University of Virginia Library

BENJAMIN HARRISON.

The name of Harrison has been prominent in the annals of American
history, since in 1640, the first Harrison settled in the county of Surrey,
province of Virginia. At the present day, one of that name and race
occupies an honorable position among our legislators.

It seems fitting, therefore, that one of the name should be a Signer of
the Declaration, and this honor was reserved for Benjamin Harrison, born
in Berkeley, Charles City county, Virginia, about 1740. He was the
oldest son of Benjamin Harrison, born also at the family mansion in
Berkeley, and himself a son of a Benjamin Harrison, who was the oldest
born in his father's family. It seems to have been the custom of the
family that the first born male representative in each generation should
have the name of Benjamin, as we trace it back through several generations
where the oldest son was always so named.

The representative of the name of whom we write, was the grandson, on
his mother's side, of Mr. Carter, King's surveyor-general in his day; so
that we see he was a fitting representative of the Virginian families in whose
interest he voted for the independence of the colony.

He entered public life in 1764, becoming a member of the House of
Burgesses of Virginia, where his abilities, family prominence and social
gifts soon made him a leader. He had before this proved his executive
ability by managing the family estates from the death of his father, while
he was yet a student in William and Mary College, so that their value was
greatly increased.

The representatives of the British ministry, pursuing their usual course
toward a colonist who seemed of prominence and likely to lead the people,
endeavored to purchase his influence in the interest of England, by soliciting
him to become a member of the governor's executive council, the
highest office open to one born in the colonies, the governor being always
a native of Great Britain. Benjamin Harrison, closely noting the course
of events, and sympathizing with the position of the colonists, refused to
bind himself to work against their interests, or even to remain neutral, and
declined the honor.

November 14, 1764, he was one of the members of the House appointed
to prepare an address to the King, a memorial to the House of Lords, and
a remonstrance to the House of Commons against the Stamp Act.

During the next ten years he was constantly a member of the House of
Burgesses, and was one of those illustrious Virginians, among whom were
Randolph, Wythe, Jefferson and Lee, who fought, step by step, in the
interest of their colony, against the accumulating encroachments of the
tyrannical representatives of the British crown.

In August, 1774, Benjamin Harrison was one of seven delegates
appointed to represent Virginia in the Congress of Delegates, called to
meet in Philadelphia, to discuss the mutual interests of the colonies, and on
September 5, 1774, he took his seat in the First Continental Congress,
convened in Carpenter's Hall in that city, where he had the pleasure of
seeing a Virginian occupy the first presidential chair in that body.

March 20, 1775, the second Virginia convention assembled in Richmond,
of which convention Benjamin Harrison was a member. Before
the convention adjourned, they elected delegates to the second General
Congress, and Mr. Harrison was among those returned, and in May, 1775,
he again repaired to Philadelphia, to take his seat in the second Congress.

Here, in a house he had taken with his coadjutors, George Washington
and Peyton Randolph, he entertained his friends with true Southern hospitality
and prodigality, often exceeding his means.

During this Congress, Randolph, then presiding officer, was recalled to
Virginia, by public duties there, and Hancock, of Massachusetts, was
unanimously elected president in his stead. While he was hesitating as to
his ability to fill the position as his predecessor had done, Harrison caught
him in his athletic arms and forcibly seated him in the presidential chair,
crying aloud: "We will show Mother Britian how little we care for her,
by making a Massachusetts man our president, whom she has excluded
from pardon by a public proclamation."

June 24, 1775, Mr. Harrison was made chairman of the board of war.
August 1, Congress adjourned, and on the 11th of August, the Virginia
convention a third time returned Mr. Harrison as their representative, and
on September 13 he took his seat.

In that month he was one of a committee of three sent to consult with
Washington, the commander-in-chief of the army, and with the governors
of several colonies, regarding the interests of the Continental army.
November 29 he was made chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs,
and three days later was sent to help the people of Maryland to raise some
naval force with which to meet Lord Dunmore who, driven from Virginia,
had gathered a band of desperadoes and renegades, and was laying waste
the coast of the Chesapeake.

During the troubled days for the Continental Congress with which the
year 1776 opened, Benjamin Harrison was busy in the interests of the
colonists. January 17, he brought in a report regulating the recruiting
service; on the 24th he was placed on a committee to establish a general
war department; on the 26th he was one of three sent to New York to
arrange with Lee a plan for its defense; and immediately upon his return

he was named on a committee for arranging military departments in the
Middle and Southern colonies. March 6, he became chairman of the
Committee of Marines. In May he was chairman of the committee on the
Canada expedition; May 25, was appointed chairman of a committee of
fourteen whose arduous duty it was to arrange a plan for the coming campaign.

Through the first days of that stormy year Benjamin Harrison was ever
at his post, working indefatigably for the interests of the people, until
August 11, when his term of service expired and he returned to Virginia,
having first had the pleasure of affixing his signature, as one of Virginia's
representatives, to the Declaration of Independence, and the honor of
presiding over the Committee of the Whole who discussed the question
through its most momentous days, June 8-12, 1776.

During the remainder of 1776, Benjamin Harrison was one of the eight
counselors of State, whose duty it was to guide the political affairs of
Virginia. In the fall of 1776, Thomas Jefferson resigned his seat in the
senate, and Mr. Harrison, on the 10th of October, was chosen to fill out
his term, and took his seat November 5, having been absent from Congress
less than three months. By resolution of Congress he was immediately
restored to his former place on all standing committees.

Through the dark days of the terrible winter of 1776-7, he was always
active and hopeful in the interests of the colonies, and on May 22, 1777,
by joint ballot of both houses, Virginia returned him first of her delegates
to Congress, and for the fourth time he took his seat in that body, and, as
before, was actively engaged on committees, and presiding over the deliberations
of the house.

Toward the close of 1777, Benjamin Harrison permanently retired
from Congress, leaving behind him the character of one who was ardent,
honorable, prudent and persevering in the interests of those who entrusted
their rights in his keeping.

Again in Virginia, he was immediately returned by his county to the
House of Burgesses, and elected speaker of that body, which office he held
uninterruptedly until 1782. During this time he was chief magistrate in
his county, and commander of the militia, bearing the title of "colonel,"
by which title he is generally spoken of in the records of his State.

In 1782, Benjamin Harrison was elected governor of Virginia, on the
resignation of Thomas Nelson, and through the arduous duties of the trying
times which accompanied the close of the Revolution, filled the executive
chair with wisdom and to the best interests of the people.

After being twice re-elected governor, Mr. Harrison became ineligible
by the provisions of the constitution, and in 1785 returned to private life.
In 1790, against his wishes, he was again brought forward as a candidate
for the executive chair, and was defeated by two or three votes.

In the spring of 1791, Mr. Harrison was attacked by a severe fit of the

gout, from which, however, he partially rallied. In April, 1791, he was
unanimously elected to the legislature, and in the evening following the
announcement of his success, he entertained his friends at a dinner party,
receiving their congratulations, and assurances that he was to be the next
governor of Virginia.

During the night following, a dangerous return of his illness seized him,
and his death speedily followed.

The wife of Benjamin Harrison was Elizabeth, a daughter of Colonel
William Bassett, of Eltham, New Kent county, Virginia, and a daughter
of the sister of Martha Washington. She was a very beautiful woman,
remembered as being as good as she was beautiful, and survived her husband
only one year. They had many children, of whom three sons and
four daughters lived to mature years. Their third son, William Henry
Harrison, was ninth President of the United States.