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Grover Cleveland

Born: March 18, 1837 Died: June 24, 1908 Political Party: Democrat Term(s): 1884-1888 and 1892-1896 Vice President Term 1: Thomas Andrews Hendricks Vice President Term 2: Adlai Ewing Stevenson

Grover Cleveland, during his first term, did not get to involved with the country but with his reelection into another term, he helped pull America through one of its worse depression eras. During his terms, he brought in many new acts including the Interstate Commerse Act,he helped destroy the Pulman Strike, and he kept the country on the gold standard. But along with a lot of good came same some bad. During his terms, the Panic of 1893 occur bringing in a great amount of riots and unemployment. Cleveland did a great job handling the Panic and he did a great job of protecting America against big businesses. Because of these feats, I rate Clevelands presidency as a B+.

During Clevelands presidency, he had many ideas for the country. One of his main goals was to weaken the monopolies of the country and weaken the railroad system. The companies were hurting the people of the country by stealing their money. Cleveland put in place the Interstate Commerse Act to weaken the railroad systems of the country. The act made the railraod rates reasonable and just for the people. This act also brought discrimination to an end against small businesses. This act was not enforced well but it was a great start. Another problem that came up was the Hawaii issue. Hawaii was a protected by America but it was not a state because of the reigning queen. America just wanted Hawaii for economic flourishing so when Harrison proposed the annexation of Hawaii during his presidency, Cleveland did not like it. That is why Cleveland pushed for the veto of the annexation during his presidency because the country had the wrong intentions for the small island nation. Another problem during Clevelands presidency was the Panic of 1893. This was caused by a dwindling gold reserve, bad crop harvests, and industrial overexpansion. Many companies went bankrupt causing many Americans to loose theis jobs. To help the country out of the depression, Cleveland enforced the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. He wanted to keep the country on the gold standard. To do this, he sold gold bonds to Wall Street in return for checking the the withdrawl of gold from the treasury. This helped bring the country out of a deep depression and keep the country on the gold standard.

Cleveland had a tough time getting things through Congress. He was the only Democratic president to be in office during the Republican rule in Congress lasting from 1860-1912. Even though the Republicans ruled Congress, they agreed mostly on bills being passesd. Both Cleveland and Congress agreed on the Hawaii issue. One disagreement that they had was on the tariff and whether or not they should increase it. Cleveland wanted to decrease the tariff to help encourage trade between countries and because he called it an "illogicalsource of unnecessary taxation" but the Republican Congress wanted to keep the higher tariff so that they could protect domestic manufactures and Amercian wages. The tariff was never deccreased because of the numerous amount of republicans in Congress.

As president, Clevelands most successful action was the repeal of the Sherman Silver Act. The country was going through the Panic of 1893 which was a great depression creeping across the country. Many businesses went bankrupt making many workers loose their jobs. The repeal of the Sherman Silver Act kept the country on the gold standard and helped lift the country out of the depression. The act asked for bankers on Wall Street to buy gold bonds in return for the bankers to check their withdrawls of gold from the treasury. This was a great feat because it lifted the country out of the depression that was keeping jobs away from the public and it kept the country on the gold standard which was good because going off the gold standard would cause a great amount of inflation in the country.

There were two bad events that occured during Clevelands presidency. One was the Panic of 1893. The panic was called by industrial expansion and dwindling gold reserves. This caused many workers in the middle class to loose their jobs because many businesses went out of business. The second event that went down that was not that good was the Pullman Strike. This strike was caused by the redcing of wages in a car company and the employees did not like it. Much vilolence broke out. President Cleveland handled this well by sending in troops to stop the riots and stop their leader. The strike did show that America was not happy with the depleting amount of money they could make.

Even though Cleveland was President during a Republican era, he did a lot of good during his presidency for the country. The Interstate Commerse Act, the Hawaii issue and therepeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act all helped increase his grade. Theonly thing that brought down his grade was the Panic of 1893. That was a major depression in America. Overal, President Cleveland receives a B+ for his terms.

Bibliography: DeGregorio, William A. //The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents//. Fort Lee, N.J: Barricade, 2005. Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, Thomas Andrew Bailey, and Thomas Andrew Bailey. //The American Pageant: a History of the Republic//. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002. Print. "Grover Cleveland." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Web. 15 April 2010. [].