If someone's celebrating your 242nd Birthday, you probably shouldn't be picky that they're celebrating one day early. Sometimes, were just going to have to do that. I'll avoid it if at all possible, but I'm sorry Eisenhower (we're going on a cruise!), Calvin Coolidge (It's Waterstraut Olympics Day), and Herbert Hoover (I am not sharing my birthday with you!) William Henry Harrison is not only the first president to die in office, he's the first president we have to celebrate a day early. We're off to Disney tomorrow for Hayden's birthday celebration, and we just won't be able to get to it. So, we celebrate today.
William Henry Harrison was a tough one for me. First of all, the contradictions that occur when you google him are amazing. One place totes him out as a down-home country guy, other reading material talks about what a total ass and fraud this guy was. (in case you're wondering, books that I've read are a little harsher on our 9th president.. and well, Books > Internet, every. single.time. So that's what were going with here)
William Henry Harrison was born in Virginia, sort of. He was born under British rule, so really he was born in a colony, not a state. He was the last of seven kids. He had two brothers, and four sisters.
His dad was kind of important. He was a 'Signer' (he signed the Declaration of Independence), to denote this, we picked wreck it Ralph to depict Benjamin V since when the toy timline started, you might remember Wreck it Ralph was the one to sign it then too. Benjamin (who's great-grandson namesake would also someday be president) was buddies with one, George Washington. He was also pretty rich, had a giant plantation with lots of slaves and all kinds livestock, horse.
But the British were coming! And he was a signer, so he was targeted. Luckily, the Harrisons got word and left their house before anyone arrived.
But, their house was ransacked and burned by the British. Their slaves were taken. Their livestock was slaughtered. It was pretty brutal for the whole family, but William was only 9 years old at the time. Not a cool childhood.
William's father went on to become governor of the Virginia property, and William went off to school to become a doctor. But, when his father died and the family ran out of money, William couldn't go back to school, and instead joined the Army. He was assigned to the Northwest Territory, and really loved being a solider.
So William meets Anna. And Anna is a daughter of his pretty important judge guy in the Indiana territory. And he isn't a William fan. When William asks to marry Anna, the Judge says no way, but then heads off on a trip and the two get married anyway. When he comes back, William says he intends to provide for Anna 'be his sword and his hand'. Not completely buying it, the judge sells them (at a largely reduced rate) a large home on 160 acres in North Bend Ohio, so he will know his daughter at least has a nice to place to live.
Those two must really like each other, because they have like a million kids (Well, 10, but still.. Shockingly enough this isn't the president with the most kids. That title belongs to John Tyler, but he at least had two wives to split them up!)
William ends up in politics. Some places say he was always interested in it, because well, his dad was a signer! And he hung out with good old GW! Some places say he always wanted to be a doctor then a solider, and really had no interest in politics. Either way, there he is Governor of the Indiana territory. His big claim to fame: keeping Native Americans off land he was selling to white guys. And someone not to happy with that? Shawnee leader, Tecumseh. Now, William can't handle just being governor, no, he needs to be a badass and fight in the war even if he should be sitting in a mansion somewhere. (Or, he just really likes killing dudes with his sword, which was also a possibility I read about). Either way, he meets up with Tecumseh and his men at Tippecanoe. William and his guys win, Tecumseh retreats, and 'Old Tippecanoe' is born.
But the two would meet up again, you know War of 1812 and all. This time, at the Battle of Thames, Tecumseh is killed, and William is the white mans hero.
So why not capitalize on this? He does, and works his way up the political ladder. Heck he even goes to Columbia as an ambassador. But, then big mean Andrew Jackson essentially fires him, and William and a bunch of other guys on unemployment thanks to Andrew Jackson decided their going to whine about it, and form the Whig party.
The Whig party. These guys are not great. They had FOUR guys be president. Two die in office, and two become president as a result of those deaths. That's it. Oh, and one of those guys even then gets kicked out/decides to leave. Basically, the party didn't have their crap together in 1836 and ran a bunch of different Whig candidates, which split the vote and ended up making good old Martin Van Buren president. Come on you guys! Have you learned nothing from Ross Perot?
