Harrison, the grandson of President William H. Harrison, graduated from Miami (Ohio) University in 1852 and was admitted to the bar in Indianapolis, Indiana. He became a well-established corporate lawyer. He served as a colonel in the Civil War and was elected to the Senate in 1881. He continued in that role until he was nominated for president in 1888. He defeated Cleveland in the election to become the 23rd President. During his administration, he supported the McKinley Tariff Act which imposed higher import duties, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, regulating monopolies, and the Silver Purchase Act, which authorised the minting of additional silver coinage which he hoped would help the silver industry. Although industry benefitted from higher tariffs and a degree of protectionism, they did not pass on these benefits to labor. With an increasingly resentfull labor force and a depressed farm economy, Harrison lost the 1894 election to Grover Cleveland. |
