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Benjamin Harrison certainly had the pedigree of a president. His paternal ancestor, also named Benjamin Harrison, arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1630. His grandfather was President William Henry Harrison and his great-grandfather was Benjamin Harrison V, governor of Virginia, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The Benjamin Harrison who is the subject of this post was born on August 20, 1833, in North Bend, Ohio, which is just east of the present-day Indiana border. He was the second of eight children to John Scott Harrison (son of William Henry Harrison) and the former Elizabeth Irwin.
Benjamin Harrison was seven years old when his grandfather was elected President, but he did not attend the inauguration. The Harrison family was well-known but they were not wealthy. John Scott Harrison was a big believer in making sure that his children obtained a good education. Young Benjamin Harrison's early schooling took place in a one-room schoolhouse near his home. His parents later arranged for a tutor to help him with college preparatory studies. Harrison and his brother Irwin were enrolled in Farmer's College near Cincinnati, Ohio in 1847. Benjamin attended Farmer's college for two years it was there that he met his future wife, Caroline Lavinia Scott, one of the daughters of the science professor, John Witherspoon Scott.
In 1850, Harrison began attending Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, from which he graduated in 1852. While in college he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity as well as Delta Chi, a law fraternity which permitted dual membership. His classmates included John Alexander Anderson, who became a six-term congressman, and Whitelaw Reid who ran as Harrison's vice presidential candidate in his presidential reelection campaign. Harrison joined a Presbyterian church at college and wasa lifelong member.
After finishing college, Harrison began the study of law as a legal apprentice in the Cincinnati law firm of Storer & Gwynne. But first he returned to Oxford to marry Caroline Scott. They were wed on October 20, 1853. Caroline's father, who was also a Presbyterian minister, performed the ceremony. The Harrisons had two children: Russell Benjamin Harrison, born on August 12, 1854, and Mary Scott Harrison (known as "Mamie") who was born on April 3, 1858.
Harrison returned home to live while he finished his law studies. Cincinnati and North Bend are about 15 miles apart. Later that year, Harrison inherited $800 from the estate of an aunt, and used the funds to move with Caroline to Indianapolis, Indiana in 1854. He was admitted to the bar there and began practicing law in the office of John H. Ray. He also took a position as a crier for the Federal Court in Indianapolis, which paid him $2.50 per day.
While in Indianapolis, Harrison became involved in a number of community organizations. He was a founding member and first president of both the University Club, a private gentlemen's club and the Phi Delta Theta Alumni Club. Harrison and his wife joined the First Presbyterian Church and were very involved in the church.
Harrison grew up a Whig family and supported the party as a young man. When the Republican Party was formed in 1856, Harrison became a member. That year campaigned on behalf of the Republican presidential candidate John C. Frémont. It was also his first time of being on a ballot and in 1856 Benjamin Harrison was elected as the Indianapolis City Attorney, a position that paid an annual salary of $400.
In 1858, Harrison entered into a law partnership with William Wallace. The two lawyers opened their office, which was called Wallace & Harrison. In 1860 Harrison successfully ran as the Republican candidate for reporter of the Indiana Supreme Court. He was active in his party and served as Republican State Committee Secretary. When his law partner Wallace was elected as county clerk in 1860 Harrison started a new law firm with William Fishback, called Fishback & Harrison. The two men practiced law together until Harrison joied the Union Army after the start of the Civil War.
In 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln issued a call for more recruits for the Union Army, Harrison wanted to enlist, but he was concerned about how to support his young family. He met with Indiana Governor Oliver Morton, who was distressed over the shortage of men answering the latest call. This prompted Harrison to enlist. Morton asked Harrison if he could help recruit a regiment, but he did not specifically ask Harrison to serve. Harrison recruited throughout northern Indiana and was able to raise a regiment. Morton offered him the command, but Harrison declined the offer because he had no previous military experience. He was initially commissioned as a captain and company commander on July 22, 1862. Just over two weeks later, Governor Morton commissioned Harrison as a colonel on August 7, 1862. The newly formed 70th Indiana was mustered into Federal service on August 12, 1862. The regiment left Indiana to join the Union Army at Louisville, Kentucky.
For much of its first two years, the 70th Indiana did not see combat. They performed reconnaissance duty and guarded railroads in Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1864, Harrison and his regiment joined William T. Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, where they saw action. 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.
On January 23, 1865, President Lincoln nominated Harrison to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers and the Senate confirmed the nomination on February 14, 1865. When the war ended, Harrison rode in the Grand Review in Washington, D.C. held on May 23 and 24, 1865, before leaving the army on June 8, 1865.
While serving in the army in October 1864, Harrison was reelected reporter of the Supreme Court of Indiana and served four more years, though he was not able to begin the job until he returned home. The position provided Harrison a steady income. In 1869 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. Harrison was able to convince the court to limit the damages awarded against the government to a very minimal amount.
Harrison had earned a good reputation, both as a lawyer, as well as for his military service. Local Republicans called on Harrison to run for Congress, but he chose instead to campaign on behalf of other Republican candidates. In 1872, Harrison sought the Republican nomination for governor of Indiana, but was unsuccessful. He returned to his law practice and managed to be successful financially, despite the Panic of 1873. He continued to make speeches in support of his fellow Republican candidates.
