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174-716: The Intercontinental Correspondence University was announced to have been incorporated in Washington, D.C., in August 1904, with a capital stock of $ 1,000,000. The report of its establishment noted: The incorporators and the trustees are Justice David J. Brewer and Justice Henry Brown of the supreme court of the United States, Senator Chauncey M. Depew of New York, the Rev. Edward Everett Hale , Senator George F. Hoar of Massachusetts, Henry B. F. MacFarland , commissioner of

348-608: A Founding Father . A Union Army veteran and a Republican, he defeated incumbent Grover Cleveland to win the presidency in 1888 and was defeated for a second term by Cleveland in 1892. Harrison was born on a farm by the Ohio River and graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio . After moving to Indianapolis , he established himself as a prominent local attorney, Presbyterian church leader, and politician in Indiana . During

522-580: A substantive component that limited state regulatory authority, was at odds with the Court's holding in Munn that rate-setting was a matter for legislators, not judges, to decide. Strenuously dissenting in Budd v. New York , Brewer derided Munn as "radically unsound" and, using a phrase that according to Brodhead "has ever since linked his name to opposition to reform", wrote: "The paternal theory of government

696-521: A 2–1 majority concluded that local school boards had no authority beyond the powers expressly given to them by state law; since state law did not expressly authorize school boards to create separate schools for blacks and whites, he determined that segregation in Ottawa was not permissible. In what the law professor Andrew Kull characterized as an "angry dissent", Brewer disagreed. He maintained that school boards could act without explicit authorization from

870-539: A 5–4 vote that Puerto Rico was not a foreign country under federal tariff law. In another Insular Case, Downes v. Bidwell , Brewer joined Fuller's dissent when the Court upheld a provision of the Foraker Act that imposed an otherwise-unconstitutional tariff on Puerto Rico. In that dissent, the Chief Justice accepted that the federal government had the ability to obtain new territories but contended that

1044-639: A Commissioner for the U.S. Court of Claims . Harrison became a founding member and first president of both the University Club, a private gentlemen's club in Indianapolis, and the Phi Delta Theta Alumni Club. Harrison and his wife became members and assumed leadership positions at Indianapolis's First Presbyterian Church. Having grown up in a Whig household, Harrison initially favored that party's politics, but joined

1218-507: A Virginia planter who signed the Declaration of Independence and succeeded Thomas Nelson Jr. as governor of Virginia . Harrison was seven years old when his grandfather was elected U.S. president, but he did not attend the inauguration . His family was distinguished, but his parents were not wealthy. John Scott Harrison, a two-term U.S. congressman from Ohio , spent much of his farm income on his children's education. Despite

1392-507: A brain" and was a "menace to the welfare of the Nation". Brewer adhered to a liberal form of Congregationalism, focusing on Jesus's ethical teachings and God's love for humankind instead of sin, hell, and theological principles more generally. He attended church all his life and taught Sunday school in Kansas and Washington, D.C. A firm supporter of missionary efforts, he was a member of

1566-533: A brief furlough in Indianapolis", but he caught scarlet fever and was delayed for a month, and then spent "several months training replacement troops in South Carolina". On January 23, 1865, Lincoln nominated Harrison to the grade of brevet brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from that date, and the Senate confirmed the nomination on February 14, 1865. Harrison was promoted because of his success at

1740-852: A candidate, Blaine left the country and was staying with Andrew Carnegie in Scotland when the convention began. He did not return to the U.S. until August, and the delegates finally accepted his refusal to be nominated. After New York switched to Harrison's column, he gained the needed momentum for victory. The party nominated Harrison for president on the eighth ballot, 544 votes to 108. Levi P. Morton of New York—a banker, former U.S. Minister to France, and former U.S. congressman—was chosen as his running mate. At their National Convention in St. Louis , Democrats rallied behind Cleveland and his running mate, Senator Allen G. Thurman ; Vice President Hendricks had died in office on November 25, 1885. After returning to

1914-431: A case during Harrison's time in office (against a Tennessee coal company), and initiated several other cases against trusts. One of the most volatile questions of the 1880s was whether the currency should be backed by gold and silver or by gold alone . The issue cut across party lines, with western Republicans and southern Democrats joining in the call for the free coinage of silver and both parties' representatives in

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2088-402: A circuit judge, he heard a wide variety of cases, including federal civil disputes, matters arising under the court's diversity jurisdiction , and the occasional criminal prosecution. Most cases were under the circuit court's original jurisdiction , although Brewer heard a few appeals from federal district courts . In Chicago & N.W. Railway Co. v. Dey , a railroad company argued that

2262-435: A conservative", the legal scholar J. Gordon Hylton wrote in 1994 that "to say that he was a self-conscious defender of the interests of corporate America or an enthusiastic disciple of laissez-faire is both unfair and inaccurate". Brewer held an activist conception of the judicial role. His constitutional views were shaped by his religious beliefs, and he emphasized natural justice in his written opinions. According to

2436-474: A day was challenged in the 1908 case of Muller v. Oregon , Brewer wrote the Court's unanimous opinion upholding it. He favorably cited an extensive brief filed by Louis Brandeis (the Brandeis brief ) that, using statistics and other evidence, argued that the law was appropriate as a matter of public policy. In an opinion that has been condemned as patronizing toward women, Brewer argued that Oregon's law

2610-574: A decision that, according to Brodhead, "contributed much to [the Fuller Court's] reputation for favoritism toward corporate and other forms of wealth". Pollock involved a provision of the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act of 1894 that levied a two-percent tax on incomes and corporate profits that exceeded $ 4000 a year. Its challengers took the tax to court, where they argued that it was a direct tax that had not been apportioned evenly among

2784-550: A federal appellate court judge in Chicago —also sought the delegates' support at the 1888 Republican National Convention . Harrison "marshaled his troops" to stop Gresham from gaining control of the Indiana delegation while simultaneously presenting himself "as an attractive alternative to Blaine." Blaine did not publicly endorse anyone, but on March 1, 1888, he privately wrote that "the one man remaining who in my judgment can make

2958-423: A federal law against yellow-dog contracts . According to Hylton, the common view that Brewer uniformly opposed regulations is inaccurate. Maintaining that "Brewer's bark proved to be worse than his bite", he observes that the justice voted to uphold state regulatory action in nearly eighty percent of cases. When an Oregon law that kept female employees of factories and laundries from working more than ten hours

3132-580: A few months, he joined the Pike's Peak gold rush and headed west in search of fortune. Having found no gold, he settled in Leavenworth, Kansas Territory , a city of about ten thousand that was both a center of regional commerce and the home of several notable figures in Kansas's legal community. After a short period of work at a law firm in Leavenworth, Brewer began a legal practice of his own with

3306-475: A justice switched his position; scholars have suggested a number of possible explanations, but Brodhead concludes that Brewer was unlikely to have changed his vote. ) The Pollock decision, which was in effect overruled by the Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution , has conventionally been condemned as unfaithful to precedent , at odds with public opinion, and protective of the interests of

3480-445: A large new cottage at Cape May Point for Harrison's wife, Caroline . Many believed the cottage gift appeared improper and amounted to a bribe for a cabinet position. Harrison made no comment on the matter for two weeks, then said he had always intended to purchase the cottage once Caroline approved. On July 2, perhaps a little tardily to avoid suspicion, Harrison gave Wanamaker a check for $ 10,000 (equivalent to $ 339,111 in 2023) for

3654-603: A lifelong Presbyterian. After his college graduation in 1852, Harrison studied law with Judge Bellamy Storer of Cincinnati , but before he completed his studies, he returned to Oxford, Ohio, to marry Caroline Scott on October 20, 1853. Caroline's father, a Presbyterian minister, performed the ceremony. The Harrisons had two children, Russell Benjamin Harrison and Mary "Mamie" Scott Harrison . Harrison and his wife returned to live at The Point, his father's farm in southwestern Ohio, while he finished his law studies. Harrison

