Benjamin Harrison Day 2023 (US): Date, History, and Facts

Benjamin Harrison Day is celebrated annually on March 4 to honour the 23rd President of the United States. Benjamin Harrison was the grandson of William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, and the great-grandson of Benjamin Harrison V, one of the Founding Fathers who signed the United States Declaration of Independence. Harrison is infamous for signing the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890, which increased federal spending to $1 billion for the first time in peacetime. Harrison was a lifelong protectionist.

HISTORY OF BENJAMIN HARRISON DAY

Benjamin Harrison Day commemorates the life of a former president and congressman of the United States whose political career began with an unsuccessful bid for the governorship of Indiana. The Indiana General Assembly then elected him to a six-year term in the U.S. Senate, which he served from 1881 to 1887.

Harrison was elected president in 1888 as the Republican candidate, defeating incumbent Democratic president Grover Cleveland. Due to the signing of the controversial McKinley Tariff and the subsequent Sherman Antitrust Act, which saw him yield to the pressure of agrarians and reformers to prohibit industrial trusts, scholars and historians generally view his administration as corrupt. Although he was known for expanding the U.S. Navy to support its active foreign policy and signing the Land Revision Act of 1891 to protect national forests across the country, he became infamous for losing his re-election bid due to the McKinley Tariff Act, a protective tariff bill that many Americans viewed as too supportive of the interests of the wealthy.

In light of the current climate crisis, the facilitation of the creation of national forest reserves through an amendment to the Land Revision Act of 1891 is a commendable achievement of his administration, as is the readmission of six defecting states.

Global Day of the Engineer 2023: Date, History, Facts about Engineering

5 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT BENJAMIN HARRISON

The height of the man

Harrison, at 5 ft 6 inches, is the second-shortest U.S. president, just an inch taller than James Madison.

First expenditure of one billion dollars by the federal government

The McKinley Tariff increased federal expenditures to $1 billion for the first time in history.

Foreign affairs

He once represented Venezuela in a dispute with the United Kingdom over a boundary line.

That is magnetic

He was the first president to have electricity installed in the White House.

A ‘moderate’ Republican

Aside from generous pensions for veterans and education for the freed slaves, he did not agree with his party on many issues.

BENJAMIN HARRISON DAY DATES

Year	Date	Day
2023	March 4	Saturday
2024	March 4	Monday
2025	March 4	Tuesday
2026	March 4	Wednesday
2027	March 4	Thursday