Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833 – March 13, 1901) was the 23rd President of the United States (1889–1893); he was the grandson of the ninth President, William Henry Harrison. Harrison had become a prominent local attorney, Presbyterian church leader and politician in Indianapolis, Indiana. During the American Civil War, he served the Union as a brigadier general; afterwards, he unsuccessfully ran for the governorship of Indiana but was later elected to the U.S. Senate by the Indiana legislature.
Harrison, a Republican, was elected to the presidency in 1888, defeating the Democratic incumbent Grover Cleveland. Hallmarks of his administration included unprecedented economic legislation, including the McKinley Tariff, which imposed historic protective trade rates, and the Sherman Antitrust Act; Harrison facilitated the creation of the National Forests through an amendment to the Land Revision Act of 1891. He also substantially strengthened and modernized the Navy, and conducted an aggressive hands on foreign policy. He fervently proposed, in vain, federal education funding as well as voting rights enforcement for African Americans during his administration.
Due in large part to surplus revenues from the tariffs, federal spending reached one billion dollars for the first time during his term.The spending issue in part led to the defeat of the Republicans in the 1890 mid-term elections. Harrison was defeated by Cleveland in his bid for re-election in 1892, due to the growing unpopularity of the high tariff and high federal spending. He then returned to private life in Indianapolis but later represented the Republic of Venezuela in an international case against the United Kingdom. In 1900, he traveled to Europe as part of the case and, after a brief stay, returned to Indianapolis. He died the following year of complications from influenza.
Contents [show]
Early life[edit]
Family and education[edit]
Harrison's paternal ancestors were the Virginia Harrisons. Their immigrant ancestor was Benjamin Harrison, who arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1630. The future president Benjamin was born on August 20, 1833, in North Bend, Ohio, as the second of eight children to John Scott Harrison and Elizabeth Ramsey (Irwin). Benjamin was a grandson of President William Henry Harrison and the great-grandson of Benjamin Harrison V, a Virginia governor and signer of the Declaration of Independence.[1][a] Harrison was seven years old when his grandfather was elected President, but he did not attend the inauguration.[2] Although Harrison's family was distinguished, his parents were not wealthy. John Scott Harrison spent much of his farm income on his children's education.[3] Despite the family's meagre resources, Harrison's boyhood was enjoyable, much of it spent outdoors fishing or hunting.[4]
Benjamin Harrison's early schooling took place in a one-room schoolhouse near his home, but his parents later arranged for a tutor to help him with college preparatory studies.[5] Harrison and his brother Irwin enrolled in Farmer's College near Cincinnati, Ohio in 1847.[6] He attended the college for two years [7][b] and while there met his future wife, Caroline Lavinia Scott, one of the daughters of the science professor, John Witherspoon Scott.
In 1850 Harrison transferred to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and graduated in 1852.[8] He joined the fraternity Phi Delta Theta, which he used as a network for much of his life. He was also a member of Delta Chi, a law fraternity which permitted dual membership.[9] Classmates included John Alexander Anderson,[10] who became a six-term congressman, and Whitelaw Reid who ran as Harrison's vice presidential candidate in his presidential reelection campaign. At Miami, Harrison was strongly influenced by history and political economy professor Robert Hamilton Bishop.[11] Harrison joined a Presbyterian church at college and, like his mother, became a lifelong member.[12]
After completing college, Harrison took up the study of law as a legal apprentice in the Cincinnati law office of Storer & Gwynne.
