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Benjamin Harrison Biography

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HARRISON, BENJAMIN (1833-1901) . The twenty-third President of the United States, born at North Bend, Ohio, Aug. 20, 1833. His father, John Scott Harrison (1804-78), a son of President William Henry Harrison, represented the Whigs in Congress from 1853 to 1857. Benjamin passed his early years on his father's farm and at a log schoolhouse in the neighborhood. Later he studied two years at Farmers College, at College Hill, near Cincinnati, and in 1852 he graduated at Miami University. After studying law in Cincinnati, he was admitted to the bar (1853), married the daughter of Rev. J. W. Scott, and settled in Indianapolis in 1854. In 1860 he was elected reporter of the Supreme Court of Indiana, and in a political debate with Thomas A. Hendricks soon afterward acquired reputation as a speaker. He entered the Federal army as second lieutenant in July, 1862; assisted in organizing the Seventieth Indiana Regiment; was promoted in August, 1862, to be colonel; served in Kentucky and Tennessee; led a charge at Resaca, Ga., May 15, 1864, in which one-third of his command was killed or disabled; commanded his brigade with signal bravery at Kenesaw Mountain, June 29 to July 3, 1864, and at Peachtree Creek, July 20; took part in the operations around Nashville, and on Jan. 23, 1865, was brevetted brigadier general of volunteers "for ability and manifest energy and gallantry in command of brigade." Returning to civil life, he resumed his occupation of reporter of the Supreme Court, but in 1868 declined reelection. In 1876 he was the Republican candidate for Governor of Indiana, but was defeated, though running 2000 votes ahead of his ticket. In 1878 he was appointed a member of the Mississippi River Commission. In 1880 he was elected United States Senator, taking his seat March 4, 1881, and during his term of office opposed alien ownership of large tracts of land and the Blair Educational Bill, favored civil-service reform, and was one of a committee to perfect and report a bill restricting Chinese immigration. In 1888, at the Republican Convention in Chicago, he was nominated for the presidency, receiving 84 votes on the first ballot, 217 on the fourth, and 544 on the eighth. In the ensuing election he received 233 electoral votes to Cleveland's 168, Levi P. Morton, of New York, being elected Vice President. His administration was marked by no especially conspicuous features; but during it the Pan-American Congress, the initiation of the policy of commercial reciprocity (q.v.), and the attempt to annex Hawaii to the United States attracted much attention. The industrial situation was much altered by the McKinley Tariff of Oct. 1, 1890; the monetary system was disturbed by the Sherman Silver Bill; civil-service reform was extended; the Louisiana Lottery was abolished; the condition of both the army and the navy was improved; and many highly creditable appointments to office were made, especially in the Federal judiciary. In the summer of 1892 Harrison's Secretary of State, Mr. Blaine (q.v.), resigned and became an avowed candidate for the presidential nomination; but Harrison was again nominated, only to be defeated in the election by his predecessor, Grover Cleveland (q.v.), receiving 145 electoral votes. After leaving office he accepted a lectureship in international law at Leland Stanford Junior University, California. During the remaining years of his life he devoted himself to the practice of law, being retained in several cases of national importance, and in 1899 appearing as counsel for Venezuela before the commission appointed to arbitrate the boundary dispute with England. He was the principal representative of the United States at The Hague Conference (1899). His death occurred after a brief illness, at Indianapolis, March 13, 1901. He wrote numerous magazine articles, made a number of able speeches on public occasions, and published This Country of Ours (1897), in which he gave a description of the practical workings of the government. Another book, Views of an Ex-President, was published posthumously in 1901. Some of his speeches are collected by Hedges, Through the South and West with President Harrison (New York, 1892). Those which he delivered while President were published under the title of Public Papers and Addresses of Benjamin Harrison (Washington, 1893). Consult Wilson (ed.), The Presidents of the United States (New York, 1894), and the campaign biography by Wallace (Philadelphia, 1888).