Benjamin Harrison Event Timeline

Benjamin Harrison (23) Event Timeline

03/04/1889– 03/04/1893

1888

06/25/1888

Harrison offers remarks on four occasions at his residence in Indianapolis to groups congratulating him on the news of his nomination. Last among these were a group estimated to number more than 5000.

07/04/1888

Remarks upon the official notification of his nomination by the Republican Convention Notification Committee.

09/11/1888

Letter accepting the Presidential Nomination sent from Indianapolis.

11/06/1888

Election period ends. Harrison wins 58.1% of the Electoral College but narrowly loses the popular vote, defeating Democratic incumbent Grover Cleveland. If Cleveland had won the votes going to Prohibition candidate Clinton Fisk in Indiana, New York, and Ohio, Cleveland would have won the electoral college. Fisk only won 2.3% of the popular vote.

1889

02/25/1889

Leaves for Washington D.C. from Indianapolis.

03/04/1889

Inaugural Address.

03/21/1889

By Proclamation prohibits the hunting of fur-bearing animals in Alaska and the Bering Sea.

03/23/1889

By Proclamation opens land from the Muscogee and Seminole Indians available for settlement.

04/04/1889

By Proclamation celebrates the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration.

04/14/1889 - 06/01/1899

Extensive tour of South and West, includes visits to California, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado.

05/07/1889

Appoints Theodore Roosevelt, known as a reformer, to be a member of the Civil Service Commission. (New York Times, 05/08/1899, p. 5)

05/31/1889

The town of Johnstown, PA, about seventy miles east of Pittsburgh, was destroyed when the South Fork Dam, fourteen miles above the city, failed, during flooding rains. Deaths exceeded 2200. The disaster, The Great Johnstown Flood, drew national attention, and was the first time outside of war that the Red Cross organized relief efforts. Recovery was substantially organized by the Grand Army of the Republic, the association of Union veterans, and also involved the Army Corps of Engineers.

06/04/1889

Offers Remarks and chairs an event at Willard Hall, Washington to raise money and donations for the relief of victims of the Johnstown Flood. "[T]housands of people there are hungry and homeless and penniless, and there is immediate urgency for food to relieve their necessities…"

06/14/1889

Treaty of Berlin establishes Samoan Islands Neutrality. The United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom agree in Berlin and establish a protectorate over the Samoan Islands. (26 Stat 1497) The treaty is ratified by the President on 02/21/1890 and proclaimed on 02/21/1890.

08/03/1889

Summons Director of the Pension Office, James Tanner, to the White House for a warning that his "liberal" interpretation of the pension laws was on track to eliminate the Treasury surpluses.

08/06/1889 - 08/16/1889

Tours the northeast with stops including New Jersey, New York, NY; Boston, MA, Bar Harbor, ME; New Hampshire.

08/12/1889

Remarks at the Grand Army of the Republic National Encampment in Boston. ". . . every President of the United States must realize that the strength of the Government, its defense in war, the army that is to muster under its banner when our nation is assailed, is to be found here in the masses of our people."

08/21/1889 - 08/23/1889

Tours Indiana and Ohio.

09/11/1889

Demands the resignation of James Tanner, Pension Office Director in light of continuing controversy about his policies in granting pension applications. Tanner is offered another position as Marshall in the Southern District of New York. Tanner submits his resignation the next day.

10/02/1889

The first meeting of the Pan American Conference (aka International American Conference) is held in Washington. This had been authorized by law under the Cleveland Administration in 1888. Secretary of State James G. Blaine served as President of the Conference, but in many respects, it did not meet his objectives. (Link to pdf of the Minutes of the Conference.) A goal of the conference was for the United States to replace Great Britain as the dominant economic force in Latin America. The Conference adjourned on 04/19/1890.

11/02/1889

Proclamation that North Dakota becomes a state.

11/02/1889

Proclamation that South Dakota becomes a state.

11/08/1889

Proclamation that Montana becomes a state.

11/11/1889

Proclamation that Washington becomes a state.

12/03/1889

First Annual Message. Says that anti-competitive trusts "are dangerous conspiracies against the public good." Calls for legislation to prohibit and punish them.

Regrets lack of Congressional action to "break up the tribal relation" and "authority of the chiefs and headmen" as interfering with individualism among Indians. Reports that "national schools for Indians have been very successful and should be multiplied."

Reports that enforcement of the Chinese exclusion act has been "very difficult on the northwest frontier" because it is easy to cross the border.

