Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison ( August 20 , 1833 – March 13 , 1901 ) was the 23rd President of the United States ( 1889 – 1893 ) . Harrison , a grandson of President William Henry Harrison , was born in North Bend , Ohio , and moved to Indianapolis , Indiana , at age 21 , eventually becoming a prominent politician there . During the American Civil War , he served the Union as a brigadier general in the XX Corps of the Army of the Cumberland . After the war , he unsuccessfully ran for the governorship of Indiana and was later elected to the U . S . Senate by the Indiana legislature . Harrison , a Republican , was elected to the presidency in 1888 , defeating the Democratic incumbent Grover Cleveland . His administration is remembered most for 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 . Democrats attacked the " Billion Dollar Congress . " They used the issue , along with the growing unpopularity of the high tariff , to defeat the Republicans , in both the 1890 mid - term elections and in Harrison ' s bid for re - election in 1892 . Harrison advocated , although unsuccessfully , federal education funding and legislation to protect voting rights for African Americans . He saw the admittance of six states into the Union . Defeated by Cleveland in his bid for re - election in 1892 , Harrison returned to private life in Indianapolis . He later represented the Republic of Venezuela in an international case against the United Kingdom . In 1900 , he traveled to Europe as part of the case and , after a brief stay , returned to Indianapolis . He died the following year from complications from influenza . He is to date the only U . S . president from Indiana and the only one to be the grandson of another president . Early life . Family and education . Harrison ' s paternal ancestors , the Harrisons , were among the First Families of Virginia . Their immigrant ancestor was Benjamin Harrison , who arrived in Jamestown , Virginia in 1630 . The future president Benjamin was born on August 20 , 1833 , in North Bend , Ohio , as the second of eight children of John Scott Harrison and Elizabeth Ramsey ( Irwin ) . Benjamin was a grandson of President William Henry Harrison and the great - grandson of Benjamin Harrison V , a Virginia governor and signer of the Declaration of Independence . Harrison was seven years old when his grandfather was elected President , but he did not attend the inauguration . Although Harrison ' s family was distinguished , his parents were not wealthy . John Scott Harrison spent much of his farm income on his children ' s education . Despite the family ' s meagre resources Harrison ' s boyhood was enjoyable , much of it spent outdoors fishing or hunting . Benjamin Harrison ' s early schooling took place in a one - room schoolhouse near his home , but his parents later arranged for a tutor to help him with college preparatory studies . Harrison and his brother Irwin enrolled in Farmer ' s College near Cincinnati , Ohio in 1847 . Harrison attended the college for two years . While there , he met Caroline Scott , one of the daughters of the science professor , John Witherspoon Scott . In 1850 , he transferred to Miami University in Oxford , Ohio . He joined the fraternity Phi Delta Theta , which he used as a network for much of his life . He graduated in 1852 . He was also a member of Delta Chi , then a law fraternity , which permitted dual membership . 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 . At Miami , Harrison was strongly influenced by his professor Robert Hamilton Bishop , who instructed him in history and political economy . Harrison joined a Presbyterian church at college and , like his mother , remained a member for the rest of his life . After completing college , Harrison took up the study of law as a legal apprentice in the Cincinnati , Ohio law office of Storer & Gwynne . Marriage and family . Before completing his law studies , Harrison returned to Oxford to marry Caroline Lavinia Scott . She was the daughter of the college president , John Witherspoon Scott , a Presbyterian minister . On October 20 , 1853 , Caroline ' s father performed the ceremony . The Harrisons had two children , Russell Benjamin Harrison ( August 12 , 1854 – December 13 , 1936 ) , and Mary " Mamie " Scott Harrison ( April 3 , 1858 – October 28 , 1930 ) . Early legal career . Harrison returned to live on his father ' s farm while finishing his law studies . That same year , he inherited $ 800 after the death of an aunt . He used the money to move with Caroline to Indianapolis , Indiana in 1854 . There he was admitted to the bar and began practicing law in the office of John H . Ray . The same year he became a crier for the Federal Court in Indianapolis , for which he was paid $ 2 . 