GROVER
CLEVELAND
1885-1889
Democrat
Lived 1837-1908 (71)
VP - Thomas A Hendricks
New Jersey
“Public office is a
public trust.”
AKA:“Big Steve” and
“Uncle Jumbo”
I. Political
Issues
A. (1) Election of 1884
VS.
Grover Cleveland
(Democrat)
James Blaine
(Republican)
1. 3rd party Candidates
a. Greenback Party: Benjamin F. Butler
Prohibition Party: John St. John
b. Neither of these parties received any
electoral votes.
c. Why are 3rd parties important?
Some third-party goals
eventually become planks
(important issues) in the
platforms of the major
parties.
(2.)
REPUBLICAN
Campaign of 1884
2. Republican Ticket
a. Presidential nominee:
James G. Blaine
b. Vice-Presidential nominee:
John A. Logan
c. Three-Way Split
i. Stalwarts: supported Grant for a
third term (remember, they were
against civil service reform).
ii. Half-Breeds: moderate
government reformers. Supported
Blaine fully (He was considered the
leader of the Half-breeds…)
iii.
Mugwumps: (Indian word for “big chief”)
-Opposed Blaine after the Mulligan
Letters came out, which implicated
him in graft from railroad interests.
– Because of Blaine’s nomination, they
gave their support to Cleveland
(these republicans supported the
Democratic candidate!!!! Aghhhh…)
d. Attack on Cleveland
i. The campaigns of both parties turned
from focus on issues of concern and
more to personal morality.
ii. Republicans ran with a story from
the Buffalo Evening Telegraph that
exposed a pre-marital affair and an
illegitimate child of Cleveland.
The Republican chant:
“Ma, Ma…where’s my pa?
Going to the White House, ha… ha… ha…!”
DEMOCRATIC Campaign of
1884
3. Democratic Ticket
a. Presidential Nominee:
Grover Cleveland
b. Vice Presidential Nominee:
Thomas Hendricks
(Died in his sleep in
1885- no known cause
Other than being 66
yrs old way back in 1885!!!)
c. Attack on Blaine
i. Democrats ran with the
charges of graft against
Blaine
ii. The Democratic chant:
“Blaine, Blaine, James G.
Blaine! Continental liar from
the state of Maine!”
Blaine was a Half-Breed Republican who was for
Civil Service reform; however, because of
business corruption, he lost a lot of Republican
support (Mugwumps) to Cleveland.
Blaine in 1884
(1) Election results
Cleveland wins with 219
electoral votes.
B. Cleveland’s First Term
1. First Democratic elected since 1856.
2. Cleveland ended fraudulent
grants to some 80 million acres of
Western public lands. (rememberthey had to live on and farm the
land??)
3. Vetoed hundreds of pension
bills that would have sent federal
funds to undeserving Civil War vets.
“Public money appropriated for
pensions...should be devoted to the
indemnification of those who in the
defense of the Union and in the nation’s
service have worthily suffered, and who
in the day of their dependence resulting
from such suffering are entitled to the
benefactions of their Government.”
- Cleveland
4. Major Legislation:
a. Presidential Succession Act
(1886): Provided that on the death,
incapacity, or resignation of both the
president and vice-president, the line of
succession to the presidency would fall to
the cabinet in chronological order of the
creation of each department.
– Why do you think this was passed??
– Will be replaced by PSA of 1947 and the 25th
Amendment (1964)
Growing Labor Movement
Issues
The Knights of Labor
had been a strong
early labor unionremember, they let
almost anyone in…
(men, women.
Black, white, skilled.
Unskilled).. They
will not last long
(4)Haymarket Square Riot- (1886)
Tuesday May 4, 1886 in Chicago, it
began as a rally, a peaceful public
meeting in support of Striking
workers. which became violent.
An unknown person threw a bomb at
police as they marched to disperse the meeting. The bomb blast
and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers
and an unknown number of civilians. 8 anarchists were tried for
murder. 4 were put to death, and 1 committed suicide in prison.
The EFFECT? This bad media attention hurt the
Knights Of Labor membership- causing their
downfall.
(5) American Federation of Labor
• It was founded in Columbus, Ohio
in 1886 by Samuel Gompers
• The AFL stressed foremost the
concern with working conditions,
pay and control over jobs, relegating
political goals to a minor role
• The AFL organized only skilled workers in
craft unions and became an organization of
mostly white men.
They used STRIKES to get their way
II. Economic
issues
A. Major Economic Legislation
(7)Wabash v. Illinois (1886):
Supreme Court reversed its Munn v.
Illinois decision, ruling that state
governments could not regulate RRs….
Who do you assume this will hurt??
2. (8)Interstate
Commerce Act
(1887): created the Interstate
Commerce
Commission (the first regulatory agency) to
regulate interstate railroad rates.
a. Ensured that rates ($) were “fair and
just”
b. Put an end to rebates
c. **Problem** It Lacked enforcement
power- if someone broke the new law there
was nothing anyone could do…
B. Tariff Issue
1. After the Civil War, Congress raised
tariffs to protect new US industries.
