Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison | |
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23rd President of the United States | |
In office March 4, 1889 – March 4, 1893 | |
Vice President | Levi P. Morton |
Preceded by | Grover Cleveland |
Succeeded by | Grover Cleveland |
United States Senator from Indiana | |
In office March 4, 1881 – March 3, 1887 | |
Preceded by | Joseph E. McDonald |
Succeeded by | David Turpie |
Personal details | |
Born | North Bend, Ohio, U.S. | August 20, 1833
Died | March 13, 1901 Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. | (aged 67)
Resting place | Crown Hill Cemetery |
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Spouses | |
Children | |
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Education | |
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Military service | |
Branch/service | U.S. Army (Union Army) |
Years of service | 1862–1865 |
Rank |
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Unit | Army of the Cumberland |
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Battles/wars | American Civil War |
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Senator from Indiana
23rd President of the United States
Presidential campaigns
Post-presidency
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Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833 – March 13, 1901) was an American politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia—a grandson of the ninth president, William Henry Harrison, and a great-grandson of Benjamin Harrison V, a Founding Father.
Harrison was born on a farm by the
A
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
Family and education
Harrison was born on August 20, 1833, in North Bend, Ohio, the second of Elizabeth Ramsey (Irwin) and John Scott Harrison's ten children. His ancestors included immigrant Benjamin Harrison, who arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, circa 1630 from England. Harrison was of entirely English ancestry, all of his ancestors having emigrated to America during the early colonial period.[2]
Harrison was a grandson of U.S. President William Henry Harrison and a great-grandson of Benjamin Harrison V, a Virginia planter who signed the Declaration of Independence and succeeded Thomas Nelson Jr. as governor of Virginia.[3][4][5][a]
Harrison was seven years old when his grandfather was elected U.S. president, but he did not attend
Harrison's early schooling took place in a log cabin near his home,
Harrison transferred to
Marriage and early career
After his college graduation in 1852, Harrison studied law with Judge
Harrison and his wife returned to live at The Point, his father's farm in southwestern Ohio, while he finished his law studies. Harrison was admitted to the Ohio bar in early 1854,[23] the same year he sold property that he had inherited after the death of an aunt for $800 (equivalent to $27,129 in 2023), and used the funds to move with Caroline to Indianapolis, Indiana.[24][25] Harrison began practicing law in the office of John H. Ray in 1854 and became a crier for the federal court in Indianapolis, for which he was paid $2.50 per day.[22] He also served as a Commissioner for the U.S. Court of Claims.[26] Harrison became a founding member and first president of both the University Club, a private gentlemen's club in Indianapolis, and the Phi Delta Theta Alumni Club.[27] Harrison and his wife became members and assumed leadership positions at Indianapolis's First Presbyterian Church.[28]
Having grown up in a
In 1858, Harrison entered into a law partnership with William Wallace to form the law office of Wallace and Harrison.[32] In 1860, he was elected reporter of the Indiana Supreme Court.[31] Harrison was an active supporter of the Republican Party's platform and served as Republican State Committee's secretary. After Wallace, his law partner, was elected county clerk in 1860, Harrison established a new firm with William Fishback, Fishback and Harrison. The new partners worked together until Harrison entered the Union Army after the start of the American Civil War.[33]
Civil War
In 1862,
Morton asked Harrison if he could help recruit a regiment, although 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 initially commissioned as a captain and company commander on July 22, 1862. Morton commissioned Harrison as a colonel on August 7, 1862, and the newly formed 70th Indiana was mustered into federal service on August 12, 1862. Once mustered, the regiment left Indiana to join the Union Army at Louisville, Kentucky.[36][37]
Atlanta campaign
For much of its first two years, the 70th Indiana performed reconnaissance duty and guarded railroads in
Resaca
At the Battle of Resaca on May 15, 1864, Harrison faced Confederate Captain Max Van Den Corput's artillery battery, which occupied a position "some eighty yards in front of the main Confederate lines".[41] Sherman, renewing his assault on the center of the Confederate lines begun the previous day, was halted by Corput's four-gun, parapet-protected artillery battery; the battery was well placed to bedevil the Union ranks, and became "the center of a furious struggle".[41] Corput's artillery redoubt was highly fortified "with three infantry regiments in...rifle pits and four more regiments in the main trenches".[42] Harrison, leading the 70th Indiana Infantry Regiment, massed his troops in a ravine opposite Corput's position, along with the rest of Brigadier General Ward's brigade.[42] Harrison and his regiment, leading the assault, then emerged from the ravine, advanced over the artillery parapet, overcame the Confederate gunners, and eliminated the threat. The battery was captured by hand-to-hand combat, and intense combat continued throughout the afternoon.[42] Harrison's unit, now exposed, found itself immediately subjected to intense gunfire from the main Confederate ranks and was forced to take cover.[41] Although no longer in Confederate hands, Corput's four 121-pound Napoleon Cannons[42] sat in a "no man's land" for the rest of the day until nightfall, when Union soldiers "dug through the parapet, slipped ropes around the four cannons, and dragged them back to [their] lines".[41]
Peachtree Creek
During the Battle of Peachtree Creek, on July 20, 1864, Harrison commanded his brigade against General W. S. Featherston's Mississippi Brigade, stopping the latter's "fierce assault" over Collier Road.[43] At Peachtree Creek, Harrison's brigade comprised the 102nd, 105th, and 129th Illinois Infantry Regiments, the 79th Ohio Infantry Regiment, and his 70th Indiana Regiment; his brigade deployed in about the center of the Union line, engaging Maj. Gen. William Wing Loring's Mississippi division and Alabama troops from General Alexander Stewart's corps.[44] In his report after the battle Harrison wrote how "at one time during the fight," after his ammunition was dangerously depleted, he sent his acting assistant inspector-general Captain Scott and others to cut "cartridge-boxes from the rebel dead within our lines" and distribute them to his soldiers.[45] According to Harrison's report, the losses from his brigade were "very slight" compared with those of Confederate forces; he thought this was because of battlefield topography, writing: "I believe, that the enemy, having the higher ground, fired too high."[46] Harrison later supported the creation of an Atlanta National Military Park which would have included "substantial portions" of the Peachtree battlefield, writing in 1900: "The military incidents connected with the investment and ultimate capture of Atlanta are certainly worthy of commemoration and I should be glad to see the project succeed."[47]
Surrender of Atlanta and promotion
After the conclusion of the Atlanta Campaign on September 2, 1864, Harrison was among the initial Union forces to enter the surrendered city of Atlanta; General Sherman opined that Harrison served with "foresight, discipline and a fighting spirit".[48] Following the Atlanta Campaign, Harrison reported to Governor Morton in Indiana for special duty, and while there he campaigned for the position of Indiana's Supreme Court Reporter and for President Lincoln's reelection; after the election he left for Georgia to join Sherman's March to the Sea, but instead was "given command of the 1st Brigade at Nashville."[49] Harrison led the brigade at the Battle of Nashville in December, in a "decisive" action against the forces of General John Bell Hood.[50][51] Notwithstanding his memorable military achievements and the praise he received for them, Harrison held a dim view of war; according to historian Allan B. Spetter he thought "war was a dirty business that no decent man would find pleasurable."[48] Later in 1888, the year he won the presidency, Harrison declared: "We Americans have no commission from God to police the world."[52]