Calls for establishing an intermediate level of appellate courts to help deal with Supreme Court workload. (Below, 03/03/1891.)

Naturalization laws should be revised to encourage "inquiry into the moral character and good disposition toward our Government of the persons applying for citizenship."

Endorses general government promotion of "education of the people" and points out that "a great work remains to be done" in providing education to emancipated slaves. Support of education would be beneficial for Alaska.

"[I]n many parts of our country where the colored population is large the people of that race are by various devices deprived of any effective exercise of their political rights and many of their civil right. . . . [A] sense of justice and respect for the law should work a gradual cure of these flagrant evils."

1890

3/15/1890

By Proclamation hunting of certain animals is banned in Alaska and the Bering Sea. This is an addition to a previous Proclamation made on 03/21/1889.

04/24/1890

Executive order to allow federal officials to arrest those involved in unrest in the state of Florida.

04/25/1890

Signs an act that celebrates the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus by holding an international exhibition in Chicago (26 Stat 62). A corporation will be organized to manage the exposition with a capital stock of no less than ten million dollars; $20,000 is appropriated to support the admission of foreign goods.

05/19/1890

Message to Congress transmitting a report from the International American Conference to survey a route for a potential intercontinental railroad to connect North and South America.

06/06/1890

By Special Message, provides documents to the Senate related to the action authorized by his order of 04/24/1890. "It will always be agreeable to me if the local authorities, acting upon their own sense of duty, maintain the public order in such a way that the officers of the United States shall have no occasion to appeal for the intervention of the General Government; but when this is not done I shall deem it my duty to use the adequate powers vested in the Executive to make it safe and feasible to hold and exercise the offices established by the Federal Constitution and laws.”

06/27/1890

Signs the Dependent Pension Bill (26 Stat 182), giving pensions to veterans who have served 90 days or more, and their families after they die. This leads to a large expansion in the number of pensioners and budgetary outlays. Scholars have seen this act as a forerunner of the modern social welfare state.

07/02/1890

Signs the Sherman Antitrust Act (26 Stat 209), intended to break up trusts operating in interstate commerce. "Ever contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is hereby declared to be illegal."

07/03/1890

Signs Act (26 Stat 215) admitting Idaho as a state--the forty-third state in the Union.

07/10/1890

Signs Act (26 Stat 222) admitting Wyoming as a state-- the forty-fourth state.

07/14/1890

Signs the Sherman Silver Purchase Act (26 Stat 289). This increased the amount of silver the government was allowed to buy each month.

07/29/1890

Message to Congress concerning lotteries--"the robbery of the poor and the widespread corruption of public and private morals." Call for legislation to authorize the Post Office to "purge the mails of all letters, newspapers, and circulars relating to the business." Congress acts in September (bill signed 09/19/1890).

09/19/1890

Signs Act (26 Stat 465) prohibiting the use of the postal service for advertising or administering a lottery.

10/01/1890

Signs the Tariff Act of 1890 (26 Stat 567), also known as the McKinley Tariff, which increases duties on imported goods. The bill was highly controversial since it expanded the power of the President when dealing with foreign trade.

10/16/1890 - 10/13/1890

Speaking tour to Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri. Hopes to counter appeal of burgeoning People’s Party.

11/04/1890

In the midterm election, the Republicans maintained control of the Senate, but lost control of the House in one of the largest midterm seat swings ever--loss of 93 seats (out of 332 total) going from 179 seats to only 86.

12/01/1890

Second Annual Message. Refers to the International American Conference as "a most interesting and influential epoch." Reviews relations with many nations and defends the tariff law. He mentions that the "disability-pension act" is being put into operation but notes that the "liberal enlargement of the general law" will require more careful scrutiny of bills for special relief." Calls for enactment of a national bankruptcy law, the development of American steamship lines, the incorporation of an international American Bank, increasing the salaries of federal judges, and regulating couplers and brakes on railroads in interstate commerce. Of special note, he asks for strengthening existing law providing Federal supervision of Congressional elections--particularly referring to racial discrimination in election administration.

12/04/1890

In Ocala, FL, a movement of the National Farmers’ Alliance proposes to form a new populist party. Proponents oppose the “Force Bill” under consideration in the Senate (aka the Lodge Bill) supported by Harrison, to promote federal supervision of Congressional elections.

12/08/1890

Message to Congress requesting the authority to settlers in Oklahoma aid from the government to survive after flooding from Mississippi River.

