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 Stephen Grover Cleveland Democrat 18 March 1837-24 June 1908 1885-1888, 1893-1897 Vice Presidents: Thomas Hendricks (March-Noveber 1885), Adlai Stevenson (1893-1897)   Grover Cleveland was a president who appealed to the people in a way that endeared him to the common man. He seemed like an honorable, honest politician. His dedication to his beliefs and his firm dedication to the goals he set out to accomplish, however misguided they might have been, is admirable. For these efforts he deserves a B-.  The environment wasn’t much affected during Cleveland’s two terms; the largest impact was most likely the expansion of the railroad system and the droughts that plagued farmers during this time period. Poor farming practices, among other things led to low crop yields that put many farmers in jeopardy. Grover Cleveland refused to help them due to his belief that the ‘government should not support the people’.  Grover Cleveland was against free coinage of silver and fought against it in his second term. He also opposed the current tariffs and sought to lower them in order to help businesses during both campaigns. Grover Cleveland’s moderate beliefs were so popular that members of the Republican Party (called Mugwumps) left in favor of voting for Cleveland. He supported a luxury tax as well as labor reforms and keeping the gold standard in place.  Grover Cleveland used the veto more times than any other president before him, vetoing bills for government aid to help veterans, farmers and many others, citing them as unnecessary drains on the Treasury. This was even while he supported big business and gave out money to J P Morgan and other Wall Street bankers, and helped the railroad companies stop strikes by union workers.  The most negative outcomes of Cleveland’s presidency would be that he failed to alleviate the depression of 1893 and also gave money to the corrupt J P Morgan in an attempt to stop the depletion of the gold reserves. Cleveland also gave help to businesses even as he said he wouldn’t help out farmers who were languishing in debt and depression. The most positive outcome of his presidency was that he finally did lower the tariff under the Wilson-Gorman Act of 1894. Cleveland didn’t really do anything extraordinarily bad or good during his presidency; he was one of an era of the forgettable presidents.  Grover Cleveland was a largely ineffective president in that he didn’t do anything really earth-shattering, and many of his policies were later nullified by other presidents. He didn’t set any real precedents, other than that of not stepping in to help the people in their time of need, hiding behind a belief that it would soften up the American people. This hands-off type of politics during an economic depression would be repeated with Herbert Hoover at the beginning of the Great Depression. Otherwise, Cleveland didn’t accomplish much that had a great impact on the future.  The only thing remarkable about Cleveland was that he served two consecutive terms. His policies, when they worked, were aimed at helping big business prosper over the common man. Cleveland had several chances to be great, but didn’t properly take advantage of them to become a great leader. He stuck to his beliefs, but those beliefs weren’t really in line with the best interests of the American people many times. However, his character and good intentions endeared him to many people and so he deserves a B-.
 * Theme **
 * Goals **
 * Cleveland and Congress **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Positive and Negative Outcomes **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Precedents **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Conclusion **