On March 4, 1841, William Henry Harrison was inaugurated as the President of the United States. Thirty-one days later he was dead. So sums up the common historical refrain of the 9th person elected as the nation’s President. It is true that such a short tenure denied Harrison the opportunity to make his mark on the nation he was selected to lead, but it would be a disservice to limit his story to his one month in the White House. Harrison spent nearly his entire life in service to the public. … The most fundamental element of Harrison’s philosophy was his never-wavering commitment to republicanism. Harrison wholeheartedly believed in the American notion that majority will should drive his nation’s policies (as long as they don’t impinge on the handful of privileges afforded all under the Bill of Rights) and that the maximum amount of these policies should be derived at the local level. … He was a Jeffersonian at heart and planned to lead his nation in that vein. … His rapid demise denied the country the opportunity to experience his leadership at the national level, leaving him in the estimation of far too many as a mere historical footnote.