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Grover Clevleand

Democrat

1885–1889 and 1893–1897

Thomas Hendicks and Adlai Stevenson

Grover Cleveland was the only president to serve in two seperate terms. He did win the popular vote of the country in the election in which he lost. Overall he was a decent president. He lead the country through the panic of 1893 and worked against corruption in the country. As president Cleavland deserves a B.

Cleveland was against corruption. He started with the federal government. He didn't give into the spoils system and got rid of many uneccessary positions. His goals with races and women were not very clear. He never spoke agianst them and also didn't help them. He felt African Americans were insupierior and also worked to keep the Chinese away/ He wanted to refrain from Imperialism and expansion. Mostly he wanted to ensure a pure government and watch that congress didn't pass legislation for personal agendas.

In his first presidency there was a Republican majority in the senate and a dempcratic majority in the house. They passed the Interstate Commerce Act which helped to reform the the railroad companies. They also passes the Dawes Act, trying to helpfully distribute land to Native Americans in Oklahoma. The Chinese Eclusion Act was passed not allowing chinese that had left to return. In Clevelands second term congress had a democatic majoruty and in the last two a Republican majoruty. A Wilson-Gorman Tariff act was passed reducing the McKinley tariff and adding a 2% income tax. Cleveland found himself vetoing many veteran pension requests. He vetoed the Texas seed bill and an act to give relief to drought stricken farmers.

His greatest success was dealing with the silver gold issues. Cleveland believed in the gold standard. After attempting to reduce the amount of silver being coined in the BlandAllison Act Harrison would win presidency and pass the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. When he become president again the panic of 1893 was in full effect. He repealed the free coinage of silver. This restored the Treasurarys gold reserves and was the begining of the end of silver as American currency.

Cleveland's act with the most negative effect was his acts dealing with the depression. He did not believe that the national government was responsible for aiding those who suffered from it. He vetoed a bill to send help to Farmers effected by drought. His policies made him very unpopular. Even his repeal of the Sherman Act would split his party.

Cleveland left a great effect on the country and the future presidents. Being the first Democratic president in a while many Republicans feared that his use of the spoils system would cause them to loose all their positions. They immediatley reminded him of the Tenure of Office Act of 1867. However he declared that he would not dismiss anyone who did their job. In working toward a reform of America he rid many ussless federal jobs. This led America toward a purer government and also set the expectation for future presidents.

"Grover Cleveland." //The White House//. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. . "American President: Grover Cleveland: Domestic Affairs." //Miller Center of Public Affairs//. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. []. //American Presidents: Life Portraits//. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. .