CLEVELAND, ( STEPHEN) GROVER ( 1837—). The twenty-second and twenty-fourth President of the United States. He was born at Caldwell, Essex County, N. J., March 18, 1837. ln 1841 his father, the Rev. Richard F. Cleveland (Yale, 1524), a Presbyterian minister, removed with his family to Fayetteville, near Syracuse, N. Y., and afterwards to Clinton, N. V., in the schools of which places Grover' Cleveland was a scholar. The death of his father in 1853 obliged him to earn his own living, and the first position that he held was that of a teacher in the New York Institution for the Blind. A little later he started for Cleveland, Ohio, where lie expected to study and practice law. While passing through Buffalo, however, he was induced to re main there by his uncle. Lewis F. Allen. who secured for him a position with a prominent law firm. lie was admitted to practice in 1859; became assistant district attorney for Erie County in 1863; was the Democratic candidate for district attorney in 1865, but was defeated at the polls; and in 187(1 was elected sheriff of the county. At the conclusion of his term of office of three years, be resumed the practice of law, with marked suc cess. In November, 1881, lie was nominated as Democratic candidate for Mayor of Buffalo. The city was strongly Republican, but long-continued tenure of office had engendered flagrant corrup tion, and good men of all parties joined to lip root it. Cleveland, being elected by a handsome majority, reorganized the departments under his charge on business principles, overcame corrupt combinations, and promptly vetoed all measures that savored of extravagance or dishonesty. His notable service in that office was recognized in 1882, when he received the Democratic nomina tion for Governor of New York. His opponent was Charles J. Folger (q.v.), then Secretary of the Treasury under President Arthur. The Re publican l'arty in the State was divided, and among the independent voters there was strong dissatisfaction with the methods that had se cured Mr. Folger's nomination. Mr. Cleveland's reputation as a reformer was strongly in his favor, and he was elected by the extraordinary plurality of 192.854. His conduct as Governor was marked by integrity. independence, and good judgment, and he was early spoken of as a •andi date for the Presidency. At the Democratic Na tional Convention, July, 1584, he was the leading candidate on the first ballot. and in spite of a zealous minority of delegates from his own State, secured the necessary two-thirds of all the votes on the second ballot. A large body of Independ ent Republicans declared themselves in his fa vor; lint the accession of this new element was partly offset by the defection of many Democrats. Cleveland received 219 electoral votes against 182 for his opponent, James G. Blaine. Besides the Southern States, he carried Connecticut, New York, Jersey, and Indiana. He was inaugu rated March 4. 1885. On June 2 of the following year lie married Miss Frances Folsom. His term was characterized mainly by his bold advocacy of a reduction of tariff duties, and by his opposi tion to what lie considered unworthy bills. Dur ing his term he vetoed or 'pocketed' 413 hills, 297 of Which were pension bills. During the
first session of Coirress he directly antagonized the Senate refusing to give to that hotly his reasons for removing certain officers, or to de liver up the papers ordering such removals; on the ground that, under the Constitution. the President is not amenable to Congress for such acts, and that the papers were not oflicial docu ments. His supporters maintain that. considering the immense difficulties surrounding such an un dertaking, his civil-service reform pledges were carried out as consistently as possible. Ile was renominated for the Presidency at Saint Louis. June 7, 18SS, but was defeated, receiving only 168 electoral votes to Harrison's 233, though his popular vote exceeded by more than 100,000 that of his opponent. On the expiration of his term of office he resumed in New Yttrk City the practice of law, but still kept in touch with the political interests of his party. At the National Democratic Convention of June, 1892, although opposed by the delegation from his own State, he was nominated for the Presidency on the first ballot, and in November was elected, receiving 277 electoral votes against 145 for Harrison (Re publican) and 22 for Weaver ( Populist). Dur ing his second term. in the face of the violent opposition of the mass of his own party, he 'ex erted himself unflinchingly for the maintenance of the gold standard. To this end he called an extra session of Congress in the summer of 1893, and secured the repeal of the Sherman Act of 1890, requiring the Government to make large purchases of silver bullion. lie maintained the gold reserve by successive issues of Government bonds. When the Democratic majority of Con gress passed a tariff act, he allowed it to become a law without his signatnre, considering it inade quate in many of its provisions. During the great railroad strike at Chicago in 1894 he or dered out the United States troops to "prevent the obstruction of the mails." although Governor Altgeld, of Illinois. who had not asked for the troops, protested vigorously against the meas ure. In the domain of foreign affairs. Air. Cleve land's second administration was signalized by his withdrawal from the Senate of the Hawaiian Annexation Treaty negotiated by President Har rison; the upholding and advancement of the itlonroe Doctrine by his vigorous and successful insistence upon the submission to arbitration of the long-standing boundary dispute between Great Britain and Venezuela; and the promul gation of the Bering Sea arbitration award. in consequence mainly of Air. Cleveland's position on the currency question, his administration was not indorsed by the Democratic National C'onven tion of 1896. In the ensuing Presidential cane paigt,) he supported General Palmer, the candi date of the Sound-Money Democrats. Since his retirenicnt he has lived at Princeton, N. J. He has of late delivered, at Princeton Univer sity, two lectures annually on questions of pub lie policy, which have been printed. Consult: Whittle, Grover elrreland (London and New York, 18961: and ail appreciation in Peek, The Personal Equation (New York, 1S97).