General Harrison and party, en route to Washington, D.C.

Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833 – March 13, 1901) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 23rd President of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was the grandson of the ninth president, William Henry Harrison. Before ascending to the presidency, Harrison established himself as a prominent local attorney, Presbyterian church leader, and politician in Indiana. During the American Civil War, he served the Union as a colonel and later a brevet brigadier general. He was later elected to the U.S. Senate by the Indiana legislature. A Republican, Harrison was elected to the presidency in 1888, defeating the Democratic incumbent Grover Cleveland after conducting one of the first "front-porch" campaigns by delivering short speeches to delegations that visited him in Indianapolis. "We Americans have no commission from God to police the world."