Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was born on March 18, 1837, in Caldwell, New Jersey. Cleveland’s father was a minister, originally from Connecticut, and his mother was from Baltimore. He was the fifth of nine children, named Stephen Grover, but he did not use the name “Stephen” in his adult life. In 1841, his family moved to Fayetteville, New York where he spent most of his childhood. In 1850 Cleveland’s father took a pastorate in Clinton, New York, and the family had to move to accommodate his job. They moved once more in 1853 to Holland Patent, New York. Soon after the move Cleveland’s s father past away. After the death of his father, Cleveland dropped out of school to help support his family. An elder in his church offered to pay his college tuition if he promised to be a minister like his father, Cleveland declined, and instead decided to move West.
On his way West, Cleveland stopped by his uncle’s house in Buffalo, New York. While there he was given a clerical job at his uncle’s law. Cleveland’s uncle was an important person in New York, and he would introduce him to a lot of influential men there. Cleveland later took a clerkship with his firm, and then became a certified lawyer. Leaving his uncle’s firm in 1962 to start his own firm. He built a reputation for himself as being committed and dedication to hard work. Cleveland stayed out of politics until 1970, where he ran for sheriff of Erie County, which he won. After his two year term as sheriff, he returned to the field of law, opening a law firm with his two friends. There he found himself at the top of Buffalo’s legal community.
In 1881 the democratic party leaders approached Cleveland and asked him if he would like to run for Mayor of Buffalo, he took office January 2, 1882. His term as mayor gave him the reputation of being an honest politician, the reputation soon spread beyond Erie County. As Cleveland’s reputation grew, the democratic party began to consider him a possible nominee for governor. When the democratic convention could not decide between their two leading candidates Rosewell P. Flower, and Henry W. Slocum, Cleveland emerged as the compromise choice, and on January 1st, 1883, he took office winning the election by a landslide. Cleveland’s blunt, honest ways as governor won him popular acclaim. In 1884 Cleveland was seen as a leading contender for the presidential nomination. And due to the failing health of other contenders, he was nominated to be the democratic nominee for the 1884 election.
While the popular vote was close, with Cleveland winning by just one-quarter of a percent, the electoral votes gave Cleveland a majority of 219–182. And is sworn in as president of the United States on March 4th, 1885. Cleveland’s first term was uneventful but was marked by firmness on his part to the principles which he deemed productive to the nation. He made large use of the veto power upon bills passed by Congress. On June 2, 1886, Cleveland married Frances Folsom, in the Blue Room of the white house. He was the second president to be married in the White House. After his first term was up the democratic party renominated Cleveland, but he lost the election, receiving 168 electoral votes, to Benjamin Harrison’s 233 votes. Even though Cleveland had lost the electoral votes, he had won the popular vote by more than 100,000 votes. Cleveland retired to private life and resumed the practice of the law in New York. ! In 1892 Cleveland was nominated for president a third time in succession. He won receiving 277 electoral votes to Harrison’s 145 (22 were cast for James B. Weaver of Iowa, the candidate of the “People’s” party). Cleveland’s second term included some important events.
The most important was the repeal of the silver legislation, which had been a growing menace for fifteen years. Cleveland’s second term expired on the 4th of March 1897, and he then retired into private life. He was well respected and constantly consulted on his knowledge. He was a trustee of Princeton University and Stafford Little lectures on public affairs. And living in New Jersey, until his death on the 24th of June 1908. Major Event During Administration Grover Cleveland’s first term (1885-1889) was uneventful.
Cleveland used his veto power sparingly. Vetoing 413 bills in his first term, more than two-thirds of which were private pension bills. Cleveland reduced taxation upon American citizens, due to the growing surplus of money in the United States Treasury. Cleveland was also an advocate of the tariff reform. He believed that the tariff should be reduced, this conflict was never resolved in Cleveland’s 1885-1889 term and would remain a problem for the upcoming elections. During his first term, Cleveland appointed two justices to the supreme court. The first, Lucius Q. C. Lamar in 1887, and the second Melville Fuller a few months later. ! Grover Cleveland? s second term (1893-1897) contained some notable events.