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3828-427: A more moderate interpretation of the Fuller Court as a body, some revisionist historians actually made Brewer seem even more of a reactionary figure than before". Nonetheless, a few scholarly voices, including Semonche, Brodhead, Hylton, and Purcell, have favored reevaluating the justice's reputation. Brodhead concluded his 1994 biography of Brewer by writing that he "deserves to be remembered as an important figure of

4002-555: A much misunderstood period in the judicial history of the United States". Benjamin Harrison [REDACTED] Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833 – March 13, 1901) was the 23rd president of the United States , serving from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia —a grandson of the ninth president, William Henry Harrison , and a great-grandson of Benjamin Harrison ;V ,

4176-535: A particularly cold winter, Harrison prepared coffee and brought it to his freezing men at night; his constant catchphrase as he took lead of his men was: "Come on, boys!" Harrison earned a reputation as a strong leader and an officer who did not abandon his soldiers in battle. At the Battle of Resaca on May 15, 1864, Harrison faced Confederate Captain Max Van Den Corput's artillery battery, which occupied

4350-644: A partner. In 1861, he was appointed commissioner of the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Kansas, an administrative position in which he issued warrants and completed paperwork. He continued to practice law, and he served as a second lieutenant in the "Lane Rifles," one of the companies of the Kansas militia , during the Civil War . In 1862, after unsuccessfully seeking the Republican nomination for

4524-572: A position "some eighty yards in front of the main Confederate lines". Sherman, renewing his assault on the center of the Confederate lines begun the previous day, was halted by Corput's four-gun, parapet-protected artillery battery; the battery was well placed to bedevil the Union ranks, and became "the center of a furious struggle". Corput's artillery redoubt was highly fortified "with three infantry regiments in...rifle pits and four more regiments in

4698-532: A problem exacerbated by Pension Bureau commissioner James R. Tanner 's expansive interpretation of the pension laws. An investigation into the Pension Bureau by Secretary of Interior John Willock Noble found evidence of lavish and illegal handouts under Tanner. Harrison, who privately believed that appointing Tanner had been a mistake, due to his apparent loose management style and tongue, asked Tanner to resign and replaced him with Green B. Raum . Raum

4872-457: A regiment, although he would not ask him to serve. Harrison recruited throughout northern Indiana to raise a regiment. Morton offered him the command, but Harrison declined, as he had no military experience. He was initially commissioned as a captain and company commander on July 22, 1862. Morton commissioned Harrison as a colonel on August 7, 1862, and the newly formed 70th Indiana was mustered into federal service on August 12, 1862. Once mustered,

5046-463: A seat in the state legislature, he hesitantly accepted a nomination to be the party's candidate for judge of Leavenworth County 's criminal and probate courts. Although he was only twenty-five years old, he won the election. As a judge, Brewer punished criminals harshly; despite his inexperience, he quickly gained a reputation as a competent jurist. Having been urged by several local attorneys to run, Brewer sought and won election in 1864 as judge of

5220-540: A seat on the Kansas Supreme Court . In the heavily Republican state, Brewer won the general election handily; he was easily reelected in 1876 and 1882. According to Brian J. Moline, his opinions on the state Supreme Court, "while well within the conventions of the time, exhibit an individualistic, even progressive, instinct". In a landmark women's rights decision in Wright v. Noell , he ruled in favor of

5394-421: A statement that, according to the legal scholar William M. Wiecek, "would be unthinkable today" from a Supreme Court justice: that the United States "is a Christian nation". He cited religious elements of historical documents, court decisions, and "American life as expressed by its laws, its business, its customs and its society" in support of his thesis that Congress could not have intended to bar clergymen from

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5568-611: A two cent per pound subsidy on their production. Even with the reductions and reciprocity, the McKinley Tariff enacted the highest average rate in American history, and the spending associated with it contributed to the reputation of the Billion-Dollar Congress . Members of both parties were concerned with the growth of the power of trusts and monopolies , and one of the first acts of the 51st Congress

5742-522: A vote in the landmark case of Plessy v. Ferguson —he had returned home to Kansas due to the death of his daughter—Paul states that that he undoubtedly would have joined the majority opinion upholding " separate but equal " segregation laws had he been present. Brewer "passionately protested the treatment of the Chinese, on both procedural and substantive grounds", according to Fiss. In Fong Yue Ting v. United States , he vigorously dissented when

5916-500: A woman who had been elected to serve as county superintendent of public instruction, reversing a lower court's holding that she was ineligible to serve. Brewer rendered rulings that were sympathetic to Native Americans, and he emphasized the best interests of the child in child custody cases. In Board of Education v. Tinnon , Brewer dissented when the court held that the city of Ottawa, Kansas , could not lawfully segregate its schools. Justice Daniel M. Valentine 's opinion for

6090-647: Is to me odious." His opinion for a unanimous Court in Reagan v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. built on the Chicago, Milwaukee decision, curtailing Munn and asserting that the judiciary could review the reasonableness of railroad rates. He joined the majority in Allgeyer v. Louisiana , the first case to deploy the liberty of contract doctrine; the decision held that the Due Process Clause protected

6264-619: The American Bible Society and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions . Brewer married Louise R. Landon, a native of Vermont, in 1861; they had four children. Louise died in 1898, and Brewer wed Emma Miner Mott three years afterward. Brewer's hobbies included going to the theater, hunting, playing cards, reading detective stories, and vacationing at a cottage in Vermont on Lake Champlain . He

6438-551: The American Civil War , he served in the Union Army as a colonel , and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a brevet brigadier general of volunteers in 1865. Harrison unsuccessfully ran for governor of Indiana in 1876. The Indiana General Assembly elected Harrison to a six-year term in the Senate, where he served from 1881 to 1887. A Republican , Harrison was elected to the presidency in 1888 , defeating

6612-583: The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 , which his party supported, because he thought it violated existing treaties with China . In 1884, Harrison and Gresham competed for influence at the 1884 Republican National Convention ; the delegation ended up supporting Senator James G. Blaine , the eventual nominee. During the Mugwump rebellion led by reform Republicans against Blaine's candidacy, Harrison at first stood aloof, "refusing to put his hat in

6786-815: The Democratic incumbent Grover Cleveland in the Electoral College while losing the popular vote. Hallmarks of Harrison's administration were unprecedented economic legislation, including the McKinley Tariff , which imposed historic protective trade rates, and the Sherman Antitrust Act . Harrison also facilitated the creation of the national forest reserves through an amendment to the Land Revision Act of 1891. During his administration six western states were admitted to

6960-602: The Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments broadly to protect property rights from various regulations. Three months after his appointment, he joined the majority in Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co. v. Minnesota , a case in which the Court struck down the railroad rates set by a Minnesota commission. The decision, which endorsed the idea that the Due Process Clause contained

7134-631: The Holy Trinity Episcopal Church hired E. Walpole Warren, a British clergyman, to be the church's rector . The church was fined $ 1000 for violating the Alien Contract Labor Act of 1885 , under which it was "unlawful for any person, company, partnership, or corporation   ... to prepay the transportation, or in any way assist or encourage the importation or migration of any alien   ... under contract   ... to perform labor or service of any kind in

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7308-557: The Panic of 1873 , was financially successful enough to build a grand new home in Indianapolis in 1874. He continued to make speeches on behalf of Republican candidates and policies. In 1876, when a scandal forced the original Republican nominee, Godlove Stein Orth , to drop out of the gubernatorial race, Harrison accepted the party's invitation to take his place on the ticket. He centered his campaign on economic policy and favored deflating

7482-481: The Republican Party shortly after its formation in 1856 and campaigned on behalf of Republican presidential candidate John C. Frémont . In 1857 Harrison was elected Indianapolis city attorney, a position that paid an annual salary of $ 400 (equivalent to $ 13,080 in 2023). In 1858, Harrison entered into a law partnership with William Wallace to form the law office of Wallace and Harrison. In 1860, he

