Tag Archives: Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site

An Open Letter: “Love of the Flag…”

Benjamin Harrison Inaugural [A message from the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site. Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States and a member of the Ohio Alpha Chapter of Phi Delta Theta at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.]

January 6, 2021

Dear Presidential Site Friends, Neighbors, and fellow Citizens,

Today’s demonstrations began as an expression of first amendment rights. But the afternoon’s violence at the U.S. Capitol was an unacceptable assault on our American system of self-government, and merits formal condemnation and censure. We deserve better as a country, and we must hold each other accountable if we are to carry on this grand experiment in self-government started by the founders over two centuries ago.

Political strife has wracked our country before—and will again—but our greatest strength remains in the rule of law, and the bulwark of justice embodied in our constitution. Few American presidents have articulated these core principles as thoughtfully and persuasively as Benjamin Harrison, as he did post-presidency in Old Forge, New York, on July 27, 1895. The following excerpt, while lengthy, is well worth reading: