Harrisburg (WHTM)-- Along the first block of South Third Street, next to the Zion Lutheran Church, is a state historical marker for a political convention held at the church in December of 1839. The political party - the Whigs.
The Whigs coalesced into a political party in the early 1830s, mostly in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his successor, Martin Van Buren. They took their name from the British anti-monarchist party. (They liked to call Jackson "King Andrew the First.")
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On December 4, 1839, the party met at the church to put together a ticket that would deny Van Buren a second term. Over several days they picked William Henry Harrison for President, and John Tyler for Vice President.
The Whigs campaigned with a catchy slogan, "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" based on Harrison's victory battling Native Americans along the Kethtippecanunk River in Indiana. There were songs, rallies, much whiskey and hard cider and, in a break from tradition, Harrison personally campaigning. In many ways, good and bad, it was the first modern American political campaign.
In the end, the Whigs had their victory. William Henry Harrison became the ninth President of the United States. On Inauguration Day, Harrison refused to wear an overcoat and hat despite it being a cold, rainy day and delivered a two-hour inaugural address, the longest in American History.
32 Days later he became the first president to die in office. The exact cause is uncertain, with guesses ranging from pneumonia to typhoid.
John Tyler became president, and succeeded in offending so many of his fellow Whigs he was thrown out of the party before he finished his term.
As for the Whig party itself, it disintegrated in the 1850s, torn apart by disagreements between Northern and Southern factions over the question of slavery