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Chapter 28 The Harrison Years
Chapter 28 The Harrison Years
"I don't care if that man was the first of our party to enter the White House. It's not worth a piece of dirt if that damn fool doesn't listen to a thing I say."- Senator Henry Clay 1842
"We may have solved the issue of slavery thanks to Florida, for now. However, I'm afraid that if we keep on expanding west then the south will one day rise up in defense of their perceived rights and representation."- President William Harrison 1844
"It doesn't matter if Oregon is full of nothing but trees and beavers, we cannot give up an inch of land to the Americans. Our country has been humiliated twice in the past by our former colonies and I intend for it to not happen for a third time." Queen Victoria 1845
For the second time in the United States history political power had been peacefully transferred from one party to another with the election of William Henry Harrison to the Presidency. The Whig Party was America's fourth political party that was founded in 1829 in response to the election of Andrew Jackson and the implementation of his controversial policies. The Whigs saw themselves as the main opposition party that fought for increased legislative power and for the United States to enter the global economy with increased industrialization and the creation of a strong economy. The main issue that the Whigs faced was their lack of a majority support among the masses as their political base tended to be among the rich and high society of the United States; your bankers, capitalists, aristocrats, industrialists, doctors, lawyers, etc. This grew to be a major hindrance for the party as the Democrats could always find large support among the common masses and the new immigrant groups that were coming to America such as the Irish and Germans. With Whigs finding electoral success only in the aftermath of the devastating Great Panic. The Whig Party also suffered extensively from internal factionalism that would come to destroy the party in the 1850's with the rise of the slavery issue. Still, 1841-1853 is remembered by many in the United States as the Whig Era where the party would come to take charge and introduce their ideology to the United States, being able to get extensive legislative action from their time in control of the Legislative and Executive branch. William Harrison's Presidency is also credited by many historians as laying the foundations for the early Republican Party (U.S), from which Abraham Lincoln would become President and lead the country through the trials and tribulations of the Civil War.
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William Henry Harrison, the man who would come to define the Whig Party in its brief existence.
In his inaugural address, President Harrison promised to enact several vast reforms while in power. These included policies as redounding the national bank, destroying the spoils systems of Jackson, and enacting the American system of economics. As a last minute addition Harrison also mentioned the need to settle Oregon in order to placate the desires of the expansionist faction, an issue that would rise in the coming years. Harrison's first issue that he tackled was the spoils system, which President Jackson had abused by appointing various political allies and friends to office instead of those based off merit. True to his word Harrison strove to maintain a professional system of appointments and primarily sought men to fill the bureaucracy that would most fit their positions and suit their talents. This practice was unpopular with Henry Clay as while being hypocritical of his platform, Clay had wanted Harrison's election to appoint several Whigs to power and further the influence of his allies. This was the beginning of the feud between Harrison and Clay with Harrison firmly refusing every single one of Clay's advances, firmly stating, "Mr. Clay you forget that I am the President." Unknown to many the feud was also an extension of the bitter rivalry that had been ongoing for years between Vice President Daniel Webster and Clay, who both represented competing factions of the Whig Party. Thankfully a civil war within the party was prevented early on as Clay also kept his promise of following the Whig's economic policies. The founding of the Third National Bank was met with success as this time the Whigs had firm control of both the House and the Senate, ratifying the banks charter in only three months thereafter Harrison approved the founding. This time the Third National Bank would remain and has since become an important staple of the Department of the Treasury to this very day. Finally the American system was fully implemented with much success. The American system was an idea that was developed by Henry Clay, calling for increased industrialization, extensive funding for infrastructure, centralization of federal revenue from public lands, and increased tariffs. Most of these plans could be successfully implemented with a Whig congress as the bank was already approved. The legislative branch soon set up large subsidies to be directed towards the increase of factories, shipyards, and railroads within the United States. A large majority of these funds went to the northern region, particularly New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, where