Marriage, family and early career[edit]
Benjamin Harrison c1850
Before completing his law studies, Harrison returned to Oxford to marry Caroline Scott.[13] On October 20, 1853, Caroline's father, also a Presbyterian minister, performed the ceremony.[10]
The Harrisons had two children, Russell Benjamin Harrison (August 12, 1854 – December 13, 1936), and Mary "Mamie" Scott Harrison (April 3, 1858 – October 28, 1930).[14]
Harrison returned to live on his father's farm while finishing his law studies. That same year, he inherited $800 after the death of an aunt, and used the funds to move with Caroline to Indianapolis, Indiana in 1854.[15] He was admitted to the bar and began practicing law in the office of John H. Ray. The same year he became a crier for the Federal Court in Indianapolis, for which he was paid $2.50 per day.[14] Harrison became a founding member and first president of both the University Club, a private gentlemen's club and the Phi Delta Theta Alumni Club.[16] Harrison and his wife joined and assumed leadership positions at the First Presbyterian Church.[17]
Having grown up in a Whig household, he favored that party's politics while young. He joined the Republican Party shortly after its formation in 1856, and that year campaigned on behalf of the Republican presidential candidate John C. Frémont.[18] Harrison was elected as the Indianapolis City Attorney that year, a position that paid an annual salary of $400.[19]
In 1858, Harrison entered into a law partnership with William Wallace and they opened their office called Wallace & Harrison.[20] In Two years hence, Harrison successfully ran as the Republican candidate for reporter of the Indiana Supreme Court. He was an active supporter of his party's platform, and served as Republican State Committee Secretary. His law partner Wallace was elected as county clerk in 1860; Harrison established a new firm with William Fishback, named Fishback & Harrison. They worked together until he entered the Army after the start of the American Civil War.[21]
Civil War[edit]
Colonel Benjamin Harrison
In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a call for more recruits for the Union Army; Harrison wanted to enlist, but worried about how to support his young family.[22] While visiting Governor Oliver Morton, Harrison found him distressed over the shortage of men answering the latest call. Harrison told the governor, "If I can be of any service, I will go".[23]
Morton asked Harrison if he could help recruit a regiment, though he would not ask him to serve; Harrison recruited throughout northern Indiana to raise a regiment. Morton offered him the command, but Harrison declined, as he had no military experience. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant. In August 1862, when the regiment left Indiana to join the Union Army at Louisville, Kentucky, Harrison was promoted by Morton to the rank of colonel, and his regiment was commissioned as the 70th Indiana Infantry.[24]
For much of its first two years, the 70th Indiana performed reconnaissance duty and guarded railroads in Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1864, Harrison and his regiment joined William T. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign and moved to the front lines. On January 2, 1864, Harrison was promoted to command the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division of the XX Corps. He commanded the brigade at the Battles of Resaca, Cassville, New Hope Church, Lost Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain, Marietta, Peachtree Creek and Atlanta. When Sherman's main force began its March to the Sea, Harrison's brigade was transferred to the District of Etowah and participated in the Battle of Nashville.[25] On March 22, 1865, Harrison earned his final promotion, to the rank of brigadier general. He rode in the Grand Review in Washington, D.C. before mustering out on June 8, 1865.[25]
Post-war career[edit]
Indiana politics[edit]
While serving in the army in October 1864, Harrison was reelected reporter of the Supreme Court of Indiana and served four more years.[26] Although not politically powerful, the position provided Harrison a steady income.[26] President Grant appointed him to represent the federal government in a civil claim brought by Lambdin P. Milligan, whose wartime conviction for treason had been reversed by the Supreme Court. Due to Harrison's advocacy, the damages awarded against the government were minimal.[27]
With his increasing reputation, local Republicans urged Harrison to run for Congress. He initially confined his political activities to speaking on behalf of other Republican candidates, a task for which he received high praises from his colleagues.[28]
Benjamin Harrison Home in Indianapolis
In 1872, Harrison campaigned for the Republican nomination for governor of Indiana. Former governor Oliver Morton favored his opponent, Thomas M. Browne, and Harrison lost his bid for statewide office.[29] He returned to his law practice and, despite the Panic of 1873, he was financially successful enough to build a grand new home in Indianapolis in 1874.[30] He continued to make speeches on behalf of Republican candidates and policies.[31]
In 1876, the original Republican nominee for governor dropped out of the race and Harrison accepted the Republicans' invitation to take his place on the ticket.[32] He centered his campaign on economic policy and favored deflating the national currency. He was ultimately defeated in a plurality by James D. Williams, losing by 5,084 votes out of a total 434,457 cast.[33] Following his defeat, Harrison was able to build on his new prominence in the state. When the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 reached Indianapolis, he helped to mediate between the workers and management and to preserve public order.[34]
When United States Senator Morton died in 1878, the Republicans nominated Harrison to run for the seat, but the party failed to gain a majority in the state legislature, which at that time elected senators; the Democratic majority elected Daniel W. Voorhees instead.[35][c] In 1879 President Hayes appointed Harrison to the Mississippi River Commission, which worked to develop internal improvements on the river.[36] As a delegate to the 1880 Republican National Convention the following year,[37] he was instrumental in breaking a deadlock on candidates, and James A. Garfield won the nomination.