7656-585: The Supreme Court of the District of Columbia appointed Edwin C. Dutton as receiver of the Intercontinental Correspondence University, pursuant to a petition for voluntary dissolution. At that time, the assets of the institution were described as consisting of "furniture valued at $ 685 and accounts receivable estimated at $ 5,000". The present trustees say that the score of the corporation has never obtained and for

7830-528: The Supreme Court of the United States died in 1889, President Benjamin Harrison nominated Brewer to succeed him. Despite some objections from prohibitionists, the U.S. Senate voted 53–11 to confirm Brewer, and he took the oath of office on January 6, 1890. Brewer opposed governmental interference in the free market and rejected the Supreme Court's decision in Munn v. Illinois (1877), which had upheld

8004-670: The freedom of contract . He and Justice Rufus W. Peckham were the "intellectual leaders" of the Fuller Court , according to the legal academic Owen M. Fiss . Brewer has been viewed negatively by most scholars, though a few have argued that his reputation as a reactionary deserves to be reconsidered. Born in Smyrna (modern-day İzmir , Turkey) to Congregationalist missionaries, Brewer attended Wesleyan University , Yale University , and Albany Law School . He headed west and settled in Leavenworth, Kansas , where he practiced law. Brewer

8178-636: The territories that the United States acquired after the Spanish–American War ), Brewer opposed Justice Edward Douglass White 's doctrine of incorporation —the idea that the Constitution did not fully apply to Guam, Hawaii, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico because they had not been "incorporated" by Congress. He joined the majority in DeLima v. Bidwell , a case in which the Court held by

8352-650: The "present Administration and the Democratic majority in Congress owe their existence to the suppression of the ballot by a criminal nullification of the Constitution." Anticipating a principal part of Harrison's campaign, the convention also declared itself "uncompromisingly in favor of the American system of protection " and protested "against its destruction as proposed by the President and his party." The tariff

8526-484: The 1888 election. High tariff rates had created a surplus of money in the Treasury, which led many Democrats (as well as the growing Populist movement) to call for lowering them. Most Republicans preferred to maintain the rates, spend the surplus on internal improvements , and eliminate some internal taxes. Representative William McKinley and Senator Nelson W. Aldrich framed the McKinley Tariff , which would raise

8700-580: The 1st Brigade of the 1st Division of the XX Corps . He commanded the brigade at the battles of Resaca , Cassville , New Hope Church , Lost Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain , Marietta , Peachtree Creek , and Atlanta . When Sherman's main force began its March to the Sea , Harrison's brigade was transferred to the District of Etowah and participated in the Battle of Nashville . While encamped near Nashville, during

8874-405: The Battle of Peachtree Creek, on July 20, 1864, Harrison commanded his brigade against General W. S. Featherston's Mississippi Brigade, stopping the latter's "fierce assault" over Collier Road. At Peachtree Creek, Harrison's brigade comprised the 102nd , 105th , and 129th Illinois Infantry Regiments , the 79th Ohio Infantry Regiment , and his 70th Indiana Regiment; his brigade deployed in about

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9048-640: The Civil War, Indiana citizenship and membership in the Presbyterian Church. Nevertheless, Harrison had alienated pivotal Republican operatives from New York to Pennsylvania to Iowa with these choices and prematurely compromised his political power and future. His normal schedule provided for two full cabinet meetings per week, as well as separate weekly one-on-one meetings with each cabinet member. In June 1890, Harrison's Postmaster General John Wanamaker and several Philadelphia friends purchased

9222-475: The Constitution limited its sovereignty over them. Although Brewer did not write an opinion in any of the Insular Cases, he held strong views on the matters they presented: he opposed imperialism in public remarks and wrote a letter to Fuller urging him to "stay on the court till we overthrow this unconstitutional idea of colonial supreme control". According to the historian Linda Przybyszewski, Brewer

9396-505: The Court as a whole sided with Asians in only 6 out of the 23 cases decided during his tenure, Brewer voted in their favor 18 times. Brodhead suggests that the justice, a lifelong advocate of Christian efforts to evangelize the world, may have felt that treating the Chinese compassionately would further the missionary cause. In the Insular Cases (a group of decisions on whether constitutional protections applied to those living in

9570-519: The Court ruled that Chinese non-citizens could be deported without being provided with due process , decrying the majority's understanding of the federal government's powers as "indefinite and dangerous". A displeased Brewer dissented in both United States v. Sing Tuck and United States v. Ju Toy , immigration cases in which the majority declined to review the decisions of administrative officials; in Sing Tuck , he wrote: "I cannot believe that

9744-496: The Court sustained a federal law that forbade the interstate transportation of lottery tickets . He joined an opinion by Fuller, who argued that the majority was disturbing the balance between states and the federal government by effectively giving the latter a general police power . In United States v. E. C. Knight Co. , Brewer joined Fuller's opinion for an 8–1 majority holding that the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 did not forbid manufacturing monopolies because manufacturing

9918-418: The Court's opinion, which was written by Peckham; it maintained that due process included a right to enter labor contracts without being subject to unreasonable governmental regulation. Peckham rejected the state's argument that the law was intended to protect workers' health, citing the "common understanding" that baking was not unhealthy. He maintained that bakers could protect their own health, arguing that

10092-481: The Court, opposing firmly the expansion of government regulatory power, state or federal" and making "little pretense of 'judicial self-restraint' and few compromises to Court consensus". Some scholars argued in the 1990s that Brewer's jurisprudence was less extreme than generally thought, contending that his reputation as a reactionary was based largely on a small and unrepresentative sample of his comments and opinions. While accepting that "Brewer can fairly be labeled

10266-485: The Democrats redistricted the Indiana state legislature, which resulted in an increased Democratic majority in 1886, despite a statewide Republican majority. In 1887, largely as a result of the Democratic gerrymandering of Indiana's legislative districts, Harrison was defeated for reelection. After a deadlock in the state senate , the state legislature eventually chose Democrat David Turpie as Harrison's successor in

10440-436: The District of Columbia, Channing Rudd , registrar of Columbia university, Martin A. Knapp , chairman of the interstate commerce commission, and Walter C. Clephane , a prominent Washington attorney. The Capital stock is $ 1,000,000 divided into 10,000 shares at $ 100 each. The object of the corporation is stated to be "to give and furnish instructions by mail or otherwise, in any or all branches of knowledge in any or all parts of

10614-528: The First Judicial District of Kansas, which encompassed Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties. In that position, he held a general in contempt of court and ruled that a man who was one-quarter black had the right to vote. Brewer was elected county attorney in 1868, serving until 1870; he also resumed the private practice of law. In 1870, the state's Republicans unexpectedly nominated Brewer instead of incumbent Justice Jacob Safford for

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10788-541: The Holy Trinity v. United States (1892) contained a frequently criticized claim that the United States "is a Christian nation". Off the bench, he was a prolific public speaker who decried Progressive reforms and criticized President Theodore Roosevelt ; he also advocated for peace and served on an arbitral commission that resolved a boundary dispute between Venezuela and the United Kingdom . He remained on

10962-423: The Inaugural Ball inside the Pension Building with a large crowd attending. After moving into the White House, Harrison noted, quite prophetically, "There is only a door—one that is never locked—between the president's office and what are not very accurately called his private apartments. There should be an executive office building, not too far away, but wholly distinct from the dwelling house. For everyone else in

11136-484: The Peithologian literary society and a group known as the Mystical Seven . Brewer transferred to Yale two years later; he took classes in political philosophy, the U.S. Constitution, Hebrew, mathematics, theology, and other topics. His classmates included Henry Billings Brown , who later served with him on the Supreme Court, and Chauncey Depew , a future senator. Brewer expressed interest in politics during his college years, and he wrote numerous forceful letters to

11310-434: The Republican Party and an "immortal champion of liberty and the rights of the people." Republican presidents Grant, Garfield, and Arthur were likewise acknowledged with "remembrance and gratitude". The "fundamental idea of the Republican party" was declared to be "hostility to all forms of despotism and oppression", and the Brazilian people were congratulated for their recent abolition of slavery . The convention alleged that