Several weeks after the Battle of Nashville, Harrison "received orders to rejoin the 70th Indiana at Savannah, Georgia, after a brief furlough in Indianapolis"; however he caught scarlet fever and was delayed for a month, and then spent "several months training replacement troops in South Carolina."[49]
On January 23, 1865, Lincoln nominated Harrison to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from that date, and the Senate confirmed the nomination on February 14, 1865.[53] Harrison was promoted because of his success at the battles of Resaca and Peachtree Creek.[54] Harrison finally returned to his old regiment the same day that news of President Lincoln's assassination was received.[49] He rode in the Grand Review in Washington, D.C. before mustering out with the 70th Indiana on June 8, 1865.[39][49]
Post-war career
Indiana politics
While serving in the Union Army in October 1864, Harrison was once again elected reporter of the Indiana Supreme Court, although he did not seek the position, and served as the Court's reporter for four more years. The position was not a politically powerful one, but it provided Harrison with a steady income for his work preparing and publishing court opinions, which he sold to the legal profession.[55][56] Harrison also resumed his law practice in Indianapolis. He became a skilled orator and known as "one of the state's leading lawyers".[25]
In 1869 President
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 praise from his colleagues.
In 1876, when a scandal forced the original Republican nominee,
When United States Senator Morton died in 1877, 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
U.S. Senator from Indiana
After Harrison led Indiana's Republican delegation at the 1880 Republican National Convention, he was considered the state's presumptive candidate for the U.S. Senate. He gave speeches in favor of Garfield in Indiana and New York, further raising his profile in the party. When the Republicans retook the majority in the state legislature, Harrison's election to a six-year term in the U.S. Senate was threatened by Judge Walter Q. Gresham, his intraparty rival, but Harrison was ultimately chosen.[74] After Garfield's election as president in 1880, his administration offered Harrison a cabinet position, but Harrison declined in favor of continuing his service in the U.S. Senate.[75]
Harrison served in the Senate from March 4, 1881, to March 3, 1887, and chaired the
In 1881, the major issue confronting Senator Harrison was the budget surplus. Democrats wanted to reduce the
In 1884, Harrison and Gresham competed for influence at the 1884 Republican National Convention; the delegation ended up supporting Senator James G. Blaine, the eventual nominee.[80] During the Mugwump rebellion led by reform Republicans against Blaine's candidacy, Harrison at first stood aloof, "refusing to put his hat in the presidential ring," but after walking the middle ground he eventually supported Blaine "with energy and enthusiasm."[81] In the Senate, Harrison achieved passage of his Dependent Pension Bill, only to see it vetoed by President Grover Cleveland. 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.[82]
In 1885 the Democrats redistricted the Indiana state legislature, which resulted in an increased Democratic majority in 1886, despite an overall Republican majority statewide.[83] In 1887, largely as a result of the Democratic gerrymandering of Indiana's legislative districts, Harrison was defeated in his bid for reelection.[25] Following a deadlock in the state senate, the state legislature eventually chose Democrat David Turpie as Harrison's successor in the Senate.[84] Harrison returned to Indianapolis and resumed his law practice, but stayed active in state and national politics.[85] A year after his senatorial defeat, Harrison declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination; he dubbed himself a "living and rejuvenated Republican," a reference to his lack of a power base.[81] Thereafter, the phrase "'Rejuvenated Republicanism' became the slogan of his presidential campaign."[81]
Election of 1888
Nomination for president
The initial favorite for the Republican nomination was the previous nominee, James G. Blaine of
The convention opened on June 19 at the
Harrison placed fifth on the first ballot, with Senator Sherman in the lead, and the next few ballots showed little change.[91] As the convention moved forward, Harrison became "everyone's second choice in a field of seven candidates."[81] Then, after Sherman "faltered in the balloting,"[81] Harrison gained support. 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.[92] Intending to make it undeniably clear he would not be a candidate, Blaine left the country and was staying with Andrew Carnegie in Scotland when the National Convention began, and did not return to the United States until August; the delegates finally accepted Blaine's refusal to be nominated.[93] After New York switched to Harrison's column, he gained the needed momentum for victory.[86] Harrison was nominated as the party's presidential candidate on the eighth ballot, by a count of 544 to 108 votes.[94] Levi P. Morton of New York—a banker, former U.S. Minister to France, and former U.S. congressman—was chosen as his running mate.[95][81] At their National Convention in St. Louis, Democrats rallied behind President Cleveland and his running-mate, Senator Allen G. Thurman from Ohio; Vice President Hendricks had died in office on November 25, 1885.[81] After returning to America, Blaine visited Harrison at his home in October.[93]
Campaign against Cleveland
Harrison's opponent in the general election was incumbent President Grover Cleveland. Harrison reprised a more traditional
Harrison had made no political bargains, but his supporters had made many pledges on his behalf. When Boss
Presidency (1889–1893)
Inauguration and cabinet
Harrison was sworn into office on Monday, March 4, 1889, by Chief Justice Melville Fuller. His speech was brief—half as long as that of his grandfather, William Henry Harrison, whose speech remains the longest inaugural address of a U.S. president.[106] In his speech, Benjamin 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. Of 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."[107] Harrison also urged early statehood for the territories and advocated pensions for veterans, a call that 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.[108]
John Philip Sousa's Marine Corps band played at the Inaugural Ball inside the Pension Building with a large crowd attending.[109] 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."[110]
Harrison acted quite independently in selecting his cabinet, much to the Republican bosses' dismay. 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.[111] 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."[112] Harrison's selections shared particular alliances, such as their service in the Civil War, Indiana citizenship and membership in the Presbyterian Church.[113] Nevertheless, Harrison had alienated pivotal Republican operatives from New York to Pennsylvania to Iowa with these choices and prematurely compromised his political power and future.[114] His normal schedule provided for two full cabinet meetings per week, as well as separate weekly one-on-one meetings with each cabinet member.[115]
In June 1890, Harrison's Postmaster General John Wanamaker and several Philadelphia friends purchased a large new cottage at Cape May Point for Harrison's wife, Caroline. Many believed the cottage gift appeared improper and amounted to a bribe for a cabinet position. Harrison made no comment on the matter for two weeks, then said he had always intended to purchase the cottage once Caroline approved. On July 2, perhaps a little tardily to avoid suspicion, Harrison gave Wanamaker a check for $10,000 (equivalent to $339,111 in 2023) for the cottage.[116]