United States Senator[edit]
Walter Q. Gresham, Harrison's rival within the Indiana Republican Party
After Harrison led the Republican delegation at the National Convention, he was considered a presumptive Senate candidate.[38] He gave speeches in favor of Garfield in Indiana and New York, further raising his profile in the party. When the Republicans retook the state legislature, Harrison's election to the Senate was threatened by his intra-party rival Judge Walter Q. Gresham, but Harrison was ultimately chosen.[38] After Garfield's election as president in 1880, his administration offered Harrison a cabinet position which he declined in favor of continued service as senator. [39]
Harrison served in the Senate from March 4, 1881, to March 4, 1887 and chaired the U.S. Senate Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard (47th Congress) and the U.S. Senate Committee on Territories (48th and 49th Congresses).[40]
In 1881, the major issue confronting Senator Harrison was the budget surplus. Democrats wished to reduce the tariff and limit the amount of money the government took in; Republicans instead wished to spend the money on internal improvements and pensions for Civil War veterans. Harrison took his party's side and advocated for generous pensions for veterans and their widows.[41] He also supported, unsuccessfully, aid for education of Southerners, especially the children of the freedmen; he believed that education was necessary to help the black population rise to political and economic equality with whites. [42] Harrison opposed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which his party supported, as he thought it violated existing treaties with China.[43]
In 1884, Harrison and Gresham competed for influence at the 1884 Republican National Convention.;[44] the delegation ended up supporting James G. Blaine, the eventual nominee.[44] In the Senate, Harrison achieved passage of his Dependent Pension Bill, only to see it vetoed by President Grover Cleveland.[45] His efforts to further the admission of new western states were stymied by Democrats, who feared that the new states would elect Republicans to Congress.[45]
In 1885, the Democrats redistricted the Indiana state legislature, which resulted in an increased Democratic majority in 1886, despite an overall Republican majority statewide.[46] Harrison was thereby defeated in his bid for reelection; this resulted after a deadlock in the state senate, with the legislature eventually choosing Democrat David Turpie.[47] Harrison then returned to Indianapolis and his law practice, but stayed active in state and national politics.[48]
Election of 1888[edit]
Main article: United States presidential election, 1888
Harrison–Morton campaign poster
Nomination[edit]
The initial favorite for the Republican nomination was the previous nominee, James G. Blaine of Maine. After Blaine wrote several letters denying any interest in the nomination, his supporters divided among other candidates, with John Sherman of Ohio as the leader among them.[49] Others, including Chauncey Depew of New York, Russell Alger of Michigan, and Harrison's old nemesis Walter Q. Gresham, now a federal appellate court judge in Chicago, also sought the delegates' support at the 1888 Republican National Convention.[49] Blaine did not publicly endorse any of the candidates as a successor; however, on March 1, 1888 he privately wrote that "the one man remaining who in my judgment can make the best one is Benjamin Harrison."[36]
Harrison placed fourth on the first ballot, with Sherman in the lead, and the next few ballots showed little change.[50] The Blaine supporters shifted their support among candidates they found acceptable, and when they shifted to Harrison, they found a candidate who could attract the votes of many other delegations.[51] He was nominated as the party's presidential candidate on the eighth ballot, by a count of 544 to 108 votes.[52] Levi P. Morton of New York was chosen as his running mate.[53]
Election over Cleveland[edit]
Results of the 1888 election
Harrison's opponent in the general election was incumbent President Grover Cleveland. He reprised a more traditional front-porch campaign, abandoned by his immediate predecessors; he received visiting delegations to Indianapolis and made ninety plus pronouncements from his home town.[54] The Republicans campaigned heavily in favor of protective tariffs, turning out protectionist voters in the important industrial states of the North. The election focused on the swing states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Harrison's home state of Indiana.[55] Harrison and Cleveland split these four states, with Harrison winning in New York and Indiana.[56] Voter turnout was 79.3%, reflecting a large interest in the campaign; nearly eleven million votes were cast.[57] Although Harrison received 90,000 fewer popular votes than Cleveland, he carried the Electoral College 233 to 168.[58] Allegations were made against Republicans for engaging in irregular ballot practices; an example was described as Blocks of Five.[59]
Although he had made no political bargains, his supporters had given many pledges upon his behalf. When Boss Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania, who rebuffed for a Cabinet position for his political support during the convention, heard that Harrison ascribed his narrow victory to Providence, Quay exclaimed that Harrison would never know "how close a number of men were compelled to approach...the penitentiary to make him President."[60] Harrison was known as the Centennial President because his inauguration celebrated the centenary of the first inauguration of George Washington in 1789.[61] In congressional elections, the Republicans increased their membership in the House of Representatives by nineteen seats.[62]
Presidency 1889–1893[edit]
Inauguration of Benjamin Harrison, March 4, 1889. Cleveland held Harrison's umbrella.
Inauguration and cabinet[edit]
Harrison was sworn into office on Monday, March 4, 1889 by Chief Justice Melville Fuller.[63] At 5' 6" tall, he was only slightly taller than Madison, the shortest president, but much heavier; he was the fourth (and last) president to sport a full beard[64] Harrison's Inauguration ceremony took place during a rainstorm in Washington D.C.. Outgoing U.S. President Grover Cleveland attended the ceremony and held an umbrella over Harrison's head as he took the oath of office.
His speech was brief – half as long as that of his grandfather, William Henry Harrison, who holds the record for the longest inaugural address.[63] In his speech Harrison credited the nation's growth to the influences of education and religion, urged the cotton states and mining territories to attain the industrial proportions of the eastern states and promised a protective tariff. Concerning commerce, he said, "If our great corporations would more scrupulously observe their legal obligations and duties, they would have less call to complain of the limitations of their rights or of interference with their operations."[65] Harrison also urged early statehood for the territories and advocated pensions for veterans, a statement that was met with enthusiastic applause. In foreign affairs, Harrison reaffirmed the Monroe Doctrine as a mainstay of foreign policy, while urging modernization of the Navy and a merchant marine force. He gave his commitment to international peace through noninterference in the affairs of foreign governments.[66]
John Philip Sousa's Marine Corps band played at the Inaugural Ball inside the Pension Building with a large crowd attending.[67] After moving into the White House, Harrison noted, quite prophetically, "There is only a door – one that is never locked – between the president's office and what are not very accurately called his private apartments. There should be an executive office building, not too far away, but wholly distinct from the dwelling house. For everyone else in the public service there is an unroofed space between the bedroom and the desk."[68]
Harrison acted quite independently in selecting his cabinet, much to the dismay of the Republican bosses. He began by delaying the presumed nomination of James G. Blaine as Secretary of State so as to preclude Blaine's involvement in the formation of the administration, as had occurred in President Garfield's term.[69] In fact, other than Blaine, the only Republican boss initially nominated was Redfield Proctor, as Secretary of War. Senator Shelby Cullom's comment symbolizes Harrison's steadfast aversion to use federal positions for patronage: "I suppose Harrison treated me as well as he did any other Senator; but whenever he did anything for me, it was done so ungraciously that the concession tended to anger rather than please."[70] Harrison's selections shared particular alliances – such as their service in the Civil War, Indiana citizenship and membership in the Presbyterian Church.[71] Nevrtheless, Harrison with these choices had alienated pivotal Republican operatives from New York to Pennsylvania to Iowa and prematurely compromised his political power and future.[72] Harrison's normal schedule provided for two full cabinet meetings per week, as well as separate weekly one-on-one meetings with each cabinet member.[73]
Civil service reform and pensions[edit]
Political football
Civil service reform was a prominent issue following Harrison's election. Harrison had campaigned as a supporter of the merit system, as opposed to the spoils system.[74] Although some of the civil service had been classified under the Pendleton Act by previous administrations, Harrison spent much of his first months in office deciding on political appointments.[75] Congress was widely divided on the issue and Harrison was reluctant to address the issue in hope of preventing the alienation of either side. The issue became a political football of the time and was immortalized in a cartoon captioned "What can I do when both parties insist on kicking?"[76] Harrison appointed Theodore Roosevelt and Hugh Smith Thompson, both reformers, to the Civil Service Commission, but otherwise did little to further the reform cause.[77]
Harrison quickly saw the enactment of the Dependent and Disability Pension Act in 1890, a cause he had championed while in Congress.[78] In addition to providing pensions to disabled Civil War veterans (regardless of the cause of their disability), the Act depleted some of the troublesome federal budget surplus.[78] Pension expenditures reached $135 million under Harrison, the largest expenditure of its kind to that point in American history, a problem exacerbated by Pension Bureau commissioner James R. Tanner's expansive interpretation of the pension laws.[78] Harrison, who privately believed that appointing Tanner had been a mistake, due to his apparent loose management style and tongue, asked Tanner to resign and replaced him with Green B. Raum.[79] Raum was also accused of accepting loan payments in return for expediting pension cases.[80] Harrison, having accepted a dissenting Congressional Republican investigation report that exonerated Raum, kept him in office for the rest of his administration.[80]
One of the first appointments Harrison was forced to reverse was that of James S. Clarkson as an assistant postmaster. Clarkson, who had expected a full cabinet position, began sabotaging the appointment from the outset, gaining the reputation for "decapitating a fourth class postmaster every three minutes". Clarkson himself stated, I am simply on detail from the Republican Committee...I am most anxious to get through this task and leave." He resigned in September 1890.[79]
Tariff[edit]
Harrison and the Billion-Dollar Congress are portrayed as wasting the surplus in this cartoon from Puck.
The tariff levels had been a major political issue since before the Civil War, and they became the most dominant matter of the 1888 election.[81] The high tariff rates had created a surplus of money in the Treasury, which led many Democrats (as well as the growing Populist movement) to call for lowering them.[82] Most Republicans preferred to maintain the rates, spend the surplus on internal improvements and eliminate some internal taxes.[82]
Representative William McKinley and Senator Nelson W. Aldrich framed the McKinley Tariff that would raise the tariff even higher, including making some rates intentionally prohibitive.[83] At Secretary of State James Blaine's urging, Harrison attempted to make the tariff more acceptable by urging Congress to add reciprocity provisions, which would allow the President to reduce rates when other countries reduced their rates on American exports.[81] The tariff was removed from imported raw sugar, and sugar growers in the United States were given a two cent per pound subsidy on their production.[83] Even with the reductions and reciprocity, the McKinley Tariff enacted the highest average rate in American history, and the spending associated with it contributed to the reputation of the Billion-Dollar Congress.[81]
Harrison, a Republican, was elected to the presidency in 1888, defeating the Democratic incumbent Grover Cleveland. Hallmarks of his administration included unprecedented economic legislation, including the McKinley Tariff, which imposed historic protective trade rates, and the Sherman Antitrust Act; Harrison facilitated the creation of the National Forests through an amendment to the Land Revision Act of 1891. He also substantially strengthened and modernized the Navy, and conducted an aggressive hands on foreign policy. He fervently proposed, in vain, federal education funding as well as voting rights enforcement for African Americans during his administration.
