Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901)

B

Legal Career

After the war, Harrison went back to his law practice in Indianapolis and plunged again into Republican politics. He appeared in a number of celebrated law cases. One of them was an aftermath of the important constitutional decision, Ex parte Milligan.

During the war, Lambdin Milligan, a civilian member of a pro-Confederate secret society, had been convicted and sentenced to death by a military court for inciting to rebellion. After the war the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Ex parte Milligan that military tribunals could not properly try civilians where civil courts were available. In 1871 Milligan sued the military commission for $100,000 in damages. Harrison was appointed special assistant U.S. attorney by the administration of Ulysses S. Grant to defend the commission. Harrison argued that the military commission had acted in good faith. The jury, aware that the law was on Milligan's side, had no alternative but to declare in his favor; Harrison's victory lay in the damages awarded to Milligan—a mere $5.

A few years later Harrison successfully defended a government employee in a trial of members of the Whiskey Ring, a group of liquor distillers who had bribed government employees to avoid the taxes on alcohol. Harrison won by making the government's chief witness look foolish.

C

Return to Politics

In 1872 Harrison attempted to gain the Republican nomination for governor of Indiana. He failed because of opposition from Oliver P. Morton, now a United States senator and the state Republican leader. In 1876 the Republican candidate for governor of Indiana withdrew from the campaign because of Democratic charges of corruption. The Republican state central committee picked Harrison as a replacement to run against the Democratic candidate, James D. Williams, a prosperous farmer whose simple mode of dress won him the nickname “Blue Jeans.” Harrison, derisively called “Kid-Glove Harrison” by his opponents, lost the race by 5000 votes, but he received more votes than any other Republican, and upon Senator Morton's death in 1877 he was recognized as the leader of Indiana's Republican Party.

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D

United States Senator

In 1879, Harrison was appointed by President Rutherford B. Hayes to the Mississippi River Commission, which oversaw the development of economic activity on the river. He served for two years. At the Republican National Convention in 1880, Harrison was chairman of the Indiana delegation. He discouraged talk of himself as a vice presidential candidate and helped Ohio Congressman James Abram Garfield gain the nomination for president by casting 27 of the state's 30 votes for him. Early in 1881 the Indiana legislature chose Harrison for the U.S. Senate.

In the Senate, Harrison was an active and effective debater. He guided through the Senate a bill to provide civil government for Alaska and vainly championed the admission of Dakota as a state. He voted for the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which insisted that charges on railroads be “reasonable and just” and established the principle of federal regulation of the economy. He also supported the Mississippi River Commission and fought to defend the rights of Native Americans and homesteaders against pressure from the powerful railroads. He fought vigorously for Civil War veterans, supported high taxes on imports (called tariffs), payments to disabled and opposed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which stopped Chinese immigration to the U.S. for 10 years (see Immigration: From 1840 to 1900). He also introduced 101 special pension and relief bills in six years.

Harrison's name was well known by the Republican National Convention in 1884. In spite of this, Congressman and former Secretary of State James G. Blaine was nominated. Harrison campaigned for Blaine, who was defeated in the presidential election by the Democratic governor of New York, Grover Cleveland.

Harrison continued to be active in the Senate, leading Republican assaults on President Cleveland. He won national publicity in 1886 with a heartrending speech denouncing the Democrats for discharging a postmistress, the poor widow of a Civil War veteran, in Cannelton, Indiana. The following year, Harrison's Democratic opponent defeated him for Senate reelection by one vote, but Harrison retained his following in the Republican Party.

E

Election of 1888

In January 1888 the Republican James G. Blaine decided not to run in a second presidential race. Many factors made Harrison a strong presidential contender. In addition to the fact that he was a direct descendant of President William Henry Harrison, his honesty, his Civil War record and his following among veterans made him an attractive candidate. Moreover, he could be depended on to win many votes in populous Ohio, where he had been born, and in Indiana, where he lived, he could be expected to take votes away from the Democratic candidate. As a loyal party worker, Harrison could count on organized Republican support. Furthermore, during his six years as a senator, he had formed important political contacts in Washington, D.C.

E

1

Presidential Candidate

Harrison's friend L.T. Michener, the attorney general of Indiana, led a quiet Harrison-for-president movement. Michener and his co-workers raised money, sent letters to leaders all over the nation, inspired favorable editorials in newspapers, mailed out pro-Harrison pamphlets, and sought public support from influential citizens.

Michener and his group successfully negotiated with the political leaders of the big states at the Republican National Convention in 1888. With Blaine steadfastly refusing to be a candidate, Harrison was nominated for president on the eighth ballot over U.S. Senator John Sherman of Ohio and others. Levi Morton, a New York banker, was named the candidate for vice president. The party program called for a high tariff.

Few anticipated that Harrison would have great popular appeal as a candidate. Short, stocky, and bearded, with cold and humorless eyes and an aristocratic bearing, he gave an impression of distance. Nevertheless, he gave surprisingly effective speeches from the front porch of his Indianapolis home.

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