The most important was the repeal of the silver legislation, this had been creeping up for the past 15 years. People would turn their coin notes in for gold, instead of silver, causing a depletion of the United States gold reserve. Cleveland repealed the act to prevent the depletion of the country’s gold reserves. The problems for Cleveland didn’t stop there though. A strike began against the Pullman Company (manufacture of railroad cars) against low wages and long work hours, and by June 1894, 125,000 railroad workers were on strike, paralyzing the nation’s trade. Cleveland felt that a federal solution was needed.
So he sent federal troops to the rail centers to ensure the commerce of the united states continued. ! Having reversed the silver legislation, Cleveland’s next goal was to reverse the effects of the McKinley tariff. The Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act was finally passed in 1894 after many reforms by the house, this slightly reduced the United States tariff rates, and imposed a 2% income tax. Cleveland was outraged with the final bill and criticized it as a disgraceful product of the control of the Senate. Still, he believed it was an improvement over the McKinley tariff and allowed it to become law without his signature.
Goals and Initiatives
Election of 1884 Cleveland’s campaign for his 1884 election was focused mainly on the corruption in politics. His reputation as an opponent of corruption proved to be one of the Democrat’s strongest asset for the 1884 election. His opponent James G. Blaine was known to be a corrupt politician, he would corruptly influence legislation in favor of the success of companies, later profiting on the sale of bonds he owned in them. This level of corruption made some people crowd over to Cleveland? s side, because they were more concerned with morality than with party. Cleveland preached honesty and efficiency in government. Even when Cleveland was charged with fathering an illegitimate child, he immediately admitted the possibility of himself being the baby’s father.
Election of 1888 Cleveland’s renomination in 1888, against the Republican nominee, Benjamin Harrison, was focused mainly on the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act. The republicans aggressively defended protective tariffs, where as Cleveland felt the tariff cost’s should be reduced. Cleveland was certain that he would be able to pull another victory in this election, and even though he had won the popular vote 48. 6 percent to Harrison’s 47 percent he lost the electoral vote due to slightly losing in the major game-changing states.
Election of 1892
The election of 1892 was a rematch of the year before, with the Democrats nominating Grover Cleveland, and the republicans nominating Benjamin Harrison.
Additionally, a third party had emerged on the scene: the People’s Party, they had given their nomination to James B. Weaver of Iowa. This election was according to Cleveland biographer Allan Nevins, “the cleanest, quietest, and most creditable in the memory of the post-war generation” this was mostly due to the fact that Harrison’s wife was dying of tuberculosis. Harrison did not personally campaign, and Cleveland followed suit out of sympathy to his political rival as not to use Mrs. Harrison’s illness to his advantage. The issue on tariffs had worked to the republicans advantage of the election before, but over the past four years, the price of imported goods had gotten higher and higher. So many voters who sided with Harrison the year before had turned their views to either Cleveland or Weaver of the People’s Party. In the end, Cleveland won by wide margins in both the popular and electoral votes and was elected the 24th president of the United States.
Achievements
Grover Cleveland had many achievements during his presidential career. He stopped the abandonment of the gold standard, saved the land from Hawaii, and to this day is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms. Cleveland had earned the trust of the people due to his struggles to remove corruption from the political system. He is also one of the eight presidents of the United States to be printed on a bill (Paper Currency, $1,000 Bill)
Evaluation
Grover Cleveland seems to be the perfect politician. He was honest, fair, and experienced. I am not the only one who thought so as well.
In the three times, Cleveland had run for president, he had won the popular vote every time. The choices he made seemed to be very smart and evoked little hostile actions from the people of the United States.
References:
- Bibliography “American President Reference Resource: Campaigns and Elections. ” Millercenter. org. The Miller Center, n. d. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.
- “American President. ” Millercenter. org. The Miller Center, n. d. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.
- “Grover Cleveland. ” www.nndb.com. N. p. , n. d. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.
- “Presidents On All US Dollar Bills, Presidents On Money. ” Www. marshu.com. N. p. , n. d. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.
