Benjamin Harrison has the distinction of being the last general from the Civil War to serve as president of the United States. Presidential historians generally give poor ranking to the men who served as president from the end of the Civil War to the period just after Reconstruction. Ranking presidents can be somewhat tricky, and placing Harrison among the least competent or mediocre of presidents to serve may be an unfair characterization.
Regardless, Harrison's rise to the highest elected office in the land is often attributed to his catering to party bosses rather than his leadership ability. Other historians are willing to overlook Harrison's carefully cultivated relationships with party bosses as being what a person had to do if they wanted to serve in an elected office during the nineteenth century. Harrison's legacy can be viewed as separate from the political machinations of elections.
Harrison's legislative legacy begins with his support for higher tariffs. Harrison was a strong advocate and signed legislation, including the McKinley Tariff and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which historians believe created the conditions for a collapse in the economy and led to the depression in 1893. To the average citizen working in a factory or farmers who saw their way of life endangered by the economic policies of the Harrison administration, Harrison appeared callous, unfeeling, and out of touch with the economic realities facing most of the country's citizens.
Presidential politics and rankings are almost always related to the economy. In this area, Harrison failed to give the appearance he cared, and his indifference to the country's financial woes lead people to think he simply did not understand the poor financial situation many Americans found themselves in as a result of the policies of his administration.
In other ways, Harrison was an early progressive in a conservative era. Some historians go so far as to say Harrison's policies may have influenced both Roosevelts, Theodore and Franklin; Theodore on America's expanding role in international affairs and Franklin on how not to address an economy in critical condition. Some examples are Harrison's support of a canal in Central America and his expansionist attitude toward Hawaii seems right in line with Theodore Roosevelt's conceptions of American expansionist policies.
Harrison also promoted a progressive attitude towards the civil rights of African Americans, conservation, and global trade. Harrison tacitly and indirectly supported labor rights: he signed the Sherman Anti-trust Act which for the first time regulated monopolies and indirectly helped workers by addressing monopolies that hurt consumers and workers with few competitive opportunities for employment.
Before becoming president, Senator Harrison promoted other ideas including paying Civil War veterans a pension, expanding the rights of homesteaders, arguing for the rights of Native Americans in land disputes, and reforming immigration in his opposition to the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited the immigration of Chinese people to the United States. The act passed, but Harrison was not in support of it.
When taken in total, Benjamin Harrison's political career may not be as impressive as other presidents; however, historians have begun to reevaluate Harrison in the context of the times he served. From this perspective, Harrison enjoys a higher ranking than previously accorded, and his legacy should reflect his influence on the future presidencies of the Roosevelts, who remain very highly thought of in American history.
https://bhpsite.org/learn/
https://millercenter.org/president/bharrison/impact-and-legacy
https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/benjamin-harrison
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