11484-504: The Republican nomination was the previous nominee, James G. Blaine of Maine . After his narrow loss to Cleveland in 1884, Blaine became the front-runner for 1888, but removed his name from contention. After he wrote several letters denying any interest in the nomination, his supporters divided among other candidates, Senator John Sherman of Ohio foremost among them. Others, including Chauncey Depew of New York , Russell Alger of Michigan , and Harrison's old nemesis Walter Q. Gresham—now

11658-407: The Republicans' defeat in the 1890 midterm elections . Cleveland defeated Harrison for reelection in 1892 , due to the growing unpopularity of high tariffs and high federal spending. Harrison returned to private life and his law practice in Indianapolis. In 1899, he represented Venezuela in its British Guiana boundary dispute with Great Britain . Harrison traveled to the court in Paris as part of

11832-411: The Senate. Harrison served in the Senate from March 4, 1881, to March 3, 1887, and chaired the U.S. Senate Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard ( 47th Congress ) and the U.S. Senate Committee on Territories ( 48th and 49th Congresses ). In 1881, the major issue confronting Senator Harrison was the budget surplus. Democrats wanted to reduce the tariff and limit the amount of money

12006-454: The Senate. Harrison returned to Indianapolis and resumed his law practice, but stayed active in state and national politics. A year after his senatorial defeat, Harrison declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination; he dubbed himself a "living and rejuvenated Republican", a reference to his lack of a power base. Thereafter, the phrase "'Rejuvenated Republicanism' became the slogan of his presidential campaign." The initial favorite for

12180-427: The Sherman Act outlawed only unreasonable restraints on commerce. Brewer joined the majority in other decisions that applied the antitrust laws more broadly, including United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Association and Addyston Pipe & Steel Co. v. United States . In the well-known case of In re Debs , Brewer's opinion for the Court "open[ed] the door for more extensive use of injunctive power by

12354-484: The Supreme Court on the grounds that the court had no authority to issue the injunction. Brewer, writing for a unanimous Court, disagreed. He wrote that the executive branch had the power "to brush away all obstructions" to interstate commerce by force if necessary and concluded that an injunction could lawfully be issued to suppress a public nuisance . Brewer was, according to the legal historian Edward A. Purcell Jr. , an "impassioned advocate of judicial power", and

12528-609: The Supreme Court until his death in 1910. David Josiah Brewer was born on June 20, 1837, in Smyrna (modern-day İzmir , Turkey), which was at the time a part of the Ottoman Empire . He was the fourth child of Josiah Brewer , a Massachusetts-born Congregationalist missionary to the Mediterranean, and his wife Emilia A. Field, a member of the prominent Field family whose brothers included David Dudley Field (a well-known attorney), Stephen J. Field (a justice of

12702-543: The U.S. Supreme Court), Cyrus W. Field (who developed the trans-Atlantic cable ), and Henry M. Field (a clergyman). The family returned to the United States in 1838; the elder Brewer pastored several congregations in New England and served as the chaplain of a Connecticut state penitentiary. When Brewer was fifteen years old, he enrolled at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. At Wesleyan, he joined

12876-511: The U.S. Supreme Court, but in Mugler v. Kansas , it ruled that the prohibition law was constitutional. ) Brewer's opinion in Mugler presaged the protective attitude toward property rights that he later displayed on the U.S. Supreme Court. When Judge John F. Dillon resigned in 1879, several state officials encouraged President Rutherford B. Hayes to nominate Brewer to the ensuing vacancy on

13050-581: The U.S., Blaine visited Harrison at his home in October. Harrison reprised the traditional front-porch campaign abandoned by his immediate predecessors; he received visiting delegations to Indianapolis and made over 90 pronouncements from his hometown. Republicans campaigned heavily in favor of protective tariffs , turning out protectionist voters in the important industrial states of the North. The election took place on Tuesday, November 6, 1888; it focused on

13224-435: The Union. In addition, Harrison substantially strengthened and modernized the U.S. Navy and conducted an active foreign policy, but his proposals to secure federal education funding as well as voting rights enforcement for African Americans were unsuccessful. Due in large part to surplus revenues from the tariffs, federal spending reached one billion dollars for the first time during his term. The spending issue in part led to

13398-410: The Union." The convention insisted that "The pending bills in the Senate to enable the people of Washington, North Dakota and Montana Territories to...establish State governments, should be passed without unnecessary delay." The convention began with 17 candidates for the nomination. Harrison placed fifth on the first ballot, with Sherman in the lead, and the next few ballots showed little change. As

13572-403: The United States". The statute did not exempt members of the clergy, and according to Semonche "the words were clear and the application logically unassailable". Yet in an opinion by Brewer, the Court unanimously reversed the conviction. Writing that "if a literal construction of the words of a statute be absurd, the act must be so construed as to avoid the absurdity", Brewer reasoned that

13746-421: The afternoon. Harrison's unit, now exposed, found itself immediately subject to intense gunfire from the main Confederate ranks and was forced to take cover. Although no longer in Confederate hands, Corput's four 121-pound Napoleon Cannons sat in a "no man's land" until nightfall, when Union soldiers "dug through the parapet, slipped ropes around the four cannons, and dragged them back to [their] lines". During

13920-593: The amount the federal government had to award Milligan to five dollars plus court costs. Given his rising reputation, local Republicans urged Harrison to run for Congress. He initially confined his political activities to speaking on behalf of other Republican candidates, a task for which he received high praise from his colleagues. In 1872, Harrison campaigned for the Republican nomination for governor of Indiana . Former governor Oliver Morton favored his opponent, Thomas M. Browne , and Harrison lost his bid for statewide office. He returned to his law practice and, despite

14094-547: The appointment from the outset, gaining the reputation for "decapitating a fourth class postmaster every three minutes". Clarkson himself said, "I am simply on detail from the Republican Committee ;... I am most anxious to get through this task and leave." He resigned in September 1890. Tariff levels had been a major political issue since before the Civil War, and became the most dominant matter of

14268-602: The battles of Resaca and Peachtree Creek. He finally returned to his old regiment the same day that news of Lincoln's assassination was received. He rode in the Grand Review in Washington, D.C. before mustering out with the 70th Indiana on June 8, 1865. While serving in the Union Army in October 1864, Harrison was once again elected reporter of the Indiana Supreme Court , although he did not seek

14442-543: The best one is Benjamin Harrison." At the convention, which took place in June, Blaine "threw his support to Harrison in the hope of uniting the party" against Cleveland, but the nomination fight was "hotly contested". The convention opened on June 19 at the Auditorium Building in Chicago, Illinois. Proceedings began with an announcement of the party platform; Lincoln was extolled as the "first great leader" of

14616-486: The case and after a brief stay returned to Indianapolis. He died at his home in Indianapolis in 1901 of complications from influenza . Many have praised Harrison's commitment to African Americans' voting rights, his work ethic, and his integrity, but scholars and historians generally rank him as an average president, due to the uneventful nature of his term. Harrison was born on August 20, 1833, in North Bend, Ohio ,

14790-541: The center of the Union line, engaging Major General William Wing Loring's Mississippi division and Alabama troops from General Alexander Stewart 's corps. In his report after the battle, Harrison wrote that "at one time during the fight", with his ammunition dangerously depleted, he sent his acting assistant inspector-general Captain Scott and others to cut "cartridge-boxes from the rebel dead within our lines" and distribute them to his soldiers. According to Harrison's report,

14964-480: The college for two years and while there met his future wife, Caroline "Carrie" Lavinia Scott . She was a daughter of John Witherspoon Scott , who was the school's science professor and also a Presbyterian minister. Harrison transferred to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio , in 1850, and graduated in 1852. He joined the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, which he used as a network for much of his life. He

15138-463: The congressional elections, Republicans increased their membership in the House of Representatives by 19 seats. Harrison was sworn into office on Monday, March 4, 1889, by Chief Justice Melville Fuller . His speech was brief—half as long as that of his grandfather, William Henry Harrison, whose speech remains the longest inaugural address of a U.S. president. In his speech, Benjamin Harrison credited

15312-424: The convention proceeded, Harrison became "everyone's second choice in a field of seven candidates". Then, after Sherman "faltered in the balloting", Harrison gained support. Blaine supporters shifted their support among candidates they found acceptable, and when they shifted to Harrison, they found a candidate who could attract the votes of many other delegations. Intending to make it undeniably clear he would not be

15486-479: The cottage. Civil service reform was a prominent issue following Harrison's election. Harrison had campaigned as a supporter of the merit system , as opposed to the spoils system . Although some of the civil service had been classified under the Pendleton Act by previous administrations, Harrison spent much of his first months in office deciding on political appointments. Congress was widely divided on

15660-422: The country. The decision came during an era in which the idea that America was a Protestant country was not particularly controversial, and few objected to Brewer's comments at the time. But legal scholars and later justices have heavily criticized the "Christian nation" claim: for instance, Justice William J. Brennan decried the declaration as "arrogant[]" in a 1984 dissent. Wiecek suggests that, while Brewer

15834-560: The courts of this republic are so burdened with controversies about property that they cannot take time to determine the right of personal liberty by one claiming to be a citizen." He joined the majority when the Court held in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that all persons born on U.S. soil are American citizens, and he dissented when a majority in Yamataya v. Fisher rebuffed a Japanese deportee's due process claim. Although

16008-555: The deciding vote in Northern Securities Co. v. United States (1904) to block a corporate merger on antitrust grounds. Brewer generally ruled against African-Americans in civil rights cases, although he consistently voted in favor of Chinese immigrants. He opposed imperialism and, in the Insular Cases , rejected the idea that the Constitution did not apply in full to the territories . His majority opinion in Church of

16182-613: The decision was squarely at odds with Munn , although Brodhead maintained that such claims are "at the very least misleading" since Brewer later lauded the commission and upheld the rates. In State v. Walruff , Brewer firmly reiterated the position that he had expressed in Mugler , appealing to "the guarantees of safety and protection to private property" to rule that the Fourteenth Amendment required Kansas to compensate beer manufacturers affected by prohibition laws. Citing Walruff and other cases, Paul commented that

16356-414: The editor , including a fiery denunciation of the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision. One Yale classmate recalled that the future justice had a reputation for "jumping up on the slightest provocation to make a speech, especially on political lines". Brewer graduated from Yale in 1856, receiving an A.B. degree with honors. Upon his graduation, Brewer moved to New York City, where he read law in

16530-557: The enactment of the Dependent and Disability Pension Act , a cause he had championed in Congress. In addition to providing pensions to disabled Civil War veterans (regardless of the cause of their disability), the Act depleted some of the troublesome federal budget surplus. Pension expenditures reached $ 135 million under Harrison (equivalent to $ 4.6 billion in 2023), the largest expenditure of its kind to that point in American history,

16704-773: The entire million-dollar capitalization had been paid In. It is understood, however, that several hundred thousand dollars were spent in an effort to build up the university. Among the list of subscribers to the original stock which was divided into 10,000 shares of $ 100 each were Chauncey M. Depew of New York for 503 shares; C. M. Depew. for 200 shares; Charles M. Campbell of Washington, for 1,022 shares; Frank G. Carpenter, 250 shares; Judge James R. Caton of Alexandria, shares; Charles B. Wood of this city, 230 shares; Alfred B. 471 shares; Judge Martin A. Knapp, 52 shares; Channing Rudd of New York, 105 shares; William H. Saunders, shares, and W. S. Evans of Chicago, 12 shares. There were several Investors having less than ten shares each. Dissolution of

16878-440: The era's leading corporate barons. In a brief concurrence that according to the legal scholar John E. Semonche "illustrates his integrity, competence, and sophistication" better than any of his other opinions, Brewer expressed support for property rights but concluded that the proposed merger was an unlawful attempt to suppress competition. His opinion endorsed the rule of reason —the idea, later accepted by his colleagues, that

17052-459: The family's modest resources, Harrison's boyhood was enjoyable, much of it spent outdoors fishing or hunting. Harrison's early schooling took place in a log cabin near his home, but his parents later arranged for a tutor to help him with college preparatory studies. Fourteen-year-old Benjamin and his older brother, Irwin, enrolled in Farmer's College near Cincinnati , Ohio, in 1847. He attended

17226-580: The federal circuit court for the Eighth Circuit . George W. McCrary was appointed instead, but when McCrary resigned in 1884, President Chester A. Arthur nominated Brewer to take his place. Brewer characterized the Eighth Circuit as "an empire in itself": it encompassed Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, and Nebraska, to which North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming were added several years after his appointment. As

17400-632: The federal government had no authority to prosecute a group of Arkansas whites who had driven blacks away from their jobs. He interpreted federal laws against peonage narrowly in Clyatt v. United States and struck down a provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1870 in James v. Bowman . Of the twenty-nine cases involving African-Americans' civil rights in which he participated, he ruled in their favor only six times. Although Brewer did not cast

17574-527: The federal government in a civil suit filed by Lambdin P. Milligan , whose controversial wartime conviction for treason in 1864 led to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Ex parte Milligan . The civil case was referred to the U.S. Circuit Court for Indiana at Indianapolis, where it evolved into Milligan v. Hovey . Although the jury found in Milligan's favor and he had sought hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages, state and federal statutes limited

17748-709: The field to two candidates, both of whom were conservative Republicans from the Midwest: Brewer—who had the vigorous support of Senator Preston B. Plumb of Kansas and Chief Justice Albert H. Horton of the Kansas Supreme Court—and Henry Billings Brown , a federal judge from Michigan who was endorsed by several of that state's prominent political figures. During the selection process, a letter came to Harrison's attention in which Brewer suggested that Brown—his friend and former classmate at Yale—should be appointed instead of him. Harrison

17922-419: The freedom-of-contract doctrine in cases that did not pertain to employment. Addressing the justice's reasons for upholding some regulations while invalidating others, Hylton comments that "Brewer 'knew an unconstitutional use of the police power when he saw one', but he was never able to define precisely what made it so". Brewer joined the majority in the case of Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. ,

18096-484: The future justice's "growing conservatism" was evident during this period. Justice Stanley Matthews 's death in March 1889 created a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court for President Benjamin Harrison to fill. It took Harrison nearly nine months to select a nominee, during which time he considered forty candidates. Politicians from Matthews's home state of Ohio, including Governor Joseph Foraker , urged him to appoint

18270-478: The government took in; Republicans instead wanted to spend the money on internal improvements and pensions for Civil War veterans. Harrison took his party's side and advocated for generous pensions for veterans and their widows. He also unsuccessfully supported aid for the education of Southerners, especially children of the freedmen; he believed education was necessary to help the black population rise to political and economic equality with whites. Harrison opposed

18444-667: The government", according to the legal scholar James W. Ely . After members of the American Railway Union went on strike in 1894 against the Pullman Palace Car Company , the federal government sought an injunction against the union's leaders, arguing that the strike interfered with the delivery of mail. A federal court issued the injunction and, when Eugene V. Debs and other union officials ignored it, held them in contempt of court. Having been fined and imprisoned, they sought relief before

18618-451: The grounds that he was hostile to prohibition or partial toward the railroad interests. Brewer was confirmed on December 18, 1889, by a vote of 53–11, and he took the oath of office on January 6, 1890. Brewer remained on the Court for twenty years, serving until his death in 1910. In the 4,430 cases in which he participated, he wrote 539 majority or plurality opinions, 65 dissenting opinions, and 14 concurring opinions. Melville Fuller

