American History Series: The Brief Presidency of William Henry Harrison
He died in 1841, one month into his term. Did the Constitution mean for Vice President John Tyler to become president, or only acting president? No one was sure; no president had ever died in office. Transcript of radio broadcast:
28 January 2009
Welcome to the MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English.
In November of eighteen forty, the American people elected their ninth president, William Henry Harrison. The election of the retired general was expected. Still, it was a great victory for the Whig Party and a sharply felt loss for the opposing party, the Democrats. They failed to put their man, President Martin Van Buren, in the White House for a second term.
Whig leaders made most of Harrison’s campaign decisions. Some of those leaders, especially senators Henry Clay of Kentucky and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, believed they could control the newly elected president. But Harrison saw what was happening. When he made a trip to Kentucky, he made it clear that he did not want to meet with Clay. He felt that such a meeting might seem to show that Clay was the real power in the new administration.
But Clay made sure that Harrison was publicly invited to visit him. The newly elected president could not say no to such an invitation. He spent several days at Clay’s home in Lexington.
This week in our series, Maurice Joyce and Jack Moyles discuss the presidency of William Henry Harrison.
VOICE ONE:
Daniel Webster, without even being asked, wrote an inaugural speech for the new president. Harrison thanked him, but said he already had written his speech. Harrison spoke for more than one and a half hours. He gave the speech outside, on the front steps of the Capitol building.
It was the coldest inaugural day in the nation’s history. But Harrison did not wear a coat or hat. Harrison caught a cold, probably from standing so long outside in the bitter weather of inaugural day. Rest was his best treatment. But Harrison was so busy, he had little time to rest.
VOICE TWO:
Hundreds of people demanded to see the new president. They wanted jobs with the government. Everywhere he turned, Harrison was met by crowds of job-hungry people. And there was a problem that worried him. Henry Clay and Daniel Webster were fighting each other for power in the new administration.
Harrison had offered Clay any job he wanted in the cabinet. But Clay chose to stay in the Senate. Harrison then gave the job of Secretary of State to Webster. He also gave Webster’s supporters the best government jobs in New York City.
VOICE ONE:
Clay did not like this. And he told the president so. Harrison accused Clay of trying to tell him — the president — how to do his job. Later, he told Clay that he wanted no further words with him. He said any future communications between them would have to be written.
Harrison’s health grew worse. Late in March eighteen forty-one, his cold turned into pneumonia. Doctors did everything they could to cure him. But nothing seemed to help. On April fourth, after exactly one month as president, William Henry Harrison died.
Vice President John Tyler was then at his home in Williamsburg, Virginia. Secretary of State Webster sent his son Fletcher on horseback to tell Tyler of the president’s death. The vice President was shocked. He had not even known that Harrison was sick. Two hours after he received the news, Tyler was on his way to Washington. He reached the capital just before sunrise on April sixth, eighteen forty-one.
VOICE TWO:
There was some question about Tyler’s position. This was the first time that a president had died in office. No one was really sure if the Constitution meant that the vice president was to become president or only acting president. Webster and the other members of the cabinet decided that Tyler should be president and serve until the next election. Tyler also had decided this.
Tyler was sworn-in as the tenth president on April sixth. He was fifty-one years old. No other man had become president at such an early age. Tyler was born and grew up in the same part of Virginia as William Henry Harrison. His father was a wealthy planter and judge who had been a friend of Thomas Jefferson. John completed studies at the college of William and Mary, and became a lawyer. He entered politics and served in the Virginia legislature. Then he was elected a member of Congress and, later, governor of Virginia. He also served as a United States senator.
VOICE ONE:
Tyler believed strongly in the rights of the states. As a congressman and a senator, he had voted against every attempt to give more power to the federal government. Tyler’s political beliefs were strongly opposed to those of the northern and western Whigs. Henry Clay firmly supported the ideas of a national bank, a protective tax on imports, and federal spending to improve transportation in the states. Tyler was just as firmly against these ideas.
There was something else. Clay expected to be the Whig Party’s presidential candidate in eighteen forty-four. If he supported Tyler, then the new president might become too strong politically and win a second term in the White House.
