Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Who was the first President to die in office?

"Tippecanoe and Tyler too" was the campaign slogan of 9th President William Henry Harrison, born FEBRUARY 9, 1773. He was the first President to die in office, serving the shortest term of only 30 days.

The son of Benjamin Harrison, signer the Declaration, and grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President, William Henry Harrison was aide-de-camp to General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, who defeated the British and Indian forces at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

Harrison became Secretary of the Northwest Territory - 260,000 square miles from which was formed Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. He was the area's first delegate to Congress and in 1801 became Governor of the Indiana Territory. Harrison disrupted Chief Tecumseh's confederation at the Battle of Tippecanoe.

In his Inaugural Address, 1841, William Henry Harrison stated: "I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to justify me in expressing to my fellow citizens a profound reverence for the Christian religion, and a thorough conviction that sound morals, religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility are essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness."

American Minute with Bill Federer

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