Civil service reform and pensions
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.[117] 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.[118] 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?"[119] Harrison appointed Theodore Roosevelt and Hugh Smith Thompson, both reformers, to the Civil Service Commission, but otherwise did little to further the reform cause.[120]
Harrison quickly saw the enactment of the
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.[123]
Tariff
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.[125] 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. Most Republicans preferred to maintain the rates, spend the surplus on internal improvements and eliminate some internal taxes.[126]
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.[127] 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.[125] 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.[127] 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.[125]
Antitrust laws and the currency
Members of both parties were concerned with the growth of the power of
One of the most volatile questions of the 1880s was whether the currency should be backed by gold and silver, or by gold alone.[131] The issue cut across party lines, with western Republicans and southern Democrats joining in the call for the free coinage of silver, and both parties' representatives in the northeast holding firm for the gold standard. Because silver was worth less than its legal equivalent in gold, taxpayers paid their government bills in silver, while international creditors demanded payment in gold, resulting in a depletion of the nation's gold supply. Owing to worldwide deflation in the late 19th century, however, a strict gold standard had resulted in reduction of incomes without the equivalent reduction in debts, pushing debtors and the poor to call for silver coinage as an inflationary measure.[132]
The silver coinage issue had not been much discussed in the 1888 campaign and Harrison is said to have favored a bimetallist position.[128] However, his appointment of a silverite Treasury Secretary, William Windom, encouraged the free silver supporters.[133] Harrison attempted to steer a middle course between the two positions, advocating a free coinage of silver, but at its own value, not at a fixed ratio to gold.[134] This failed to facilitate a compromise between the factions. In July 1890, Senator Sherman achieved passage of a bill, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, in both houses.[134] Harrison thought that the bill would end the controversy, and he signed it into law.[135] The effect of the bill, however, was the increased depletion of the nation's gold supply, a problem that would persist until the second Cleveland administration resolved it.[136]
Civil rights
After regaining the majority in both Houses of Congress, some Republicans, led by Harrison, attempted to pass legislation to protect black Americans' civil rights. Harrison's Attorney General,
The colored people did not intrude themselves upon us; they were brought here in chains and held in communities where they are now chiefly bound by a cruel slave code...when and under what conditions is the black man to have a free ballot? When is he in fact to have those full civil rights which have so long been his in law? When is that quality of influence which our form of government was intended to secure to the electors to be restored? ... in many parts of our country where the colored population is large the people of that race are by various devices deprived of any effective exercise of their political rights and of many of their civil rights. The wrong does not expend itself upon those whose votes are suppressed. Every constituency in the Union is wronged.[139]
He severely questioned the states' civil rights records, arguing that if states have the authority over civil rights, then "we have a right to ask whether they are at work upon it."[138] Harrison also supported a bill proposed by Senator Henry W. Blair, which would have granted federal funding to schools regardless of the students' races.[140] He also endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court ruling in the Civil Rights Cases (1883) that declared much of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional. None of these measures gained congressional approval.[141]
National forests
In March 1891 Congress enacted, and Harrison signed, the
That the President of the United States may, from time to time, set apart and reserve, in any State or Territory having public land bearing forests, in any part of the public lands wholly or in part covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as public reservations, and the president shall, by public proclamation, declare the establishment of such reservations and the limits thereof.[142]
Within a month of the enactment of this law Harrison authorized the first forest reserve, to be located on public domain adjacent to Yellowstone National Park, in Wyoming. Other areas were so designated by Harrison, bringing the first forest reservations total to 22 million acres in his term.[143] Harrison was also the first to give a prehistoric Indian Ruin, Casa Grande in Arizona, federal protection.[144]
Native American policy
During Harrison's administration, the Lakota, who had been forcibly confined to reservations in South Dakota, grew restive under the influence of Wovoka, a medicine man, who encouraged them to participate in a spiritual movement known as the Ghost Dance.[145] Though the movement called for the removal of white Americans from indigenous lands, it was primarily religious in nature, a fact which many in Washington did not understand; assuming that the Ghost Dance would increase Lakota resistance to U.S. government, they ordered the American military to increase their presence on the reservations. On December 29, 1890, the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry Regiment perpetrated a massacre of over 250 Lakota at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation near Wounded Knee Creek after a botched attempt to disarm the reservation's inhabitants. The massacre's victims, many of whom were women and children, were buried in mass graves by American soldiers.[146][147]
In response to the massacre, Harrison directed Major-General Nelson A. Miles to investigate and ordered 3,500 U.S. troops to be deployed to South Dakota, which suppressed the Ghost Dance movement.[145] The massacre has been widely considered as the last major engagement of the American Indian Wars.[146] Harrison's general policy on Native Americans in the United States was to encourage their assimilation into white society and, despite the massacre, he believed the policy to have been generally successful.[148] This policy, known as the allotment system and embodied in the Dawes Act, was favored by liberal reformers at the time, but eventually proved detrimental to Native Americans as they sold most of their land at low prices to white speculators.[149]
During Harrison's time in office, the United States was continuing to experience advances in science and technology. A recording of his voice is the earliest extant recording of a president while he was in office. That ⓘ was originally made on a wax phonograph cylinder in 1889 by Gianni Bettini.[150] Harrison also had electricity installed in the White House for the first time by Edison General Electric Company, but he and his wife would not touch the light switches for fear of electrocution and would often go to sleep with the lights on.[151]
Over the course of his administration, Harrison marshaled the country's technology to clothe the nation with a credible naval power. When he took office there were only two commissioned warships in the Navy. In his inaugural address he said, "construction of a sufficient number of warships and their necessary armaments should progress as rapidly as is consistent with care and perfection."[152] Harrison's Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy spearheaded the rapid construction of vessels, and within a year congressional approval was obtained for building of the warships Indiana, Texas, Oregon, and Columbia. By 1898, with the help of the Carnegie Corporation, no less than ten modern warships, including steel hulls and greater displacements and armaments, had transformed the United States into a legitimate naval power. Seven of these had begun during the Harrison term.[153]