VOICE TWO:
Tyler quickly established his independence after becoming president. Webster told him that President Harrison had let the cabinet make the decisions of his administration. He said Harrison had only one vote…the same as any member of the cabinet. Webster asked if Tyler wanted this to continue.
“I do not,” said Tyler. “I would like to keep President Harrison’s cabinet. But I, alone, will make the decisions. If the cabinet members do not approve of this, let them resign.”
Tyler wanted to change the cabinet, but could not do so immediately. All but two members of the cabinet were supporters of Senator Clay. Tyler wanted to put these men out and appoint men who would support him. But if he did this immediately, it would split the party. He would have to wait.
VOICE ONE:
The Whig Party controlled both houses of Congress after the eighteen forty elections. Clay wanted a special session of the new Congress. He was able to get Harrison to call such a session before the president’s death. At the session, Clay offered six resolutions as a plan of work for Congress. These proposed putting an end to the independent treasury, the establishment of a new national bank, and a tax increase on imports. They also included a new plan to give the states the money received by the federal government from the sale of public lands.
It was no problem to put an end to the independent treasury. Tyler had opposed it during the campaign and in his message to Congress. Congress soon passed a bill repealing the independent treasury act. And Tyler quickly signed it.
VOICE TWO:
But a dispute arose on the issue of a new national bank. Tyler had his Secretary of the Treasury send Congress the administration’s plan for a national bank. It would permit such a bank to be established in Washington. And it would permit the bank to open offices in a state, but only if the state approved.
This was not the kind of bank Clay wanted. He wanted no limits of any kind on the power of a national bank to open offices anywhere in the country. Clay then offered a bill that would create just this kind of bank. There was much debate. And Clay finally agreed to a compromise. Bank offices would be permitted in any state where the state legislature did not immediately refuse permission.
VOICE ONE:
The Congress accepted the compromise. But President Tyler did not. He vetoed the bank bill and sent it back to Congress. This had been a difficult decision for Tyler to make. He wanted peace and unity in the party. But he also wanted to show that he — and not Henry Clay — was president. The people knew he opposed Clay’s bill. If he accepted it, the people would feel that Clay was the more powerful.
Clay did not have enough votes to pass the bill over the president’s veto. Another effort was made to get a bank bill that the president would approve. This time, members of Congress met with Tyler to get his ideas. He explained, again, the kind of bank he would accept. He said the states must have the right to approve or reject bank offices.
The congressmen wrote another bill. They said it was exactly what the president wanted. But the president did not agree. He said this second bill would also be vetoed unless changes were made in it. The changes were not made. And Tyler did as he said he would do. He vetoed it. This second veto caused a crisis in Tyler’s cabinet.
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ANNOUNCER:
Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Maurice Joyce and Jack Moyles. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs are on the Web, along with historical images, at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION – an American history series in VOA Special English.
This is program #69 of THE MAKING OF A NATION
American History Series: Whigs See a Chance to Defeat Van Buren in 1840
Whig Party leaders would not let their candidate, William Henry Harrison, make many speeches. All his letters were written by his advisers. No one really knew what he thought about any of the important issues. Transcript of radio broadcast:
21 January 2009
Welcome to the MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English.
As the election of eighteen forty drew closer, the Whig Party felt more and more hopeful that it could put its candidate in the White House. The Whigs believed they could defeat President Martin Van Buren in his attempt to win a second term. Whig leaders turned away from their early choice of Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky as their candidate. There was too much popular opposition to him.
Some people opposed Clay because he owned slaves; others because of his close ties to business interests. They considered him a pro-bank man. Besides, there was a growing feeling among the Whig leaders that they should choose a military hero as their presidential candidate — a general like Andrew Jackson.
This week in our series, Jack Weitzel and Jack Moyles tell the story of the election of eighteen forty.
VOICE ONE:
Thurlow Weed, one of the important Whig leaders in the state of New York, remembered how the people had loved Jackson, the hero of the War of Eighteen-Twelve.
