HARRISON, BENJAMIN. 



407 



H 



HARRIS9X, BEXJAMLV twenty-third Presi- 

 dent of the United States, born in North Bend, 

 Ohio, Aug. 20, 1833. He is the son of John 

 Scott Harrison, who was the son of William 

 Henry Harrison (ninth President of the United 

 States), who was the son of Benjamin Harri- 

 son (a signer of the Declaration of Independ- 

 ence), whose ancestor, Thomas Harrison, be- 

 came a lieutenant-general under the Protector 

 and a member of the Parliament that tried 

 King Charles I., as his clearly written name on 

 the death-warrant attests, opposite to which is 

 his seal, which bears an eagle like that on our 

 silver dollar. On the return of the Royalists 

 to power, Thomas Harrison was executed. 

 Samuel Pepys records in his " Diary " that he 

 saw the heart removed from his 'body and 

 passed about among the company. It is be- 

 lieved that the family of the murdered Round- 

 head leader came to this country soon after- 

 ward. In view of questions that have recently 

 been brought freshly into national politics, it 

 is pertinent to quote a brief paragraph from 

 the inaugural address of the first President 

 Harrison : 



The greatest danger to our institutions appears to 

 me to be, not so much in a usurpation by the Gov- 

 ernment collectively ot' power not granted by the peo- 

 ple, as in the accumulation in (me of the departments 

 of powers which were assigned to others. I proceed 

 to state in as summary a manner as I can my opin- 

 ion of the sources of the evils which have been so 

 extensively complained of ? and the directives which 

 may be ap'plied. Some ot the former are unquestion- 

 ably to be found in the defects of the Constitution. 

 Others, in my judgment, are attributable to a mis- 

 construction of some of its provisions. Of the tormer 

 is the eligibility of the same individual to a second 

 term of the presidency. The sagacious mind of Mr. 

 Jefferson early saw and lamented this error. It may 

 be observed, however, as a general truth, that no re- 

 public can commit a greater error than to adopt or 

 continue any feature in its system of government 

 which may "be calculated to create or increase the 

 love of power in the bosoms of those to whom neces- 

 sity obliges it to commit the management of its af- 

 fairs ; and surely nothing is more likely to produce 

 that effect than" the long continuance in the same 

 hands of an office of high trust. Nothing can be 

 more corrupting, nothing more dangerous to all those 

 noble sentiments and principles which form the char- 

 acter of a devoted republican patriot. When this in- 

 sidious passion once takes possession of the human 

 mind, like the love of gold, it becomes insatiable. It is 

 the never-dying worm in his bosom, which grows with 

 his growth a'nd strengthens with the declining years of 

 its victim. If this be true, it is the part of wisdom for 

 a republic to limit the service of that officer at least 

 to whom she has intrusted the management of her 

 foreign relations, the execution of her laws, and the 

 command of her armies and navies, to a period so 

 short as to prevent his forgetting that he is the ac- 

 countable agent, not the principal ; the servant, not 

 the master of the people. Until an amendment to the 

 Constitution can be effected, public opinion, if firm 

 in its demands, may secure the desired object. 1 

 cheerfully second it "by renewing the pledge hereto- 

 fore given that under no circumstances will I consent 

 to serve a second term. I consider the veto power, 



given tyr the Constitution to the Executive of the 

 United States, sok-ly us a conservative power to be 

 used only to protect the Constitution from violation, 

 the people from the effects of hasty legislation, where 

 their will has been probably disregarded or not well 

 understood, and to prevent the effects of combina- 

 tions, violative of the rights of minorities. 



William Henry Harrison, at the age of twen- 

 ty-two, married Miss Anna Syrnmes. to whose 

 father, Judge Syrnmes, had been deeded a large 

 tract of Western land. He carried his young 

 bride to the post of Cincinnati, and later built 

 her a house at North Bend, on the Ohio river. 

 The third son born to them was John Scott 

 Harrison, father of the subject of this sketch. 

 John Scott was the boy who stayed upon the 

 farm. He was of quiet temperament, indus- 

 trious, fond of reading, determined to educate 

 his children, overgenerous, not a good finan- 

 cial manager, and almost devoid of ambition. 

 He was twice elected to Congress. In the 

 division of political bodies at the breaking up 

 of the old Whig party he became an American, 

 and supported Bell and Everett, on the Consti- 

 tntion-and-Union platform, in 1860. In 1861 

 the Democratic State Convention of Ohio nom- 

 inated him for the office of Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor. In his letter declining the nomination, 

 he said: 



I could not consent to be a party candidate for office 

 in the present condition of the country. Party spirit, 

 in my opinion, has done more than anything else to 

 bring about the late calamities which now so seriously 

 afflict us, and the poison which has induced this 

 national paralysis would not prove an efficient remedy 

 in the restoration of the patient. The time has ccuie 

 when we should forget party, throw off its trammels 

 and obligations, and stand up for the country, its 

 union, Constitution, and laws. I vas not, ;- 

 know, a supporter of Mr. Lincoln for the presidency, 

 neither do I approve of all the act* of his administra- 

 tion. But it seems to me that this is not the proper 

 time to arraign the Administration for these errors of 

 policy, and that it is neither the part of wisdom nor 

 patriotism to assail the Government when the enemy 

 is thundering at the gates of the capital. Let us first 

 settle the great question of country or no country, 

 government or no government, union or disunion: 

 and having accomplished this great work of duty and 

 patriotism, we will have ample time to inquire into 

 the alleged delinquencies of our rulers, and if we find 

 them wanting in the Jeffersonian requirements for 

 office, let them be condemned bv a verdict of the 

 people. I certainlv owe the Eepublicans, as a party, 

 no debt of political obligation, and yet 1 do not hesi- 

 tate to say that the Administration has my warmest 

 sympathy in its effort to put down this rebellion, and 

 I" am in "favor of doing this effectually and perma- 

 nently in peace if we can, in war if we must. 



John Scott Harrison married Miss Elizabeth 

 Irwin. of Mercersburg, Penn., and they made 

 their home on a farm five miles below that of 

 the widowed mother, at North Bend. Mrs. 

 Harrison was a sweet-tempered, devout woman, 

 who looked well to the ways of her home, knit 

 endless stocking?, and brought up in simple 

 piety her six children. Of these, Benjamin 