Foreign policy
Latin America and Samoa
Harrison and Secretary of State Blaine were often not the most cordial of friends, but harmonized in an aggressive foreign policy and commercial reciprocity with other nations.[154] Blaine's persistent medical problems warranted more of a hands-on effort by Harrison in the conduct of foreign policy. In San Francisco, while on tour of the United States in 1891, Harrison proclaimed that the United States was in a "new epoch" of trade and that the expanding navy would protect oceanic shipping and increase American influence and prestige abroad.[155] The First International Conference of American States met in Washington in 1889; Harrison set an aggressive agenda including customs and currency integration and named a bipartisan delegation to the conference, led by John B. Henderson and Andrew Carnegie. The conference failed to achieve any diplomatic breakthrough, due in large part to an atmosphere of suspicion fostered by the Argentinian delegation. It did succeed in establishing an information center that became the Pan American Union.[156] In response to the diplomatic bust, Harrison and Blaine pivoted diplomatically and initiated a crusade for tariff reciprocity with Latin American nations; the Harrison administration concluded eight reciprocity treaties among these countries.[157] On another front, Harrison sent Frederick Douglass as ambassador to Haiti, but failed in his attempts to establish a naval base there.[158]
In 1889, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the German Empire were locked in a dispute over control of the Samoan Islands. Historian George H. Ryden's research indicates Harrison played a key role in determining the status of this Pacific outpost by taking a firm stand on every aspect of Samoa conference negotiations; this included selection of the local ruler, refusal to allow an indemnity for Germany, as well as the establishment of a three power protectorate, a first for the U.S.. These arrangements facilitated the future dominant power of the U.S. in the Pacific; Secretary of State Blaine was absent due to complication of lumbago.[159]
European embargo of U.S. pork
Throughout the 1880s various European countries had imposed a ban on importation of United States pork out of an unconfirmed concern of trichinosis; at issue was over one billion pounds of pork products with a value of $80 million annually (equivalent to $2.7 billion in 2023). Harrison engaged Whitelaw Reid, minister to France, and William Walter Phelps, minister to Germany, to restore these exports for the country without delay. Harrison also successfully asked the congress to enact the Meat Inspection Act to eliminate the accusations of product compromise. The president also partnered with Agriculture Secretary Rusk to threaten Germany with retaliation – by initiating an embargo in the U.S. against Germany's highly demanded beet sugar. By September 1891 Germany relented, and was soon followed by Denmark, France and Austria-Hungary.[160]
Crises in Aleutian Islands and Chile
The first international crisis Harrison faced arose from disputed fishing rights on the Alaskan coast. Canada claimed fishing and sealing rights around many of the Aleutian Islands, in violation of U.S. law. As a result, the United States Navy seized several Canadian ships.[161] In 1891, the administration began negotiations with the British that would eventually lead to a compromise over fishing rights after international arbitration, with the British government paying compensation in 1898.[162][163]
In 1891, a diplomatic crisis emerged in
The crisis began in earnest when sailors from
Tensions increased to the brink of war – Harrison threatened to break off diplomatic relations unless the United States received a suitable apology, and said the situation required, "grave and patriotic consideration". The president also remarked, "If the dignity as well as the prestige and influence of the United States are not to be wholly sacrificed, we must protect those who in foreign ports display the flag or wear the colors."
Annexation of Hawaii
In the last days of his administration, Harrison dealt with the issue of
Cabinet
The Harrison cabinet | ||
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Office | Name | Term |
Jeremiah McLain Rusk | 1889–1893 |
Judicial appointments
Harrison appointed four justices to the
In addition to his Supreme Court appointments, Harrison appointed ten judges to the
States admitted to the Union
Six new states were admitted to the Union while Harrison was in office:[175]
- North Dakota – November 2, 1889
- South Dakota – November 2, 1889
- Montana – November 8, 1889
- Washington – November 11, 1889
- Idaho – July 3, 1890
- Wyoming – July 10, 1890,
More states were admitted during Harrison's presidency than any other.
Vacations and travel
Harrison attended a grand, three-day centennial celebration of George Washington's inauguration in New York City on April 30, 1889, and made the following remarks "We have come into the serious but always inspiring presence of Washington. He was the incarnation of duty and he teaches us today this great lesson: that those who would associate their names with events that shall outlive a century can only do so by high consecration to duty. Self-seeking has no public observance or anniversary."[176]
The Harrisons made many trips out of the capital, which included speeches at most stops – including Philadelphia, New England, Indianapolis and Chicago. The President typically made his best impression speaking before large audiences, as opposed to more intimate settings.[177] The most notable of his presidential trips, theretofore unequaled, was a five-week tour of the west in the spring of 1891, aboard a lavishly outfitted train.[178] Harrison enjoyed a number of short trips out of the capital—usually for hunting—to nearby Virginia or Maryland.[179]
During the hot Washington summers, the Harrisons took refuge in Deer Park, Maryland and Cape May Point, New Jersey. In 1890, John Wanamaker joined with other Philadelphia devotees of the Harrisons and made a gift to them of a summer cottage at Cape May. Harrison, though appreciative, was uncomfortable with the appearance of impropriety; a month later, he paid Wanamaker $10,000 (equivalent to $339,111 in 2023) as reimbursement to the donors. Nevertheless, Harrison's opponents made the gift the subject of national ridicule, and Mrs. Harrison and the president were vigorously criticized.[180]
Reelection campaign in 1892
The treasury surplus had evaporated and the nation's economic health was worsening – precursors to the eventual Panic of 1893.[181] Congressional elections in 1890 had gone against the Republicans; and although Harrison had cooperated with congressional Republicans on legislation, several party leaders withdrew their support for him because of his adamant refusal to give party members the nod in the course of his executive appointments. Specifically, Thomas C. Platt, Matthew S. Quay, Thomas B. Reed and James Clarkson quietly organized the Grievance Committee, the ambition of which was to initiate a dump-Harrison offensive. They solicited the support of Blaine, without effect however, and Harrison in reaction resolved to run for re-election – seemingly forced to choose one of two options – "become a candidate or forever wear the name of a political coward".[182]
It was clear that Harrison would not be re-nominated unanimously.[183] Many of Harrison's detractors persisted in pushing for an incapacitated Blaine, though he announced that he was not a candidate in February 1892.[183] Some party leaders still hoped to draft Blaine into running, and speculation increased when he resigned at the 11th hour as Secretary of State in June.[184] At the convention in Minneapolis, Harrison prevailed on the first ballot, but encountered significant opposition.[185]
The Democrats renominated former President Cleveland, making the 1892 election a rematch of the one four years earlier. The tariff revisions of the past four years had made imported goods so expensive that now many voters shifted to the reform position.
