Talk:William Henry Harrison

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 William Henry Harrison was a good article nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There are suggestions below for improving the article. Once these are addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.

Reviewed version: May 29, 2007
William Henry Harrison is included in the 2007 Wikipedia for Schools, or is a candidate for inclusion in future versions. Please maintain high quality standards, and make an extra effort to include free images, because non-free images cannot be used on the CDs.
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[edit] Tecumsah

This page states that William Henry Harrison defeated Tecumseh at the Battle of Tippecanoe, where Tecumseh died. It is my understanding the Tecumseh was not at Tippecanoe during the battle, he was in the South seeking more Indian allies to his confederation. Harrison defeated the British and Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames 2 years later. It was in the second battle that Tecumseh dies.


I think so too. 68.32.73.22 15:13, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

That is absolutely correct. Meldshal42 11:22, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

Thats true. Tecumsah's brother, Tenskwatawa is the one who put the curse on Harrison though.

[edit] Pneumonia

It was an extremely cold and windy day, 1841 March 4, when Harrison was to take the oath of office. Nevertheless, he faced the weather with no coat on, and delivered the longest inaugural address in American history, at nearly two hours. During this address he caught a cold, which developed into pneumonia.

It's my understanding the pneumonia is an infection of the lungs, which often results from weakened immunity and the state of being bedridden (and supine). Neither it nor the common cold can be caused by exposure to cold weather, longstanding myth notwithstanding. It makes sense to explain how Harrison died and we might also show what the cause of his illness was perceived to be at the time, but we can't state as fact that a cold day killed him, knowing that to be impossible. - toh

The text you quoted does not say that the cold weather caused his illness; it simply states that he happened to catch a cold during cold weather. There is no implication of causation. Kurt Weber 16:57, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
Nevertheless, the section would be better served if it was worded such that the stress on his body, induced by the weather, permitted a greater severity of infection than had he not been exposed to such cold weather (the "pressures" thing is colloquial and ridiculous). GG The Fly (talk) 05:31, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Cabinet

An op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (11/29/04) quotes Louisiana State University historian John Baker as saying, "Harrison had agreed that executive decisions would be based on a majority vote among members of the cabinet, with the president having one vote." Anyone have a good citation for this? - Walkiped 02:44, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Died in office

Anyone know how many US presidents died in office? --BozMo|talk 15:06, 12 July 2005 (UTC)

  • Yep, to date 8 US Presidents died in office: William H.Harrison (1841), Zachary Taylor (1849-50), Abraham Lincoln (1861-65) ,James A.Garfield (1881), William McKinley (1897-1901), Warren G.Harding (1921-23), Franklin D.Roosevelt (1933-45) and John F.Kennedy (1961-63).

[edit] They fed him petoleum jelly in 1841 when it was it was invented 18 years later?

The Article, in paragraph "Short Presidency" says the doctors tried many drugs, including petroleum jelly to cure his bad condition, which must have happened in 1841, in the last month of his life. However, the page on petroleum jelly claims it was invented in 1859, 18 years later. Looks like an inconsitency here.

Time travel of course! :p--Kross 01:12, July 15, 2005 (UTC)
No wonder the poor guy died -- they didn't travel far enough into the future to get some antibiotics. D'oh!

[edit]  ???biased article

This article, along with the following articles: War of 1812, Tecumseh, Tippecanoe- are all completely biased and favour the americans. Tecumseh formed a confederacy called the Indian confederacy, which brought together the shawnee peoples a long with many of the indian peoples. Tecumseh formed this confederacy because he was enraged by the way the 'White peoples' were treating the 'Red peoples'. the treaty of fort wayne was a complete scandal, which sold three milion acres of land for a single payment of '7000$' in 'goods'. Americans were 'buying' land off unaware Indians, who believed land should not be owned in the first place. Not only did the americans completely strike a wound in the right arm of Indian cultures, they claimed right to the land. At tippecanoe, Gov. Harrison was invited to listen to Tecumsehs Oration - This is a great speech, and I suggest you get a hold of it if you are interested in this war. Tecumsehs arguement did not appeal to pathos, but simply to logos and ethos. He did not show any rage towards the americans, dispite how absurdly they had behaved. Tecumseh said to Gov. Harrison that the Indian people deserve an independant state. Gov Harrison siad 'no problem' (he didn't really say 'no problem' but he told the Indian peoples that their wish would be fulfilled.) After tecumsehs army moved south to spread their concepts of Indian liberation, leaving Tippecanoe unprotected, Gov Harrison raped and pillaged the city, and killed many women and children. Tecumseh was not there. This was all BEFORE the war of 1812. The americans started the war of 1812 because they wished to fulfill the manifest destiny which stated they 'Americans had the right to all of North America'. proof that the government of america at the time were wimps: They attacked at that time, (1812) because they understood that Britain was disadvantaged due to their feud with napoleon about the continental system (which involved taxation of ocean trade routes and 'confiscation' of british trade ships. Americans also supposedly started the war because of the British press gangs, yet in the political speeches of Felix Grundy, which urged america to go to war, not a word was stated about the press gangs. Felix grundy basicaly goes on about how Canada is full of 'savages' which must be freed from the british influence and taught the ways of the americans etc etc. Reminds you of someone doesn't it? (colonization of africa). Anyways shall I rant on? yes I shall. Gov Harrison savagely obliterated the city of tippecanoe, and hence Tecumsehs army allied with the canadian militia (farmers carrying tridents and such) and the british red coats. I forgot to mention that the treaty of fort wayne was a complete scandal, which sold three milion acres of land for a single payment of '7000$' in 'goods'. I can't go on ranting, but you should all read tecumsehs speech, alogn with the speeches of lord brock, felix grundy, john randolph, brig-general hull, and of course the idiot: Gov Harrison, who completely ignored tecumsehs wonderful speech. (And caused tecumsehs curse)-which you should also look up. (NOT ON THE INTERNET)

[edit] Major vandalism!!!

I am just here to state that we should clean upc this article, as it has been vandalized by some immature little turds who consider editing a wiki as hacking!!! Unfortunately people like this are ruining these fine pages and deleting fine information, as I am relatively inexperienced with using Wikipedia to edit pages, I am asking someone to please revert the info from some of the sections back to their original status. The great kawa 20:45, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

Editing Wiki is hacking!!! Dzoni 23:44, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

wadup sam? has appeared on the page. Would somebody mind clearing it up?

[edit] Trivia

With regard to the Tecumseh curse, if President Bush survives his full second term, it could be argued that technically he wasn't elected, given the way in which he was awarded Florida's electoral college votes. This in no way reflects my personal view on the 2000 election, it is merely an interesting observation for those with an interest in the Tecumseh curse.

Bush was elected. Get over it.--Bedford 17:10, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
Bush was appointed. Get a basic grasp of the English language. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.29.223.216 (talk) 02:39, 25 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Episcopalian possibly

On what grounds is his religion counted an Episcopalian? He was not a communicant in any religion & apparently had only recently acquired a bible

Harrison died just one month after his inauguration. After Harrison's funeral, the rector at St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, DC said Harrison had bought a Bible one day after his inauguration and had planned to become a communicant. Does going to church make on a believer in that religion?--JimWae 19:25, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
Like most upper-caste Virginia families, the Harrisons were cradle-to-grave Episcopalians and considered themselves as such. Whether they ever actually went to church is immaterial. --Michael K. Smith 18:25, 6 November 2006 (UTC)


My histry book says he was Episcopalian. 68.32.73.22 15:17, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] married

Could somebody please include some info on his marriage thanks Programmer8 14:00, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Time Served Inconsistency

In Presidency section it sais that he serverd 30 days in office and died of pleumonia.

In Trivia section is said that he died 9 months into his term. I suggest we remove this line.

