Excerpt from William Henry Harrison, John Tyler and James Knox Polk In the notable year 1774 the Virginia House of Burgesses took upon itself the character of a State Convention and elected seven delegates to the Continental Congress. This body of patriotic legislators was to meet in Philadelphia, and was to do a great deal more and better work than anybody dreamed of beforehand. Thomas Jefferson knew all the Virginia delegates, and said of them that they had been selected remarkably well. They were representative men, he said, and not one of them was a more perfect representative of the people than was big, burly, bluff Ben Harrison. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

William Henry Harrison died just 31 days after taking the oath of office in 1841. Today he is a curiosity in American history, but as Collins shows in this entertaining and revelatory biography, he and his career are worth a closer look.

The first vice president to become president on the death of the incumbent, John Tyler (1790-1862) was derided by critics as "His Accidency." In this biography of the tenth president, Edward P. Crapol challenges depictions of Tyler as a die-hard advocate of states' rights, limited government, and a strict interpretation of the Constitution. Instead, he argues, Tyler manipulated the Constitution to increase the executive power of the presidency. Crapol also highlights Tyler's faith in America's national destiny and his belief that boundless territorial expansion would preserve the Union as a slaveholding republic. When Tyler sided with the Confederacy in 1861, he was branded as America's "traitor" president for having betrayed the republic he once led.

Although William Henry Harrison died a month after becoming President, he lived a full and accomplished life before assuming the presidency. As a member of Congress, he sponsored legislation dividing the Northwest Territory. As governor of the Indiana Territory, he led a movement to suspend the provisions of the Northwest Ordinance and earned a reputation for acquiring large land cessions from the Indian tribes, winning the affection of white settlers and the animosity of Native Americans. Serving as brigadier general during the War of 1812, he then served in the Ohio legislature and the U.S. Senate, and was named minister to Colombia. This bibliography provides a guide to the literature on his extensive career.