50 per day . He walked around while making announcements from the court . While in Indianapolis , Harrison became a founding member and first president of both the University Club , a private gentlemen ' s club ; and the Phi Delta Theta Alumni Club of Indianapolis , the fraternity ' s first such club . Having grown up in a Whig household , he favored that party ' s politics while young . He joined the Republican Party shortly after its formation in 1856 , and that year campaigned on behalf of the Republican presidential candidate John C . Frémont . Harrison was elected as the Indianapolis City Attorney that year , a position that paid an annual salary of $ 400 . In 1858 , Harrison entered into a law partnership with William Wallace , and they opened their office called Wallace & Harrison . In 1860 , Harrison ran as the Republican candidate for reporter of the Indiana Supreme Court , his first in partisan politics . Although this office was not political , he was an active supporter of his party ' s platform . During the election , he represented the Republican Party in debating Thomas Hendricks , the Democratic candidate for governor . ( He was a future Vice President of the United States . ) His law partner Wallace was elected as county clerk in 1860 , and Harrison opened a new firm with William Fishback , named Fishback & Harrison . They worked together until he entered the Army after the start of the American Civil War . Civil War . Harrison wanted to enlist , but worried about how to support his young family . In 1862 , President Abraham Lincoln issued a call for more recruits . While visiting Governor Oliver Morton , Harrison found him distressed over the shortage of men answering the latest call . Harrison told the governor , " If I can be of any service , I will go " . Morton asked Harrison if he could help recruit a regiment , though he would not ask him to serve . Harrison recruited throughout northern Indiana to raise a regiment . Morton offered him the command , but Harrison declined , as he had no military experience . He was commissioned as a second lieutenant . In August 1862 , when the regiment left Indiana to join the Union Army at Louisville , Kentucky , Harrison was promoted by Morton to the rank of colonel , and his regiment was commissioned as the 70th Indiana Infantry . For much of its first two years , the 70th Indiana performed reconnaissance duty and guarded railroads in Kentucky and Tennessee . In 1864 , Harrison and his regiment joined William T . Sherman ' s Atlanta Campaign and moved to the front lines . 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 March 22 , 1865 , Harrison earned his final promotion , to the rank of brigadier general . He rode in the Grand Review in Washington , D . C . before mustering out on June 8 , 1865 . Post - war career . Indiana politics . While serving in the army in October 1864 , Harrison was reelected reporter of the Supreme Court of Indiana and served four more years . Although not politically powerful , the position provided Harrison a steady income . 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 . Due to Harrison ' s advocacy , the damages awarded against the government were minimal . With his increasing reputation , local Republicans urged Harrison to run for Congress . He initially confined his political activities to speaking on behalf of other Republican candidates , a task for which he received high praises from his colleagues . In 1872 , Harrison campaigned for the Republican nomination for governor of Indiana . Former governor Oliver Morton favored his opponent , Thomas M . Browne , and Harrison lost his bid for statewide office . He returned to his law practice and , despite the Panic of 1873 , he was financially successful enough to build a grand new home in Indianapolis in 1874 . He continued to make speeches on behalf of Republican candidates and policies . In 1876 , the original Republican nominee for governor dropped out of the race . Harrison accepted the Republicans ' invitation to take his place on the ticket . He based his campaign on economic policy and favored deflating the national currency . He was ultimately defeated by a plurality to James D . Williams , losing by 5 , 084 votes out of a total 434 , 457 cast . Following his defeat , Harrison was able to build on his new prominence in 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 . When Senator Morton died in 1878 , the Republicans nominated Harrison to run for the seat , but the party failed to gain a majority in the state legislature . The Democratic majority elected Daniel W . Voorhees instead . ( Senators were not popularly elected at the time . ) In 1879 President Hayes appointed Harrison to the Mississippi River Commission ; it worked to develop internal improvements on the river . As a delegate to the 1880 Republican National Convention the following year , he was thought to have been instrumental in breaking a deadlock on candidates . James A . Garfield won the nomination . United States Senator . After Harrison led the Republican delegation at the National Convention , he was discussed as a possible 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 $ 3 , Harrison ' s election to the Senate was threatened by his intra - party rival Judge Walter Q . Gresham , but Harrison was ultimately chosen . After Garfield ' s election as president in 1880 , his administration offered Harrison a cabinet position . He declined as he preferred to serve as senator . Harrison served in the Senate from March 4 , 1881 , to March 4 , 1887 . He was chairman of the U . S . Senate Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard ( 47th Congress ) and U . S . Senate Committee on Territories ( 48th and 49th Congresses ) . In 1881 , the major issue confronting Senator Harrison was the budget surplus . Democrats wished to reduce the tariff and limit the amount of money the government took in ; Republicans instead wished to spend the money on internal improvements and pensions for Civil War veterans . Harrison took his party ' s side and advocated for generous pensions for veterans and their widows . Harrison also supported , unsuccessfully , aid for education of Southerners , especially the children of the freedmen . He believed that education was necessary to help the black population rise to political and economic equality with whites . Harrison opposed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 , which his party supported , as he thought it violated existing treaties with China . In 1884 , Harrison and Gresham competed for influence at the 1884 Republican National Convention . The delegation ended up supporting James G . Blaine , the eventual nominee . In the Senate , Harrison achieved passage of his Dependent Pension Bill , only to see it vetoed by President Grover Cleveland . His efforts to further the admission of new western states were stymied by Democrats , who 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 . Harrison was defeated in his bid for reelection , the result being determined against him after a deadlock in the state senate , with the legislature eventually choosing Democrat David Turpie . Harrison returned to Indianapolis and his law practice , but stayed active in state and national politics . Election of 1888 . Nomination . The initial favorite for the Republican nomination was the previous nominee , James G . Blaine of Maine . After Blaine wrote several letters denying any interest in the nomination , his supporters divided among other candidates , with John Sherman of Ohio as the leader among them . Others , 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 , also sought the delegates ' support at the 1888 Republican National Convention . Blaine did not endorse any of the candidates as a successor , so none entered the convention with a majority of the Blaine supporters . Harrison placed fourth on the first ballot , with Sherman in the lead , and the next few ballots showed little change . The Blaine supporters shifted their support around among the candidates they found acceptable , and when they shifted to Harrison , they found a candidate who could attract the votes of many delegates . He was nominated on the eighth ballot by 544 to 108 votes , winning the Republican presidential nomination . Levi P . Morton of New York was chosen as his running mate . Election over Cleveland . Harrison ' s opponent in the general election was incumbent President Grover Cleveland . He ran a front - porch campaign , typical of the era , in which the candidate does not campaign but only receives delegations and makes pronouncements from his home town . The Republicans campaigned heavily on the issue of protective tariffs , turning out 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 by means of notoriously fraudulent balloting in New York and Indiana . Voter turnout was 79 . 3 % because of a large interest in the campaign issue , and nearly eleven million votes were cast . Although Harrison received 90 , 000 fewer popular votes than Cleveland , he carried the Electoral College 233 to 168 . Although he had made no political bargains , his supporters had given many pledges upon his behalf . When Boss Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania , who rebuffed for a Cabinet position for his political support during the convention , heard that Harrison ascribed his narrow victory to Providence , Quay exclaimed 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 . Presidency 1889 – 1893 . Inauguration . Harrison was sworn into office on Monday , March 4 , 1889 by Chief Justice Melville Fuller . Harrison ' s Inauguration ceremony took place during a rainstorm in Washington D . C . . Outgoing U . S . President Grover Cleveland attended the ceremony and held an umbrella over Harrison ' s head as he took the oath of office . His speech was brief and half as long as that of his grandfather , William Henry Harrison , who held the record with the longest Inaugural Address . In his inaugural address Harrison credited the nation ' s growth to the influences of education and religion , urged the cotton states and mining territories to attain the industrial proportions of the eastern states and promised a protective tariff . During his speech Harrison also urged early statehood for the territories and advocated pensions for veterans , a statement that was met with enthusiastic applause . In foreign affairs , Harrison pledged vigilance of national honor and reaffirmed the Monroe Doctrine as a mainstay of foreign policy , while also urging the building of a modern navy and a merchant marine force . He reaffirmed his commitment to international peace through noninterference in the affairs of foreign governments . John Philip Sousa ' s Marine Corps band played at the Inaugural Ball inside the Pension Building with a large crowd attending . Civil service reform and pensions . Civil service reform was a prominent issue following Harrison ' s election . Harrison had campaigned as a supporter of the merit system , as opposed to the spoils system . Although some of the civil service had been classified under the Pendleton Act by previous administrations , Harrison spent much of his first months in office deciding on political appointments . Congress was widely divided on the issue and Harrison was reluctant to address the issue in hope of preventing the alienation of either side . The issue became a political football of the time and was immortalized in a cartoon captioned " What can I do when both parties insist on kicking ? " Harrison appointed Theodore Roosevelt and Hugh Smith Thompson , both reformers , to the Civil