Harrison's wife Caroline began a critical struggle with tuberculosis earlier in 1892, and two weeks before the election, on October 25, she died from the disease.[188] Their daughter Mary Harrison McKee assumed the role of First Lady after her mother's death. Mrs. Harrison's terminal illness and the fact that both candidates had served in the White House called for a low key campaign, and resulted in neither of the candidates actively campaigning personally.[189]
Cleveland ultimately won the election by 277 electoral votes to Harrison's 145, and also won the popular vote by 5,556,918 to 5,176,108; this was the most decisive presidential election in 20 years.[190][191] It gave Harrison the distinction of being the only president whose predecessor and successor were the same man.[citation needed]
Post-presidency (1893–1901)
After he left office, Harrison visited the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in June 1893.[192] After the Expo, Harrison returned to his home in Indianapolis. Harrison had been elected a companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States in 1882, and was elected as commander (president) of the Ohio Commandery on May 3, 1893. For a few months in 1894, Harrison lived in San Francisco, California, where he gave law lectures at Stanford University.[193] In 1896, some of Harrison's friends in the Republican party tried to convince him to seek the presidency again, but he declined. He traveled around the nation making appearances and speeches in support of William McKinley's candidacy for president.[194]
From June 1895 to March 1901 Harrison served on the Board of Trustees of Purdue University, where Harrison Hall, a dormitory, was named in his honor.[192] He wrote a series of articles about the federal government and the presidency which were republished in 1897 as a book titled This Country of Ours.[195] In 1896, Harrison at age 62 remarried, to Mary Scott Lord Dimmick, the widowed 37-year-old niece and former secretary of his deceased wife. Harrison's two adult children, Russell, 41 years old at the time, and Mary (Mamie) McKee, 38, disapproved of the marriage and did not attend the wedding. Benjamin and Mary had one child together, Elizabeth (February 21, 1897 – December 26, 1955).[196]
In 1898, Harrison served as an attorney for the Republic of Venezuela in their
Harrison was an active
Death
Harrison developed what was thought to be
Historical reputation and memorials
Historian Charles Calhoun gives Harrison major credit for innovative legislation in antitrust, monetary policy and tariffs. Historians have often given Secretary of State Blaine credit for foreign-policy initiatives. However, Calhoun argues that Harrison was even more responsible for the success of trade negotiations, the buildup of the steel Navy, overseas expansion, and emphasis on the American role in dominating the Western Hemisphere through the Monroe Doctrine. The major weakness which Calhoun sees was that the public and indeed the grassroots Republican Party was not fully prepared for this onslaught of major activity. The Democrats scored a sweeping landslide in 1890 by attacking the flagship legislation, especially the McKinley tariff, because it would raise the cost of living of the average American family. McKinley himself was defeated for reelection.[204][205]
According to historian R. Hal Williams, Harrison had a "widespread reputation for personal and official integrity". Closely scrutinized by Democrats, Harrison's reputation was largely intact when he left the White House. Having an advantage few 19th-century presidents had, Harrison's own party, the Republicans, controlled Congress, while his administration actively advanced a Republican program of a higher tariff, moderate control of corporations, protecting
Following the Panic of 1893, Harrison became more popular in retirement.[207] Scholars have argued that Harrison's economic policies contributed to the Panic of 1893.[208] His legacy among historians is scant, and "general accounts of his period inaccurately treat Harrison as a cipher".[209] More recently,
historians have recognized the importance of the Harrison administration—and Harrison himself—in the new foreign policy of the late nineteenth century. The administration faced challenges throughout the hemisphere, in the Pacific, and in relations with the European powers, involvements that would be taken for granted in the twenty first century.[209]
Harrison's presidency belongs properly to the 19th century, but he "clearly pointed the way" to the modern presidency that would emerge under
Harrison was memorialized on several postage stamps. The first was a 13-cent stamp issued on November 18, 1902, with the engraved likeness of Harrison modeled after a photo provided by his widow.
In 1908, the people of
In 1951,
Theodore Roosevelt dedicated Fort Benjamin Harrison in the former president's honor in 1906. It is located in Lawrence, Indiana, a northeastern suburb of Indianapolis. The federal government decommissioned Fort Harrison in 1991 and transferred 1,700 of its 2,500 acres to Indiana's state government in 1995 to establish Fort Harrison State Park.[219] The site has been redeveloped to include residential neighborhoods and a golf course.[citation needed]
In 1931, Franklin Hall at Miami University, Harrison's alma mater, was renamed Harrison Hall. It was replaced by a new building of the same name in 1960 and houses the college's political science department. In 1966, Purdue University opened Harrison Hall, an eight-floor, 400-room residence hall. Harrison served as a Purdue University Trustee for the last six years of his life.[220]
See also
- List of presidents of the United States
- List of presidents of the United States by previous experience
Notes
- ^ Although he was the eighth Benjamin Harrison in his family, Harrison is known simply as Benjamin Harrison, rather than Benjamin Harrison VIII.