12/24/1890

By Proclamation declares that an international exhibition to celebrate Columbus’s arrival in the New World is planned for Chicago. The World’s Columbian Exposition is scheduled to be opened 05/01/1893 and continues until the last Thursday in October 1893.

12/29/1890

A final act in the Federal government's military campaign against the Plains Indians culminates in the Wounded Knee Massacre on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Between 150 and 300 Lakota were killed by US troops.

1891

01/16/1891

Conflict between the Chilean Congress and the President results in fighting between the Chilean Navy (backing Congress) and the Army (backing the President) extending for many months. [The US Navy published a report on the revolution in 1893.] There were several incidents involving the United States. The "Congressional" forces were victorious by the end of September 1891.

01/20/1891

Hawaiian King Kalakaua dies while on a visit to San Francisco. His sister, Liliuokalani, is proclaimed Queen. Over the next year, strong disagreements arise between the Queen and the legislature concerning the constitution and voting rights.

01/30/1891

Issues Executive Order directing official mourning following the unexpected death of Treasury Secretary William Windom. Windom died of a heart attack moments after concluding a speech at a banquet in New York City. Windom's selection by Harrison had been politically risky because it involved rejecting the preferences of powerful New York Republican leaders. Windom had emerged as a trusted advisor to Harrison. 

02/05/1891

By Proclamation United States and Brazil enter into a beneficial trade agreement.

02/07/1891

Signs an act (26 Stat 735) making an apportionment of the House of Representatives, based on the 1890 census, setting the size of the House at 356 effective 1893.

03/03/1891

Signs the Immigration Act of 1891 (26 Stat 1084) excluding many classes of aliens from admission to the US: "All idiots, insane persons, paupers or persons likely to become a public charge, persons suffering from a loathsome or a dangerous contagious disease, . . . "

03/03/1891

Signs the Judiciary Act of 1891 (26 Stat 826), also known as the Evarts Act. The Evarts Act adds a judge to each judicial circuit and creates courts of appeals for each circuit to consist of three judges. The appeals courts will serve as the immediate appeals court from judgments in the circuit courts prior to appealing to the Supreme Court. Supreme Court justices are removed from doing duty on circuit courts.

03/03/1891

Signs the Forest Reserve Act (26 Stat 1095). The act states that "the President of the United States may, from time to time, set apart and reserve, in any State or Territory having public land bearing forests . . . and shall, by public proclamation, declare the establishment of such reservations . . . " The power will be enthusiastically embraced by subsequent presidents.

03/03/1891

Signs the Postal Subsidy Bill (26 Stat 830) allowing the Postmaster General to contract with steamship companies to transport US mail. The payments are restricted to American-built ships.

03/14/1891

Eleven Italian men, referred to in newspapers as members of the mafia, were lynched in New Orleans. The men had previously been acquitted of the murder of the New Orleans Chief of Police. Many citizens firmly believed they were guilty, and that the jury had been corrupted. A mob attacked the prison where the accused were held and shot them to death.

Among the men lynched were several Italian citizens, and the Italian minister protested to the US Government. The President discusses the incident in his Third Annual Message (12/01/1891) and calls for legislation to allow treaty rights of foreigners to be defended in Federal courts.

03/30/1891

By Proclamation creates a large forest reserve adjacent to Yellowstone Park.

04/04/1891 - 05/15/1891

Speaking tour to Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania.

06/15/1891

Proclaims an agreement for a modus vivendi with Great Britain on the issue of fur-seal fishers in the Bering Sea.

08/18/1891 - 08/28/1891

Speaking tour to New York and Vermont. During this summer the White House is wired for electricity.

09/18/1891

By Proclamation land taken from Indian tribes in Iowa is opened for settlement.

10/07/1891

Address to the Methodist Ecumenical Conference in Washington, D.C. "It is for a Christian sentiment, manifesting itself in a nation, to remove forever such causes of [international] dispute; and then what remains will be the easy subject of adjustment by fair international arbitration."

10/16/1891

In Valparaiso, Chile, US sailors from the USS Baltimore were attacked, according to the US Navy report, simultaneously and in different locations. Two died as a result. In his Third Annual Message, Harrison states that the Chilean government reply to US inquiries "was couched in an offensive tone." Much related diplomatic correspondence is found at the State Department.