In 1876, the original Republican nominee for governor dropped out of the race and Harrison accepted the Republicans' invitation to fill his place on the ticket. He lost the election by 5,084 votes out of a total 434,457 cast, but the run elevated his profile within 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 and this also elevated his prominence and stature.
When Indiana's United States Senator and former Governor Oliver Morton died in 1878, the Republicans nominated Harrison to run for the seat. The party failed to gain a majority in the state legislature, which at that time elected senators, and the legislature chose Democrat Daniel W. Voorhees instead. In 1879 President Rutherford Hayes appointed Harrison to the Mississippi River Commission, which worked to develop internal improvements on the river.
Harrison was a delegate to the 1880 Republican National Convention the following year and he was instrumental in breaking a deadlock on candidates, which helped James A. Garfield won the nomination. Harrison's leadership of the Republican delegation at the convention made him the presumptive Senate candidate. He gave speeches in favor of Garfield in Indiana and New York, further raising his profile in the party. When the Republicans retook the Indiana state legislature, Harrison was elected to the United States Senate by the legislature, despite a challenge his Republican rival Judge Walter Q. Gresham. When Garfield was elected as president, he offered Harrison a cabinet position, but Harrison declined the offer, feeling that he could do more for his state as a senator.
Harrison served in the Senate from March 4, 1881, to March 4, 1887. He 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). In 1881, the major issue that Senator Harrison had to address was the budget surplus. Democrats wanted to reduce tariffs and limit the amount of money the government took in. Republicans wanted to spend the money on internal improvements and pensions for Civil War veterans. Harrison argued for generous pensions for veterans and their widows.
Harrison also supported Garfield's proposal for aid for the education of Southerners, especially the children of former slaves, but this measure did not pass. Harrison believed that education was necessary to help the African-American population achieve political and economic equality. In general Harrison had a very admirable record as someone who was supported equal rights and opposed bigotry. Harrison voted against the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which his party supported, as he thought it violated existing treaties with China.
In 1884, Harrison and his party nemesis Walter Gresham once again competed for influence at the 1884 Republican National Convention. The Indiana delegation ended up supporting James G. Blaine, the eventual nominee. In the Senate, Harrison sponsored and achieved passage of his Dependent Pension Bill, a bill for the support of widows and dependents of civil war veterans. Unfortunately, the bill was vetoed by President Grover Cleveland. Harrison was also met with opposition from the Democratic Party in his efforts to further the admission of new western states. Democrats feared that the new states would elect Republicans to Congress.
In 1885, the Democrats redistricted the Indiana state legislature, which resulted in an increased Democratic majority in 1886, despite an overall Republican majority statewide. This cost Harrison his bid for reelection to the senate. The Indiana legislature eventually choosing Democrat David Turpie as their new Senator. Harrison returned to Indianapolis and his law practice, but stayed active in state and national politics.
When the Republicans met to choose their presidential candidate for the 1888 election, the initial favorite was the previous nominee, James G. Blaine of Maine. But Blaine wrote several letters denying any interest in the nomination and his supporters split among other candidates. Senator John Sherman of Ohio (brother of Harrison's former commander William T. Sherman) was seen as the front runner. Other candidates 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. Blaine did not publicly endorse any of the candidates as a successor. But on March 1, 1888 Blaine privately wrote that "the one man remaining who in my judgment can make the best one is Benjamin Harrison."
Harrison's name was placed in nomination. He finished fourth on the first ballot, with Sherman in the lead. The next few ballots showed little change. The Blaine supporters shifted their support to Harrison, and soon other delegates parked their support with Harrison as well. He was nominated as the party's presidential candidate on the eighth ballot, by a count of 544 to 108 votes. Levi P. Morton of New York was chosen as his running mate.
Harrison ran in the general election against incumbent President Grover Cleveland. He used the more traditional "front-porch campaign", a method that had been abandoned by his immediate predecessors. (This style of campaign would later be followed by other mid-western Presidents such as McKinley and Harding). Harrison received visiting delegations to Indianapolis and made over ninety major speeches from his home town. Republicans campaigned heavily in favor of protective tariffs. This attracted 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. Harrison and Cleveland split these four states, with Harrison winning in New York and Indiana (Cleveland's home state and Harrison's home state).
Voter turnout was 79.3%, reflecting a large interest in the campaign. Nearly eleven million votes were cast. Harrison actually received 90,000 fewer popular votes than Cleveland, but he carried the Electoral College 233 to 168. Accusations were made that Republicans had engaged in irregular ballot practices. But Harrison's victory was not seriously challenged. But Pennsylvania's Republican Boss Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania was later quoted as saying that Harrison would never know "how close a number of men were compelled to approach the penitentiary to make him President."
Harrison was known as the Centennial President because his inauguration celebrated the centenary of the first inauguration of George Washington in 1789. In congressional elections, the Republicans increased their membership in the House of Representatives by nineteen seats.