Beschreibung:

HARRISON, William Henry Autograph letter signed ("W.H.Harrison") AS PRESIDENT, to R. Buchanan Esq., Washington D.C., 10 March 1841. 2 pages, 4to (10¾ x 7 7/8 in.), integral blank with recipient's docket, numerical inscription (with date of Buchanan's reply) in red ink at top left-hand corner of page 1, otherwise in very fine condition. THE ULTIMATE PRESIDENTIAL RARITY: AN AUTOGRAPH LETTER OF PRESIDENT HARRISON, WRITTEN JUST AFTER HIS ILL-FATED INAUGURAL CEREMONY: "I AM SO MUCH HARASSED BY THE MULTITUDES THAT CALL UPON ME THAT I CAN GIVE NO PROPER ATTENTION TO ANY BUSINESS OF MY OWN" THE ONLY AUTOGRAPH PRESIDENTIAL LETTER OF HARRISON EVER TO BE OFFERED AT AUCTION. A letter written a scant 6 days after Harrison's inauguration as President, at which he is likely to have contracted the illness which resulted in his untimely death only one month later. The new President complains that he is so beseiged with visitors--well-wishers and office-seekers--that he has been unable to attend to his personal financial affairs. Harrison's hurried, oddly garbled letter, full of dropped or duplicated words, asks an attorney to verify his personal indebtedness to the Bank of the United States. Six days before, on a blustery, unseasonably chilly day, after being sworn in as Chief Executive, the 68-year-old Harrison delivered what is still the longest inaugural address of any President, a massive, rambling speech which took an hour and 40 minutes to read. Harrison wore neither coat, hat, or gloves. A bit later the same day, while walking, he was drenched in a sudden rainshower. "Harrison was tired when he arrived in Washington, but bouyed by the excitement of being president, he was constantly on the move, visiting outgoing Democrats, dropping by all the departments, meeting with hordes of office seekers" (N.L. Peterson, The Presidencies of William Henry Harrison & John Tyler , 1989, p.41). Predictably, the President came down with a cold and eventually took to his bed. His physician, Dr. Thomas Miller diagnosed the President's condition as "bilious pleurisy, with symptoms of pneumonia and intestinal inflammation." As his condition steadily worsened, the signing of appointments slowed to a trickle, then ceased, as did his already sparse correspondence (the duplicated and dropped words in the present letter, may be traceable to Harrison's health). Later Harrison began to drift in and out of reality, and experienced feverish hallucinations. Finally, on April 4, a few hours shy of a month after his inauguration, he uttered his last words: "I wish you to understand the true principles of the government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more." Harrison is still the only President to have died in the White House. His demise led to the first application of Article II, section 1 of the Constitution, whose provision for the succession of the Vice-President was subject to variable interpretations. To an attorney, Harrison writes: "I enclose herewith a letter to you from our friend Charles Macallister [not present] & I also enclose his letter to me on the subject which which [ sic ] I ask the [illegible] of y[ou]r friendship. I said to Macallister that the balance of my debt to the Bank U.S. was about $4,000. I am however certain[?] that it cannot be any thing like that unless they charge compound interest which I believe they have done. Will you before you close the matter with the Agent have the goodness critically to examine the account from the beginning. If they have been in the habit of adding the interest to the principles at fixed periods, I will not pay it. Perhaps it is imposing too much upon you to request you to attend to this Matter if it is [possible] to employ some competent person to make the examination." "You will see from Macallisters letter to me that he thinks U.S. bank notes will fall lower than they are. If this is so it would XXLINE THROUGH NEXT 9 WORDS answer no purpose as he suggested to delay toXX be evidently wrong to