Due in large part to surplus revenues from the tariffs, federal spending reached one billion dollars for the first time during his term.The spending issue in part led to the defeat of the Republicans in the 1890 mid-term elections. Harrison was defeated by Cleveland in his bid for re-election in 1892, due to the growing unpopularity of the high tariff and high federal spending. He then returned to private life in Indianapolis but later represented the Republic of Venezuela in an international case against the United Kingdom. In 1900, he traveled to Europe as part of the case and, after a brief stay, returned to Indianapolis. He died the following year of complications from influenza.
Contents [show]
Early life[edit]
Family and education[edit]
Harrison's paternal ancestors were the Virginia Harrisons. Their immigrant ancestor was Benjamin Harrison, who arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1630. The future president Benjamin was born on August 20, 1833, in North Bend, Ohio, as the second of eight children to John Scott Harrison and Elizabeth Ramsey (Irwin). Benjamin was a grandson of President William Henry Harrison and the great-grandson of Benjamin Harrison V, a Virginia governor and signer of the Declaration of Independence.[1][a] Harrison was seven years old when his grandfather was elected President, but he did not attend the inauguration.[2] Although Harrison's family was distinguished, his parents were not wealthy. John Scott Harrison spent much of his farm income on his children's education.[3] Despite the family's meagre resources, Harrison's boyhood was enjoyable, much of it spent outdoors fishing or hunting.[4]
Benjamin Harrison's early schooling took place in a one-room schoolhouse near his home, but his parents later arranged for a tutor to help him with college preparatory studies.[5] Harrison and his brother Irwin enrolled in Farmer's College near Cincinnati, Ohio in 1847.[6] He attended the college for two years [7][b] and while there met his future wife, Caroline Lavinia Scott, one of the daughters of the science professor, John Witherspoon Scott.
In 1850 Harrison transferred to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and graduated in 1852.[8] He joined the fraternity Phi Delta Theta, which he used as a network for much of his life. He was also a member of Delta Chi, a law fraternity which permitted dual membership.[9] Classmates included John Alexander Anderson,[10] who became a six-term congressman, and Whitelaw Reid who ran as Harrison's vice presidential candidate in his presidential reelection campaign. At Miami, Harrison was strongly influenced by history and political economy professor Robert Hamilton Bishop.[11] Harrison joined a Presbyterian church at college and, like his mother, became a lifelong member.[12]
After completing college, Harrison took up the study of law as a legal apprentice in the Cincinnati law office of Storer & Gwynne.
Marriage, family and early career[edit]
Benjamin Harrison c1850
Before completing his law studies, Harrison returned to Oxford to marry Caroline Scott.[13] On October 20, 1853, Caroline's father, also a Presbyterian minister, performed the ceremony.[10]
The Harrisons had two children, Russell Benjamin Harrison (August 12, 1854 – December 13, 1936), and Mary "Mamie" Scott Harrison (April 3, 1858 – October 28, 1930).[14]
Harrison returned to live on his father's farm while finishing his law studies. That same year, he inherited $800 after the death of an aunt, and used the funds to move with Caroline to Indianapolis, Indiana in 1854.[15] He was admitted to the bar and began practicing law in the office of John H. Ray. The same year he became a crier for the Federal Court in Indianapolis, for which he was paid $2.50 per day.[14] Harrison became a founding member and first president of both the University Club, a private gentlemen's club and the Phi Delta Theta Alumni Club.[16] Harrison and his wife joined and assumed leadership positions at the First Presbyterian Church.[17]
Having grown up in a Whig household, he favored that party's politics while young. He joined the Republican Party shortly after its formation in 1856, and that year campaigned on behalf of the Republican presidential candidate John C. Frémont.[18] Harrison was elected as the Indianapolis City Attorney that year, a position that paid an annual salary of $400.[19]
In 1858, Harrison entered into a law partnership with William Wallace and they opened their office called Wallace & Harrison.[20] In Two years hence, Harrison successfully ran as the Republican candidate for reporter of the Indiana Supreme Court. He was an active supporter of his party's platform, and served as Republican State Committee Secretary. His law partner Wallace was elected as county clerk in 1860; Harrison established a new firm with William Fishback, named Fishback & Harrison. They worked together until he entered the Army after the start of the American Civil War.[21]