But, in 1940 it's time to run again, and shockingly enough the Whig party has learned from it's mistakes, and they're going to just go with one candidate to defeat Martin Van Buren in his quest for re-election. So, they pick William Henry Harrison, and pair him with a guy from Virginia, John Tyler.
Now, here's where things get interesting. (I mean they were obviously THRILLING before, who doesn't love a good William Henry Harrison story). The Whigs, and William Henry Harrison wanted to control the White House, they were willing to do anything, really. They would lie, they would be sneaky. Whatever it took. They were going to WIN. They just needed to SELL this guy.
And so, they sold the crap right out of him. This down-home, log-cabin born, hard-cider drinking, folksy, just like the regular man, William Henry Harrison was celebrated like never before. They threw parades! They handed out flasks shaped like log cabins, they rolled a giant tin ball with campaign slogans written all over it through cities (fun story, thats where the phrase 'keep the ball rolling' comes from), people made up songs about 'Old Tippecanoe and Tyler too!". There were plates and cups and napkins. It was a full on PR war. That elitist jerk, Van Buren? Well, he has the nerve to have put a bathtub in the White House. A BATHTUB PEOPLE!
But, the thing about it was, William wasn't any of those things. He wasn't born in a log cabin, he came up from money. His father was governor. He lived on 160 acres! He barely even drank. Poor Van Buren, he lived in a log cabin AND above a tavern during his childhood. His family was poor.
But, it didn't matter. The damage was done. And Old Tippecanoe and Tyler too, well, they were headed to the White House despite running on pretty much... well, nothing. Zero actual issues, and just throwing parties wherever they went. I blame them for the PR nightmares we now have to endure every election season. This folks, right here, is where those commercials degrading the other candidate made their first appearance.
But William, well, he was kind of an idiot. It was a very cold March in D.C, it was sleeting and cold and he refused to wear a coat or a hat during his inauguration. Which, ironically enough is the longest inauguration address in the history of presidents. Now, there's some debate exactly how he died. It's not on record that he had a cold until about three weeks later. So, it's hard to trace it to the inauguration. But, whatever the case he fell ill, didn't rest like he was told to, and then subject to all kinds of weird 'medication' (like leeches!), and died a month after taking office. John Tyler became president. The Whigs were super disappointed when Tyler vetoed a bill and he left/was banished from the party.
And William Henry Harrison would become the President who was famous for nothing, except serving the shortest amount of time as president. We've been to his grave too. I guess it's impressive. But, I did read at one point is was falling apart until the good people of North Bend, Ohio worked to save it.
A couple of activities today, we made some log cabin cups to have some 'hard (apple) cider' in at dinner.
The boys made their cards.
And did their hashtag. Keep the ball rolling! (And, Making it's second appearance:) #AintNoPartyLikeAWhigParty #WeartheCoat
We added some fun facts to our board. (Not much to report on presidential issues, though his death did inspire the roll of the Vice President in the event of the death of a president to be re-evaluated)
His last words. (Because apparently in his nearly 8,500 word inaugural address nothing really stood out for a famous quote)
We watched the Parks and Rec episode from a couple of weeks ago titled 'William Henry Harrison'.
And because it was such a cold day in Washington on his inauguration, we did the experiment you often see on Pinterest. We put a bottle of water in the freezer on its side for exactly 2 hours and 45 minutes. Then we SLOWLY took it out, and poured it over the ice.
The water still in it's liquid form freezes as you pour it over the ice, it's pretty awesome actually.
The boys really liked doing this, and I thought it was pretty fun too.
Now, William Henry Harrison was a big fan of squirrel stew. But, that (for obvious reasons) was not happening. So, I read he liked vegetables, so we went with some succotash for tonight's dinner. Shockingly enough, there's not a lot out there on the food preferences of William Henry Harrison. But, we did have our cider in our 'log cabin' cups in his honor.
Next Up: It's a Disney Day! Also, I get my Ipad tomorrow.. Yippy!
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