there was already a good amount of industrialization to build upon. The southern politicians were laregly opposed to this plan and called it as a system of favoritism towards the North that would see economic growth happen in only their region. They made these criticisms despite extensive attempts for Harrison to extend the programs to the south as the southern region was focused on their agricultural economy and refuse to direct these efforts to industrialization, a practice that would later come to haunt them in the Civil War. Still the industrialization was an overall success with an 15% increase of factory growth by 1846 and 100 new miles of railroad being laid out in that time. The lands in the western territories were also coming under federal control as their profits in taxes were being directed towards the state so that they would be able to alleviate the still lingering economic recession and continue the policy of infrastructure building. The one are that the Whigs found much difficulty in was the increase of tariffs. The full effects of the Great Panic would not be dropped until 1844 and with the closing or financial difficulty of the northern industry, the people of the United States instead chose to buy cheap products directly from Europe who were still on continuous economic growth. Southerners on both sides of the political spectrum were unilaterally in opposition to the increase of tariffs and many Northern Whigs, even from New England, were afraid to call for new tariffs as their was a high probability that it would result in them losing their seats come next election. Harrison and Clay backed down from calls of increase with both men only agreeing to not lower the current rates, as they did not want another nullification crisis on their hands. It wasn't until the mid1850's that calls for tariffs would once again rise. Lastly of note in Harrison's first term was the admittance of two states to the union; Florida and Iowa. The south had been calling for another slave state to enter the Union as the efforts of the Texas annexation had largely failed, in order to appease them and not cause a divide Harrison supported the entrance of Florida and was able to receive their admission in early 1844. Local southern organizations had managed to support large migration efforts to fill the new state and thus despite the ongoing Seminole Wars, Florida had the required population to enter the Union once a constitution was ratified. In order to keep the balance Wisconsin was also given support in a similar manner by western and northern politicians, gaining entrance latter that same year around October, right before election time. Once Florida had entered the union though, it would be the last slave state according to the Missouri compromise. Unless Texas was willing to sell territory (which President Lamar would rather shoot himself before that happened) every other territory belonging to the United States would become a free state. The Democrats and southerners set their sights on Haiti and Cuba, seeking to go around the compromise by expanding to the Caribbean, while Vice President Webster managed to get Harrison to agree to the admittance of Wisconsin should they win reelection. The country was still united but the seeds of division were slowly being implemented within America that would one day lead to the battlefields of Dixie.
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Third Bank of the United States 2016. New England Textile Mill in the 1840's. 28 Star U.S flag after the admission of Florida and Wisconsin.
When it came to foreign relations for the first term of Harrison's presidency, there was little to take action upon except for one issue that was becoming increasingly prominent within American society, Oregon. For the British obtaining the territory was a mere matter of pride as it would add hundreds of miles of land to their growing empire and connect Canada to the northwest. For the Americans, it was a matter of survival. With California in the hands of Texas Oregon was the only remaining gateway to the Pacific, one that America absolutely refused to yield a single inch of territory to her former colonial overlords. With the creation of the Oregon trail thousands of American settlers were traveling to Oregon country and the federal government was doing everything in its power to support these measures to 'Americanize' the territory as much as possible before a single drop of Canadian blood set foot upon the land. Many colonization societies were being created in the same manner as the Liberian society, huge amounts of funding was given by the federal government for any American to be attracted to the new land. With money and the promises of free and spacious lands the amount of Americans traveling west would increase every year. President Harrison knew however that it would take alot more than a high amount of American population to back up these claims. Americans had largely filled up the Ontario territory but that hadn't helped them when it came to the Treaty of Ghent in the War of 1812. The Harrison administration was doing its best to negotiate a peaceful settlement with some offers reaching as high as $50,000,000 for the whole of Oregon. Deep down William Harrison knew that the British would never relent so easily to their requests. Britain was beginning to build their world Empire and would not lose face to any upstart nation. Being the former soldier that he was, Harrison knew that war was a certain possibility that was growing every day. So Harrison would do his best to prepare the military for the coming fight and make sure that they would win in the third fight. You see back then the United States was nowhere near its current level of military projection that it has today as a superpower. The Army only consisted of 10,000 regulars with defense of the nation in the frontier being reliant on local militias, while the Navy only consisted of near 30 ships, nowhere near the strength of the invincible British Armada. With extensive support from the military such as Commodore Perry and General Winfield Scott, Harrison set out to give the United States a fighting chance against the most powerful nation in the world. Legislation was passed in congress that would increase the size of the regular army to 30,000 men, nowhere near the necessary levels but a good start considering the economy. Generals Scott and Taylor were put in charge of bringing the men to combat ready operations and ensuring each one would be of high quality once the battle lines were drawn. Among these new recruits were the West Point graduates of the 1840's who would all play prominent roles as leaders of the Civil War. On the Navy side Harrison knew that the United States could never outright defeat the British Navy, his plan was to merely protect the American coast and any trade that could be captured at sea. The Navy was given authorization to increase to 75 ships at sea with the New England shipyards being put to heavy work on construction of the latest vessels, these ships would be of immense benefit to the American Navy as the would complete construction by the time the war broke out and could at least help the United States prevent another burning of Washington from happening. Extensive support was also given to the construction of a Great Lakes fleet where there was expected to be an intense naval campaign from both sides in order to allow naval superiority in the Ohio region and support either side in an invasion. Oliver Hazard Perry had proven in the war of 1812 that victory in this area was at the very least achievable. Lastly plans were being drawn by the chiefs of staff for new invasion plans of Canada and any possible invasion by the British, while new forts were being constructed in the Oregon territory and the Ohio region. The British during all this did not sit idle. Queen Victoria sent 10,000 regulars to Canada in order to increase the nation's defenses, especially after the Quebec rebellions. British citizens were encouraged to immigrate to Oregon and the Royal Navy increased its patrols near the American coast. Unfortunately for the proponents of peace War would come in 1846 where both nations would meet on the field of battle, for the third consecutive generation in eighty years. The United States should count itself lucky though that war had commenced on the onset of the 1846 revolutions, forcing Britain to divide its attention between two continents.
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The United States Army and Navy circa 1845
When the time came for the 1844 elections the Whigs were near unanimous in choosing Harrison. Despite personal objections from Clay, the man was at the height of his popularity with a 65% estimated support form the American populace. The economy had fully recovered by that point, the Whigs had been able to achieve near every single one of their platforms, war hawks for Oregon were increasing, and during all this President Harrison had maintained an image of honor and credibility that had been lost by the past three presidents. Against these odds the Democrats were unable to compete and chose James Polk as his opponent. Polk was very popular in the south and was an highly skilled legislator from his time as House Speaker. The man was also chosen for his supportive stance on Oregon. The main problem was that Polk's reputation was still hurt in the North with his increased insistence that Texas should've become part of the Union. Besides his support for Oregon there was little that the dark horse Candidate of Polk could entice the public as Harrison's domestic policies had been immensely successful. Indeed when the first Presidential debate was set up in Philadelphia in copy of Texas's creation of the practice, Polk found himself increasingly under fire from Harrison for not having a strong solution to the country's domestic issues and relying on a bandwagon of support for Oregon to his campaign. To be quite honest even if Andrew Jackson rose up from the dead to challenge Harrison, he still wouldn't have won against the popular incumbent. In the end Harrison came out with another resounding victory with 208 electoral votes compared to Polk's 74. Harrison also won in the popular vote with a significant near 56% majority. The Whigs had at long last found the one man who they could rally their party towards. What remained to be seen was how well Harrison's leadership skills would be put to the test when the Oregon War finally came.
1844 United States Presidential Elections
Harrison/Webster (Whig): 1,523,478 Votes,55.9%. 208 Electoral votes
Polk/Taylor (Democrat): 1,200,005 Votes, 44.1%. 74 Electoral Votes.