Civil War[edit]
Colonel Benjamin Harrison
In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a call for more recruits for the Union Army; Harrison wanted to enlist, but worried about how to support his young family.[22] While visiting Governor Oliver Morton, Harrison found him distressed over the shortage of men answering the latest call. Harrison told the governor, "If I can be of any service, I will go".[23]
Morton asked Harrison if he could help recruit a regiment, though he would not ask him to serve; Harrison recruited throughout northern Indiana to raise a regiment. Morton offered him the command, but Harrison declined, as he had no military experience. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant. In August 1862, when the regiment left Indiana to join the Union Army at Louisville, Kentucky, Harrison was promoted by Morton to the rank of colonel, and his regiment was commissioned as the 70th Indiana Infantry.[24]
For much of its first two years, the 70th Indiana performed reconnaissance duty and guarded railroads in Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1864, Harrison and his regiment joined William T. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign and moved to the front lines. On January 2, 1864, Harrison was promoted to command the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division of the XX Corps. He commanded the brigade at the Battles of Resaca, Cassville, New Hope Church, Lost Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain, Marietta, Peachtree Creek and Atlanta. When Sherman's main force began its March to the Sea, Harrison's brigade was transferred to the District of Etowah and participated in the Battle of Nashville.[25] On March 22, 1865, Harrison earned his final promotion, to the rank of brigadier general. He rode in the Grand Review in Washington, D.C. before mustering out on June 8, 1865.[25]
Post-war career[edit]
Indiana politics[edit]
While serving in the army in October 1864, Harrison was reelected reporter of the Supreme Court of Indiana and served four more years.[26] Although not politically powerful, the position provided Harrison a steady income.[26] President Grant appointed him to represent the federal government in a civil claim brought by Lambdin P. Milligan, whose wartime conviction for treason had been reversed by the Supreme Court. Due to Harrison's advocacy, the damages awarded against the government were minimal.[27]
With his increasing reputation, local Republicans urged Harrison to run for Congress. He initially confined his political activities to speaking on behalf of other Republican candidates, a task for which he received high praises from his colleagues.[28]
Benjamin Harrison Home in Indianapolis
In 1872, Harrison campaigned for the Republican nomination for governor of Indiana. Former governor Oliver Morton favored his opponent, Thomas M. Browne, and Harrison lost his bid for statewide office.[29] He returned to his law practice and, despite the Panic of 1873, he was financially successful enough to build a grand new home in Indianapolis in 1874.[30] He continued to make speeches on behalf of Republican candidates and policies.[31]
In 1876, the original Republican nominee for governor dropped out of the race and Harrison accepted the Republicans' invitation to take his place on the ticket.[32] He centered his campaign on economic policy and favored deflating the national currency. He was ultimately defeated in a plurality by James D. Williams, losing by 5,084 votes out of a total 434,457 cast.[33] Following his defeat, Harrison was able to build on his new prominence in the state. When the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 reached Indianapolis, he helped to mediate between the workers and management and to preserve public order.[34]
When United States Senator Morton died in 1878, the Republicans nominated Harrison to run for the seat, but the party failed to gain a majority in the state legislature, which at that time elected senators; the Democratic majority elected Daniel W. Voorhees instead.[35][c] In 1879 President Hayes appointed Harrison to the Mississippi River Commission, which worked to develop internal improvements on the river.[36] As a delegate to the 1880 Republican National Convention the following year,[37] he was instrumental in breaking a deadlock on candidates, and James A. Garfield won the nomination.
