A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Volume IX, Part I

Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901) was the twenty-third President of the United States, serving one term from 1889 to 1893. He was born in North Bend, Ohio, and at age 21 moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he became a prominent state politician. During the American Civil War Harrison served as a Brigadier General in the XXI Corps of the Army of the Cumberland. After the war he unsuccessfully ran for the governorship of Indiana, but was later elected to the U. S. Senate from that state. Harrison, a Republican, was elected to the presidency in 1888, defeating the Democratic incumbent, Grover Cleveland. He was the first and only president from the state of Indiana. His presidential administration is best known for its economic legislation, including the McKinley Tariff and the Sherman Antitrust Act, and for annual federal spending that reached one billion dollars for the first time. In 1899 he went to the First Peace Conference at The Hague. He wrote a series of articles about the Federal...