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Grover Cleveland Born: 1837 Died: 1908 Political Party: Democrat Term of Office: March 4, 1885- March 4, 1889 March 4, 1893- March 4, 1897 Vice Presidents: Thomas A. Hendricks Adlai E. Stevenson

President Grover Cleveland could be considered a good president for standing up for what he believed in and for repealing the Silver Purchase Act. However, he could also be considered a bad president for ignoring the African Americans and the women of the United States, and for the way he handled the depression of 1893. So in this case, Grover Cleveland should deserve a C for his presidency.

Cleveland had many goals as his presidency began. One of these goals was tariff reduction, which had a lot of Democratic support but it failed due to Cleveland’s poor leadership. He also wanted to ignore the African Americans. He supported white southerners who refused to treat Blacks equally. He was also against integrated schools, and apposed African American suffrage. Another goal of Cleveland was to pass the Dawes Act, which robbed the Native Americans of much of their land. Finally, Cleveland’s most important goal was to repeal the Silver Purchase Act

Congress did not have a very healthy relationship with President Grover Cleveland. With Cleveland being a Democrat and the majority of Congress being Republican, they did not get much accomplished. Cleveland vetoed many bills, such as private pension bills for the American Civil War. He believed the Pension Bureau already rejected these pensions. He also vetoed the Texas Seed Bill, which proposed that Congress produced $10,000 to purchase seed grain after a drought that ruined many crops. The Fact the Cleveland sometimes seemed more Republican than Democratic did not help his relation with the Democrats in Congress either.

The most positive outcome of Cleveland’s presidency would be the Venezuelan boundary dispute. Britain, since the early nineteenth century, laid claim to the Orincoco River. This river was a large trading region with reached into Venezuela. Venezuela then requested that the United States to settle the clash. When Cleveland accepted, he threatened to go to war with Britain. He then sent U.S. naval ships to meet British warships head-on. The British then agreed to accept negotiation. This accomplishment keeps Cleveland from deserving a grade lower than a C.

The most negative outcome of Cleveland’s presidency would be the way he handled the Depression of 1873. 18% of Americans were unemployed, one out of tevery ten banks had to shut their doors to depositers, and Railroad construstion had fallen by 50 percent. Much like a tyrant, Cleveland broke up a strike using federal troops. It was obvious that he was not sure how to deal with such a thing like a depression. When Cleveland repealed the Silver Purchase act many holders of U.S. government bonds began cashing them in for gold, which caused the nation’s cold reserves to dip down below $100 million. However, Cleveland did authorize four new government bonds to raise enough gold to prevent the government from defaulting on its international obligations. This

President Grover Cleveland deserves a C for his presidency due to his effort to improve the country even though some of those efforts failed. He stood by his beliefs and kept the country from falling any further than it did economically.