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William Henry Harrison Inaugural Speech Analysis

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On March 4, 1841, President William Henry Harrison gave the longest inaugural speech in American history. In summary, President Harrison’s speech mainly discussed how the people of the United States has the rights to individual liberties and how it is the duty of the president to protect those liberties through the Constitution. Specifically, the speech went into great detail about how the president should consult with everyone, like the Senate and House of Representatives, before making a huge executive decision. In general, Harrison's goal was to bring the country together through the use of the Constitution and individual rights. For instance, Harrison theory was to use the power of being president and distribute the power between the …show more content…

With that Harrison believed that the president should pass bills and laws through the Senate and through the House of Representative before making a decision. For example, President Harrison claimed, “ The principle certainly assigns to the only body constituted by the Constitution (the legislative body) the power to make laws, and the forms even direct that the enactment should be ascribed to them” (Inaugural Speech). Specifically, those words left the impression that in order to come to a reasonable decision the United States must stick with the principal in the Constitution in order to pass a law and for both sides to come to an understanding. Also, throughout the speech, the president used words like , “people”, “ Constitution”, “power”, and “ government” most often. The words stated above left the audience feeling that America is united and bonded by the public and the government through the Constitution that the founding fathers wrote. William Henry Harrison’s speech left the idea that the president should protect the nation through the power that the president receives. For instance, President Harrison stated, “ A person elected to that high office..., must consider himself bound by the most solemn sanctions to guard, protect, and defend the rights of all and of every portion, great or small, from the injustice and oppression of the rest” (Inaugural Speech). In other words, Harrison’s words left the impression to the public that they can feel safe by President Harrison because he believed, since he has the power, the obvious way to use that power is to protect and defend everyone no matter who the individual

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