Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

HARRISON, BENJAMIN

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 23 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

HARRISON, See also:BENJAMIN - (1833-1901), the twenty-thirc See also:president of the See also:United States, was See also:born at See also:North See also:Bend, new See also:Cincinnati, See also:Ohio, on the 20th of See also:August 1833. His See also:great. grandfather, Benjamin Harrison of See also:Virginia (c. 1740-1791), wa: a signer of the See also:Declaration of See also:Independence. His grandfather See also:William See also:Henry Harrison (1773–1841), was ninth president of the United States. His See also:father, See also:John See also:Scott Harrison (1804–1878), represented his See also:district in the See also:national See also:House of Representatives in 1853–1857. Benjamin's youth was passed upon the ancestral See also:farm, and as opportunity afforded he attended school in the lope school-house near his See also:home. He was prepared for See also:college by a private See also:tutor, studied for two years at the Farmers' College, near Cincinnati, and in 1852 graduated from See also:Miami University, at that See also:time the leading educational institution in the See also:State of Ohio. From his youth he was diligent in his studies and a great reader, and during his college See also:life showed a marked See also:talent for extemporaneous speaking. He pursued the study of See also:law, partly in the See also:office of See also:Bellamy Storer (1798–1875), a leading lawyer and See also:judge of Cincinnati, and in 1853 he was admitted to the See also:bar. At the See also:age of twenty-one he removed to See also:Indianapolis. He had but one acquaintance in the See also:place, the clerk of the federal See also:court, who permitted him to occupy a See also:desk in his office and place at the See also:door his sign as a lawyer. Waiting for professional business, he was content to See also:act as court crier for two dollars and a See also:half a See also:day; but he soon gave indications of his talent, and his studious habits and See also:attention to his cases rapidly brought him clients.

Within a few years he took See also:

rank among the leading members of the profession at a bar which included some of the ablest lawyers of the See also:country. His legal career was See also:early interrupted by the See also:Civil See also:War. His whole See also:heart was enlisted in the See also:anti-See also:slavery cause, and during the second See also:year of the war he accepted a See also:commission from the See also:governor of the state as second-See also:lieutenant and speedily raised a See also:regiment. He became its See also:colonel, and as such continued in the See also:Union See also:Army until the See also:close of the war, and on the 23rd of See also:January 1865 was breveted a brigadier-See also:general of See also:volunteers for "ability and See also:manifest See also:energy and gallantry in command of See also:brigade." He participated with his regiment in various engagements during General See also:Don See also:Carlos See also:Buell's See also:campaigns in See also:Kentucky and See also:Tennessee in 1862 and 1863; took See also:part in General W. T. See also:Sherman's See also:march on See also:Atlanta in 1864 and in the See also:Nashville See also:campaign of the same year; and was transferred early in 1865 to Sherman's army in its march through the Carolinas. As the See also:commander of a brigade he served with particular distinction in the battles of Kenesaw See also:Mountain (See also:June 29–See also:July 3, 1864), See also:Peach See also:Tree See also:Creek (loth of July 1864) and Nashville (15th–16th of See also:December 1864). Allowing for this See also:interval of military service, he applied himself exclusively for twenty-four years to his legal See also:work. The only office he held was that of reporter of the supreme court of See also:Indiana for two terms (186o–1862 and 1864–1868), and this was strictly in the See also:line of his profession. He was a devoted member of the Republican party, but not a politician in the strict sense. Once he became a See also:candidate for governor, in 1876, but his candidature was a forlorn See also:hope, undertaken from a sense of See also:duty after the See also:regular nominee had withdrawn. He took a deep See also:interest in the campaign which resulted in the See also:election of See also:James A.

See also:

Garfield as president, and was offered by him a place in his See also:cabinet; but this he declined, having been elected a member of the United States See also:Senate, in which he took his seat on the 4th of March 1881. He was chairman of the See also:committee on territories, and took an active part in urging the See also:admission as states of North Dakota, See also:South Dakota, See also:Washington, See also:Idaho and See also:Montana, which finally came into the Union during his See also:presidency. He served also on the committee of military and See also:Indian affairs, the committee on See also:foreign relations and others, was prominent in the discussion of matters brought before the Senate from these committees, advocated the enlargement of the See also:navy and the reform of the civil service, and opposed the See also:pension See also:veto messages of President See also:Cleveland. Having failed to secure a re-election to the Senate in 1887, Harrison was nominated by the Republican party for the presidency in 1888, and defeated Grover Cleveland, the candidate of the Democratic party, receiving 233 electoral votes to Cleveland's 168. Among the See also:measures and events distinguishing his See also:term as president were the following: The See also:meeting of the See also:Pan-See also:American See also:Congress at Washington; the passage of the See also:McKinley See also:Tariff See also:Bill and of the Sherman See also:Silver Bill of 189o; the suppressing of the See also:Louisiana Lottery; the enlargement of the navy; further advance in civil service reform; the See also:convocation by the United States of an See also:international monetary See also:conference; the See also:establishment of commercial See also:reciprocity with many countries of See also:America and See also:Europe; the peaceful See also:settlement of a controversy with See also:Chile; the negotiation of a Hawaiian See also:Annexation Treaty, which, however, before its ratification, his successor withdrew from the Senate; the settlement of difficulties with See also:Germany concerning the Samoan Islands, and the See also:adjustment by See also:arbitration with Great See also:Britain of the See also:Bering See also:Sea See also:fur-See also:seal question. His See also:administration was marked by a revival of American See also:industries and a reduction of the public See also:debt, and at its conclusion the country was See also:left in a See also:condition of prosperity and on friendly terms with foreign nations. He was nominated by his party in 1892 for re-election, but was defeated by Cleveland, this result being due, at least in part, to the labour strikes which occurred during the presidential campaign and arrayed the labour unions against the tariff party. After leaving public life he resumed the practice of the law, and in 1898 was retained by the See also:government of See also:Venezuela as its leading counsel in the arbitration of its boundary dispute with Great Britain. In this capacity he appeared before the inter-national tribunal of arbitration at See also:Paris in 1899, worthily maintaining the reputation of the American bar. After the See also:Spanish-American War he strongly disapproved of the colonial policy of his party, which, however, he continued to support. He occupied a portion of his leisure in See also:writing a See also:book, entitled This Country of Ours (1897), treating of the organization and administration of the government of the United States, and a collection of essays by him was published posthumously, in 1901, under the See also:title Views of an Ex-President. He died at Indianapolis on the 13th of March 1901.

Harrison's distinguishing trait of See also:

character, to which his success is to be most largely attributed, was his thoroughness. He was somewhat reserved in manner, and this led to the See also:charge in See also:political circles that he was See also:cold and unsympathetic; but no one gathered around him more devoted and loyal See also:friends, and his dignified bearing in and out of office commanded the hearty respect of his countrymen. President Harrison was twice married; in 1853 to See also:Miss See also:Caroline Lavinia Scott, by whom he had a son and a daughter, and in 1896 to Mrs See also:Mary Scott See also:Lord Dimmock, by whom he had a daughter. A " campaign " See also:biography was published by Lew See also:Wallace (See also:Philadelphia, 1888), and a See also:sketch of his life may be found in Presidents of the United States (New See also:York, 1891), edited by James See also:Grant See also:Wilson. (J. W.

End of Article: HARRISON, BENJAMIN

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
HARRISON
[next]
HARRISON, FREDERIC (1831— )