William Henry Harrison quotes

William Henry Harrison was an American military officer and politician who became the 9th President of the United States. His presidency was marked by the shortest term in U.S. history, lasting only 31 days. He died shortly after taking office, making his tenure one of the most notable for its brevity. Here are 16 of his quotes:

The only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed. (William Henry Harrison)
...there is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power. View quote
William Henry Harrison
The chains of military despotism, once fastened upon a nation, ages might pass away before they could be shaken off. View quote
William Henry Harrison
...all the measures of the Government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer. View quote
William Henry Harrison
The strongest of all governments is that which is most free. View quote
William Henry Harrison
Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of the government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more. View quote
William Henry Harrison
I believe and I say it is true Democratic feeling, that all the measures of the Government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer. View quote
William Henry Harrison
To Englishmen, life is a topic, not an activity. View quote
William Henry Harrison
I have determined never to remove a Secretary of the Treasury without communicating all the circumstances attending such removal to both Houses of Congress. View quote
William Henry Harrison
It may be observed, however, that organized associations of citizens requiring compliance with their wishes too much resemble the recommendations of Athens to her allies, supported by an armed and powerful fleet. View quote
William Henry Harrison
The people of the District of Columbia are not the subjects of the people of the States, but free American citizens. (William Henry Harrison)
There is no part of the means placed in the hands of the Executive which might be used with greater effect for unhallowed purposes than the control of the public press. View quote
William Henry Harrison
It is necessary, therefore, to watch, not the political opponents of the administration, but the administration itself, and to see that it keeps within the bounds of the Constitution and the laws of the land. The executive of the Union has immense power to do mischief if he sees fit to exercise that power. He may prostrate the country. Indeed this country has been already prostrated. It has already fallen from pure republicanism to a monarchy in spirit if not in name. View quote
William Henry Harrison
...it is preposterous to suppose that a thought could for a moment have been entertained that the President, placed at the capital, in the center of the country, could better understand the wants and wishes of the people than their own immediate representatives, who spend a part of every year among them, living with them, often laboring with them, and bound to them by the triple tie of interest, duty, and affection. View quote
William Henry Harrison
Fellow-citizens, being fully invested with that high office to which the partiality of my countrymen has called me, I now take an affectionate leave of you. You will bear with you to your homes the remembrance of the pledge I have this day given to discharge all the high duties of my exalted station according to the best of my ability, and I shall enter upon their performance with entire confidence in the support of a just and generous peeps. View quote
William Henry Harrison
The people are the best guardians of their own rights and it is the duty of their executive to abstain from interfering in or thwarting the sacred exercise of the lawmaking functions of their government. View quote
William Henry Harrison