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(1740-1791), born in Virginia, was a member of the House of Burgesses in 1764, a member of the Correspondence Committee in 1773, and a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1778. From 1778 to 1782 he was Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and ardently advocated united opposition to Great Britain. He was Governor of the State from 1782 to 1784, and when a delegate to the State Convention of 1788 opposed the ratification of the Constitution as being a national and not a Federal document.

Born August 20, 1833, twenty-third President of the United States, was the grandson of President William Henry Harrison, and was born at North Bend, Ohio. He was graduated at Miami University in 1852, and settled as a lawyer in Indianapolis. He was elected reporter of the Indiana Supreme Court in 1860, but his term was interrupted by the war. He volunteered in 1862 and was colonel of an Indiana regiment; in the battles of Resaca and Peach Tree Creek in 1864 he won distinction. Leaving the army with the brevet of brigadier-general, he resumed his position of Supreme Court reporter. General Harrison was a successful lawyer and campaign orator, and in 1876 he received the Republican nomination for Governor, being defeated by a small majority. His name was presented to the Republican National Convention of 1880. Elected to the U.S. Senate, he served from 1881 to 1887. At the National Convention of 1888 he was a leading candidate from the start, received the nomination, and was elected over President Cleveland in a campaign in which protection was the principal issue. In his Cabinet, Blaine in the State and Windom in the Treasury Department were national figures. Proctor, and later Elkins, was in the War Department, B.F. Tracy in the Navy, Noble in the Interior, Rusk Secretary of Agriculture, Miller Attorney-General, and Wanamaker Postmaster-General. The administration was marked politically by the McKinley Tariff Act in 1890, with the attendant feature of reciprocity; the foreign relations with Chili and Hawaii were matters of interest. In 1892 the President was a candidate for renomination, and received the gift over his powerful rival, Blaine, who resigned from the Cabinet during the contest. President Harrison was in the election again confronted with Cleveland. The Democratic reaction, very marked in 1890, proved to be still in force, and the President was defeated and retired from office in 1893.