Service Commission , but otherwise did little to further the reform cause . Harrison quickly saw the enactment of the Dependent and Disability Pension Act in 1890 , a cause he had championed while in Congress . In addition to providing pensions to disabled Civil War veterans ( regardless of the cause of their disability ) , the Act depleted some of the troublesome federal budget surplus . Pension expenditures reached $ 135 million under Harrison , the largest expenditure of its kind to that point in American history , a problem exacerbated by Pension Bureau commissioner James R . Tanner ' s expansive interpretation of the pension laws . Harrison , who privately believed that appointing Tanner had been a mistake , asked Tanner to resign and replaced him with Green B . Raum . Raum was also accused of accepting loan payments in return for expediting pension cases . Harrison , having accepted a dissenting Congressional Republican investigation report that exonerated Raum , kept him in office for the rest of his administration . Tariff . The issue of tariff levels had been a major point of contention in American politics since before the Civil War , and tariffs became the most prominent issue of the 1888 election . The high tariff rates had created a surplus of money in the Treasury , which led many Democrats ( as well as the growing Populist movement ) to call for lowering the rates . Most Republicans wished the rates to remain high , and to spend the surplus on internal improvements as well as the elimination of some internal taxes . Representative William McKinley and Senator Nelson W . Aldrich framed the McKinley Tariff that would raise the tariff even higher , including making some rates intentionally prohibitive . At Secretary of State James Blaine ' s urging , Harrison attempted to make the tariff more acceptable by urging Congress to add reciprocity provisions , which would allow the President to reduce rates when other countries reduced their rates on American exports . The tariff was removed from imported raw sugar , and sugar growers in the United States were given a two cent per pound subsidy on their production . Even with the reductions and reciprocity , the McKinley Tariff enacted the highest average rate in American history , and the spending associated with it contributed to the reputation of the Billion - Dollar Congress . Antitrust laws . Members of both parties were concerned with the growth of the power of trusts and monopolies , and one of the first acts of the 51st Congress was to pass the Sherman Antitrust Act , sponsored by Senator John Sherman of Ohio . The Act passed by wide margins in both houses , and Harrison signed it into law . The Sherman Act was the first Federal act of its kind , and marked a new use of federal government power . While Harrison approved of the law and its intent , there is no evidence he ever sought to enforce it very vigorously . The government successfully concluded only one case during Harrison ' s time in office ( against a Tennessee coal company ) , although it did pursue cases against several other trusts . Silver . One of the most volatile issues of the 1880s was whether the currency should be backed by gold and silver , or by gold alone . The issue cut across party lines , with western Republicans and southern Democrats joining together in the call for the free coinage of silver , and both parties ' representatives in the northeast holding firm for the gold standard . Because silver was worth less than its legal equivalent in gold , taxpayers paid their government bills in silver , while international creditors demanded payment in gold , resulting in a depletion of the nation ' s gold supply . Owing to worldwide deflation in the late 19th century , however , a strict gold standard had resulted in reduction of incomes without the equivalent reduction in debts , pushing debtors and the poor to call for silver coinage as an inflationary measure . The silver coinage issue had not been much discussed in the 1888 campaign , so Harrison ' s exact position on the issue was initially unclear , but his appointment of a silverite Treasury Secretary , William Windom , encouraged the free silver supporters . Harrison attempted to steer a middle course between the two positions , advocating a free coinage of silver , but at its own value , not at a fixed ratio to gold . This served only to disappoint both factions . In July 1890 , Senator Sherman achieved passage of a compromise bill , the Sherman Silver Purchase Act , in both houses . Harrison thought that the bill would end the controversy , and he signed it into law . The effect of the bill , however , was the increased depletion of the nation ' s gold supply , a problem that would persist until the second Cleveland administration resolved it . Civil rights . After regaining the majority in both Houses of Congress , some Republicans , led by Harrison , attempted to pass legislation to protect black Americans ' civil rights . Harrison ' s Attorney General , William H . H . Miller , through the Justice Department , ordered the prosecutions for violation of voting rights in the South ; however , white juries often failed to convict or indict violators . This prompted Harrison to urge Congress to pass legislation that would " secure all our people a free exercise of the right of suffrage and every other civil right under the Constitution and laws . " Harrison endorsed the proposed Federal Elections Bill written by