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"I don't care if that man was the first of our party to enter the White House. It's not worth a piece of dirt if that damn fool doesn't listen to a thing I say."- Senator Henry Clay 1842
"We may have solved the issue of slavery thanks to Florida, for now. However, I'm afraid that if we keep on expanding west then the south will one day rise up in defense of their perceived rights and representation."- President William Harrison 1844
"It doesn't matter if Oregon is full of nothing but trees and beavers, we cannot give up an inch of land to the Americans. Our country has been humiliated twice in the past by our former colonies and I intend for it to not happen for a third time." Queen Victoria 1845
For the second time in the United States history political power had been peacefully transferred from one party to another with the election of William Henry Harrison to the Presidency. The Whig Party was America's fourth political party that was founded in 1829 in response to the election of Andrew Jackson and the implementation of his controversial policies. The Whigs saw themselves as the main opposition party that fought for increased legislative power and for the United States to enter the global economy with increased industrialization and the creation of a strong economy. The main issue that the Whigs faced was their lack of a majority support among the masses as their political base tended to be among the rich and high society of the United States; your bankers, capitalists, aristocrats, industrialists, doctors, lawyers, etc. This grew to be a major hindrance for the party as the Democrats could always find large support among the common masses and the new immigrant groups that were coming to America such as the Irish and Germans. With Whigs finding electoral success only in the aftermath of the devastating Great Panic. The Whig Party also suffered extensively from internal factionalism that would come to destroy the party in the 1850's with the rise of the slavery issue. Still, 1841-1853 is remembered by many in the United States as the Whig Era where the party would come to take charge and introduce their ideology to the United States, being able to get extensive legislative action from their time in control of the Legislative and Executive branch. William Harrison's Presidency is also credited by many historians as laying the foundations for the early Republican Party (U.S), from which Abraham Lincoln would become President and lead the country through the trials and tribulations of the Civil War.
View attachment 291193View attachment 291194
William Henry Harrison, the man who would come to define the Whig Party in its brief existence.
In his inaugural address, President Harrison promised to enact several vast reforms while in power. These included policies as redounding the national bank, destroying the spoils systems of Jackson, and enacting the American system of economics. As a last minute addition Harrison also mentioned the need to settle Oregon in order to placate the desires of the expansionist faction, an issue that would rise in the coming years. Harrison's first issue that he tackled was the spoils system, which President Jackson had abused by appointing various political allies and friends to office instead of those based off merit. True to his word Harrison strove to maintain a professional system of appointments and primarily sought men to fill the bureaucracy that would most fit their positions and suit their talents. This practice was unpopular with Henry Clay as while being hypocritical of his platform, Clay had wanted Harrison's election to appoint several Whigs to power and further the influence of his allies. This was the beginning of the feud between Harrison and Clay with Harrison firmly refusing every single one of Clay's advances, firmly stating, "Mr. Clay you forget that I am the President." Unknown to many the feud was also an extension of the bitter rivalry that had been ongoing for years between Vice President Daniel Webster and Clay, who both represented competing factions of the Whig Party. Thankfully a civil war within the party was prevented early on as Clay also kept his promise of following the Whig's economic policies. The founding of the Third National Bank was met with success as this time the Whigs had firm control of both the House and the Senate, ratifying the banks charter in only three months thereafter Harrison approved the founding. This time the Third National Bank would remain and has since become an important staple of the Department of the Treasury to this very day. Finally the American system was fully implemented with much success. The American system was an idea that was developed by Henry Clay, calling for increased industrialization, extensive funding for infrastructure, centralization of federal revenue from public lands, and increased tariffs. Most of these plans could be successfully implemented with a Whig congress as the bank was already approved. The legislative branch soon set up large subsidies to be directed towards the increase of factories, shipyards, and railroads within the United States. A large majority of these funds went to the northern region, particularly New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, where there was already a good amount of industrialization