Monthly Archives: October 2016

015 – Source Notes



   

The script for this episode was devised using the written words and transcripts of speeches made by both Martin Van Buren and William Henry Harrison along with secondary materials, both from the time and by later researchers. The full script can be found here.

The sources used for this episode are as follows:

The audio used for “The Star-Spangled Banner” is from a recording of the United States Army Bands, and the full audio recording can be found at archive.org. The applause sound effect was by user RHumphries, and the full audio recording can be found at the Wikimedia Commons. The indoor crowd noise sound in the background was by user sound-ideas, and the full audio recording can be found at freesfx.co.uk.

The daguerrotypes above of Martin Van Buren and William Henry Harrison are both found on the Wikimedia Commons with the Van Buren picture courtesy of the Harvard University Library while the Harrison picture is courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.


015 – The 1840 Presidential Debate



Nassau Hall, Princeton University, photo by user Smallbones on Wikimedia Commons
Nassau Hall, Princeton University, photo by user Smallbones on Wikimedia Commons

We have a very special episode this week as we stage a debate between President Martin Van Buren and General William Henry Harrison in the 1840 presidential campaign. The back and forth gets heated at times, but the two candidates manage to maintain their decorum so that this debate is suitable for all audiences. Gather the kids together and sit back as the two candidates talk about some of the issues of the day in their own words. As always, source information including sound attributions can be found at http://whhpodcast.blubrry.com.


014 – Sources Used



Indiana Territory map, courtesy of user Fay2
Indiana Territory map, courtesy of user Fay2
Grouseland Interior, April 1934, courtesy of Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress
Grouseland Interior, April 1934, courtesy of Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress

More information, pictures, and a diagram of the layout of Grouseland can be found on the Historic American Buildings Survey listing on the Library of Congress website.

  • Booraem, Hendrik, V. A Child of the Revolution: William Henry Harrison and His World, 1773-1798. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2012.
  • Cleaves, Freeman. Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time. Newtown, CT: American Political Biography Press, 2010 [1939].
  • Green, James A. William Henry Harrison: His Life and Times. Richmond, VA: Garrett and Massie Inc, 1941.
  • Guyatt, Nicholas. Bind Us Apart: How Enlightened Americans Invented Racial Segregation. New York: Basic Books, 2016.
  • Mahon, John K. History of the Second Seminole War, 1835-1842, Revised Edition. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 1991.
  • Niven, John. Martin Van Buren: The Romantic Age of American Politics. Newtown, CT: American Political Biography Press, 2012 [1983].
  • Owens, Robert M. “Jeffersonian Benevolence on the Ground: The Indian Land Cession Treaties of William Henry Harrison.” Journal of the Early Republic. 22:3 (Fall 2002), 405-435.
  • Owens, Robert M. Jefferson’s Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.
  • White, Leonard D. The Federalists: A Study in Administrative History. New York: Macmillan Co, 1948.
  • Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. Southern Honor: Ethics & Behavior in the Old South. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982.

014 – Courtin’, Cavortin’, and Carryin’ On: Harrison’s Early Public Service



Grouseland, Vincennes, IN, courtesy of user Nyttend
Grouseland, Vincennes, IN, courtesy of user Nyttend on Wikimedia Commons

Harrison begins his transition from the army into public service in this episode and finds love and a new home along the way. However, to avoid the danger of overly romanticizing the story and missing some key historical lessons, this episode does delve into the possibility that Harrison sought female companionship outside of marriage and the detrimental effects that the Jeffersonian policy towards Native Americans as executed by Harrison had on the native peoples of the old Northwest. Sources used for this episode can be found at http://whhpodcast.blubrry.com.