Weed thought General William Henry Harrison, one of the candidates in eighteen thirty-six, might be the man the Whigs needed. Harrison had led an attack on Indians in the Indiana territory in eighteen eleven.
Westerners believed the battle — at a place called Tippecanoe — was a great victory for Harrison. Weed also thought of General Winfield Scott, who had kept the border with Canada quiet. Scott was a southerner from Virginia. He had not been involved in politics and had no political enemies. Weed finally decided that Scott might be a better candidate than Harrison or Clay.
VOICE TWO:
But other party leaders remembered that Harrison had received many votes in eighteen thirty-six, although not enough to win. When the Whig convention opened, all three men — Clay, Scott, Harrison — were possible candidates. The convention delegates finally chose General Harrison.
For vice president, they decided on another southerner, John Tyler. Tyler was a strong believer in states’ rights. He had worked hard to win the nomination for Senator Clay. One report said he felt so strongly about it that he cried when Clay was not chosen. Southern Whigs agreed to support Harrison only because Tyler was the vice presidential candidate.
VOICE ONE:
Clay was not at the convention. He stayed in Washington and waited for news from the convention. On the final day, as he waited for word, he drank glass after glass of wine. When the news came that the Whigs had chosen Harrison, Clay said in anger: “I am the most unfortunate man in the history of parties. Always chosen as a candidate when sure to be defeated. And now, tricked out of the nomination when I, or anyone, would surely be elected.”
The Democrats were happy that Clay was not the Whig presidential candidate. They were glad the Whigs chose the sixty-seven year old Harrison. Democrats spoke of Harrison as an “old lady.” They called him “Granny Harrison.” One democratic newspaper said the old man did not really want to be president. It said Harrison would be happier with a two thousand dollar a year pension, a barrel of hard cider to drink, and a log cabin to live in.
VOICE TWO:
Working men drank hard apple cider. And a great many farmers still lived in houses, or cabins, made of rough logs. The Whigs put the democratic statement to their own use. They saw a way to represent their party of bankers and businessmen as the party of the working man and the small farmer. “The statement is right!” they cried. “The Whig Party is the party of hard cider and log cabins.”
They made Harrison — a Virginia aristocrat — a simple man of the people. His big home in Ohio became a log cabin. He exchanged his silk hat for the kind worn by farmers. Whig leaders would not let their candidate make many speeches. They would not let him write anything. All his letters were written by his political advisers. When Harrison did speak in public, it usually was about nothing important. No one really knew what the old man thought about any of the important issues.
VOICE ONE:
The Democrats opened their nominating convention in Baltimore in May eighteen forty. Van Buren was chosen to be the party’s candidate again. The president received the votes of all the party representatives at the convention. But the representatives were not able to agree on a vice presidential candidate. They finally decided to let the states nominate candidates for the job.
The election campaign was one of the wildest in the nation’s history. Both parties did everything possible to show that they were the friend of the common man. The Whigs put up log cabins everywhere and offered free hard cider to everyone. They organized huge outdoor meetings for thousands, with food and drink for all. They held parades and marched with flags, bands, and pictures of William Henry Harrison. Many campaign songs were written. These songs told of Harrison’s bravery against the Indians. They told how Harrison loved the hard and simple life of the common man.
VOICE TWO:
At the same time, the Whig campaign songs said Van Buren lived like a king in the White House. A Whig congressman from Pennsylvania made a wild speech against the president. Copies of it were spread throughout the country. The congressman charged that the White House had become a palace. He said Van Buren slept in the same kind of bed as the one used by the French King, Louis the Fifteenth. He said the president ate French food from gold and silver dishes. The carpets in the White House, he said, were so thick that a man could bury his feet in them. The congressman charged that President Van Buren wore silk clothing, and even put French perfume on his body to make him smell sweet as a flower.
VOICE ONE:
Van Buren and other Democrats called the charges foolish. But no one seemed to hear. The Democrats made charges just as foolish. They claimed that Harrison could not read or write. They said he would not pay people the money he owed them. And they charged that Harrison even sold white men into slavery. Henry Clay said the campaign was a struggle between log cabins and palaces, between hard cider and champagne.
