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Benjamin G. Harris
Harris, c. 1863
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMaryland's5th district
In office March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1867
Preceded by	Francis Thomas
Succeeded by	Frederick Stone
Personal details
Born	Benjamin Gwinn Harris (1805-12-13)December 13, 1805 nearLeonardtown, Maryland, U.S.
Died	April 4, 1895(1895-04-04) (aged 89) nearLeonardtown, Maryland, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	Yale University Harvard University

Benjamin Gwinn Harris (December 13, 1805 – April 4, 1895) was aU.S. Representative fromMaryland.^[1]

Born nearLeonardtown,St. Mary's County, Maryland, Harris attendedYale College in the late 1820s, andHarvard Law School from 1829 to 1830. He served as member of theMaryland House of Delegates in 1833 and 1836, and was admitted to thebar in 1840. Harris was removed from Yale after taking part in a student protest against the poor quality of the food in the campus housing.

While serving in the Maryland State House of Delegates, he opposed the Know-Nothing Party and championed religious freedom. But as theCivil War loomed, he also sought to enforce slavery, including the re-enslavement of Maryland's freedmen.^[2]

Harris was elected as aDemocrat to theThirty-eighth andThirty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1867). During the Civil War, he voted against every war appropriations measure brought to the House of Representatives. His vote on theThirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery is recorded as nay. In his defense of CongressmanAlexander Long, Harris openly prayed for a southern victory on the floor of the House.^[2] He was thereforecensured by the House of Representatives on April 9, 1864, fortreasonable utterances. In addition, he was tried by a military court in Washington, D.C. in May 1865 for harboring two paroledConfederate soldiers, and sentenced to three years imprisonment and forever disqualified from holding any office under the United States Government. U.S. PresidentAndrew Johnson pardoned Harris several weeks later.

He died on his estate, "Ellenborough," nearLeonardtown, Maryland, April 4, 1895, where he was interred in the family burying ground on his estate.

• List of United States representatives expelled, censured, or reprimanded

• United States Congress."Benjamin G. Harris (id: H000232)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

 This article incorporatespublic domain material fromBiographical Directory of the United States Congress.Federal government of the United States.

• 1805 births
• 1895 deaths
• Copperheads (politics)
• Censured or reprimanded United States representatives
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland
• Maryland politicians convicted of crimes
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• People from Leonardtown, Maryland
• Yale College alumni
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• 19th-century United States representatives

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