- ^ The school was later known as Belmont College. After Belmont closed, the campus was transferred to the Ohio Military Institute, which closed in 1958.
- ^ Before the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Senators were elected by state legislatures.
- ^ The case was United States v. Jellico Mountain Coal, 46 Fed. 432. June 4, 1891
References
- ^ Spetter, Allan B. (October 4, 2016). "BENJAMIN HARRISON: IMPACT AND LEGACY". Miller Center. University of Virginia. Retrieved May 16, 2018. "Because of his lack of personal passion and the failure of anything truly eventful, such as a major war, during his administration, Harrison, along with every other President from the post-Reconstruction era to 1900, has been assigned to the rankings of mediocrity. He has been remembered as an average President, not among the best but certainly not among the worst."
- ^ Philip Alexander Bruce; William Glover Stanard (1894). The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Virginia Historical Society. pp. 229–.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Barnhart & Riker 1971, p. 315.
- ^ Owens 2007, p. 6.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 8.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 9; Sievers 1968, v. 1, pp. 21–23.
- ^ Boomhower, p. 49.
- ^ Sievers 1968, pp. 22–23, v. 1.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 10.
- ^ Sievers 1968, pp. 24–29, v. 1.
- ^ Sievers 1968, pp. 29–30, v. 1.
- ^ Wallace 1888, p. 53.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 11, 15.
- ^ Moore & Hale 2006, pp. 21–23.
- ^ Sievers 1968, v. 1, p. 58.
- ^ *Delta Chi Fraternity Archived December 22, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
- The Delta Chi Fraternity at Coastal Carolina University Archived September 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Calhoun 2005, p. 23.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 10–11; Sievers 1968, v. 1, pp. 31–34.
- ^ Wallace 1888, p. 58.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 11–12, 15–15, 23.
- ^ a b Calhoun 2005, pp. 27, 29.
- ^ "Benjamin Harrison: Life Before the Presidency – Miller Center". October 4, 2016.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 26.
- ^ a b c d Gugin and St. Clair, p. 159.
- ^ Cowen et al., pp. 92.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 22.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 7.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 18.
- ^ Moore & Hale 2006, p. 29.
- ^ a b Boomhower, p. 50.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 28; Sievers 1968, v. 1, p. 105.
- ^ Sievers 1968, p. 171, v. 1.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 20.
- ^ Wallace 1888, p. 180; Calhoun 2005, p. 34.
- ^ Wallace 1888, pp. 180–181; Calhoun 2005, pp. 21–23, 41, 44.
- ^ Terrell, W.H.H. (1865). Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana (Volume II ed.). Indianapolis: W.R. Holloway. pp. 639–640.
- ^ "The Civil War". Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
In May 1864, Colonel Harrison and the regiment joined General Sherman's Atlanta campaign in the Army of the Cumberland.
- ^ a b Calhoun 2005, pp. 36–44; Wallace 1888, pp. 209–225.
- ^ "The Civil War". Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
Harrison's reputation became that of a strong leader. He earned the respect of his men and did not leave them in battle...Mr. Richard Smock remembered an incident while they were camped near Nashville during a very cold winter. Men on the picket line were nearly frozen to death, and Colonel Harrison fixed coffee and took it to them in the middle of the night. Harrison always led the men saying "Come on, boys!" as he took the lead.
- ^ a b c d "Battle of Resaca". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
- ^ a b c d "The Civil War". Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
Brigadier General Ward's brigade, of which Harrison was a part, was ordered to assault and capture this redoubt. The brigade attacked in a column formation, the 70th having the honor of leading the charge. The redoubt was heavily fortified with three infantry regiments in the rifle pits and four more regiments in the main trenches...Harrison captured the battery in hand-to-hand fighting with the gunners. Fierce fighting continued all afternoon. At nightfall, the 70th carried the four captured 121-pound Napoleon Cannons to the rear
- ^ "A Missed Opportunity". American Battlefield Trust. September 30, 2014. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
Thirty-three years old in 1864, Harrison led his brigade forward and helped stop the fierce assault made by Featherston's Mississippi brigade...Featherston's Mississippi brigade charged up and over Collier Road and engaged future United States President Benjamin Harrison's Union brigade.
- ^ "Future President Benjamin Harrison's Report on His Brigade at the Battle of Peachtree Creek". July 16, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
Harrison now found himself in command of a brigade consisting of the 102nd, 105th, and 129th Illinois Infantry regiments, plus the 79th Ohio Infantry and his own 70th Indiana. The brigade was deployed roughly in the center of the Union line and was heavily engaged with Major General William W. Loring's division of Mississippi and Alabama troops of Stewart's Corps.
- ^ "Future President Benjamin Harrison's Report on His Brigade at the Battle of Peachtree Creek". July 16, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
HDQRS. FIRST BRIG., THIRD DIV., TWENTIETH CORPS, Before Atlanta, Ga., August 12, 1864...At one time during the fight our ammunition began to get low and considerable uneasiness was felt lest it might be exhausted. I at once dispatched Lieutenant Mitchell, aide-de-camp, to have a supply brought up, while Captain Scott, acting assistant inspector-general, and others busied themselves in cutting the cartridge-boxes from the rebel dead within our lines and distributing them to the men.
- ^ "Future President Benjamin Harrison's Report on His Brigade at the Battle of Peachtree Creek". July 16, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
- ^ "A Missed Opportunity". American Battlefield Trust. September 30, 2014. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ a b Spetter, Allan B. (October 4, 2016). "Benjamin Harrison: Life Before the Presidency | Miller Center". millercenter.org. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
- ^ a b c d "The Civil War". Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
- ^ "The Civil War". Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
After the November election, he left for Georgia to rejoin his old regiment for Sherman's "March to the Sea." Instead he was given command of the 1st Brigade at Nashville and led them in a decisive battle against Confederate General Hood.
- ^ "Benjamin Harrision Eulogy Signed". The Raab Collection. October 27, 1892. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
Harrison's brigade participated in the Battle of Nashville in December 1864
- ^ "Benjamin Harrison – Wikiquote". en.wikiquote.org. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
Statement of 1888, as quoted in Treasury of Presidential Quotations (1964) by Caroline T. Hamsberger
- ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1
- ^ "The Civil War". Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
For Harrison's achievements at the battles of Resaca and Peachtree Creek, he was promoted to Brigadier General.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 19.
