Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd US President, a Civil War general and senator. He won the 1888 election but lost to Grover Cleveland in 1892. Harrison supported the Republican Party and advocated for a protective tariff tax, antitrust laws, and a state for Western Territories. His key initiatives included supporting the Sherman Antitrust Act, the McKinley Tariff Act, and convening the first Pan-American Conference. After his presidency, he returned to his law practice, represented Venezuela in a border dispute, and wrote two books. He died in 1901.
Benjamin Harrison was a Civil War general, a senator, grandson of President William Henry Harrison, and our country’s 23rd president. After winning the 1888 presidential election with electoral, though not popular, votes over incumbent Grover Cleveland, he was defeated in 1892 by Cleveland, who won both the popular and electoral votes, for a second term.
Benjamin Harrison was born in Ohio in 1833, on a farm that abutted his grandfather’s estate. He attended Miami University in Ohio. He became a lawyer, moved to Indiana and supported the newly formed Republican Party and helped in Abraham Lincoln’s campaign in 1860. After the Civil War broke out, Harrison joined other Indiana volunteers in enlisting. His rank at the end of the war was brigadier general.
After the war, Benjamin Harrison’s interest in politics continued. He backed Rutherford B. Hayes and James A. Garfield for president, launched an unsuccessful bid for governor of Indiana, and was nominated to the United States Senate in 1880. In 1888, he declared himself a presidential candidate , and became the Republican party’s presidential candidate on the eighth ballot.
In his campaign, Harrison drew on his lineage, with the campaign slogan “Grandpa’s hat fits Ben.” He advocated a protective tariff tax, antitrust laws, and a state for the Western Territories. Cleveland supported reducing the import tariff, but made no campaign appearances after accepting the Democratic nomination.
Key initiatives during Benjamin Harrison’s administration include:
• Support the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) and the McKinley Tariff Act (1890)
• Convocation of the first Pan-American Conference (1889)
• Appointment of Frederick Douglass minister in Haiti (1889)
Following his defeat by Grover Cleveland for a second term, Benjamin Harrison returned to his Indiana law practice. He represented the country of Venezuela in a border dispute with Great Britain, lectured publicly, and wrote two books: This Country of Ours (1897) and Views of an Ex-President (1901). Benjamin Harrison died of pneumonia in 1901.
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