Nicolette+K.+-+GC+-+SP10

Born: March 18, 1837 Died: June 24, 1908 Party: Democrat Terms: March 4, 1885- March 3, 1889 March 4, 1893 to March 3, 1897 Vice President (1st Term): Thomas Andrews Hendricks Vice President (2nd Term): Adlai Ewing Stevenson
 * Stephen Grover Cleveland **

President Grover Cleveland was a man who tried to do what was right for the United States. During his two terms in office, he acted on his morals and that worked for him both in good and bad ways. In my opinion, Cleveland deserves a C during his terms as president.

During the first term of Grover Cleveland’s presidency, he was successful with the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887. This created the Interstate Commerce Commission (or ICC) which was the first federal regulatory agency. It was made to see that the interstate railroad rates were reasonable and fair and it would be an end to rebates and other unfair laws that the railroads had often used. Though the ICC was a great idea, it lacked enforcement powers until Theodore Roosevelt’s administration.

One of Cleveland’s main goals was to reduce tariffs. During his first term, he failed in that. He argued with Congress and said tariffs were a “betrayal of American fairness” and “vicious, inequitable, and illogical”. Republicans said that the tariffs protected domestic manufactures and wages of labor. No action was taken during the first term to lower the tariffs.

Generally, the president was on good terms with Congress. However, he vetoed many bills; most of them on Pension and Private Relief. He thought that would drain the treasury and he believed that when those in the nation’s army “worthily suffered” then they were “entitled to the benefactions of their Government.” This did not go smoothly with both Republicans and the Civil War veterans.

During the second term, Grover Cleveland was able to lower tariffs. The Wilson-Gorman Act in 1894 was a reduction of the McKinley Tariff but some of the Senate added duties on a variety of goods, leading Cleveland to call the law “party perfidy and party dishonor”. He allowed it to become law without signing it.

Grover Cleveland was burdened with the Panic of 1893. This panic was followed by a four year depression; the causes being rapidly dwindling gold reserves, overexpansion, and poor crop harvests in Southern and Western America. Cleveland believed the cause was the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and called Congress to urge them to repeal. Cleveland believed that only being with the gold standard would guarantee a stable currency. After the repeal though, gold reserves still continued to decline, so in 1895, Cleveland sold gold bonds to J. P. Morgan (along with other Wall Street Bankers) at a discount. He wanted them to check the withdrawal of gold from the treasury in return. This was good because it helped America from getting into a deeper depression.

Cleveland didn’t have the best times during his terms as president. He had a difficult time with trying to reduce tariffs in his first term and the Panic of 1893. He did a good job with creating the Interstate Commerce Commission and helped stop the depression from going worse than it already was. With both positive and negative outcomes in his presidency, I say that Grover Cleveland deserves a C.

Degregorio, William A.. //The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents, Seventh Edition (Complete Book of Us Presidents)//. 7 ed. Fort Lee: Barricade Books, 2009. Print.