18792-492: The horrors of war. He supported the peaceable resolution of international disputes via arbitration , and he served with Fuller on the arbitral tribunal that resolved a boundary dispute between Venezuela and the United Kingdom . Brewer was not an unqualified pacifist, but Brodhead writes that he "was a tireless, dedicated, and eloquent advocate of peace and among the most visible and vocal critics of militarism in his time". He also expressed support for education, charities, and

18966-703: The institution was completed in 1915, with creditors being publicly notified to "present their claims to said receiver at the Columbian building, Washington, D. C., on or before the 5th day of July, 1915". David J. Brewer David Josiah Brewer (June 20, 1837 – March 28, 1910) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1890 to 1910. An appointee of President Benjamin Harrison , he supported states' rights, opposed broad interpretations of Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce , and voted to strike down economic regulations that he felt infringed on

19140-582: The investment and ultimate capture of Atlanta are certainly worthy of commemoration and I should be glad to see the project succeed." After the conclusion of the Atlanta Campaign on September 2, 1864, Harrison was among the initial Union forces to enter the surrendered city of Atlanta; General Sherman opined that Harrison served with "foresight, discipline and a fighting spirit". After the Atlanta Campaign, Harrison reported to Governor Morton in Indiana for special duty, and while there he campaigned for

19314-513: The issue and Harrison was reluctant to address it in hope of preventing the alienation of either side. The issue became a political football and was immortalized in a cartoon captioned "What can I do when both parties insist on kicking?" Harrison appointed Theodore Roosevelt and Hugh Smith Thompson , both reformers, to the Civil Service Commission , but otherwise did little to further the reform cause. In 1890 Harrison saw

19488-406: The judiciary should limit governmental actions that interfere with the free market, although the legal historian Kermit L. Hall writes that his jurisprudence "was not altogether predictable" because "[h]is Congregational, missionary, and anti-slavery roots" gave him "a sympathetic ear for the disadvantaged". Brewer and his fellow conservative justices led the Court toward rulings that interpreted

19662-447: The justice was mixed in the years following his death, he was almost never discussed favorably after the 1930s, being generally described as an ultra-conservative who adhered closely to laissez-faire principles and made the courts subservient to corporations. Although late-twentieth century revisionist scholarship took a less negative view of the Fuller Court as a whole, Brewer's reputation did not rise: Hylton comments that "[b]y advancing

19836-611: The law was clearly intended to forbid the importation of unskilled laborers rather than ministers. The case's emphasis on Congress's intent over the statute's text marked a turning point in the Court's treatment of legislative history , and the approach it represents has drawn substantial criticism from jurists such as Antonin Scalia , who described the decision as a "prototypical" example of how statutes ought not to be interpreted. Brewer's opinion in Holy Trinity also contained

20010-429: The law was in fact a labor regulation in disguise. The decision provoked a now-famous dissent from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. , who accused the majority of substituting its own economic preferences for the requirements of the Constitution. Brewer voted to strike down labor laws in other cases, such as Holden v. Hardy , which involved a maximum-hour law for miners, and Adair v. United States , which voided

20184-582: The legal scholar Owen M. Fiss , Brewer and his "constant ally" Rufus W. Peckham were the "intellectual leaders" of the Fuller Court—justices who, while not always in the majority, were "influential within the dominant coalition and the source of the ideas that gave the Court its sweep and direction". Brewer's views were also aligned with those of his uncle—Justice Stephen J. Field —a staunch defender of property rights with whom he served for eight years. Brewer supported states' rights and felt that

20358-462: The legal scholar Arnold M. Paul, by contrast, argued that the opinion exhibited "an insensitivity to social problems   ... combined with a simplistic legal formalism". According to Paul, cases in the 1880s involving Kansas's prohibition of alcohol "mark the decisive turning points in Brewer's shift to hard-line conservatism". In State v. Mugler , a brewer challenged a state law that forbade

20532-549: The legislature, and he also argued that racial segregation did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution , writing that "each State has the power to classify school children by color, sex, or otherwise, as to its legislature shall seem wisest and best". In his biography of Brewer, the historian Michael J. Brodhead maintained that the justice's reasoning was "not overtly racist" and rested instead on his longstanding support for local self-governance;

20706-493: The losses from his brigade were "very slight" compared with those of Confederate forces. He thought this was because of battlefield topography, writing: "I believe, that the enemy, having the higher ground, fired too high." Harrison later supported the creation of an Atlanta National Military Park, which would have included "substantial portions" of the Peachtree battlefield, writing in 1900: "The military incidents connected with

20880-473: The main trenches". Leading the 70th Indiana Infantry Regiment, Harrison massed his troops in a ravine opposite Corput's position, along with the rest of Brigadier General William Thomas Ward's brigade. Harrison and his regiment, leading the assault, then emerged from the ravine, advanced over the artillery parapet, overcame the Confederate gunners, and eliminated the threat. The battery was captured by hand-to-hand combat, and intense combat continued throughout

21054-468: The majority to strike down the federal income tax in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. (1895), and, writing for the Court in the case of In re Debs (1895), he expanded the judiciary's equitable authority by upholding an injunction against the organizers of a strike . He favored a narrow interpretation of the Sherman Antitrust Act in United States v. E. C. Knight Co. (1895), but he cast

21228-426: The manufacture of beer, arguing that it deprived him of his property without due process of law . The court ruled against him on the basis that the law fell within the state's police power . Although Brewer did not formally dissent, he expressed his reservations about the majority's conclusions, suggesting that the law in effect deprived the brewer of his property without just compensation . (Mugler appealed to

21402-479: The nation's growth to the influences of education and religion, urged the cotton states and mining territories to attain the industrial proportions of the eastern states, and promised a protective tariff. Of commerce, he said, "If our great corporations would more scrupulously observe their legal obligations and duties, they would have less call to complain of the limitations of their rights or of interference with their operations." Harrison also urged early statehood for

21576-480: The national currency. He was defeated in a plurality by James D. Williams , losing by 5,084 votes out 434,457 cast, but Harrison built on his new prominence in state politics. When the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 reached Indianapolis, he gathered a citizen militia to make a show of support for owners and management, and helped mediate an agreement between the workers and management and to prevent

21750-453: The northeast holding firm for the gold standard. Because silver was worth less than its legal equivalent in gold, taxpayers paid their government bills in silver, while international creditors demanded payment in gold, resulting in a depletion of the nation's gold supply. Owing to worldwide deflation in the late 19th century, a strict gold standard had resulted in reduction of incomes without the equivalent reduction in debts, pushing debtors and

21924-459: The notorious carelessness and supreme indifference of the Consular post office,' it was necessary for all mail sent to him through the agency to be registered". In 1909, it was reported that incorporator Channing Rudd had filed a lawsuit against the entity, seeking over $ 11,000. On August 11, 1913, nine years to the day from the announcement of its incorporation, Associate Justice Job Barnard of

22098-502: The office of his uncle David Dudley Field. After a year, he enrolled at Albany Law School , from which he received an LL.B. degree in 1858. Brewer pondered whether to remain in New York with his uncle David or to move to California to work with his uncle Stephen, but he eventually rejected both options, declaring: "I don't want to grow up to be my uncle's nephew." He moved to Kansas City, Missouri ; after practicing law there for

22272-467: The only Republican boss initially nominated was Redfield Proctor, as secretary of war. Senator Shelby Cullom's comment symbolizes Harrison's steadfast aversion to use federal positions for patronage: "I suppose Harrison treated me as well as he did any other Senator; but whenever he did anything for me, it was done so ungraciously that the concession tended to anger rather than please." Harrison's selections shared particular alliances, such as their service in

22446-401: The party. When Republicans retook the majority in the state legislature , Harrison's election to a six-year term in the U.S. Senate was threatened by Judge Walter Q. Gresham , his intraparty rival, but Harrison was ultimately chosen. After Garfield's election as president in 1880, his administration offered Harrison a cabinet position, but Harrison declined in favor of continuing his service in