United States Senator[edit]
Walter Q. Gresham, Harrison's rival within the Indiana Republican Party
After Harrison led the Republican delegation at the National Convention, he was considered a presumptive Senate candidate.[38] He gave speeches in favor of Garfield in Indiana and New York, further raising his profile in the party. When the Republicans retook the state legislature, Harrison's election to the Senate was threatened by his intra-party rival Judge Walter Q. Gresham, but Harrison was ultimately chosen.[38] After Garfield's election as president in 1880, his administration offered Harrison a cabinet position which he declined in favor of continued service as senator. [39]
Harrison served in the Senate from March 4, 1881, to March 4, 1887 and chaired the U.S. Senate Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard (47th Congress) and the U.S. Senate Committee on Territories (48th and 49th Congresses).[40]
In 1881, the major issue confronting Senator Harrison was the budget surplus. Democrats wished to reduce the tariff and limit the amount of money the government took in; Republicans instead wished to spend the money on internal improvements and pensions for Civil War veterans. Harrison took his party's side and advocated for generous pensions for veterans and their widows.[41] He also supported, unsuccessfully, aid for education of Southerners, especially the children of the freedmen; he believed that education was necessary to help the black population rise to political and economic equality with whites. [42] Harrison opposed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which his party supported, as he thought it violated existing treaties with China.[43]
In 1884, Harrison and Gresham competed for influence at the 1884 Republican National Convention.;[44] the delegation ended up supporting James G. Blaine, the eventual nominee.[44] In the Senate, Harrison achieved passage of his Dependent Pension Bill, only to see it vetoed by President Grover Cleveland.[45] His efforts to further the admission of new western states were stymied by Democrats, who feared that the new states would elect Republicans to Congress.[45]
In 1885, the Democrats redistricted the Indiana state legislature, which resulted in an increased Democratic majority in 1886, despite an overall Republican majority statewide.[46] Harrison was thereby defeated in his bid for reelection; this resulted after a deadlock in the state senate, with the legislature eventually choosing Democrat David Turpie.[47] Harrison then returned to Indianapolis and his law practice, but stayed active in state and national politics.[48]
Election of 1888[edit]
Main article: United States presidential election, 1888
Harrison–Morton campaign poster
Nomination[edit]
The initial favorite for the Republican nomination was the previous nominee, James G. Blaine of Maine. After Blaine wrote several letters denying any interest in the nomination, his supporters divided among other candidates, with John Sherman of Ohio as the leader among them.[49] Others, including Chauncey Depew of New York, Russell Alger of Michigan, and Harrison's old nemesis Walter Q. Gresham, now a federal appellate court judge in Chicago, also sought the delegates' support at the 1888 Republican National Convention.[49] Blaine did not publicly endorse any of the candidates as a successor; however, on March 1, 1888 he privately wrote that "the one man remaining who in my judgment can make the best one is Benjamin Harrison."[36]
Harrison placed fourth on the first ballot, with Sherman in the lead, and the next few ballots showed little change.[50] The Blaine supporters shifted their support among candidates they found acceptable, and when they shifted to Harrison, they found a candidate who could attract the votes of many other delegations.[51] He was nominated as the party's presidential candidate on the eighth ballot, by a count of 544 to 108 votes.[52] Levi P. Morton of New York was chosen as his running mate.[53]
Election over Cleveland[edit]
Results of the 1888 election
Harrison's opponent in the general election was incumbent President Grover Cleveland. He reprised a more traditional front-porch campaign, abandoned by his immediate predecessors; he received visiting delegations to Indianapolis and made ninety plus pronouncements from his home town.[54] The Republicans campaigned heavily in favor of protective tariffs, turning out protectionist voters in the important industrial states of the North. The election focused on the swing states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Harrison's home state of Indiana.[55] Harrison and Cleveland split these four states, with Harrison winning in New York and Indiana.[56] Voter turnout was 79.3%, reflecting a large interest in the campaign; nearly eleven million votes were cast.[57] Although Harrison received 90,000 fewer popular votes than Cleveland, he carried the Electoral College 233 to 168.[58] Allegations were made against Republicans for engaging in irregular ballot practices; an example was described as Blocks of Five.[59]
Although he had made no political bargains, his supporters had given many pledges upon his behalf. When Boss Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania, who rebuffed for a Cabinet position for his political support during the convention, heard that Harrison ascribed his narrow victory to Providence, Quay exclaimed that Harrison would never know "how close a number of men were compelled to approach...the penitentiary to make him President."[60] Harrison was known as the Centennial President because his inauguration celebrated the centenary of the first inauguration of George Washington in 1789.[61] In congressional elections, the Republicans increased their membership in the House of Representatives by nineteen seats.[62]
Presidency 1889–1893[edit]
Inauguration of Benjamin Harrison, March 4, 1889. Cleveland held Harrison's umbrella.
Inauguration and cabinet[edit]
Harrison was sworn into office on Monday, March 4, 1889 by Chief Justice Melville Fuller.[63] At 5' 6" tall, he was only slightly taller than Madison, the shortest president, but much heavier; he was the fourth (and last) president to sport a full beard[64] Harrison's Inauguration ceremony took place during a rainstorm in Washington D.C.. Outgoing U.S. President Grover Cleveland attended the ceremony and held an umbrella over Harrison's head as he took the oath of office.
