William Henry HARRISON (9 February 1773, Charles City, Virginia, USA - 4 April 1841, Washington, DC, USA)

1841 - March 4 - William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) becomes 9th President of the United States - dies one month after assuming the office.

Nominated for president in 1835 as a military hero whom the conservative politicians hoped to be able to control, he ran surprisingly well against Van Buren in 1836. Four years later, he defeated Van Buren but caught pneumonia and died in Washington on April 4, 1841, a... Read MORE...

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     John TYLER (29 March 1790, Charles City, Virginia, USA - 18 January 1862, Richmond, Virginia, USA)

1841 - April 4 - John Tyler (1790-1862) becomes 10th President of the United States.

Elected vice president on the Whig ticket in 1840, Tyler succeeded to the presidency on Harrison's death. His strict-constructionist views soon caused a split with the Henry Clay wing of the Whig party and a stalemate on domestic questions. Tyler's more considerable... Read MORE...

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     James Knox POLK (2 November 1795, Pineville, Mecklenburg, North Carolina, USA - 15 June 1849, Nashville, Tennessee, USA)

1845 - March 4 - James K. Polk (1795-1849) becomes 11th President of the United States

When James K. Polk accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency, he was not very well known. The Whig opposition party played on his obscurity, sniping, "Who is James K. Polk?" An experienced speaker, Polk surprised everyone when he campaigned vigorously... Read MORE...

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     Zachary TAYLOR (24 November 1784, Barboursville, Montebello, Orange County, Virginia, USA - 9 July 1850, Washington, DC, USA)

1849 - March 4 - Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) becomes 12th President of the United States. He dies in office after 16 months.

During the revival of the slavery controversy, which was to result in the Compromise of 1850, Taylor began to take an increasingly firm stand against appeasing the South; but he died in Washington on July 9, 1850, during the fight over the Compromise.

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     Millard FILLMORE (7 January 1800, Locke, Cayuga, New York, USA - 8 March 1874, Buffalo, New York, USA)

1850 - July 9 - Millard Fillmore (1800-1874) becomes 13th President of the United States

As president, Fillmore associated himself with the pro-Southern Whigs, supporting the Compromise of 1850. Defeated for the Whig nomination in 1852, he ran for president in 1856 as candidate of the American, or Know-Nothing, Party, which sought to unite the country against... Read MORE...

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     Franklin PIERCE (23 November 1804, , New Hampshire, USA - 8 October 1869, Concord, New Hampshire, USA)

1853 - March 4 - Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) becomes 14th President of the United States

As president, Pierce followed a course of appeasing the South at home and of playing with schemes of territorial expansion abroad. The failure of his foreign and domestic policies prevented his renomination.

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