World of Criminal Justice on William Henry Harrison Miller
William Henry Harrison Miller served as U.S. attorney general from 1889 to 1893 under President Benjamin Harrison. Miller is one of a small group of attorneys general who never held a political office except for this position. However, Miller conformed to another common convention, as he was a close friend and colleague of Harrison.
Miller was born on September 6, 1840 in Augusta, New York. Raised in Indiana, he earned a degree from Hamilton College in 1861. Following graduation Miller decided to become a lawyer. Miller, like most attorneys of his day, did not attend law school. Instead, he "read the law," serving as an apprentice in an Indiana law for four years. During this time Miller performed clerical duties, learned how to conduct legal research and was mentored by a practicing lawyer. The attorney that mentored him, Morrison Waite, eventually became Chief Justice of the United States. After passing the Indiana bar exam in 1865, Miller set up a law practice in Peru, Indiana. However, Miller could not support himself in the small town and relocated his practice to Fort Wayne. Miller proved to be an able attorney and in 1874 he was lured to Indianapolis to join a law firm headed by General Benjamin Harrison.
Harrison, who had lead Indiana troops in the Civil War, used his military fame to start a political career. Miller, who never expressed an interest in running for political office or becoming deeply involved in party politics, became a sounding board for Harrison's political ideas. At first it looked unlikely that Harrison's dreams would become reality, as he lost a run for the governorship in 1876. Nevertheless, Harrison persevered and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1881. From this position he made his way into national politics and found himself the Republican presidential nominee in 1888.
It was during the 1888 campaign that Miller served as a confidential advisor to Harrison in his campaign against President Grover Cleveland. Harrison ran an unconventional "front porch" campaign. He gave over 80 speeches from the porch of his house in Indianapolis, drawing over 300,000 listeners. Though Cleveland received 90,000 more votes in the popular election, Harrison decisively beat Cleveland in the Electoral College, by a vote of 233 to 168.
Harrison, who had attacked corruption in the Cleveland administration, sought to change the tenor of government by not appointing political patrons to high positions. Miller benefited from this position when Harrison appointed him attorney general in 1889. Miller's term was unremarkable, despite the fact that the Department of Justice had continued to grow and Congress had given the attorney general more laws to enforce. For example, the 1890 Sherman Act was the first piece of federal antitrust law, designed to outlaw concentrations of economic power. This legislation, which farmers and small business owners desperately wanted, was vaguely written, in hopes that the Supreme Court might eventually clarify just what types of businesses and commerce its provisions covered. Miller ignored the law, siding with corporate interests over the desires of small business.
Harrison was defeated by Grover Cleveland in the 1892 election, due in part to an economic depression. Miller returned to Indianapolis in March 1893 and resumed his law practice. He died on May 25, 1917 in Indianapolis.
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