Nicolai Tufar 15:16, 12 January 2007 (UTC)plz add stuffto his mariage plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[edit] Section missing

An entire section entitled "Post war career" or something like that has been lost to vandalism recently. I no longer repair this kind of vandalism—why fight a system which allows anonymous vandals to remove entire sections?—but maybe you do. —Kevin 16:40, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the tip. (And I understand your frustration). -Will Beback · † · 18:40, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Virginia snakeweed

The article says that they tried treating him with Virginia snakeweed, but I'm unable to find any plant by that name. Perhaps this means Virginia snakeroot (Aristolochia serpentaria)? That plant is known medicinally (Alma R. Hutchens. Indian Herbalogy of North America. ISBN 0-87773-639-1. ). But I don't know enough about the treatment of Harrison in particular, or medicinal practice of the day in general, to know how to track this down. Kingdon 02:28, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Failed GA

GA review (see here for criteria)
  1. It is reasonably well written.
    a (prose): b (MoS):
  2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.
    a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):
  3. It is broad in its coverage.
    a (major aspects): b (focused):
  4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.
    a (fair representation): b (all significant views):
  5. It is stable.
  6. It contains images, where possible, to illustrate the topic.
    a (tagged and captioned): b lack of images (does not in itself exclude GA): c (non-free images have fair use rationales):
  7. Overall:
    a Pass/Fail:

[edit] Constitutional Crisis

In the intro paragraph it says "His death threw the country into a constitutional crisis.", but nowhere in the text of the article does it explain anything about the crisis. The intro is supposed to summarize main points from the body of the article. I do not know enough about WHH or what the crisis was to fix this. Jons63 13:54, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

The crisis was whether John Tyler became President or merely "Acting President." Presidential succession was not codified in the Constitution at that time (nor until 1967, when the 25th amendment was passed.) Tyler took the oath of office and claimed the Presidency. I don't know if this move was challenged in the courts. Schoop (talk) 20:26, 28 January 2008 (UTC)
There's still no mention of this crisis in the article, outside that one sentence in the intro... Dricherby (talk) 17:49, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] War of 1812

In 1813 Harrison had Fort Meigs built, which is at the foot of the rapids (a choke point) on the Maumee River in Ohio. This was one of the largest forts, having ten acres of ground inside the stockade fence plus four blockhouses. Gen. Harrison did not fight here but command was delegated to Col. Green Clay. Musicwriter 03:12, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Citation for:

"Harrison was in so much debt when he died that a sympathetic Congress voted to give his wife the remaining eleven months of his annual salary." NuclearWarfare 17:17, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Revised wording a bit and added two citations for this. -Sarcasmboy 10:32, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Picture?

What happened to the picture in the infobox? Image:William Henry Harrison.png. I can't find any trace that it ever existed, but I recall there was a picture there recently. ·:· Will Beback ·:· 19:52, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Illegal"

The Treaty of Grouseland in 1805 was thought by Harrison to have appeased Native Americans however, tensions, always high on the frontier, became much greater after the 1809 Treaty of Fort Wayne, in which Harrison illegally purchased more than 2,500,000 acres (10,000 km²) of American Indian land. The term "illegal" here seems like bias introduced by modern writers, sympathetic to the cause of Native Americans. By what law was the purchase "illegal"? If it was illegal by the laws of the United States, or by some other body that had a system of laws including it, it should be stated so and explained. If it was *viewed* at the time as illegal by any agency, it should be stated and explained. If it's just "illegal" by modern concepts of international law, it should be deleted, or at the very least explained. 162.83.227.25 (talk) 10:41, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] "he was dumb"?

I don't think this belongs in Wikipedia: "Wiliam did not finish his career in mrdicine because he was dumb and was always messing around {they kicked him out}." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.95.207.108 (talk) 23:35, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

He was a great man —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.8.78.213 (talk) 14:07, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Daguerreotype

The article says that copies of the Harrison daguerreotype exist, but the cited article makes no mention of it. Jimpoz (talk) 21:10, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

From the page: For the first time, portraits could be truthfully recorded devoid of interpretation and free of artistic limitation. Portrait photography arrived in America just in time to record the likeness of the newly inaugurated ninth president of the United States, William Henry Harrison.... In a letter published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, President Harrison was reported to have been “delighted with the results” of the sitting.1 Just 31 days after his inauguration, President Harrison died from pneumonia. Unfortunately, the present location of the daguerreotype portrait of the ephemeral President Harrison is unknown. Charles Edward 23:37, 2 May 2008 (UTC)