Representative Henry Cabot Lodge and Senator George Frisbie Hoar in 1890 , but the bill was defeated in the Senate . Following the failure to pass the bill , Harrison continued to speak in favor of African American civil rights in addresses to Congress . In 1892 , Harrison went before Congress and declared , " the frequent lynching of colored people is without the excuse . . . that the accused have an undue influence over courts and juries . " While Harrison believed the Constitution did not permit him to end the practice of lynching , he did question the states ' civil rights records , arguing that if states have the authority over civil rights , then " we have a right to ask whether they are at work upon it . " Harrison also supported a bill proposed by Senator Henry W . Blair , which would have granted federal funding to schools regardless of the students ' races . He also endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment to overturn the 1883 Supreme Court rulings that declared much of the Reconstruction - era Civil Rights Acts unconstitutional . None of these measures gained congressional approval . Native American policy . During Harrison ' s term , the Lakota Sioux , previously confined to reservations in South Dakota , grew restive under the influence of Wovoka , a medicine man , who encouraged them to participate in a spiritual movement called the Ghost Dance . Not understanding the exact nature of the religious beliefs surrounding the Ghost Dance , many in Washington thought it was a militant movement being used to rally Native Americans against American rule . On December 29 , 1890 , troops from the Seventh Cavalry clashed with the Sioux at the Battle of Wounded Knee . The result was a massacre of at least 146 Sioux , including many women and children . The dead Sioux were buried in a mass grave . Harrison was concerned and ordered Major General Nelson A . Miles to investigate . Harrison also ordered 3500 federal troops to South Dakota , and the uprising ended . Wounded Knee is considered the last major American Indian battle in the 19th century . Harrison ' s general policy on American Indians was to encourage assimilation into white society and , despite the massacre , he believed the policy to have been generally successful . This policy , known as the allotment system and embodied in the Dawes Act , was favored by liberal reformers at the time , but eventually proved detrimental to American Indians as they sold most of their land at low prices to white speculators . Technology . In Harrison ' s time in office , the United States was continuing to experience advances in science and technology . Harrison was the earliest President whose voice is known to be preserved . That was originally made on a wax phonograph cylinder in 1889 by Giuseppe Bettini . Harrison also had electricity installed in the White House for the first time by Edison General Electric Company , but he and his wife would not touch the light switches for fear of electrocution and would often go to sleep with the lights on . Foreign policy . Harrison and Secretary of State Blaine were at times personally unfriendly , but were in perfect agreement on an active foreign policy and reciprocal trade . In San Francisco , while on tour of the United States in 1891 , Harrison proclaimed that the United States was in a " new epoch " of trade and that the expanding navy would protect oceanic shipping and increase American influence and prestige abroad . The First International Conference of American States met in Washington in 1889 , establishing an information center that later became the Pan American Union . The conference failed to achieve any diplomatic breakthrough , but that failure led Blaine to focus on tariff reciprocity with Latin American nations , which was more successful . Harrison sent Frederick Douglass as ambassador to Haiti , but failed in his attempts to establish a naval base there . The first international crisis Harrison had to face occurred over fishing rights on the Alaskan coast . Canada claimed fishing and sealing rights around many of the Aleutian Islands , in violation of U . S . law . As a result , the United States Navy seized several Canadian ships . In 1891 , the administration began negotiations with the British that would eventually lead to a compromise over fishing rights after international arbitration , with the British government paying compensation in 1898 . In 1891 , a diplomatic crisis arose in Chile , later called the " Baltimore " Crisis . The American minister to Chile , Patrick Egan , granted asylum to Chileans who were seeking refuge from 1891 Chilean Civil War . This raised tensions between Chile and the United States , and when sailors from the " Baltimore " took shore leave in Valparaiso , a fight broke out , resulting in the deaths of two American sailors and three dozen arrested . With Blaine out of town , Harrison himself drafted a demand for reparations . The Chilean minister of foreign affairs replied that Harrison ' s message was " erroneous or deliberately incorrect , " and said that the Chilean government was treating the affair the same as any other criminal matter . Tensions increased as Harrison threatened to break off diplomatic relations unless the United States received a suitable apology . Ultimately , after Blaine returned to the capital , the administration made conciliatory overtures to the Chilean government . After the letter was withdrawn , war was averted . In the last days of his administration , Harrison dealt with the issue of Hawaiian annexation . Following a coup d ' état against Queen Liliuokalani , the new government of Hawaii led by Sanford Dole petitioned for annexation by the United States . Harrison was interested in expanding American influence in Hawaii and in establishing a naval base at Pearl Harbor but had not previously expressed an opinion on annexing the islands . The United States consul in Hawaii John L . Stevens recognized the new government on February 1 , 1893 and forwarded their proposals to Washington . With just one month left before leaving office , the administration signed a treaty on February 14 and submitted it to the Senate the next day with Harrison ' s recommendation . The Senate failed to act , and President Cleveland withdrew the treaty shortly after taking office . Judicial appointments . Supreme Court . Harrison appointed four justices to the Supreme Court of the United States . The first was David Josiah Brewer , a judge on the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit . Brewer , the nephew of Justice Field , had previously been considered for a cabinet position . Shortly after Brewer ' s nomination , Justice Matthews died , creating another vacancy . Harrison had considered Henry Billings Brown , a Michigan judge and admiralty law expert , for the first vacancy and now nominated him for the second . For the third vacancy , which arose in 1892 , Harrison nominated George Shiras . Shiras ' s appointment was somewhat controversial because his age — sixty — was older than usual for a newly appointed Justice . Shiras also drew the opposition of Senator Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania because they were in different factions of the Pennsylvania Republican party , but his nomination was nonetheless approved . Finally , at the end of his term , Harrison nominated Howell Edmunds Jackson to replace Justice Lamar , who died in January 1893 . Harrison knew the incoming Senate would be controlled by Democrats , so he selected Jackson , a respected Tennessee Democrat with whom he was friendly to ensure his nominee would not be rejected . Jackson ' s nomination was indeed successful , but he died after only two years on the Court . Other courts . In addition to his Supreme Court appointments , Harrison appointed ten judges to the courts of appeals , two judges to the circuit courts , and 26 judges to the district courts . Because Harrison was in office when Congress eliminated the circuit courts in favor of the courts of appeals , he and Grover Cleveland were the only two Presidents to have appointed judges to both bodies . States admitted to the Union . When Harrison took office , no new states had been admitted in more than a decade , owing to Congressional Democrats ' reluctance to admit states that they believed would send Republican members . Early in Harrison ' s term , however , the lame duck Congress passed bills that admitted four states to the union : North Dakota and South Dakota on November 2 , 1889 , Montana on November 8 , and Washington on November 11 . The following year two more states held constitutional conventions and were admitted : Idaho on July 3 and Wyoming on July 10 , 1890 . The initial Congressional delegations from all six states were solidly Republican . More states were admitted under Harrison ' s presidency than any other since George Washington ' s . Reelection campaign in 1892 . The treasury surplus had evaporated and the nation ' s economic health was worsening with the approach of the conditions that would lead to the Panic of 1893 . Congressional elections in 1890 went against the Republicans , and several party leaders withdrew their support for President Harrison , although he had cooperated with Congressional Republicans on legislation . It was clear that Harrison would not be re - nominated unanimously . Many of Harrison ' s detractors pushed for Blaine , but he announced that he was not a candidate in February 1892 . Some party leaders still hoped to draft Blaine into running , and speculation increased when he resigned as Secretary of State in June . At the convention in Minneapolis , Harrison prevailed on the first ballot , but encountered significant opposition . The Democrats renominated former President Cleveland , making the 1892 election a rematch of the one four years earlier . The tariff revisions of the past four years had made imported goods so expensive that now many voters shifted to the reform position . Many westerners , traditionally Republican voters , defected to the new Populist Party candidate , James Weaver , who promised free silver , generous veterans ' pensions , and an eight - hour work day . The effects of the suppression of the Homestead Strike rebounded against the Republicans as well , although the federal government did not take action . Two weeks before the election , on October 25 , Harrison ' s wife Caroline died after a long battle with tuberculosis . Harrison did not campaign on his own behalf during his reelection bid and remained with his wife . Their daughter Mary Harrison McKee served as the First Lady after her mother ' s death . Cleveland ultimately won the election with 277 electoral votes to Harrison ' s 145 . Cleveland also won in the popular vote : 5 , 556 , 918 to 5 , 176 , 108 . Post - presidency and death . After he left office , Harrison visited the World ' s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in