Grover Cleveland

Birth-Death: (1837 - 1908 ) Term: (1885-1889, 1893-1897 )

During Cleveland's Presidency, he faced two major domestic issues. The growing labor problems moved Cleveland's administration to take decisive action against strikes. After the panic of 1893, the nation fell into depression, and Cleveland had to move fast to try and keep the government afloat while trying to improve the economy.

Domestic Events of Grover Cleveland

    The presidency of Grover Cleveland was characterized by the growth of labor unions. The Knights of Labor reached their peak of power in 1886. They have just won a strike against the Southwest Railroad System after their grand-master negotiated terms of settlement favorable to the Knights. The labor grew to 700,000 people. However, since they tried to incorporate all the workers into a one big union, the organization eventually failed.

    There were more reasons for the failure of the Knights of Labor. A general strike was planned on May 1, 1886, however after the first day the protest abated. The revolutionary attitude associated with the strike hurt the labor cause. A shot was fired into the crowd by the policemen in Chicago, and the next day a meeting was held at Haymarket Square to protest police brutality. The crowd, although composed of anarchists and socialists, was peaceful until the police moved in. It was then that a homemade bomb was thrown which killed seven people. After the Haymarket Riot public opinion went against labor unions.

    There was a calm period until 1893. In 1893, a major railroad company failed and before the year was over 500 banks were out of business and more than 15,000 businesses failed. The panic of 1893 had many causes behind it: the farmers had not been prosperous since the end of the Reconstruction, the Silver bills were drying out the treasury, and no revenue was being received from tariffs due to the extremely high rates of the McKinley Bill.

    To help the depression Grover Cleveland asked Congress to annul the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890. The bill was passed, stopping the flow of depreciated Silver into the Treasury. The silver issue would come up once more during the campaign of 1896 when it would be settled once and for all.

    In 1894 labor unions were once again in the news. The Pullman Company dismissed their employees and then hired them back on lower wages. A few of the workers were members of the American Railway Union and they appealed to Eugene V. Debs for help. Debs reacted quickly - within a week he ordered a boycott on all of the trains except for the US mail trains. However, a court order was issued telling Debs not to interfere with the mail and claimed that the union violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Thus, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, which did not work properly against the trusts (US v. Knight Co.) was used successfully against the labor unions.