In 1849, Mr. Harriman was elected by his townsmen to the New Hampshire house of representatives, where he almost immediately became prominent as a leader in debate on the Democratic side. Of his record as a party man little need to be said, except that from first to last, and whatever his affiliations, he has shown great independence in espousing measures and principles which commended themselves to his judgment and conscience, even when it put him in a minority with his political associates. In his first legislative term, on the question of commuting the death sentence of a woman who was sentenced to be hung for murder, he not only advocated such commutation, but was a leader in the movement for the abolition of capital punishment altogether, to which purpose he has ever since stood committed. In the legislature of 1850, he was the leading advocate of the homestead exemption law, at which time a resolution was adopted, submitting the question to the people. The voters of the state gave their approval at the next March election, and in the following June the act was consummated. No legislature has dared to repeal it, and the foresight and courage of its authors and earliest advocates have been so approved by thirty years of experience that it is doubtful if a single citizen can be found to-day who would desire to undo their work. It was no accident or trifling smartness that could give a man prominence in those two legislatures of a third of a century ago. Among the men of marked ability, now deceased, who held seats in those years, were Horton D. Walker, Samuel H. Ayer, Lemuel N. Pattee, Edmund Parker, Samuel Lee, John Preston, William Haile, Richard Jenness, William P. Weeks, Thomas E. Sawyer, Wm. H. Y. Hackett, Nathaniel B. Baker, Charles F. Gove, Thomas M. Edwards, Josiah Quincy, and scores of others, now living, of equal merit. In this galaxy of brilliant minds, it is no exaggeration to say that, young as he was, Mr. Harriman was an honored peer in legislative duty and debate. Besides the two years named, he represented Warner again in the house in 1858, when he was his party's candidate for speaker. He also represented district No. 8 in the state senate in 1859 and 1860. In 1853 and 1854 he held the responsible office of state treasurer. Appointed in 1856, by the President of the United States, on a board of commissioners (with ex-Congressman James H. Relfe of Missouri, and Col. Wm. Spencer of Ohio), to classify and appraise Indian lands in Kansas, he spent a year of official service in that inviting territory, then turbulent with ruffianism. Border raids, burnings, and murder were daily occurrences. But the duties of this office were faithfully attended to, and no breath of complaint was overheard against the delicate work of this board.