June 1893 , where the nation ' s first commemorative postage was introduced , an initiative of his Postmaster General , John Wanamaker . After the Expo , Harrison returned to his home in Indianapolis . For a few months in 1894 , Harrison lived in San Francisco , California , where he gave law lectures at Stanford University . In 1896 some of Harrison ' s friends in the Republican party tried to convince him to seek the presidency again , but he declined . In support of the candidate William McKinley , he traveled around the nation making appearances and speeches in his behalf . Among the activities he became involved in , from July 1895 to March 1901 , Harrison served on the Board of Trustees of Purdue University . Harrison Hall , a campus dormitory , was named in his honor . In 1896 , Harrison at age 62 remarried , to Mary Scott Lord Dimmick , the niece and former secretary of his deceased wife . A widow , she was 37 , a full 25 years his junior . Harrison ' s two adult children , Russell , 41 years old at the time , and Mary ( Mamie ) McKee , 38 , disapproved of the marriage and did not attend the wedding . Benjamin and Mary had one child together , Elizabeth ( February 21 , 1897 – December 26 , 1955 ) . In 1889 , Harrison was elected an honorary member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati . Harrison was also a veteran companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and an honorary companion of the Military Order of Foreign Wars . His wife served as the first President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution ( DAR ) from 1890 to 1891 . He wrote a series of articles about the Federal government and the presidency , which were republished in 1897 as a book titled " This Country of Ours " . In 1899 Harrison attended the First Peace Conference at The Hague . In 1900 , Harrison served as an attorney for the Republic of Venezuela in their boundary dispute with the United Kingdom . The two nations disputed the border between Venezuela and British Guiana . An international trial was agreed upon and the Venezuelan government hired Harrison to represent them in the case . He filed an 800 - page brief for them and traveled to Paris where he spent more than 25 hours arguing in court . Although he lost the case , his legal arguments won him international renown . Harrison developed what was thought to be influenza or grippe in February 1901 . He was treated with steam vapor inhalation and oxygen , but his condition worsened . He died from pneumonia at his home on Wednesday , March 13 , 1901 , at the age of 67 . Harrison is interred in Indianapolis ' s Crown Hill Cemetery , next to Caroline . After her death , Mary Dimmick Harrison was buried next to him . Historical reputation and memorials . Following the Panic of 1893 , Harrison became more popular in retirement . His legacy among historians is scant , and " general accounts of his period inaccurately treat Harrison as a cipher " . More recently , " historians have recognized the importance of the Harrison administration — and Harrison himself — in the new foreign policy of the late nineteenth century . The administration faced challenges throughout the hemisphere , in the Pacific , and in relations with the European powers , involvements that would be taken for granted in the twentieth century . " Harrison ' s presidency belongs properly to the 19th century , but he " clearly pointed the way " to the modern presidency that would emerge under William McKinley . Harrison ' s reputation for integrity was largely intact after leaving office in 1893 . The bi - partisan Sherman Anti - Trust Act signed into law by Harrison remains in effect over 120 years later and was the most important legislation passed by the Fifty - first Congress . Harrison ' s support for African American voting rights and education would be the last significant attempts to protect civil rights until the 1930s . Harrison ' s tenacity at foreign policy was emulated by politicians such as Theodore Roosevelt . Harrison was memorialized on several postage stamps . The first was a 13 - cent stamp issued on November 18 , 1902 . The engraved likeness of Harrison was modeled after a photo provided by Harrison ' s widow . In all Harrison has been honored on six U . S . Postage stamps , more than most other U . S . Presidents . Harrison also was featured on the five - dollar National Bank Notes from the third charter period , beginning in 1902 . Harrison was also the last president to have a beard . In 1908 , the people of Indianapolis erected the Benjamin Harrison memorial statue , created by Charles Niehaus and Henry Bacon , in honor of Harrison ' s lifetime achievements as military leader , U . S . Senator , and President of the United States . In 1942 , a Liberty Ship , the " SS Benjamin Harrison " , was named in his honor . In 1951 , Harrison ' s home was opened to the public as a library and museum . It had been used as a dormitory for a music school from 1937 to 1950 . The house was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1964 . In 2012 , a dollar coin with his image , part of the Presidential $ 1 Coin Program , was issued . Fort Benjamin Harrison , located in suburban Lawrence , Indiana , northeast of Indianapolis , was named in his honor . The base was closed and the site has been redeveloped to include residential neighborhoods and a golf course . Part of the property is within Fort Harrison State Park . Sources . Books Articles