to build upon. The southern politicians were laregly opposed to this plan and called it as a system of favoritism towards the North that would see economic growth happen in only their region. They made these criticisms despite extensive attempts for Harrison to extend the programs to the south as the southern region was focused on their agricultural economy and refuse to direct these efforts to industrialization, a practice that would later come to haunt them in the Civil War. Still the industrialization was an overall success with an 15% increase of factory growth by 1846 and 100 new miles of railroad being laid out in that time. The lands in the western territories were also coming under federal control as their profits in taxes were being directed towards the state so that they would be able to alleviate the still lingering economic recession and continue the policy of infrastructure building. The one are that the Whigs found much difficulty in was the increase of tariffs. The full effects of the Great Panic would not be dropped until 1844 and with the closing or financial difficulty of the northern industry, the people of the United States instead chose to buy cheap products directly from Europe who were still on continuous economic growth. Southerners on both sides of the political spectrum were unilaterally in opposition to the increase of tariffs and many Northern Whigs, even from New England, were afraid to call for new tariffs as their was a high probability that it would result in them losing their seats come next election. Harrison and Clay backed down from calls of increase with both men only agreeing to not lower the current rates, as they did not want another nullification crisis on their hands. It wasn't until the mid1850's that calls for tariffs would once again rise. Lastly of note in Harrison's first term was the admittance of two states to the union; Florida and Iowa. The south had been calling for another slave state to enter the Union as the efforts of the Texas annexation had largely failed, in order to appease them and not cause a divide Harrison supported the entrance of Florida and was able to receive their admission in early 1844. Local southern organizations had managed to support large migration efforts to fill the new state and thus despite the ongoing Seminole Wars, Florida had the required population to enter the Union once a constitution was ratified. In order to keep the balance Wisconsin was also given support in a similar manner by western and northern politicians, gaining entrance latter that same year around October, right before election time. Once Florida had entered the union though, it would be the last slave state according to the Missouri compromise. Unless Texas was willing to sell territory (which President Lamar would rather shoot himself before that happened) every other territory belonging to the United States would become a free state. The Democrats and southerners set their sights on Haiti and Cuba, seeking to go around the compromise by expanding to the Caribbean, while Vice President Webster managed to get Harrison to agree to the admittance of Wisconsin should they win reelection. The country was still united but the seeds of division were slowly being implemented within America that would one day lead to the battlefields of Dixie.
View attachment 291195View attachment 291196Third Bank of the United States 2016. New England Textile Mill in the 1840's. 28 Star U.S flag after the admission of Florida and Wisconsin.
When it came to foreign relations for the first term of Harrison's presidency, there was little to take action upon except for one issue that was becoming increasingly prominent within American society, Oregon. For the British obtaining the territory was a mere matter of pride as it would add hundreds of miles of land to their growing empire and connect Canada to the northwest. For the Americans, it was a matter of survival. With California in the hands of Texas Oregon was the only remaining gateway to the Pacific, one that America absolutely refused to yield a single inch of territory to her former colonial overlords. With the creation of the Oregon trail thousands of American settlers were traveling to Oregon country and the federal government was doing everything in its power to support these measures to 'Americanize' the territory as much as possible before a single drop of Canadian blood set foot upon the land. Many colonization societies were being created in the same manner as the Liberian society, huge amounts of funding was given by the federal government for any American to be attracted to the new land. With money and the promises of free and spacious lands the amount of Americans traveling west would increase every year. President Harrison knew however that it would take alot more than a high amount of American population to back up these claims. Americans had largely filled up the Ontario territory but that hadn't helped them when it came to the Treaty of Ghent in the War of 1812. The Harrison administration was doing its best to negotiate a peaceful settlement with some offers reaching as high as $50,000,000 for the whole of Oregon. Deep down William Harrison knew that the British would never relent so easily to their requests. Britain was beginning to build their world Empire and would not lose face to any upstart nation. Being the former soldier that he was, Harrison knew that war was a certain possibility that was growing every day. So Harrison would do his best to prepare the military for the coming fight and make sure that they would win in the third fight. You see back then the United States was nowhere near its current level of military projection that it has today as a superpower. The Army only consisted of 10,000 regulars with defense of the nation in the frontier being reliant on local militias, while the Navy only consisted of near 30 ships, nowhere near the strength of the invincible British Armada. With extensive support from the military such as Commodore Perry and General Winfield Scott, Harrison set out to give the United States a fighting chance against the most powerful nation in the world. Legislation was passed in congress that would increase the size of the regular army to 30,000 men, nowhere near the necessary levels but a good start considering the economy. Generals Scott and Taylor were put in charge of bringing the men to combat ready operations and ensuring each one would be of high quality once the battle lines were drawn. Among these new recruits were the West Point graduates of the 1840's who would all play prominent roles as leaders of the Civil War. On the Navy side Harrison knew that the United States could never outright defeat the British Navy, his plan was to merely protect the American coast and any trade that could be captured at sea. The Navy was given authorization to increase to 75 ships at sea with the New England shipyards being put to heavy work on construction of the latest vessels, these ships would be of immense benefit to the American Navy as the would complete construction by the time the war broke out and could at least help the United States prevent another burning of Washington from happening. Extensive support was also given to the construction of a Great Lakes fleet where there was expected to be an intense naval campaign from both sides in order to allow naval superiority in the Ohio region and support either side in an invasion. Oliver Hazard Perry had proven in the war of 1812 that victory in this area was at the very least achievable. Lastly plans were being drawn by the chiefs of staff for new invasion plans of Canada and any possible invasion by the British, while new forts were being constructed in the Oregon territory and the Ohio region. The British during all this did not sit idle. Queen Victoria sent 10,000 regulars to Canada in order to increase the nation's defenses, especially after the Quebec rebellions. British citizens were encouraged to immigrate to Oregon and the Royal Navy increased its patrols near the American coast. Unfortunately for the proponents of peace War would come in 1846 where both nations would meet on the field of battle, for the third consecutive generation in eighty years. The United States should count itself lucky though that war had commenced on the onset of the 1846 revolutions, forcing Britain to divide its attention between two continents.
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The United States Army and Navy circa 1845
When the time came for the 1844 elections the Whigs were near unanimous in choosing Harrison. Despite personal objections from Clay, the man was at the height of his popularity with a 65% estimated support form the American populace. The economy had fully recovered by that point, the Whigs had been able to achieve near every single one of their platforms, war hawks for Oregon were increasing, and during all this President Harrison had maintained an image of honor and credibility that had been lost by the past three presidents. Against these odds the Democrats were unable to compete and chose James Polk as his opponent. Polk was very popular in the south and was an highly skilled legislator from his time as House Speaker. The man was also chosen for his supportive stance on Oregon. The main problem was that Polk's reputation was still hurt in the North with his increased insistence that Texas should've become part of the Union. Besides his support for Oregon there was little that the dark horse Candidate of Polk could entice the public as Harrison's domestic policies had been immensely successful. Indeed when the first Presidential debate was set up in Philadelphia in copy of Texas's creation of the practice, Polk found himself increasingly under fire from Harrison for not having a strong solution to the country's domestic issues and relying on a bandwagon of support for Oregon to his campaign. To be quite honest even if Andrew Jackson rose up from the dead to challenge Harrison, he still wouldn't have won against the popular incumbent. In the end Harrison came out with another resounding victory with 208 electoral votes compared to Polk's 74. Harrison also won in the popular vote with a significant near 56% majority. The Whigs had at long last found the one man who they could rally their party towards. What remained to be seen was how well Harrison's leadership skills would be put to the test when the Oregon War finally came.
1844 United States Presidential Elections
Harrison/Webster (Whig): 1,523,478 Votes,55.9%. 208 Electoral votes
Polk/Taylor (Democrat): 1,200,005 Votes, 44.1%. 74 Electoral Votes.
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- Kaiser Chris
- Word Count: 2.7k