- ^ Kinzer, pp. 146–47.
- ^ Bodenhamer & Barrows 1994, pp. 444–445.
- ^ Text of Ex parte Milligan, 71 U.S. 2 (1866) is available from: Findlaw
- ^ ISBN 0-8071-1174-0.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 28.
- ^ Wallace 1888, pp. 93–94, 119.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 27–28; Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 8.
- ^ Moore & Hale 2006, p. 28.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 29.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 30.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 32; Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 8.
- ^ Gugin and St. Clair, p. 159; Kinzer, p. 148.
- ^ Wallace 1888, p. 266; Calhoun 2005, pp. 32 & 58.
- ^ Foner, p. 584.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 33–34.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 35–36.
- ^ a b Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 8.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 36.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 37.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 60; Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 8.
- ^ Wallace 1888, pp. 265–267; Calhoun 2005, p. 59.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 39.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 39–40.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 40.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 41–42.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Spetter, Allan B. (October 4, 2016). "Benjamin Harrison: Campaigns and Elections | Miller Center". millercenter.org. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 42.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 43–44.
- ^ Moore & Hale 2006, p. 66.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 45–46.
- ^ a b c d "HarpWeek | Elections | 1888 Biographies". elections.harpweek.com. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
- ^ a b Calhoun 2005, p. 47.
- ^ a b "Guide to the Republican National Convention Collection 1884–1888". www.lib.uchicago.edu. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Republican Party Platform of 1888 | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
- ^ "Republican Party Platform of 1888 | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
We are uncompromisingly in favor of the American system of protection; we protest against its destruction as proposed by the President and his party. They serve the interests of Europe; we will support the interests of America. We accept the issue, and confidently appeal to the people for their judgment. The protective system must be maintained. Its abandonment has always been followed by general disaster to all interests, except those of the usurer and the sheriff. We denounce the Mills bill as destructive to the general business, the labor and the farming interests of the country, and we heartily indorse the consistent and patriotic action of the Republican Representatives in Congress in opposing its passage.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 50.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 51–52.
- ^ a b Muzzey, David Saville (1934). James G. Blaine: A Political Idol of Other Days. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company. pp. 372–374, 383.
- ^ Wallace 1888, p. 271.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 9.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 11.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 10.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 43; Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 13.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 57.
- ^ "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 13; Williams, pp. 191–192.
- ^ Williams, pp. 191–192.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 55, 60.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 47–54.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 14.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 3.
- ^ "Benjamin Harrison – Inauguration". Advameg, Inc., Profiles of U.S. Presidents. Retrieved February 25, 2011.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 83.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 20–22.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 33.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 20.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 22–30.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 85.
- ^ Williams, p. 194.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 32.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 32–36.
- ^ Moore & Hale 2006, pp. 83, 86.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 39–41.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 36–37; Calhoun 2005, pp. 72–73.
- ^ Williams, p. 193.
- ^ a b Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 34–36.
- ^ Williams, pp. 193–194.
- ^ a b c Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 51.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 49.
- ^ a b Calhoun 2005, pp. 100–104; Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 51–52.
- ^ a b Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 53.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 92–93.
- ^ a b Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 54; Calhoun 2005, p. 94.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 94–95.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 94–95; Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 55–59.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 56–57.
- ^ a b Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 58; Calhoun 2005, p. 96.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 59.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 60.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 89–90.
- ^ a b Wilson, pp. 32–33.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 62.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 65–67.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 89–90; Smith, p. 170.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 71.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 72.
- ^ Administrator, Joomla!. "President". www.presidentbenjaminharrison.org. Archived from the original on September 18, 2016. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
- ^ a b Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 106.
- ^ a b Moore & Hale 2006, pp. 121–122.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 106–107.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 92.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 112–114; Stuart, pp. 452–454.
- ^ "President Benjamin Harrison". Vincent Voice Library. Archived from the original on October 15, 2007. Retrieved July 24, 2008.
- ^ Moore & Hale 2006, p. 96.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 97.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 102.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 74–76.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 119–121.
- ^ Moore & Hale 2006, p. 108.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 117–120.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 126–128.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 115–116.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 131–136.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 137–138.
- ^ Moore & Hale 2006, pp. 135–136.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 139–143.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 146.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 127.
- ^ a b Calhoun 2005, pp. 128–129; Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 147–149.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 151.
- ^ Moore & Hale 2006, p. 134.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 150–151.
- ^ a b Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 204–205.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 125–126.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 132.
- ^ Moore & Hale 2006, p. 147.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 188–190.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 44–45.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 160.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 157.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 171.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 166.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 168.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 107, 126–127.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 81.
- ^ a b Calhoun 2005, pp. 134–137.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 138–139.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 140–141.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 147–150.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 145–147.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 149.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, pp. 198–199.
- ^ "Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved February 22, 2008.
- ^ Socolofsky & Spetter, p. 199.
- ^ a b Moore & Hale 2006, p. 150.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 158.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 160–161.
- ^ Harrison, Benjamin (1897). This Country of Ours. Charles Scribner's Sons.
- ^ Moore & Hale 2006, p. 153.
- ^ Moore & Hale 2006, p. 155.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, pp. 160–163.
- ^ Administrator, Joomla!. "Benjamin Harrison". www.presidentbenjaminharrison.org. Archived from the original on February 13, 2018. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
- JSTOR 23330850.
- ^ "Benjamin Harrison's Obituary:[From page 1 of The New York Times, March 14, 1901] BENJAMIN HARRISON DEAD". starship.python.net. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
- ^ "Benjamin Harrison". www.god-and-country.info. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
- ^ Moore & Hale 2006, p. 156.
- ^ Charles Calhoun, Benjamin Harrison (2005).
- ^ Charles Calhoun, "Reimagining the "Lost Men" of the Gilded Age: Perspectives on the Late Nineteenth Century Presidents". Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (2002) 1#3: 225–257.
- ^ Williams, p. 191.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 6.
- S2CID 233706114.
- ^ a b Socolofsky & Spetter, p. x.
- ^ Calhoun 2005, p. 166.
- ^ Batten, p. 209.
- ^ Brody, Roger S. (May 16, 2006). "13-cent Harrison". National Postal Museum. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-676-60072-8.
- ^ "Presidential Dollar Coin Release Schedule". United States Mint. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
- ^ INgov, accessed September 18, 2012
- ^ Greiff, p. 173.