The state of Maine held elections in September of eighteen forty. Voters in Maine elected Whig Edward Kent as governor. They gave the state’s electoral votes to Harrison, the hero of Tippecanoe. The election results produced a new song for the Whigs. “And have you heard the news from Maine, and what old Maine can do. She went hell-bent for Governor Kent, and Tippecanoe and Tyler, too. And Tippecanoe and Tyler, too. ”
VOICE TWO:
One by one, the other states voted. It was clear early in the election that General Harrison would win. The election was close in total votes. But Harrison received two hundred thirty-four electoral votes, and Van Buren only sixty. And so, Harrison became the ninth president of the United States.
Whig leaders had made most of Harrison’s campaign decisions. Some of them — especially Henry Clay and Daniel Webster — believed they could continue to control him, even after Harrison moved into the White House. But Harrison saw what was happening. He made a trip to Kentucky, Clay’s home state, late in eighteen forty. Harrison made it clear that he did not want to meet with Clay. He was afraid such a meeting would seem to show that Clay was the real power in the new administration.
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ANNOUNCER:
Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Jack Weitzel and Jack Moyles. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs are online, along with historical images, at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION — an American history series in VOA Special English.
This is program #68 of THE MAKING OF A NATION
American History Series: The Rise of the Movement Against Slavery
The 1830s saw the birth of anti-slavery societies in New York and New England. Transcript of radio broadcast:
14 January 2009
Welcome to the MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English.
In eighteen forty, as the administration of Martin Van Buren came closer to an end, there was a widespread feeling that he had not been a strong president. He seemed unable to make the people understand his policies. The opposition Whig Party was happy over Van Buren’s failures.
This week in our series, Harry Monroe and Kay Gallant describe how the Whigs saw an excellent chance in the upcoming election.
VOICE ONE:
The Whig leader in the Senate was Henry Clay of Kentucky. Clay told a friend he was sure he would be called on to serve as the Whig candidate for president. Other Whig leaders were not so sure. They did not question Clay’s ability to be president. But he had been a candidate both in eighteen twenty-four and eighteen thirty-two. And he had lost both times.
Then there was a growing political force in the United States that would not be helpful to Clay’s candidacy. That was the abolitionist movement, which opposed slavery. Abolitionists did not like Clay, because he owned slaves.
VOICE TWO:
The dispute over slavery seemed to have been laid to rest for a time. But during the eighteen thirties, it rose to the surface again. A major reason why the dispute came alive again was cotton. Cotton plants spread across the states of the south.
Cotton production had grown so heavily that it gave the south a one-crop economy. Cotton depended on the labor of slaves. By the eighteen thirties, cotton planters believed that without slavery, the whole economic system of the south would lie in ruins. To them, slavery was no longer just a question of right or wrong. It was a necessity for survival.
VOICE ONE:
Cotton made the agricultural south economically dependent on the industrial north. Northern ships carried southern cotton to the markets of Europe. Manufactured goods needed in the South came from the North. The South put so much time and energy into growing cotton, that it failed to give much thought to developing industries of its own.
The situation deeply troubled the political leaders of the South. What made things worse was the fact that most of the federal government’s financial aid for public works went to the North.
Then there was the old dispute over import taxes. Taxes on foreign goods mostly helped the manufacturers of the North. The taxes were to be lowered in eighteen forty-two. But that was some time in the future. No one could be sure what would happen then. Such was the general political and economic picture in the United States when the abolitionist movement began to make itself felt.
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VOICE TWO:
In the beginning, the abolitionist movement was organized by religious groups. The members of these groups believed there could be no compromise with evil. They felt that slavery was evil. So slavery must go.
The eighteen thirties saw the birth of anti-slavery societies in New York and New England. The societies published newspapers and pamphlets. They began to flood the country with pamphlets and anti-slavery petitions. The South tried to stop the flow of this anti-slavery literature across the borders of southern states. The Abolitionists, in turn, declared that such actions violated freedom of the press and the constitutional right of petition. This was the beginning of a long, bitter struggle. It lasted for twenty years. It finally split the Union.
