Indiana territorial governor
See also: History of slavery in Indiana and Indiana Territory
Harrison arrived at Vincennes, the capital of the newly-established Indiana Territory on January 10, 1801, to begin his duties.[42] [43] U.S. presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison,
both of whom were members of the Democratic-Republican Party,
reappointed Harrison as the Indiana territorial governor in 1803, 1806,
and 1809. Originally a Federalist Party appointee, Harrison was among
the few to retain his post after Jefferson's and Madison's elections.[35] On December 28, 1812, Harrison resigned his position as territorial governor to continue his military career during the War of 1812.[44]In 1804, while serving as the Indiana territorial governor, Harrison was assigned additional duties to administer the civilian government of the District of Louisiana, a part of the Louisiana Territory that included land north of the 33rd parallel. In October 1804, when a civilian government went into effect, Harrison served as the Louisiana district's executive leader. For a brief, five-week period, Harrison administered the district's affairs until the Louisiana Territory was formally established, effective July 4, 1805, and Brigadier General James Wilkinson assumed the duties of the Louisiana territorial governor.[45][46]
In 1805, Harrison built a plantation-style home near Vincennes that he named Grouseland, in reference to the birds on the property. The thirteen-room home was one of the first brick structures in the territory. During his term as territorial governor, Harrison's home served as a center of social and political life in the territory. The farm has been restored and is a popular, modern-day tourist attraction.[20][25] After the territorial capital was moved to Corydon in 1813, Harrison built a second home at nearby Harrison Valley.[47]
In addition to his duties as territorial governor, Harrison founded Jefferson University at Vincennes in 1801, The school was incorporated as Vincennes University on November 29, 1806, and is one of two U.S. colleges founded by a U.S. President; the other is the University of Virginia, which Thomas Jefferson founded.[48]
Governor Harrison had wide-ranging powers in the new territory, including the authority to appoint territorial officials and the territorial legislature, as well as control over division of the territory into smaller political districts and counties. One of his primary responsibilities was to obtain title to Indian lands that would allow future settlement and increase the territory's population, a requirement for statehood.[4] Harrison was eager to expand the territory for personal reasons as well; his political fortunes were tied to Indiana's eventual statehood. On February 8, 1803, when President Jefferson reappointed Harrison as the Indiana territorial governor, he also granted Harrison the authority to negotiate and conclude treaties with the Indians.[44]
Between 1803 and 1809, during his tenure as territorial governor, Harrison supervised eleven treaties with Indian leaders that provided the federal government with large tracts of land (more than 60,000,000 acres (240,000 km2)) that included the southern third of present-day Indiana and most of present-day Illinois for further settlement. The Treaty of St. Louis (1804) with Quashquame required the Sauk and Meskwaki to cede much of western Illinois and parts of Missouri to the federal government. Many of the Sauk, especially Black Hawk, greatly resented this treaty and the loss of lands, a primary reason the Sauk sided with the United Kingdom during the War of 1812. Harrison thought the Treaty of Grouseland (1805) appeased some of the Indians, but tensions remained high along the frontier. The Treaty of Fort Wayne (1809) raised new tensions when Harrison purchased land from the Miami tribe, who claimed ownership of the land, more than 2.5 million acres (10,000 km²) of land inhabited by the Shawnee, Kickapoo, Wea, and Piankeshaw peoples. Harrison rushed the treaty process by offering large subsidies to the tribes and their leaders so that the treaty would be in force before President Jefferson left office and the administration changed.[47][49] The tribes living on the ceded lands were furious and sought to have the treaty overturned, but were unsuccessful.
Although Harrison's pro-slavery position made him unpopular with the Indiana Territory's antislavery supporters, he used his political power to make several attempts to introduce slavery into the territory. His efforts were ultimately unsuccessful due to the territory's growing anti-slavery movement. In 1803, Harrison lobbied Congress to vote in favor of a petition to suspend Article VI of the Northwest Ordinance for ten years, a move that would allow slavery in the Indiana Territory. At the end of the suspension period citizens in the territories covered under the ordinance could decide for themselves whether to permit slavery. Harrison claimed the suspension was necessary to encourage make settlement and would make the territory economically viable, but Congress rejected the idea.[50] In 1803 and 1805 Harrison and the appointed territorial judges successfully enacted territorial laws that evaded the provisions outlined in Article VI of the Ordinance, authorized indentures, allowed slaves to be brought into the territory, and gave their masters the authority to determine the length of indentured servitude.[51][52] The pro-slavery laws caused a significant stir in the territory.