013 – Sources Used



Chief Little Turtle, courtesy of the US Army Military History Institute
Chief Little Turtle, courtesy of the US Army Military History Institute
  • Booraem, Hendrik, V. A Child of the Revolution: William Henry Harrison and His World, 1773-1798. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2012.
  • Chernow, Ron. Washington: A Life. New York: Penguin, 2010.
  • Cleaves, Freeman. Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time. Newtown, CT: American Political Biography Press, 2010 [1939].
  • Eliot, Charles W, ed. American Historical Documents 1000-1904, With Introductions and Notes. New York: P F Collier & Son, 1969 [1910].
  • Gaff, Alan D. Bayonets in the Wilderness: Anthony Wayne’s Legion in the Old Northwest. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008 [2004].
  • Green, James A. William Henry Harrison: His Life and Times. Richmond, VA: Garrett and Massie, 1941.
  • Harrison, William Henry. 31 May 1836, to Allen, Jewett, Johnson, Benjamin Harrison Historical Site, Indianapolis, IN.
  • Lancaster, Bruce. From Lexington to Liberty: The Story of the American Revolution. Lewis Garrett, ed. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co, 1955.
  • Larson, Edward J. The Return of George Washington 1783-1789. New York: HarperCollins, 2014.
  • Madison, James. “From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 9 January 1785,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-08-02-0122. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, vol. 8, 10 March 1784 – 28 March 1786, ed. Robert A. Rutland and William M. E. Rachal. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1973, pp. 222–234.]
  • Malone, Dumas. Jefferson the Virginian: Jefferson and His Time Volume One. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1948.
  • Owens, Robert M. Jefferson’s Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.
  • Washington, George. “From George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, 31 March 1783,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-10968. Last Accessed: 21 August 2016.
  • White, Leonard D. The Federalists: A Study in Administrative History. New York: Macmillan Co, 1948.
  • White, Leonard D. The Jeffersonians: A Study in Administrative History, 1801-1829. New York: Macmillan Co, 1956.

013 – Here and There or Maybe Over There: The Wandering Start of William Henry Harrison



General Anthony Wayne, courtesy of the Library of Congress's National Digital Library Program
General Anthony Wayne, courtesy of the Library of Congress’s National Digital Library Program

Harrison takes a rather meandering course from college that leads him first to Richmond then to Philadelphia, through medical training to the army, before he finally marches off to the west where he studies the ways of war from two of the most prominent generals of the time. Along the way, he suffers the loss of his father, joins an abolitionist society, and participates in his first major battle. This episode is one of our most action packed to date! Sources for this episode can be found at http://whhpodcast.blubrry.com.


012 – Sources Used



Berkeley Plantation interior, photo taken by user Pi3. 124 on Wikimedia Commons
Berkeley Plantation interior, photo taken by user Pi3. 124 on Wikimedia Commons
Berkeley Plantation guest house, photo taken by user Pi3. 124 on Wikimedia Commons
Berkeley Plantation guest house, photo taken by user Pi3. 124 on Wikimedia Commons
Cushing Hall, Hampden-Sydney College, photo taken by user MorrisS at Wikimedia Commons
Cushing Hall, Hampden-Sydney College, photo taken by user MorrisS at Wikimedia Commons

More information, pictures, and diagrams of the layout of Berkeley Plantation can be found on the Historic American Buildings Survey listing on the Library of Congress website.

More information about historic buildings on the Hampden-Sydney College campus can be found utilizing a map layer on their campus map.

