Whig Candidate

William Henry Harrison

William Harrison was the 9th president of the United States in 1841. Harrison was born the 9th of February, 1773, and was the youngest of Benjamin and Elizabeth Harrison's seven children. He grew up in a prominent and political family, and his father was a delegate in the Continental Congress (1774-1777). In 1787, at the age of 14, Harrison entered the Presbyterian Hampden-Sydney College where he allegedly was influenced by anti-slavery, Quakers, and Methodists. Angered, his pro-slavery father had him transfer to the University of Pennsylvania, where he was forced to study under medical training, which then later he professes that he did not enjoy the subject. Shortly after beginning these studies, his father died in 1791, which left him without any money to continue school. 

After his father's death, Harrison would take part in the army where he was engaged in the ongoing NorthWest Indian War. He gained national fame by leading the U.S forces against the Indians in the Battle of Tippecanoe, as well as the Battle of 1812. Soon after his retiring from the military in 1798, Harrison began his political career. He served as the first territorial congressional delegate for the NorthWest territory, governor of the Indiana territory, and later the U.S representative of Ohio.

Harrison failed in the 1836 election but won the 1840 election against Matin van Buren. Despite that Harrison died shortly after he became president, of pneumonia, William Harrison had a strong Whig philosophy. Harrison believed that the president was a more authentic representative to the American people than Congress. He proposed that the power of the veto must never be used to assist control of congress. He believed that the president should be part of the legislative power. Sadly, the President was never able to practice what he professed.