In 1809, after the separation of the western portion of the Indiana Territory to create the Illinois Territory, elections were held to select members of territorial legislature's upper and lower houses for the first time. (Previously, lower-house members were elected, but the territorial governor appointed members to the upper house.) Harrison found himself at odds with the legislature after the antislavery faction came to power and the eastern portion of the Indiana Territory grew to include a large, antislavery population.[53] When the Indiana Territory's general assembly convened in 1810, its antislavery faction immediately repealed the indenturing laws enacted in 1803 and in 1805.[46][54] After 1809 Harrison's political authority declined as the Indiana territorial legislature assumed more authority and the territory advanced toward statehood. By 1812 Harrison had moved away and resumed his military career.[55]
President Jefferson, the primary author of the Northwest Ordinance, had made a secret compact with James Lemen to defeat the proslavery movement led by Harrison. Although he was a slaveholder, Jefferson did not want slavery to expand into the Northwest Territory, as he believed the institution should eventually end. Under the "Jefferson-Lemen compact", Jefferson donated money to Lemen to found churches in Illinois and Indiana to stop the proslavery movement. In Indiana, the founding of an antislavery church led to citizens' signing a petition and organizing politically to defeat Harrison's efforts to legalize slavery in the territory. Jefferson and Lemen were both instrumental in defeating Harrison's attempts in 1805 and 1807 to secure approval to expand slavery in the territory.[56]
Army general
Tecumseh and Tippecanoe
Main articles: Tecumseh's War and Battle of Tippecanoe
An Indian resistance movement against U.S. expansion had been growing through the leadership of the Shawnee brothers, Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa (The Prophet). The conflict became known as Tecumseh's War. Tenskwatawa convinced the native tribes that they would be protected by the Great Spirit
and no harm could befall them if they would rise up against the white
settlers. He encouraged resistance by telling the tribes to pay white
traders only half of what they owed and to give up all the white man's
ways, including their clothing, muskets, and especially whiskey, which
was becoming known as evil for American Indians.[57]
1915 version of a depiction of Tecumseh believed to have been sketched c. 1808
Tecumseh launched an "impassioned rebuttal", but Harrison was unable to understand his language.[59] A Shawnee friendly to Harrison cocked his pistol from the sidelines to alert Harrison that Tecumseh's speech was leading to trouble. Some witnesses reported that Tecumseh was encouraging the warriors to kill Harrison. Many of the warriors began to pull their weapons, representing a substantial threat to Harrison and the town, which held a population of only 1,000. Harrison pulled his sword. Tecumseh's warriors backed down after the officers had pulled their firearms in defense of Harrison.[59] Chief Winnemac, who was friendly to Harrison, countered Tecumseh's arguments and told the warriors that since they had come in peace, they should return home in peace. Before leaving, Tecumseh informed Harrison that unless the treaty were nullified, he would seek an alliance with the British.[60] After the meeting, Tecumseh journeyed to meet with many of the tribes in the region, hoping to create a confederation to battle the United States.[61]
In 1811, while Tecumseh was traveling, Harrison was authorized by Secretary of War William Eustis to march against the nascent confederation as a show of force. Harrison led an army of more than 1,000 men north to try to intimidate the Shawnee into making peace. Instead, the tribes launched a surprise attack on Harrison's army early on the morning of November 7, in what became known as the Battle of Tippecanoe. Harrison defeated the tribal forces at Prophetstown, next to the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers. Harrison was hailed as a national hero and the battle became famous. However, his troops had greatly outnumbered the attackers, and suffered many more casualties during the battle.[62]
When reporting to Secretary Eustis, Harrison informed him the battle occurred near the Tippecanoe River (which led to its naming), and he feared an imminent reprisal attack. The first dispatch did not make clear which side had won the conflict, and the secretary at first interpreted it as a defeat. The follow-up dispatch made the US victory clear. When no second attack came, the defeat of the Shawnee was more certain. Eustis demanded to know why Harrison had not taken adequate precautions in fortifying his camp against attacks. Harrison countered by saying he had considered the position strong enough. The dispute was the catalyst of a disagreement between Harrison and the Department of War that continued into the War of 1812.[63]
The press did not cover the battle at first, and one Ohio paper misinterpreted Harrison's dispatch to Eustis to mean he was defeated.[64] By December, as most major American papers carried stories on the battle, public outrage over the Shawnee attack grew. At a time of high tensions with the United Kingdom, many Americans blamed the British for inciting the tribes to violence and supplying them with firearms. In response, Congress passed resolutions condemning the British for interfering in American domestic affairs. A few months later, on June 18, 1812, the U.S. government declared war against United Kingdom.[65] Shortly thereafter, Harrison left Vincennes to seek a military appointment.[66]
War of 1812
This portrait of Harrison originally showed him in civilian clothes as the congressional delegate from the Northwest Territory in 1800, but the uniform was added after he became famous in the War of 1812.