12/09/1891

Third Annual Message. Discusses civil service reform, methods of voting, the need for the "Force Act" to allow Federal enforcement of voting rights. Notes that a tremendous expansion of the number of pensioners occurred under the law of June 27, 1890. Urges legislation to guarantee the appropriate distribution of water supply in the western territories.

12/23/1891

By Special Message a Board of Geographic Names is created, which is responsible for the uniform naming of geographical landmarks.

1892

01/05/1892

In Special Message to Congress proposes funds be provided to charter a ship to take food supplies to offset a famine in Russia. This is immediately followed by passage of a Joint Resolution in the Senate. The resolution was not approved in the House where opponent argued that the government had not assisted US citizens in distress and that the cost of providing the aid to Russia would prove to be as great as the aid itself. (Link to pdf of the Congressional Record for 01/06/1892.)

01/25/1892

Message to Congress about tensions escalating with Chile over the killing of American soldiers in Valparaiso in October of 1891. Harrison demands an official apology from their government or threatens to sever diplomatic relations and urges Congress to take appropriate action.

01/28/1892

Message to Congress, Chile apologizes for incident involving killing of an American soldier.

02/16/1892

In a Message to Congress, requests a special appropriation to fund public inspectors of mines in the Territories. "Economies which involve a sacrifice of human life are intolerable."

03/08/1892

By Special Message, transmits to the Senate an agreement with Great Britain concerning arbitration of disputes over jurisdiction in the Bering Sea.

04/22/1892

Ratifies a Convention with Great Britain (27 Stat 947) agreeing to submit to an arbitration tribunal disputes with the U.S. concerning jurisdictional rights in the Behring Sea and also concerning the preservation of fur-seals. Agreement on the convention had been reached on 02/29/1892 and it was proclaimed on 05/09/1892. This negotiation had been mentioned in the Second Annual Message.

04/26/1892

Message to Senate requests Congress consider the free coinage of silver at the upcoming International Silver Conference.

05/05/1892

Signs the Chinese Exclusion Act, also known as the Geary Act, (27 Stat 25) continuing in force for another 10 years all laws prohibiting the entry to the US of Chinese persons and persons of Chinese descent. Anyone convicted under the act is subject to punishment of one year at hard labor followed by expulsion. The bill had passed in the Senate by a vote of 30-15 (67%) and the House by a vote of 186-27 (with 115 not voting).

05/21/1892

Letter to the Virginia State Baptist Convention condemns lynchings in the Southern States. "Lynchings are a reproach to any community; they impeach the adequacy of our institutions for the punishment of crime; they brutalize the participants and shame our Christian civilization." But, he adds, under the laws and the Constitution “I am, in a large measure, without the power to interfere . . . "

06/04/1892

Secretary of State James Blaine resigns to pursue the Republican nomination against Harrison.

06/07/1892 - 06/10/1892

Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Harrison renominated with Whitelaw Reid as Vice President. Harrison won on the first ballot. It appears that Harrison had never made a public pronouncement of his desire for reelection, but he had not discouraged his allies who worked diligently toward that end.

06/20/1892

Message to Congress on reciprocal trade with Canada. Points out that Canada discriminates against American vessels in applying tolls for passage through Canadian canals. Urges Congressional action to "secure the rights of our citizens."

06/21/1892 - 06/23/1892

Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. Cleveland nominated for President for a third time with Adlai Stevenson as his Vice-President.

07/06/1892

A violent confrontation, known as the Homestead Steel Strike, breaks out in Homestead, Pennsylvania (8 miles east of Pittsburgh) Steelworkers clash with Pinkerton guards, armed with Winchester rifles, employed by the Carnegie Company. Disagreements had been overt for more than a month. Eleven strikers and 9 Pinkertons are killed in the fighting. On 07/10/1892 the Pennsylvania National Guard mobilizes to bring order. The use of private armed guards to confront workers was very controversial.

Harrison was apparently not asked to provide Federal troops and seems to have made no public comments on this conflict.

07/12/1892

In a violent confrontation at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, mines, 12 nonunion miners were killed by union miners. The Idaho Governor called out the militia to restore order and requested troops from the President. Martial law is imposed in Idaho.

07/15/1892

By Proclamation commands those involved in the "Idaho insurrection" to disperse. There had been conflict between union and non-union workers in the silver mines resulting in the death of at least twelve nonunion workers. These events are known as the Coeur d’Alene riots.

07/30/1892

By Proclamation, orders persons in Wyoming engaged in unlawful and disorderly conduct to retire.

