin Van Buren. But that didn’t stop Harrison. As we know from the Van Buren article, he had a rough Presidency, and William Henry Harrison easily defeated him the second go round in 1840.

Harrison would at the time be the oldest President our nation had elected at 68 years old (until Ronald Regan at 69 more than a century later, and now Donald Trump at 70.). Harrison had suffered through one of the most intense Presidential campaigns our nation has ever seen (Yes, its always been as bad as it is now). We have the invention of the campaign slogan, with “Tippecanoe and Tyler too” and even a campaign song. We will visit this campaign more in Harrison’s Vice President John Tyler’s article.

Again, Harrison stepped into the role of our nation’s 9th President on March 4th, 1841. He delivered the longest inaugural speech, outside, in a pouring rain storm. He then attended an outdoor parade, and three inaugural balls, all while wearing the same wet clothing. A few weeks later, he contracted pneumonia like symptoms and severe stomach and bowel issues. 9 days later, we had our first President to die while in office. The newspapers and rumors flew that his own inaugural speech had killed him, and the country was in a panic. No one even knew if the Vice President would ascend him into the office.

But did William Henry Harrison really die of pneumonia? And if so, why did the symptoms not show up until 23 days after his cold and wet inaugural address. The reason is because the White House killed him. More specifically, originating in a putrid marsh not far from the White House. As it is today, the White House is staffed by dozens and dozens of workers. Which in turn creates…… a lot of human waste. Well, the early 1840’s weren’t quite known for their sewage systems. In fact, the White House and Washington D.C. itself didn’t even have a sewer system.

Therefore, White House staff would cart this “night soil” to the nearest body of water, as did every other D.C. resident. The nearest body of water for waste disposal was in a marsh 7 blocks from the White House. The problem was this marsh was upstream from the area where the White House pumped in their water supply. So after extensive research in the 2000’s with today’s medical knowledge, it was determined that William Henry Harrison died from typhoid fever and gastroenteritis by salmonella, from this marsh which seeped into the White House water supply. But did the Killer White House stop there? It did not, James K. Polk, the 11th President Polk frequently wrote in his diary that since moving into the White House he suffered from violent diarrhea (yyeeeaahh….) while in office. 3 months after leaving office, he died from cholera morbis. And what about or 12th President, Zachary Taylor? He also died in office. And guess from what? Yep, acute gastroenteritis.

Other White House staff reportedly also passed away during this time period from similar aliments. Washington D.C. would not have a fully functioning sewage system until the 1870’s. So little did we know, the White House itself has been the biggest Presidential assassin, killing 3 out of 4 Presidents in a 9 year period. With Harrison’s sudden death, only 31 days after taking office, someone would need to fill his role. And our Constitution did not explain who that person would be. In our next article we will take a look at our nation’s first, and controversial, mid-term Presidential succession of power.

Martin Van Buren was born into a modest Dutch household in 1782. Therefore, he was the first President to be born a U.S. Citizen and not a British subject. Being Dutch, he was also the first President not of British ancestory. He is also our only President that English wasn’t his first language, he grew up speaking Dutch (Wait just a second, you mean to tell me he wouldn’t have been able to “press 1 for English”????). His education was limited, but as a young teenager he started to apprentice and read law with a prestigious law office in his hometown of Kinderhook, New York. After working with several big-time attorneys in New York, Van Buren met many political leaders involved in New York state politics. From this point on his political career was born.

After starting his own law practice, Martin Van Buren became financially secure enough to focus his attention to the political sphere. He also married his childhood sweetheart, and the daughter of his first cousin (yuuuppp….). In 1812 he would secure his first party nomination, and won his first election for a seat in the New York State Senate. At this same time the War of 1812 broke out. Van Buren was a big supporter of the war, and even helped organize the New York militia. His political involvement in the war helped spring board him to winning the position of New York Attorney General in 1815. He won reelection to the New York State Senate and served in both positions simultaneously.

Van Buren continued to be involved and lead many New York “machine” political circles, including the famous Tammany Hall and Albany Regency. Around this same time, Van Buren’s wife passed away after contracting tuberculosis. Although they were only married a short time, he would never remarry. Because of his growing and expanding profile in New York machine, he was elected to the United States Senate representing New York in 1821. As Van Buren had done all throughout his career, he quickly became a very prominent Senator, serving on some major Senate committees.

Van Buren loved the two party system and strove to play one another against each other anytime he could. In the election of 1828, he chose to support Andrew Jackson against John Quincy Adams, because he believed Jackson had the better chance to beat Adams party. With the strong help of Van Buren campaigning for him in the north, the southern Andrew Jackson won the election. But Van Buren won an election of his own. He was elected as the governor of New York. He resigned from his Senate seat and assumed the governorship.

In February of 1829 Jackson asked Van Buren to serve as Secretary of State. Van Buren quickly resigned the governorship and became the U.S. Secretary of State. His term as governor of New York for 43 days is the shortest in New York history. As was described in Jackson’s article, Van Buren became his closest advisor. He experienced numerous successes as Secretary of State including securing several foreign treaties. Also described last time, he became Jackson’s Vice President in his second term, and continued having a successful national political career.

Jackson chose not to seek a second term and was determined to have Van Buren succeed him as President. And that’s precisely what he did. Van Buren won the election of 1836 in a landslide victory. And from this point forward, Van Buren’s easy breeze life in politics would be no more.

When Van Buren entered office, some of the bad policies of Andrew Jackson were just beginning to be felt. Jackson’s dismantling of the Bank of the United States sent the financial industry into a tailspin. This left state banks creating their own currencies, with no consistency. And many were refusing to convert paper currency into gold and silver. And remember, this was a big time for national expansion and business. Many citizens were heading west to purchase new land and start new industries. Banks were dispersing enormous amounts of credit, that were not being paid back. Numerous banks started collapsing, which in turn put several companies out of business. Therefore in 1837 the U.S. had its first economic depression, and unemployment levels reach records highs that the nation had not seen since its inception.

Van Buren proposed to create a U.S. Treasury department, that would house all of the government’s money, and wouldn’t be allowed to print paper currency whenever it felt like it. It would be tied to gold and silver. This would keep the government’s money out of private banks, politics out of private banking, and help curb inflation. Although the proposal was hotly contested, it did finally pass congress in 1840, the last year of Van Buren’s term. This financial system would remain in place until 1913 with the passing of the Federal Reserve Act. Unfortunately, this was too little and too late to save his Presidential career.

Additionally, Van Buren was weighed down with decisions he made regarding the Indian Removal Act. If you will remember from the Jackson article, although the Act passed under Jackson’s administration, many of the harsh Indian removals, such as the Trail of Tears, happened under Van Buren’s watch. He also got bogged down in the Seminole War in Florida, again costing the U.S. funds that they did not have.

Van Buren won the Democrats nomination to run again for President in 1840. With the economy still in shambles, and western expansion and Indian removal being controversial and divisive issues, Van Buren had an uphill battle to win his second term against the Whig Party. He lost to the Whigs in a landslide. Van Buren would try to run for President again in 1844 and 1848. But he never received the Democratic nomination. After this he would retire and never enter politics again. He wrote a few books and toured Europe. He lost that bid for second term to the two men in one of the most famous political slogans and songs, “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”. Who is this Tippecanoe that beat him for the Presidency? Stay tuned for next week’s episode to find out!