After the American defeat in the Siege of Detroit, General James Winchester, who became the commander of the Army of the Northwest, offered Harrison the rank of brigadier general. Harrison also wanted sole command of the army. In September 1812, after President James Madison removed Winchester from command, Harrison became commander of the fresh recruits. Initially, the British and their Indian allies greatly outnumbered Harrison's troops. During the winter of 1812–13 Harrison constructed a defensive position along the Maumee River in northwest Ohio and named it Fort Meigs in honor of the Ohio governor Return J. Meigs Jr..
After receiving reinforcements in 1813, Harrison took the offensive and led the army north to battle the Shawnee and their British allies. Harrison won victories in the Indiana Territory and in Ohio and recaptured Detroit, before invading Upper Canada (present-day Ontario). Harrison's army defeated the British on October 5, 1813, at the Battle of the Thames, in which Tecumseh was killed.[66][67] This pivotal battle is considered to be one of the great American victories in the war, second only to the Battle of New Orleans.[67][68]
In 1814 U.S. Secretary of War John Armstrong divided the command of the army, assigning Harrison to a "backwater" post and giving control of the front to one of Harrison's subordinates. (Armstrong and Harrison had disagreed over the lack of coordination and effectiveness in the invasion of Canada.) In May, following Harrison's reassignment, he resigned from the army; his resignation was accepted later that summer.[69][70] After the war ended, Congress investigated Harrison's resignation and determined that Armstrong had mistreated him during his military campaign and that his resignation was justified. Congress awarded Harrison a gold medal for his services during the War of 1812.
Following the defeat of the British and their Indian allies in western Canada, Harrison and Lewis Cass, governor of the Michigan Territory, were delegated the responsibility for negotiating a peace treaty with the Indians, known as the Treaty of Greenville (1814).[71] In June 1815, at President Madison's request, the U.S. government appointed Harrison to serve as one of the commissioners responsible for negotiating a second postwar treaty with the Indians that became known as the Treaty of Spring Wells (1815). Both treaties were advantageous to the United States. In the Spring Wells treaty the tribes ceded a large tract of land in the west, providing additional land for American purchase and settlement.[33][72]
Postwar life
After John Gibson replaced Harrison as Indiana territorial governor in 1812 and Harrison's resignation from the army in 1814, he returned to his family in North Bend. Harrison cultivated his land and enlarged the log cabin farmhouse, but he soon returned to public life.[73][74]Public office
In 1816 Harrison was selected to complete the unexpired term of John McLean of Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives, where Harrison represent the state from October 8, 1816, to March 4, 1819. In 1819 he was elected to the Ohio State Senate and served until 1821, having lost the election for Ohio governor in 1820. In 1822 he ran for a seat in the U.S. House, but lost by 500 votes to James W. Gazlay. In 1824 Harrison was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served until May 20, 1828. Fellow westerners in Congress called Harrison a "Buckeye", a term of affection related to the native Ohio buckeye tree.[33] He was an Ohio presidential elector in 1820 for James Monroe[75] and an Ohio presidential elector in 1824 for Henry Clay.[76] In 1817 Harrison declined to serve as secretary of war under President Monroe.Appointed as minister plenipotentiary to Gran Colombia, Harrison resigned from Congress and served in his new post until March 8, 1829.[33] He arrived in Bogotá on December 22, 1828. He found the condition of Colombia saddening. Harrison reported to the Secretary of State that the country was on the edge of anarchy and he thought Simón Bolívar was about to become a military dictator. While minister in Colombia, Harrison wrote a rebuke to Bolívar, stating "the strongest of all governments is that which is most free". He called on Bolívar to encourage the development of a democracy. In response, Bolívar wrote, "The United States ... seem destined by Providence to plague America with torments in the name of freedom", a sentiment that achieved fame in Latin America.[77] When the new administration of President Andrew Jackson took office in March 1829, Harrison was recalled so the new president could make his own appointment to the position. He returned to the United States in June.[78]
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