VOICE ONE:
The abolitionists had not as yet received major support from the people of the North. Many northerners were hostile to them. But in eighteen thirty-six, the House of Representatives declared that it would not listen to any anti-slavery petitions. This became known as the “gag rule.”
The Senate did not pass such a rule. But the Senate still made it almost impossible for anti-slavery petitions to come before it. Former President John Quincy Adams, who was then a congressman, rose up in protest. He was not an abolitionist. But he led a campaign against the gag rule. Adams said the rule was a violation of the constitutional right to petition Congress. The gag rule made great numbers of people in the North very angry. Because of it, these people began to support the abolitionist movement.
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VOICE TWO:
The increasing bitterness over the issue of slavery put Whig leader Henry Clay in a difficult position. Clay was under pressure to make a decision on slavery, on the abolitionists, and on the southern extremists.
Where did he stand? Senator Clay had always hated slavery, although he owned some slaves himself. In a Senate speech in eighteen thirty-three, he called slavery “this great evil … the darkest spot in the map of our country.”
Clay feared that the dispute over slavery might destroy him as a political leader. And, what was worse, he was afraid that it might destroy the nation. Clay was an extremely strong believer in the Union.
VOICE ONE:
Clay opposed violent action. He thought the slow growth of public opinion was better than violence in bringing about a solution to slavery. Clay hated the abolitionists and the great noise they were beginning to make over slavery. He said they were interfering with a southern institution and were forcing slavery into politics. Slavery, he declared, did not belong in politics.
Still, Clay was a national leader. He knew it would be bad to stand too strongly opposed to the growing abolitionist movement. Clay also opposed the southern senators who tried to prevent discussion of slavery. He said their position was emotional and extreme. It was as bad as that of the abolitionists.
VOICE TWO:
The Senate did, in fact, discuss slavery, in a general way. It was concerned about the legal position of the federal government in relation to slavery. Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina offered a resolution for consideration. This is what he said:
The Union was created by an agreement among the states. Each state had the constitutional right to complete control over its own institutions. It was the job — the duty — of the government in Washington to protect that right. That meant protection against any interference in the institution of slavery.
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VOICE ONE:
Calhoun was most forceful when it came to slavery in the District of Columbia and in the territories. He declared that any federal, state, or private interference with slavery in those places was a direct and dangerous attack on the interests of slave states. Calhoun said the South must not surrender an inch to the abolitionist movement. “If we do,” he said, “we are gone.”
VOICE TWO:
Senator Clay did not like such extreme talk about states’ rights. He became especially angry when states talked about separating from the Union, instead of trying to solve problems together.
“Separation,” Clay said, “is a terrible word. One’s ears should not accept it. I desire to see — in continued safety and prosperity — this Union, and no other Union. I am opposed to all separate confederacies and to all sectional conventions. This Union, this government, will do nothing to attack the rights and security of the slave-holding states.”
VOICE ONE:
Clay then offered his own resolution for Senate consideration. This is what he said:
Congress had no legal power over slavery within the states. Therefore, petitions for the abolition of slavery must be rejected, because Congress had no constitutional right to act on them. The Senate approved Clay’s resolution. It rejected the one offered by Calhoun.
VOICE TWO:
Clay had acted as he did because he wanted to settle the dispute, and because he loved the Union. He did so for personal political reasons, too. Clay had defended the constitutional right of petition. That pleased the North. But he also had used a legal move to block the Abolitionist Movement from bringing anti-slavery petitions before Congress. That pleased the South.
Clay believed he had protected his national position. He told a friend: “I have acted in such a way that I lost nothing, either in the South or the North.”
VOICE ONE:
As the national election of eighteen forty got closer, the Whig Party felt more hopeful. They began to believe they could defeat President Van Buren in his attempt to win a second term. But they also began to turn away from Henry Clay as a presidential candidate. The election of eighteen forty will be our story next week.
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ANNOUNCER:
Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Harry Monroe and Kay Gallant. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs are online, along with historical images, at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION – an American history series in VOA Special English.
This is program #67 of THE MAKING OF A NATION
