William Henry Harrison

But I contend that the strongest of all governments is that which is most free.
~ William Henry Harrison, Letter to Simon Bolivar (27 September 1829)

I am the clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton County at your service . . . Some folks are silly enough to have formed a plan to make a president of the U.S. out of this clerk and clod hopper.
~ William Henry Harrison

I wish you to understand the true principles of government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more.
~ William H. Harrison, (last known words spoken, on his deathbed; 4 April 1841)

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.
~ William Henry Harrison, (1840).

My sword is almost my only patrimony, but while I wear that sword and the livery of my country, I will not disgrace them.
~ William Henry Harrison, (1794).

The American backwoodsman -- clad in his hunting shirt, the product of his domestic industry, and fighting for the country he loves, he is more than a match for the vile but splendid mercenary of a European despot.
~ William Henry Harrison, (1812).

The chains of military despotism once fastened upon a nation, ages might pass away before they could be shaken off.
~ 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.
~ William Henry Harrison

The plea of necessity, that eternal argument of all conspirators.
~ William Henry Harrison, Letter to Simon Bolivar (27 September 1829)

There is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power.
~ William Henry Harrison

This may be the last time I have the pleasure of speaking to you on earth. I bid you farewell; if forever, fare thee well.
~ William Henry Harrison, (1841).