340 HARRISON, TYLER 



The alliance was so unnatural that it took some 

 time to complete it. In 1836 there was no agreement 

 upon a candidate for the presidency. The " State 

 Rights " Whigs nominated Hugh Lawson White of 

 Tennessee for President, and John Tyler for Vice- 

 president. The Northern Whigs, in the hope of 

 gathering votes from as many quarters as possible, 

 thought it best to put forward some more colourless 

 candidate than their real leader, Mr. Clay, and ac- 

 cordingly they nominated General William Henry 

 Harrison. This gentleman was born in Berkeley, 

 Virginia, February 9, 1773. His father, Benjamin 

 Harrison, was one of the signers of the Declaration 

 of Independence, was twice elected governor of Vir- 

 ginia, and in the state convention of 1788 was allied 

 with the elder Tyler in opposing the adoption of the 

 federal Constitution. William Henry Harrison was 

 educated at Hampden Sidney College, Virginia, but 

 broke off his studies in 1791 to take a commission 

 in the army on the Western frontier, commanded by 

 Anthony Wayne. Having distinguished himself for 

 gallantry and for executive ability, he was in 1800 

 appointed superintendent of Indian affairs and gov- 

 ernor of the Indiana territory, comprising the present 

 states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. 

 He held that office for several years, and when the 

 Indian War broke out prematurely, in 1811, he de- 

 feated Tecum sen's brother, the Prophet, on the 7th 

 of November of that year, in a bloody and decisive 

 battle at Tippecanoe, on the upper Wabash. In the 

 autumn of 1812 he was appointed to the chief com- 

 mand of the United States forces in the Northwest, 

 and on October 5, 1813, he won the battle of the 



