Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

We begin here with William Henry Harrison, number nine, who was elected in 1840 and inaugurated on March 4, 1841. His slogan was Tippecanoe and Tyler, too. He was the hero of the battle there in 1811, and John Tyler ran as his Vice President. His inauguration address was almost two hours long. He died one month after he took office.

His death was originally attributed to pneumonia contracted on inauguration day and later found to be septic shock. John Tyler became the tenth President after much discussion about the succession process. Harrison was the first chief executive to die while holding the office.

John Tyler was a member of the Whig party, like his predecessor and running mate. He finished the term for which they were elected and was well known as a states’ rights supporter. He was opposed by some of his own party for seizing the Presidency that the Constitution said he was entitled to. These squabbles resulted in this being his only term.

In 1845, James K. Polk became the eleventh President. I’m guessing that most of you have never heard of him. He served only one term, which ended in 1849. He was a Democrat and gained the office because he was supported by former President Jackson. The Whigs were divided, so were the Democrats, and the Republicans hadn’t had a viable candidate since they split from the Democrats.

The 1948 Election year was focused on the Mexican American war and all the divisions due to economic difficulties and the westward expansion after Mexico, Spain, and Great Britain made agreements during the Polk years to allow for this. A hero of that war, Zachary Taylor, was the 12^th President from 1849 to 1850.

His Vice President, Millard Fillmore, finished the term. Taylor died of some sort of stomach ailment, possibly cancer, on July 9, 1850. Filmore openly declared slavery evil and helped form the Compromise of 1850, which gave a cooling period for the North and South over that issue. Filmore was from upstate New York and was needed on the Whig ticket to make Zachary Taylor more palatable for the Presidency. Filmore was the last Whig to be President.

Franklin Pierce became the fourteenth President on March 4, 1853. His wife was not there due to the earlier death of their last son. He was a Democrat and was viewed as a compromise between the North and the South. He supported the Fugitive Slave Act and was not his party’s candidate in 1856.

That was when James Buchanan was nominated as the Democrat candidate and defeated former President Filmore that ran on the American Party ticket, and John C. Fremont, the Republican Candidate. He served as the fifteenth President and spent the next four years trying to keep the union together.

In my next column, I will begin with our sixteenth President. If you do not know his name, sit tight, and I will reveal the two famous candidates for the position in 1860. I do not think many of you will be surprised at the winner.

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger