Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He 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. A Republican, Harrison was elected to the presidency in 1888, defeating the Democratic incumbent, Grover Cleveland. Hallmarks of Harrison’s administration included unprecedented economic legislation.
About Benjamin Harrison in brief
Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He 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. Harrison was born on a farm by the Ohio River and graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. After moving to Indianapolis, he established himself as a prominent local attorney, Presbyterian church leader, and politician in Indiana. Harrison unsuccessfully ran for governor of Indiana in 1876. The Indiana General Assembly elected Harrison to a six-year term in the U. S. Senate, where he served from 1881 to 1887. A Republican, Harrison was elected to the presidency in 1888, defeating the Democratic incumbent, Grover Cleveland. Hallmarks of Harrison’s administration included unprecedented economic legislation, including the McKinley Tariff, which imposed historic protective trade rates, and the Sherman Antitrust Act. He died at his home in Indianapolis in 1901 of complications from influenza. His paternal ancestors were the Harrison family of Virginia, whose immigrant ancestor, Benjamin Harrison, arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, circa 1630 from England. All of his ancestors had emigrated to America during the early colonial period, and he was of entirely English ancestry, all of his relatives having emigrated from England to America. His father, John Scott Harrison, was a two-term U. s. congressman from Ohio, spent much of his farm income on his children’s education.
His mother, Elizabeth Ramsey, was also a Presbyterian church member and mother of John Reid, Harrison’s vice presidential running mate in 1892. He attended Miami University and graduated in 1850, and joined the Phi Delta Delta fraternity, which he used as a network for his life. At Miami, Harrison became strongly influenced by political economy and economy professor Robert Hamilton Bishop, who became his running mate. He also joined a church like his mother, like his father, and became a Presbyterian Church member and church leader. He met his future wife, Caroline Lavinia Scott, a daughter of John Scott Scott, while at the college, and while there met his son-in-law, John Witherspoon Scott, who was a school’s science professor. Harrison died in Indianapolis, Indiana, on August 20, 1833, and was buried at the Indiana State Cemetery. He is survived by his son, John S. Harrison, and his grandson, William Henry, who served as U. S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1883 to 1885. He had a son, Benjamin H. Harrison III, and a daughter, Caroline H. H. Scott, both of whom served in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1887 to 1891. Harrison also served as a member of the Indiana Senate from 1882 to 1883, and served as mayor of Indianapolis from 1885 to 1888. Harrison served as president of Indiana from 1891 to 1892, and represented the Republic of Venezuela in a boundary dispute with the United Kingdom.
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