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Stephen Grover Cleveland Birth:March 18, 1837 Died:June 24, 1908 Democrat First Term: 1885-1889 Vice President: Thomas A. Hendricks (d. 1885) Second Term: 1893-1897 Vice President: Adlai E. Stevenson

Thesis: Cleveland, though not an exceptional president, had a handful of achievements that helped shape and reform the United States. I would rate President Grover Cleveland with a "B" because during his two terms in office, Cleveland helped regulate interstate commerce, lowered tariffs,

Cleveland's goals over his two terms as president were to help regulate interstate commerce, reduce tarrifs, grant citizenship to cooperative Native Americans, maintain that Hawaii stayed a seperate nation from the United States, establish agricultural experiment stations, repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, reduce tariffs, and break up the strikes that were occurring due to the Panic of 1983. During his first term, Cleveland refused pension and private relief bills, passed the Insterstate Commerce Act, passed the Dawes Sevealty Act, passed the Hatch Act, and tried to reduce tariffs. "President Cleveland vetoed hundreds of pension and private relief bills as unwarranted drains on the Treasury." The Interstate Commerce Act created the Interstate Commerce Comission (the first federal regulatory agency) which oversaw insterstate railroad rates and was supposed to end rebates and other discriminatory practices by which railroads had long favored large corporations over small businessmen and farmers." the Interstate Commerce Commision could not enforce regulations during Cleveland's presidency. The Dawes Sevealty Act "granted citizenship and full title to defined parcels of reservation land to Native Americans willing to renounce tribal allegiance. The Hatch Act "provided federal funds for the establishment of agricultural experiment stations under the direction of agricultural colleges in the various states. Cleveland hoped to reduce the tariff," but no action was taken during Cleveland's first term. In his second term, Cleveland refused to consider the United States annexing itself with Hawaii, repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, passed the Wilson-Gormon Act, and broke up railroad strikes.Cleveland felt strongly that the native Hawaiins keep Hawaii and that the United States did not annex itself with Hawaii. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was also repealed after "Cleveland called Congress into special session to urge its repeal." Cleveland wanted a stable currency. The Wilson-Gorman Act pushed for a tariff reduction of the McKinley Tariff. Although Cleveland failed in his first term to lower the tariff, his goal was obtained in his second term when the Wilson-Gormon Act was passed. During President Cleveland's presidency, the Panic of 1893 was tariff. The Panic of 1893 caused the economy to head south, and in response to the poor economy, the Pullman Palace Car Company Car Workers went on strike. This strike "quickly spread to other railroad companies. On the advice of Attorney General Olney, Cleveland secured an injunction against the strikers and dispatched federal troops to Illonois on the ground that hte interruption in rail service unlawfully obstructed the mails." Cleveland was responsible for breaking up the strike.

In his first term, Cleveland vetoed 304 bills and pocket vetoed 110 bills, though only two of his vetoes were overridden. In his second term, Cleveland vetoed 42 bills and pocket vetoed 128 bills, though only five of his vetoes were overridden. Cleveland had the most vetoes in a single complete term and the most vetoes in two complete terms out of all of the presidents. Cleveland vetoed many pension and private relief bills, as well as the Texas Seed Bill. Cleveland veoted the Texas Seed Bill because he felt that it was unconstitutional to grant free seed to farmers in Texas during a drought who were destitute. But, Cleveland passed the Interstate Commerce Act, the Dawes Sevealty Act, the Hatch Act, and the Wilson-Gormon. Due to the nature of the bills that were vetoed, it is obvious that Cleveland did not support Civil War Veterans. Through his actions, it is shown that Cleveland supported farmers and small businessmen (Interstate Commerce Commission Act and Hatch Act), supported Native Americans who denied tribal allegience (Dawes Severalty Act), and the American people (Wilson-Gormon Act.) Due to the number of Cleveland's vetoes, it is safe to assume that Cleveland had many conflicts with Congress' opinions and that the majority of Congress was Republican, which was Cleveland's opposing party.

The most positive action which came about during Cleveland's presidency is that he pushed for the Sherman Silver Purchase Act to be repealed. "This act helped stop the homorrhaging of gold from the Treasury." Cleveland also had good relations with J.P. Morgan "the bankers' banker." With a loan of $65 milion, the Americans' "confidence in the nations' finances" was restored. Cleveland's actions, along with the help of J.P. Morgan allowed the United States to eventually have a "sound and stable currency." Cleveland's action allowed the economy to get better. The most negative aspect of Cleveland's presidency is that Cleveland was president during the Panic of 1893. The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression. Due to the depression, the currency became inflated, but railroad workers' wages remained the same. Low wages brought on the strikes of railroad workers. Although Cleveland brought an end to the strikes by sending federal troops, his action was somewhat unconstitutional. On the claims that the strikes were "unlawfully obstructing the mails," Cleveland ended the strikes. But, the American people were upset by Cleveland's use of "government by injunction." Cleveland broke up the strikes legally, but morally the American people were upset by the fact that "defiant workers whjo were held in contempt could be imrisoned without a jury trial" and because more employers were "striving to smash labor unions by court action." The American people viewed the breaking of the Pullman Strike as "further proof of an unholy alliance between business and the courts." Labor Unions should have been able to form and protest against their wages. Logically, if wages stay the same amount during a time when the dollar is being inflated, the workers are not being paid their fair share.

During Cleveland's presidency, the Presidential Succession Act (1886) was passed. This act stated that if the president and vice president were incompetent, died, or resigned, "the line of succession to the presidency was to fall to the cabinet in the chronological order of teh creation of each department." The Presidential Succession Act (1886) influenced future adminstrations, but was updated by presidents succeeding Cleveland. The Presidential Succession Act (1886) was replaced by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 during Harry Truman's presidency and ultimately supplanted by the passing of the Twenty-fifth Amendment during Lyndon Johnson's presidency.

The United States was better off after Cleveland served two terms in office. Interstate commerce became regulated, the Interstate Commerce Commission was established, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was repealed, and the tariff was lowered because of the Wilson-Gormon Act. However, Cleveland was not an exceptional president and ended the strikes that had good reasoning for going on strike. With this reasoning, Cleveland deserves a "B" rating for his two terms in office.

DeGregorio, William. __The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents__. Fort Lee: Barricade. 2005. "List of United States Presidents Vetoes." 13 November. __Wikipedia.__ 19 November < [q=cache:EhTy0UNbxjIJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_ States_presidential_vetoes+bills+Cleveland+passed+or+vetoed&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us|http://74.125.95.132/search? q=cache:EhTy0UNbxjIJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_vetoes+bills+Cleveland+passed+or+vetoed&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us]>.
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