His speech was brief – half as long as that of his grandfather, William Henry Harrison, who holds the record for the longest inaugural address.[63] In his speech Harrison credited the nation's growth to the influences of education and religion, urged the cotton states and mining territories to attain the industrial proportions of the eastern states and promised a protective tariff. Concerning commerce, he said, "If our great corporations would more scrupulously observe their legal obligations and duties, they would have less call to complain of the limitations of their rights or of interference with their operations."[65] Harrison also urged early statehood for the territories and advocated pensions for veterans, a statement that was met with enthusiastic applause. In foreign affairs, Harrison reaffirmed the Monroe Doctrine as a mainstay of foreign policy, while urging modernization of the Navy and a merchant marine force. He gave his commitment to international peace through noninterference in the affairs of foreign governments.[66]
John Philip Sousa's Marine Corps band played at the Inaugural Ball inside the Pension Building with a large crowd attending.[67] After moving into the White House, Harrison noted, quite prophetically, "There is only a door – one that is never locked – between the president's office and what are not very accurately called his private apartments. There should be an executive office building, not too far away, but wholly distinct from the dwelling house. For everyone else in the public service there is an unroofed space between the bedroom and the desk."[68]
Harrison acted quite independently in selecting his cabinet, much to the dismay of the Republican bosses. He began by delaying the presumed nomination of James G. Blaine as Secretary of State so as to preclude Blaine's involvement in the formation of the administration, as had occurred in President Garfield's term.[69] In fact, other than Blaine, the only Republican boss initially nominated was Redfield Proctor, as Secretary of War. Senator Shelby Cullom's comment symbolizes Harrison's steadfast aversion to use federal positions for patronage: "I suppose Harrison treated me as well as he did any other Senator; but whenever he did anything for me, it was done so ungraciously that the concession tended to anger rather than please."[70] Harrison's selections shared particular alliances – such as their service in the Civil War, Indiana citizenship and membership in the Presbyterian Church.[71] Nevrtheless, Harrison with these choices had alienated pivotal Republican operatives from New York to Pennsylvania to Iowa and prematurely compromised his political power and future.[72] Harrison's normal schedule provided for two full cabinet meetings per week, as well as separate weekly one-on-one meetings with each cabinet member.[73]
Civil service reform and pensions[edit]
Political football
Civil service reform was a prominent issue following Harrison's election. Harrison had campaigned as a supporter of the merit system, as opposed to the spoils system.[74] Although some of the civil service had been classified under the Pendleton Act by previous administrations, Harrison spent much of his first months in office deciding on political appointments.[75] Congress was widely divided on the issue and Harrison was reluctant to address the issue in hope of preventing the alienation of either side. The issue became a political football of the time and was immortalized in a cartoon captioned "What can I do when both parties insist on kicking?"[76] Harrison appointed Theodore Roosevelt and Hugh Smith Thompson, both reformers, to the Civil Service Commission, but otherwise did little to further the reform cause.[77]
Harrison quickly saw the enactment of the Dependent and Disability Pension Act in 1890, a cause he had championed while in Congress.[78] In addition to providing pensions to disabled Civil War veterans (regardless of the cause of their disability), the Act depleted some of the troublesome federal budget surplus.[78] Pension expenditures reached $135 million under Harrison, the largest expenditure of its kind to that point in American history, a problem exacerbated by Pension Bureau commissioner James R. Tanner's expansive interpretation of the pension laws.[78] Harrison, who privately believed that appointing Tanner had been a mistake, due to his apparent loose management style and tongue, asked Tanner to resign and replaced him with Green B. Raum.[79] Raum was also accused of accepting loan payments in return for expediting pension cases.[80] Harrison, having accepted a dissenting Congressional Republican investigation report that exonerated Raum, kept him in office for the rest of his administration.[80]
One of the first appointments Harrison was forced to reverse was that of James S. Clarkson as an assistant postmaster. Clarkson, who had expected a full cabinet position, began sabotaging the appointment from the outset, gaining the reputation for "decapitating a fourth class postmaster every three minutes". Clarkson himself stated, I am simply on detail from the Republican Committee...I am most anxious to get through this task and leave." He resigned in September 1890.[79]
Tariff[edit]
Harrison and the Billion-Dollar Congress are portrayed as wasting the surplus in this cartoon from Puck.
The tariff levels had been a major political issue since before the Civil War, and they became the most dominant matter of the 1888 election.[81] The high tariff rates had created a surplus of money in the Treasury, which led many Democrats (as well as the growing Populist movement) to call for lowering them.[82] Most Republicans preferred to maintain the rates, spend the surplus on internal improvements and eliminate some internal taxes.[82]
Representative William McKinley and Senator Nelson W. Aldrich framed the McKinley Tariff that would raise the tariff even higher, including making some rates intentionally prohibitive.[83] At Secretary of State James Blaine's urging, Harrison attempted to make the tariff more acceptable by urging Congress to add reciprocity provisions, which would allow the President to reduce rates when other countries reduced their rates on American exports.[81] The tariff was removed from imported raw sugar, and sugar growers in the United States were given a two cent per pound subsidy on their production.[83] Even with the reductions and reciprocity, the McKinley Tariff enacted the highest average rate in American history, and the spending associated with it contributed to the reputation of the Billion-Dollar Congress.[81]
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