08/01/1892

Signs the "Eight Hour Act" (27 Stat 340) restricting employees of the Federal Government, the District of Columbia, and Federal Government contractors to eight-hour days. Despite this action, Harrison is attacked by Democrats as being "anti-labor."

08/03/1892

Vetoes An Act to amend the Act of Congress approved March 3,1887, entitled "An act to provide for the bringing of suits against the Government of the United States." This was bringing suits against the Government for land patents, but Harrison objects that it is too hard to determine the effects that this act will have on public lands. This bill is too radical and indefinite for approval. The veto is unchallenged.

08/31/1892

Begins a period of intense concentration on the threat of a cholera outbreak.

09/01/1982

In response to the expectation that people soon to be arriving on ships from Europe have been exposed to cholera, the Treasury directs that ships arriving at US ports be held in quarantine for at least 20 days. This action was taken pursuant to an 1878 law (20 Stat 37) concerning the Marine Hospital Service. Under the law, quarantine rules are set by the Secretary of the Treasury "subject to the approval of the President." The New York Times reported that the President determined that a proclamation was not required in this case.

09/03/1892

Harrison letter accepting the Republican Presidential nomination.

09/12/1892

Harrison cancels planned campaigning to attend to his wife, Caroline, who has been in declining health since Spring. They return to the White House on 09/21/1892 and she dies on 10/25/1892--two weeks prior to the election.

11/08/1892

Election Day. Harrison loses bid for a second term to former President Cleveland. Cleveland wins 62% of the electoral vote and a plurality--46%--of the popular vote. Populist Party candidate James B. Weaver wins 5% of the electoral vote and 8.5% of the popular vote, winning electoral votes in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, North Dakota, and Oregon.

12/06/1892

Fourth Annual Message. "There never has been a time in our history when work was so abundant or when wages were as high . . ." Urges the construction of an undersea cable to Hawaii. Notes a payment to the Italian Government as an expression of "reprobation and abhorrence" at the 1891 lynching of Italians in New Orleans. Notes the rapid increase in spending on pensions. Withholds recommendations on silver purchases pending the conclusion of the International Monetary Conference. Urges that quarantine regulations be nationally administered at all ports. Calls for legislation on elections "to free our legislation and our election methods from everything that tends to impair the public confidence in the announced result." "The frequent lynching of colored people accused of crime is without excuse. . . "

12/24/1892

By Proclamation designates Afognak Island, Alaska as a "public reservation" including offshore "fish-culture stations." Some have identified this as, effectively, the first federal wildlife refuge. (See online pdf of 1892 Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries, starting p. 16)

1893

01/04/1893

By Proclamation, pardons Mormons liable to penalties under Federal statute of March 22, 1882, for practicing polygamy or plural marriage, or engaging in unlawful cohabitation.

01/14/1893

Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani proposes a new constitution for Hawaii but is rebuffed by her ministers. She dissolves the legislature. Social disorder ensues with some violence. On the next day, an opposition "provisional government" is formed, headed by Sanford Dole.

01/16/1893

At the direction of US Minister to Hawaii, John L. Stevens, 180 marines from the USS Boston came to Honolulu "for the protection of the lives and property of American citizens." They were widely viewed as in support of the provisional government.

01/17/1893

Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani is deposed and withdraws the proposed constitution. Sanford B. Dole heads the provisional government until President Cleveland withdraws the proposed annexation treaty in 1894. Documentary details of this history (including two prior timeline entries) are found in the 1894 Blount Report.

01/18/1893

Executive Order regarding the death of former President Rutherford B. Hayes.

02/08/1893

Electoral votes tabulated in Congress. Cleveland's victory is official.

02/15/1893

Message to Senate recommending ratification of a treaty annexing Hawaii agreed to on 02/14/1893. In the message recounts his understanding of the history of the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani. This treaty will be withdrawn by President Cleveland in December 1893.

02/21/1893

By Special Message, transmits to Congress the report of the American delegates to the International Monetary Conference. (The Report may be retrieved online.)

02/27/1893

Vetoes "An act to prescribe the number of district attorneys and marshals in the judicial districts of the State of Alabama" which seems not to provide for the current incumbents in the jobs. The veto is overridden on March 3, 1893 (27 Stat 745)--this is the only Harrison veto that was overridden.

03/04/1893

Cleveland is inaugurated, and Harrison returns to Indianapolis to practice law.