22620-429: The past year the business has been conducted without profit to its stockholders. The debts of the concern are said to be about $ 5,000. The petitioning trustees are Judge James R. Caton. Alfred B. Leet. A B. Duvall, B. A. Leavell. C. E. Miller. Judge Martin A. Knapp, William H. Saunders and J. Randall Caton, Jr. Attorney E. C. Dutton, representing the petitioners, totaled that the present trustees are unable to tell whether

22794-416: The point of commonest accuracy in writing his opinions", and that Brewer and Harlan were sleeping during arguments. On March 28, 1910, Brewer, who had until then been in good health, experienced a massive stroke in his Washington, D.C., home and, before doctors could arrive, died. He was seventy-three years old. The U.S. Senate adjourned on March 29 out of respect for the justice, and Taft stated that he

22968-451: The poor to call for silver coinage as an inflationary measure. The silver coinage issue had not been much discussed in the 1888 campaign, and Harrison is said to have favored a bimetallist position. But his appointment of a silverite Treasury Secretary, William Windom , encouraged the free silver supporters. Harrison attempted to steer a middle course between the two positions, advocating free coinage of silver, but at its own value, not at

23142-538: The position of Indiana's Supreme Court Reporter and for President Lincoln's reelection; after the election he left for Georgia to join Sherman's March to the Sea , but instead was "given command of the 1st Brigade at Nashville". Harrison led the brigade at the Battle of Nashville in December, in a "decisive" action against the forces of General John Bell Hood . Notwithstanding his memorable military achievements and

23316-465: The position, and served as the Court's reporter for four more years. The position was not a politically powerful one, but it provided Harrison with a steady income for his work preparing and publishing court opinions, which he sold to the legal profession. Harrison also resumed his law practice in Indianapolis. He became a skilled orator and known as "one of the state's leading lawyers". In 1869 President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Harrison to represent

23490-441: The praise he received for them, Harrison held a dim view of war. According to historian Allan B. Spetter, he thought "war was a dirty business that no decent man would find pleasurable". In 1888, the year he won the presidency, Harrison declared: "We Americans have no commission from God to police the world." Several weeks after the Battle of Nashville, Harrison "received orders to rejoin the 70th Indiana at Savannah, Georgia, after

23664-413: The presidential ring", but after walking the middle ground he eventually supported Blaine "with energy and enthusiasm". In the Senate, Harrison achieved passage of his Dependent Pension Bill, only to see it vetoed by President Grover Cleveland . His efforts to further the admission of new western states were stymied by Democrats, who feared that the new states would elect Republicans to Congress. In 1885

23838-543: The prominent Cincinnati attorney Thomas McDougall; after McDougall declined to be considered, Foraker lent his support to William Howard Taft , who was then a municipal judge in Cincinnati. Other candidates suggested to Harrison included the Detroit attorney Alfred Russell, whom Vice President Levi P. Morton endorsed, and McCrary, who was favored by many Midwestern politicians and jurists. Harrison eventually narrowed

24012-466: The public service, there is an unroofed space between the bedroom and the desk." Harrison acted quite independently in selecting his cabinet, much to Republican bosses' dismay. He began by delaying the presumed nomination of James G. Blaine as secretary of state so as to preclude Blaine's involvement in the formation of the administration, as had occurred in Garfield's term. In fact, other than Blaine,

24186-505: The rates set by the Iowa Railroad Commission were unreasonable and should be enjoined. Despite the Supreme Court's 1877 decision in Munn v. Illinois that legislatures had the authority to determine whether rates were reasonable, Brewer ruled in the railroad's favor, issuing a preliminary injunction on the grounds that it was unlawful to impose rates that did not adequately compensate the company. Paul argued that

24360-586: The regiment left Indiana to join the Union Army at Louisville, Kentucky. For much of its first two years, the 70th Indiana performed reconnaissance duty and guarded railroads in Kentucky and Tennessee . In May 1864, Harrison and his regiment joined General William T. Sherman 's Atlanta Campaign in the Army of the Cumberland and moved to the front lines. On January 2, 1864, Harrison was promoted to command

24534-460: The rich. In two cases— Magoun v. Illinois Trust and Savings Bank and Knowlton v. Moore —in which the Court upheld graduated inheritance taxes by votes of 8–1 and 7–1, respectively, Brewer was the sole dissenter. Brewer was generally hesitant to interpret the federal government's power to regulate interstate commerce expansively. He dissented in Champion v. Ames , a case in which

24708-407: The right to make contracts. The era of substantive due process reached its zenith in the 1905 case of Lochner v. New York . Lochner involved a New York law that capped hours for bakery workers at sixty hours a week. In a decision widely viewed to be among the Supreme Court's worst, a five-justice majority held the law to be unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause. Brewer joined

24882-509: The rights of women and minorities. Many of Brewer's speeches were later published in print; he also edited ten-volume collections of The World's Best Essays and The World's Best Orations and co-authored with Charles Henry Butler a brief treatise on international law . In his later years, he spoke increasingly on political topics: he decried Progressive reforms and inveighed against President Theodore Roosevelt , who in turn loathed Brewer and stated in private that he had "a sweetbread for

25056-423: The river. As a delegate to the 1880 Republican National Convention , he was instrumental in breaking a deadlock on candidates, and James A. Garfield won the nomination. After Harrison led Indiana's delegation at the 1880 Republican National Convention, he was considered the state's presumptive candidate for U.S. Senate. He gave speeches in favor of Garfield in Indiana and New York, further raising his profile in

25230-530: The ruling in Debs expanded the federal judiciary's equitable authority . The public generally approved of the decision, although it was deplored by organized labor and, together with the contemporaneous rulings in Pollock and Knight , provoked charges that the Court was biased toward the wealthy. One of Brewer's best-known opinions came in Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States . The case arose when

25404-496: The second of Elizabeth Ramsey (Irwin) and John Scott Harrison 's ten children. His ancestors included immigrant Benjamin Harrison, who arrived in Jamestown, Virginia , circa 1630 from England . Harrison was of entirely English ancestry, all of his ancestors having emigrated to America during the early colonial period. Harrison was a grandson of U.S. President William Henry Harrison and a great-grandson of Benjamin Harrison V ,

25578-407: The selection was otherwise viewed favorably. The Senate Judiciary Committee , chaired by George F. Edmunds , considered the nomination for a week, longer than usual; despite some criticism, its members endorsed Brewer's nomination. The full Senate, in a secret session that The New York Times characterized as "absurd", heard prolonged speeches from several members who opposed the nominee on

25752-453: The start of the American Civil War . In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a call for more recruits for the Union Army; Harrison wanted to enlist, but worried about how to support his young family. While visiting Governor Oliver Morton , Harrison found him distressed over the shortage of men answering the latest call. Harrison told the governor, "If I can be of any service, I will go." Morton asked Harrison if he could help recruit

25926-532: The states' power to regulate businesses, writing: "The paternal theory of government is to me odious." He joined the majority in decisions such as Lochner v. New York (1905), in which the Court invoked the doctrine of substantive due process to strike down a New York labor law. Brewer was not uniformly hostile to regulations, however; his majority opinion in Muller v. Oregon (1908) sustained an Oregon law that set maximum working hours for female laborers. He joined

26100-415: The states, in violation of a provision of the Constitution . The Supreme Court, which had only eight members at the time because Justice Howell Edmunds Jackson was ill, initially split four-to-four on the tax's constitutionality. After Jackson returned to Washington, the justices reheard the case and, in an opinion by Fuller, struck down the tax by a 5–4 vote. (Jackson ended up dissenting, meaning that

26274-450: The statute infringed on its right to practice an occupation without unreasonable interference by the government. In an opinion that stood in conspicuous conflict with his ordinary support for property rights, Brewer (over Harlan's dissent) rejected that argument, concluding that states had the ability to amend corporate charters. His majority opinion in Hodges v. United States held that

26448-580: The strike from widening. When U.S. Senator Morton died in 1877, the Republicans nominated Harrison to run for the seat, but the party failed to gain a majority in the state legislature, which at that time elected senators; the Democratic majority elected Daniel W. Voorhees instead. In 1879, President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed Harrison to the Mississippi River Commission , which worked to develop internal improvements on