2. Big business wanted to continue this;
consumers did not.
3. 1885  tariffs earned the US $100
mil. in surplus!
4. Tariffs were a major issue in the
1888 presidential election!
• The railroad made it (12) Railroad’s
possible for more
settlers to move to Effect on Native
the west, which
Americans…
killed off more of
the buffalo herds,
and forced more
native Americans
onto reservationsbecause their main
LIFE SOURCE was
gone…
III. Social
issues
A. Minority Issues
1. African Americans
a. Believing African Americans were
inferior, he opposed integrated
schools in New York.
b. In believing that government
should not interfere with what he
regarded as a social problem, he
opposed efforts to protect the
suffrage of African Americans.
2. Chinese
a. He worked to limit Chinese
immigration and to prohibit those
who had left the United States to
visit relatives in China from
returning.
b. The principal difference between
Chinese and European immigrants,
he believed, was the Chinese
immigrants’ unwillingness to
assimilate into American society.
b. (9) Dawes Severalty Act (1887):
i. Provided for the breakup of
reservations, distributing 160 acres of
farmland or 320 acres of grazing land to
those Indians agreeing to the Act’s
terms. TO ASSIMILATE THEM!!
ii. The Indians would become U.S.
citizens after 25 years.
iii. Leftover land would be sold to other
U.S. citizens and RR companies. This
led to the loss of much of the “Native
Americans’” land.
3. Native Americans
a. In Cleveland's view, the Native
Americans were wards of the nation,
like wayward but promising children in
need of a guardian.
b. He sought to assimilate them into
white society by means of
education, private land
ownership, and parental
guidance from the federal
government.
• 160 acres to
Native
Americans on
reservations…
they had to farm
it and after 25
years they could
become citizens
of the US
Dawes Act
4. Women begin a fight for the right to vote
This cartoon
shows Susan B.
Anthony chasing
after President
Grover Cleveland
in her fight for
women's right to
vote
(14) The Statue of Liberty
1. Located in NYC’s harbor , on
Staten Island this gift of
friendship from France
serves as a welcome to
Immigrants at Ellis
island and is a universal
Symbol of freedom
and democracy.
2. It
was dedicated
on Oct. 28, 1886.
(3) Mark Twain’s Huck Finn was
published (1885)
Contemporary critics
and scholars have
treated it as one of the
greatest American
works of art.
A book about life in the
“West” (which was only as
far west as the Mississippi
River at this time!!!)
(11) February 22, 1889: Cleveland
signed a bill that turned the
territories of North Dakota,
South Dakota, Montana, and
Washington into states.
Bringing the
United
States
to 41 states
(b/c of the Northern Pacific RR)
He was born in 1829 in what is today western
New Mexico, but was then still Mexican
territory. One of the most pivotal moments in
Geronimo's life was in 1858 when he returned
home from a trading excursion into Mexico. He
found his wife, his mother and his three young
children murdered by Spanish troops from
Mexico. This reportedly caused him to have
such a hatred of the whites that he vowed to
kill as many as he could. In 1875 all Apaches
west of the Rio Grande were ordered to the
San Carlos Reservation. Geronimo escaped
from the reservation three times and although
he surrendered, he always managed to avoid
Geronimo's final
surrender in 1886 was the
last significant Indian
guerrilla action in the
United States. Geronimo died on
capture. (6)
Feb. 17, 1909, a prisoner of war, unable to
return to his homeland.
(6)
Geronimo
("one who yawns"),
(13) The Flatiron Building was one of
New York City's first skyscrapers
• The "invention" of the skyscraper lies
with George A. Fuller (1851-1900).
• The steel industry built by the
Bessemer process and Andrew
Carnegie's monopolization,
helped cities grow “up” instead
of “out”
• Combining several innovations: steel
structure, elevators, central heating, electrical
plumbing pumps and the telephone,
skyscrapers came to dominate American
skylines at the turn of the century.
(10) Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
A simple harbor on the
island of O’ahu, Hawaii,
west of Honolulu. Much of
the harbor and
surrounding lands
is a United States
Navy deep water
naval base:
Headquarters of the
U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Good Trade location
and
military position
C. Looking Backward
1. Written by Edward
Bellamy in 1887; published
the next year.
2. Tells the story of a man
who traveled in time from
1887 to 2000, finding that
in the future, America was
a Socialist country.
*What was 2000 really like?
***Fun Facts ***
• 1885 - Dr. Pepper introduced
• Coca-Cola was advertised for the
first time, claiming to cure
anything from hysteria to the
common cold!
• Grover Cleveland's 1st daughter
died at age 12 of diphtheria and is
supposedly the namesake of the
“Baby Ruth” candy bar!!!