Episode 1 of 2

Harrison Wins Fifth Ballot

When: December 1839
Where: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Part of: Whig Party's first national convention nominates William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison won the presidential nomination on the fifth ballot, supported by Thaddeus Stevens and Thurlow Weed, defeating front-runner Henry Clay.

Harrison secured the nomination on the fifth ballot with crucial support from Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania and Thurlow Weed of New York. He was chosen over more controversial members of the party, such as Clay and Webster, highlighting his military record and focusing on the weak U.S. economy.

Sources

Whig Party (United States) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-05
William Henry Harrison Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-17

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.