26622-485: The swing states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Harrison's home state of Indiana. Harrison and Cleveland split the four, with Harrison winning New York and Indiana. Voter turnout was 79.3%, reflecting large interest in the campaign; nearly eleven million votes were cast. Harrison received 90,000 fewer votes than Cleveland, but carried the Electoral College , 233 to 168. Allegations were made against Republicans for engaging in irregular ballot practices; an example

26796-407: The tariff even higher, making some rates intentionally prohibitive. At Secretary of State Blaine's urging, Harrison attempted to make the tariff more acceptable by urging Congress to add reciprocity provisions, which would allow the president to reduce rates when other countries reduced their rates on American exports. The tariff was removed from imported raw sugar, and U.S. sugar growers were given

26970-532: The territories and advocated pensions for veterans, a call that met with enthusiastic applause. In foreign affairs, he reaffirmed the Monroe Doctrine as a mainstay of foreign policy, while urging modernization of the Navy and a merchant marine force. He gave his commitment to international peace through noninterference in the affairs of foreign governments. John Philip Sousa 's Marine Corps band played at

27144-404: The world". Channing Rudd, as manager of the corporation, said that they expected to build "a great educational institution of world-wide extent with headquarters in Washington". It was further asserted that the many prominent men involved in the establishment of the entity were "interested because of the possibilities they saw in the scheme for diffusing knowledge and education". James C. Fernald

27318-408: Was "probably the most widely read jurist in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century" due to what Justice Holmes characterized as his "itch for public speaking". He spoke prolifically on various issues, often drawing criticism from his colleagues for his frankness. The topic about which he spoke most fervently was peace: in his public addresses he decried imperialism, arms buildups, and

27492-582: Was a deeply religious man who favored Christian influence on American culture, the "Christian nation" statement was "a descriptive judgment, not a normative one" and was not of great importance as a matter of law. Like most of his colleagues, Brewer rarely sided with African-Americans in civil rights cases. Writing for the Court in Berea College v. Kentucky , for instance, he upheld a law that forbade schools from racially integrating their classes. Berea College had invoked Lochner to maintain that

27666-472: Was admitted to the Ohio bar in early 1854, the same year he sold property he had inherited after the death of an aunt for $ 800 (equivalent to $ 27,129 in 2023), and used the funds to move with Caroline to Indianapolis , Indiana . Harrison began practicing law in the office of John H. Ray in 1854 and became a crier for the federal court in Indianapolis, for which he was paid $ 2.50 per day. He also served as

27840-435: Was also a member of Delta Chi , a law fraternity that permitted dual membership. Classmates included John Alexander Anderson , who became a six-term U.S. congressman, and Whitelaw Reid , Harrison's vice presidential running mate in 1892. At Miami, Harrison was strongly influenced by history and political economy professor Robert Hamilton Bishop . He also joined a Presbyterian church at college and, like his mother, became

28014-401: Was also accused of accepting loan payments in return for expediting pension cases. Harrison, having accepted a dissenting congressional Republican investigation report that exonerated Raum, kept him in office. One of the first appointments Harrison was forced to reverse was that of James S. Clarkson as an assistant postmaster. Clarkson, who had expected a full cabinet position, began sabotaging

28188-570: Was an "able judge". Brewer's body was returned to Leavenworth, and a funeral was held at that city's First Congregational Church; he was buried at the Mount Muncie Cemetery in nearby Lansing . Taft nominated Charles Evans Hughes to take his place. "History has not been kind to David Brewer", comments Fiss. He has faded into obscurity, in part because some of his colleagues—Field, Harlan, and Holmes—were figures of great prominence. Moreover, although public sentiment regarding

28362-414: Was chief justice throughout Brewer's tenure; the Fuller Court has been described as mainly loyal to business interests and laissez-faire economic principles, although late-twentieth-century revisionist scholars have rejected that narrative. Brewer has often been described as an extremely conservative justice. According to Paul, he "held to a strictly conservative, sometimes reactionary, position on

28536-495: Was dean of the institution from 1905 to 1909. Francis A. Springer then became dean, serving until his death in 1911. The institution ran into difficulties early in its existence. In 1905, a "complaint was made against the postal agency at Shanghai by a correspondent who had experienced trouble with his mail". Specifically, "Mr. John Franklin Crowell of the Intercontinental Correspondence University, wrote to Washington that 'owing to

28710-625: Was described as Blocks of Five . On October 31 the Indiana Sentinel published a letter allegedly by Harrison's friend and supporter, William Wade Dudley , offering to bribe voters in "blocks of five" to ensure Harrison's election. Harrison neither defended nor repudiated Dudley, but allowed him to remain on the campaign for the remaining few days. After the election, Harrison never spoke to Dudley again. Harrison had made no political bargains, but his supporters had made many pledges on his behalf. When Boss Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania, who

28884-453: Was different from the one at issue in Lochner because female workers were in special need of protection due to their "physical structure and the performance of maternal functions", which put them "at a disadvantage in the struggle for subsistence". In other cases, he voted to uphold labor regulations involving seamen and those performing hazardous work, and he disfavored attempts to invoke

29058-467: Was elected reporter of the Indiana Supreme Court . Harrison was an active supporter of the Republican Party's platform and served as Republican State Committee's secretary. After Wallace, his law partner, was elected county clerk in 1860, Harrison established a new firm with William Fishback, Fishback and Harrison. The new partners worked together until Harrison entered the Union Army after

29232-456: Was elected to a county judgeship in 1862; he later served as judge of Kansas's First Judicial District and as the county attorney for Leavenworth County. In 1870, he was elected to the Kansas Supreme Court , where he served for fourteen years, participating in decisions on segregation, property rights, women's rights, and other issues. President Chester A. Arthur appointed him as a federal circuit judge in 1884. When Justice Stanley Matthews of

29406-422: Was known as a friendly and patient man. Brewer had planned to retire from the Court when he turned seventy in 1907, but he changed his mind, saying he was "too young in spirit" to retire. In 1909, President William Howard Taft characterized the Court's state as "pitiable", writing that Fuller was "almost senile", that Harlan was doing "no work", that Brewer was "so deaf that he cannot hear" and had "got beyond

29580-417: Was later to become the "main issue of the campaign" in 1888. The admission of six new states during Harrison's term, between 1889 and 1890, was anticipated with the declaration: "whenever the conditions of population, material resources...and morality are such as to insure a stable local government," the people "should be permitted...to form for themselves constitutions and State government, and be admitted into

29754-475: Was not commerce. The decision limited the Sherman Act's scope, provoking a dissent from Harlan and complaints that the Court was endeavoring to protect big business from regulation. Nonetheless, Brewer was not uniformly deferential to the interests of business. In Northern Securities Co. v. United States , he cast the deciding vote to block a merger between James J. Hill and J. P. Morgan , two of

29928-526: Was rebuffed for a Cabinet position for his political support during the convention, heard that Harrison ascribed his narrow victory to Providence , Quay exclaimed that Harrison would never know "how close a number of men were compelled to approach...the penitentiary to make him president". Harrison was known as the Centennial President because his inauguration celebrated the centenary of the first inauguration of George Washington in 1789. In

30102-523: Was reputedly so impressed by Brewer's unselfishness that he decided to nominate him to the Court. Harrison announced his selection of the surprised Brewer on December 4, 1889, sending the nomination to the Senate . Prohibitionists, maintaining that Brewer's opinion in Walruff was "conclusive proof of what we already fear—the total surrender to the liquor dealers of the country", expressed opposition, but

30276-411: Was to pass the Sherman Antitrust Act , sponsored by Senator John Sherman . The Act passed by wide margins in both houses, and Harrison signed it into law. The Sherman Act was the first federal act of its kind, and marked a new use of federal government power. Harrison approved of the law and its intent, but his administration did not enforce it vigorously. However, the government successfully concluded

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