Benjamin Harrison
Born: April 5, 1726
Died: April 24, 1791
Colony/State: Virginia
Occupation / Public Role: Planter, legislator, delegate to the Continental Congress, governor
Contribution to the Founding Era: Delegate to the Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence, governor of Virginia, and father of President William Henry Harrison as well as great-grandfather of President Benjamin Harrison.
Benjamin Harrison was born at Berkeley Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia, one of the most prominent seats of the Harrison family. He attended the College of William and Mary, though he did not complete his studies after his father’s death. He came out of Virginia’s planter class and entered public life early, serving in the Virginia House of Burgesses for many years before the break with Great Britain.
Harrison became one of Virginia’s important Revolutionary leaders. The U.S. House records that he served in the First Continental Congress in 1774 and in the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1777. During the push toward independence, he held a significant procedural role: as chairman of the Committee of the Whole, he reported the June 1776 independence resolution that had been introduced by Richard Henry Lee, and he also reported the Declaration itself. He then signed the Declaration as one of Virginia’s seven signers.
After leaving Congress, Harrison remained a major public figure in Virginia. The U.S. House notes that he served in the Virginia House of Delegates, including as speaker, and later served as Governor of Virginia from 1782 to 1784. He also sat in the Virginia ratifying convention for the Constitution, keeping him in the center of public affairs well after independence had been declared.
Benjamin Harrison is also remembered as the patriarch of a major American political family. His son was William Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the United States, and his great-grandson was Benjamin Harrison, the twenty-third President. That kind of family tree is either impressive or exhausting, depending on whether you had to attend the reunions.
He died in 1791. Though not as famous today as Jefferson or Washington, Benjamin Harrison was one of Virginia’s central Revolutionary figures: planter, Burgess, Continental delegate, signer, legislative leader, and governor. He helped move Virginia through the imperial crisis, through independence, and into the first years of self-government.
Related Links
- Signers of the Declaration of Independence
- Declaration of Independence
- Carter Braxton
- Thomas Jefferson
- Richard Henry Lee