  • “Biographical Memoirs of Major General William Henry Harrison.” Port Folio. 3rd Series, 5 (Apr 1815): 305-325. P. 309.
  • Booraem, Hendrik, V. A Child of the Revolution: William Henry Harrison and His World, 1773-1798. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2012.
  • Capps, Jennifer E. “Family Group Sheet: Benjamin Harrison V The Signer.” Benjamin Harrison Historical Site, Indianapolis, IN. 9 Dec 2008. http://www.bhpsite.org/images/pdfs/bhv.pdf. Last Accessed: 20 August 2016.
  • Cleaves, Freeman. Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Time. Newtown, CT: American Political Biography Press, 2010 [1939].
  • Dabney, Virginius. Virginia: The New Dominion. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co, 1971
  • Green, James A. William Henry Harrison: His Life and Times. Richmond, VA: Garrett and Massie, 1941.
  • “About Hampden-Sydney College.” Hampden-Sydney College. http://www.hsc.edu/About-H-SC.html. Last Accessed: 20 August 2016.
  • “Then and Now: Buildings of Hampden-Sydney College.” Hampden-Sydney College. http://www.hsc.edu/Museum/EAM/Then-and-Now.html. Last Accessed: 20 August 2016.
  • Harrison, Benjamin. “To George Washington from Benjamin Harrison, 16 February 1781,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified July 12, 2016, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/99-01-02-04874. Last Accessed: 20 Aug 2016.
  • Historic American Buildings Survey. “Berkeley, State Route 5 vicinity, Charles City, Charles City, VA.” Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/va0306/. Last Accessed: 14 Aug 2016.
  • Kranish, Michael. Flight From Monticello: Thomas Jefferson at War. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
  • Nettels, Curtis P. The Emergence of a National Economy 1775-1815: Volume II, The Economic History of the United States. White Plains, NY: M E Sharpe Inc, 1962.
  • Owens, Robert M. Jefferson’s Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.

012 – The Education of William Henry Harrison



Berkeley Plantation, courtesy of the Historic American Buildings Survey
Berkeley Plantation, courtesy of the Historic American Buildings Survey

In this episode, the first in our comprehensive series about Harrison’s life, we follow the life of William Henry Harrison from his birth up until his enrollment at Hampden-Sydney Academy (now College) and explore how the Revolutionary War affected and threatened the young Billy and his family. This episode has a British invasion (though no Beatles, I’m afraid), alcohol abuse, and even a special guest appearance by Benedict Arnold. Sources for this episode can be found at http://whhpodcast.blubrry.com.


011 – Sources Used



1846 daguerrotype of the White House by John Plumbe, courtesy of the Library of Congress
1846 daguerrotype of the White House by John Plumbe, courtesy of the Library of Congress
  • 21 May 1836, William Henry Harrison to Allen, Jewett, Johnson, Benjamin Harrison Historical Site.
  • Chernow, Ron. Washington: A Life. New York: Penguin, 2010.
  • Coit, Margaret L. John C Calhoun: American Portrait. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 1950.
  • Gould, Lewis L. Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans. New York: Random House, 2003.
  • Harrison, William Henry. “Inaugural Address,” March 4, 1841. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=25813.
  • Larson, Edward J. The Return of George Washington, 1783-1789. New York: William Morrow, 2014.
  • Mahon, John K. History of the Second Seminole War, 1835-1842. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 1991 [1967].
  • Moore, John Hebron. The Emergence of the Cotton Kingdom in the Old Southwest: Mississippi, 1770-1860. Baton Rouge, LA and London: Louisiana State University Press, 1987.
  • Remini, Robert V. Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845. New York: Harper & Row, 1984.
  • Shlaes, Amity. Coolidge. New York: HarperCollins, 2013.
  • Socolofsky, Homer E, and Allan B Spetter. The Presidency of Benjamin Harrison. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1987.
  • Taylor, George Rogers. The Transportation Revolution, 1815-1860: The Economic History of the United States, Volume IV. New York; Evanston, IL; and London: Harper & Row, 1968 [1951].
  • Timmons, Bascom N. Portrait of an American: Charles G Dawes. New York: Henry Holt and Co, 1953.
  • White, Leonard D. The Federalists: A Study in Administrative History. New York: Macmillan Co, 1948.

011 – Essentially, Radically Changed: The Inauguration Speech Part 2



Engraving of William Henry Harrison, courtesy of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Engraving of William Henry Harrison, courtesy of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing

This week’s episode concludes our discussion on the Inaugural Speech by bringing it all together with topics discussed in previous episodes in order to get a better understanding of the course that old Tip wanted to take the nation in and how he planned to save the nation during his four year presidency that ended up being cut much shorter than anticipated.

This week’s intro music adapted from “Last Stand” courtesy of http://www.purple-planet.com

Sources used for this episode found at http://whhpodcast.blubrry.com.