‘Tippecanoe and Tyler Too’ struck a chord with voters

With Presidents Day approaching, the pursuit of presidential trivia is infectious. What is the favorite campaign slogan of all time? Most politicos agree that it was the 1840 rallying cry of “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” 

“Tippecanoe” referred to Whig party candidate William Henry Harrison, a great military leader in his day. His running mate was John Tyler. Curiously, both men were natives of Charles City County, Va., and practically neighbors. 

The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on Nov. 7, 1811, in the Indiana Territory near the confluence of the Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers. American colonists commanded by Harrison were attacked by Native American warriors led by the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh. Harrison’s troops prevailed, scoring a decisive victory. 

William Henry Harrison

Harrison went on to serve as governor of the Indiana Territory. In 1840, the Whigs believed that incumbent president Martin Van Buren, a New York Democrat, was vulnerable, as the economy had suffered through the financial Panic of 1837. 

The Whigs were united behind Harrison, and the nomination for vice president was first offered to Daniel Webster of New Hampshire. Webster refused and quipped: “I do not propose to be buried (as vice president) until I am really dead and in my coffin.” 

The Democrats attacked Harrison’s alleged affection for hard cider. Indeed, at Whig rallies, vast amounts of spirits were consumed, but none by the candidate. Sources said Harrison himself was a teetotaler. 

Harrison “performed superbly” on the campaign trail, taking part in the new practice of making “stump speeches” to large audiences. The Whigs portrayed Van Buren as an aristocratic champagne-sipper.

Martin Van Buren

Harrison won the election, becoming the ninth U.S. president. He was 68 when he took the oath of office on March 4, 1841.

The weather at Harrison’s inauguration was miserable – cold and windy with the temperature estimated to be in the 40s. Harrison stubbornly chose to not wear an overcoat, hat or gloves for the ceremony and then proceeded to deliver the longest inaugural address ever, clocked at an hour and 45 minutes, containing 8,445 words.

Within weeks (on March 26), Harrison came down with a severe cold. It was attributed directly to his exposure to the foul weather at his inauguration. Despite doctors’ attempts to treat him, Harrison died on April 4, 1841, just one month into his term as president.

Dr. Thomas Miller listed the cause of death as “pneumonia…of the right lung, complicated by congestion of the liver.” 

Harrison was the first president to die in office. His presidency remains the shortest in American history. 

In 2014, Dr. Philip A. Mackowiak of the University of Maryland School of Medicine challenged the long-accepted diagnosis. 

Looking at the evidence, “through the lens of modern epidemiology, makes it far more likely that the real killer lurked…in a fetid marsh not far from the White House,” he and co-author Jane McHugh wrote. Their article was published in The New York Times. 

In the 1840s, the nation’s capital had no sewer system. Dr. Macowiak and McHugh reported. “Sewage simply flowed onto public grounds a short distance from the White House, where it stagnated and formed a marsh,” they stated.

“The White House water supply was just seven blocks downstream of a depository for ‘night soil,’ hauled there each day at government expense.” 

The scientists said: “That field of human excrement would have been a breeding ground for deadly bacteria that would have devastating effects on the gastrointestinal system. Harrison had a history of dyspepsia, or indigestion, which potentially heightened his risk of infection by gastrointestinal pathogens that might have found their way into the White House water supply.”

 They conclude that Harrison most likely died of enteric fever, another name for typhoid fever.

 John Tyler

Vice President John Tyler was elevated to become the 10th U.S. president. He wound up as the “president without a party,” disavowed by the Whigs in 1843 for supporting a political agenda that seemed to favor ideals and principles espoused by the Democrats. Critics referred to Tyler as “His Accidency.”

Politics can be so cruel.