- ^ "Benjamin Harrison Home". National Park Service. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
- ^ "Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site". President Benjamin Harrison Foundation. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011. Retrieved January 7, 2011.
- ^ Conn, p. 94.
- ^ "Harrison Hall History". Purdue University. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
Sources
External videos | |
---|---|
Q&A interview with Charles W. Calhoun on Benjamin Harrison, September 2, 2018, C-SPAN |
- Barnhart, John D.; Riker, Dorothy L. (1971). Indiana to 1816: The Colonial Period. The History of Indiana. Vol. I. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau and the Indiana Historical Society.
- Batten, Donna, ed. (2010). Gale Encyclopedia of American Law. Vol. 5 (3rd ed.). Detroit. pp. 208–209.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Bodenhamer, David J.; Barrows, Robert G. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. Indianapolis: ISBN 0-253-31222-1.
- Boomhower, Ray E. (2000). Destination Indiana: Travels Through Hoosier History. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society. pp. 48–57. ISBN 0871951479.
- ISBN 978-0-8050-6952-5.
- Conn, Earl L. (2007). My Indiana: 101 Places to See. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society. pp. 94–95. ISBN 9780871951953.
- Cowen, Wilson; Nichols, Philip Jr.; Bennett, Marion T. (1978). The United States Court of Claims: A History; Part II: Origin, Development, Jurisdiction, 1855–1978. Washington, D.C.: Committee on the Bicentennial of Independence and the Constitution of the Judicial Conference of the United States. p. 92.
- Eicher, John H.; ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1.
- ISBN 9780060937164.
- Greiff, Glory-June (2005). Remembrance, Faith and Fancy: Outdoor Public Sculpture in Indiana. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press. p. 173. ISBN 0-87195-180-0.
- Gugin, Linda C.; St. Clair, James E., eds. (2015). Indiana's 200: The People Who Shaped the Hoosier State. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press. pp. 158–60. ISBN 978-0-87195-387-2.
- Harrison, Benjamin (1897). This Country of Ours. Charles Scribner's Sons.
- Kinzer, Donald L. (1977). "Benjamin Harrison and the Politics of Availability". In Gray, Ralph D. (ed.). Gentlemen from Indiana: National Party Candidates, 1836–1940. Indiana Historical Collections. Vol. 50. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau. pp. 141–69.
- Moore, Chieko; Hale, Hester Anne (2006). Benjamin Harrison: Centennial President. Nova Publishers. ISBN 978-1-60021-066-2.
- Owens, Robert M. (2007). Mr. Jefferson's Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-8061-3842-8.
- Sievers, Harry J. (1968). Benjamin Harrison: v1 Hoosier Warrior, 1833–1865; v2: Hoosier Statesman From The Civil War To The White House 1865–1888; v3: Benjamin Harrison. Hoosier President. The White House and After. University Publishers Inc.
- Smith, Robert C., ed. (2003). Encyclopedia of African-American Politics. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8160-4475-7.
- Socolofsky, Homer E.; Spetter, Allan B. (1987). The Presidency of Benjamin Harrison. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-0320-6.
- Stuart, Paul (September 1977). "United States Indian Policy: From the Dawes Act to the American Indian Policy Review Commission". Social Service Review. 51 (3): 451–463. S2CID 143506388.
- Wallace, Lew (1888). Life and Public Services of Benjamin Harrison. Edgewood Publishing Company.
- Williams, R. Hal (1974). "Benjamin Harrison 1889–1893". In Woodward, C. Vann (ed.). Responses of the Presidents to the Charges of Misconduct. Dell Publishing Co., Inc. pp. 191–195. ISBN 0-440-05923-2.
- Wilson, Kirt H. (2005). "The Politics of Place and Presidential Rhetoric in the United States, 1875–1901". In Rigsby, Enrique D.; Aune, James Arnt (eds.). Civil Rights Rhetoric and the American Presidency. TAMU Press. pp. 16–40. ISBN 978-1-58544-440-3.
Further reading
- Adleson, Bruce (2006). Benjamin Harrison. Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 978-0-8225-1497-8.
- Bourdon, Jeffrey Normand. "Trains, Canes, and Replica Log Cabins: Benjamin Harrison's 1888 Front-Porch Campaign for the Presidency." Indiana Magazine of History 110.3 (2014): 246–269. online
- Calhoun, Charles W. "Benjamin Harrison, Centennial President: A Review Essay." Indiana Magazine of History (1988). [ online]
- Dewey, Davis R. National Problems: 1880–1897 Archived June 8, 2012, at the Wayback Machine (1907)
- Gallagher, Douglas Steven. "The" smallest mistake": explaining the failures of the Hayes and Harrison presidencies." White House Studies 2.4 (2002): 395–414.
- Morgan, H. Wayne, From Hayes to McKinley: National Party Politics, 1877–1896 (1969)
Primary sources
- Debs, Eugene V. "General Benjamin Harrison — Relentless Foe of Labor: A Democratic Campaign Speech in Terre Haute, IN, Oct. 27, 1888", Terre Haute Weekly Gazette, November 1, 1888, section 2, pp. 1, 4.
- Harrison, Benjamin. Speeches of Benjamin Harrison, Twenty-third President of the United States (1892), compiled by Charles Hedges.
- Harrison, Benjamin (1901). Harrison, Mary Lord (ed.). Views of an ex-president. Indianapolis, Indiana: Bowen-Merrill Co.
External links
Official
Media coverage
- Benjamin Harrison collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Other
- United States Congress. "Benjamin Harrison (id: H000263)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Benjamin Harrison: Resource Guide, Library of Congress
- Benjamin & Caroline Scott Harrison Collection, Miami University Libraries
- Benjamin Harrison Collection, 1853–1943 Archived July 29, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, at the Indiana Historical Society
- Essay on Harrison and each member of his cabinet and First Lady, Miller Center of Public Affairs
- "Life Portrait of Benjamin Harrison", from C-SPAN's American Presidents: Life Portraits, August 20, 1999
- Recording of an 1889 Harrison speech – Vincent Voice Library, Michigan State University
- Collection of Benjamin Harrison's Personal Letters & Manuscripts
- Works by Benjamin Harrison at Project Gutenberg
- Works by Benjamin Harrison at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Benjamin Harrison Collection, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Indiana State Library