Hallmarks of his administration include the McKinley Tariff, which imposed historic protective trade rates, and the Sherman Antitrust Act, which empowered the federal government to investigate and prosecute trusts.

Harrison facilitated the creation of the National Forests through an amendment to the General Revision Act (1891), and substantially strengthened and modernized the United States Navy.

In foreign affairs, Harrison vigorously promoted American exports, sought tariff reciprocity in Latin America, and worked to increase U.S. influence across the Pacific.

[1] Others, including Chauncey Depew of New York, Russell Alger of Michigan, and Walter Q. Gresham, a federal appellate judge, also sought the delegates' support at the 1888 Republican National Convention.

[24] For the important position of Secretary of the Treasury, Harrison rejected Thomas C. Platt and Warner Miller, two powerful New York Republicans who fought for control of their state party.

[40] The Department of Justice was generally too understaffed to pursue complex antitrust cases, and enforcement was further hampered by the vague language of the act and narrow interpretation of judges.

[43] Along with a stable currency, high tariffs were the central aspect of Harrison's economic policy, since he believed that they protected domestic manufacturing jobs against cheap, imported goods.

[47] Congress passed the bill after Republican leaders won the votes of Western senators through passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act and other concessions, and Harrison signed the McKinley Tariff into law in October 1890.

[50] 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".

[59] Although the passage of the 1883 Pendleton Act had decreased the role of patronage in assigning government positions, Harrison spent much of his first months in office deciding on political appointments.

[67] Convinced that the "lily-white policy" of attempting to attract white Southerners to the Republican Party had failed, and believing that the disenfranchisement of African-American voters was immoral, Harrison endorsed the Federal Elections Bill.

This legislation resulted from a bipartisan desire to initiate reclamation of surplus lands that had been, up to that point, granted from the public domain, for potential settlement or use by railroad syndicates.

[81] During Harrison's administration, the Lakota Sioux, previously confined to reservations in South Dakota, grew restive under the influence of Wovoka, a medicine man, who encouraged them to participate in a spiritual movement called the Ghost Dance.

[89] This policy, known as the allotment system and embodied in the Dawes Act, was favored by liberal reformers at the time, but eventually proved detrimental to American Indians as they sold most of their land at low prices to white speculators.

[97] Secretary of the Navy Tracy spearheaded the rapid construction of vessels, and within a year congressional approval was obtained for building of the warships Indiana, Texas, Oregon and Columbia.

By 1898, with the help of the Carnegie Corporation, no less than ten modern warships, including steel hulls and greater displacements and armaments, had transformed the United States into a legitimate naval power.

Secretary of War Proctor sought to institute several reforms, including an improved diet and the granting of furloughs, resulting in a decline of the desertion rate.

[102] Harrison appreciated the forces of nationalism and imperialism which were inevitably pulling the United States onward into playing a more important part in world affairs as it grew rapidly in financial and economic prowess.

[103] In a speech in 1891, Harrison proclaimed that the United States was in a "new epoch" of trade and that the expanding navy would protect oceanic shipping and increase American influence and prestige abroad.

[111] The dispute had started in 1887 when the Germans tried to establish control over the island chain and President Cleveland responded by sending three naval vessels to defend the Samoan government.

Historian George H. Ryden argues that Harrison played a key role in determining the status of this Pacific outpost by taking a firm stand on every aspect of Samoa conference negotiations; this included selection of the local ruler, refusal to allow an indemnity for Germany, as well as the establishment of the three-power protectorate, a first for the U.S.[113][114] A serious long-term result was an American distrust of Germany's foreign policy after Bismarck was forced out in 1890.

[115][116] In response to vague reports of trichinosis that supposedly originated with American hogs, Germany and nine other European countries imposed a ban on importation of United States pork in the 1880s.

[126] Tensions increased to the brink of war – Harrison threatened to break off diplomatic relations unless the United States received a suitable apology, and said the situation required "grave and patriotic consideration".

The president also remarked, "If the dignity as well as the prestige and influence of the United States are not to be wholly sacrificed, we must protect those who in foreign ports display the flag or wear the colors.

Harrison sought to annex the country, which held a strategic position in the Pacific Ocean,[130] and hosted a growing sugar business controlled by American settlers.

[134] Harrison was interested in expanding American influence in Hawaii and in establishing a naval base at Pearl Harbor, but had not previously expressed an opinion on annexing the islands.

The convention adopted the Omaha Platform, which called for free silver, the reintroduction of Greenbacks, a graduated income tax, an eight-hour work day, the direct election of senators, and the nationalization of railroads.

[163] Some historians have portrayed Harrison as a "lightweight puppet of party bosses",[164] and Lillian Cunningham of the Washington Post notes that "[f]ew U.S. history books even mention Benjamin Harrison—but when they do, the write-ups are usually not too flattering.

[169] Historian Allan B. Spetter writes, Because of his lack of personal passion and the failure of anything truly eventful, such as a major war, during his administration, Harrison, along with every other President from the post-Reconstruction era to 1900, has been assigned to the rankings of mediocrity.

[174] Richardson similarly argues that the root cause of the Wounded Knee Massacre was the Harrison administration's efforts to curry favor in South Dakota through the opening of Native American lands to settlers, thereby gaining support for Republicans ahead of the 1890 Senate elections.