Details
HARRISON, WILLIAM HENRY, President. Partly printed document signed ("W.H. Harrison") AS PRESIDENT, Washington, D.C., 19 March 1841. 1 page, 4to, 255 x 200mm. (10 x 8 in.), integral blank, accomplished in manuscript, docketed on verso, faint yellowing along central fold, minor evidence of old mounting on two extreme edges of integral blank, otherwise in very good condition.
HARRISON IN OFFICE
President Harrison directs Secretary of State Daniel Webster "...to affix the seal of the United States to the order for the pardon of James P. Smith..."
A document signed only sixteen days before Harrison's death. He fell ill after delivering his one hour and forty minute inaugural address on a cold March day without an overcoat and after being caught in a downpour. He remained bedridden for several days before finally succumbing to "bilious pleurisy" on 4 April 1841, exactly one month after assuming office. His last words are recorded as "I wish you to understand the true principles of the government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more." Harrison was the first President to die in office.
Documents signed by Harrison in office are extremely rare as a result of his short term. Most authorities estimate that there are approximately half a dozen handwritten letters in office extant (the Forbes Magazine Collection possesses one fine example). It is thought that no more than two dozen documents signed in that brief one month term exist.
HARRISON IN OFFICE
President Harrison directs Secretary of State Daniel Webster "...to affix the seal of the United States to the order for the pardon of James P. Smith..."
A document signed only sixteen days before Harrison's death. He fell ill after delivering his one hour and forty minute inaugural address on a cold March day without an overcoat and after being caught in a downpour. He remained bedridden for several days before finally succumbing to "bilious pleurisy" on 4 April 1841, exactly one month after assuming office. His last words are recorded as "I wish you to understand the true principles of the government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more." Harrison was the first President to die in office.
Documents signed by Harrison in office are extremely rare as a result of his short term. Most authorities estimate that there are approximately half a dozen handwritten letters in office extant (the Forbes Magazine Collection possesses one fine example). It is thought that no more than two dozen documents signed in that brief one month term exist.