CLEVELAND 



1419 



CLEVELAND 



chief city. Two years later he was the unsuc- 

 cessful candidate for district attorney, but in 

 1870 he was elected sheriff.. In this office, 

 which he held for three years, he displayed 

 at least one trait which was characteristic of 

 him throughout his career. Because he be- 

 lieved that a public official should perform the 

 duties for which he was elected, he personally 

 sprung the trap that hanged a convicted crim- 

 inal rather than delegate this duty to a deputy. 

 At the end of his term he resumed the practice 

 of law, and was soon recognized as one of the 

 leaders of the bar in Western New York. 



The decade following the War of Secession 

 was a period of political corruption and con- 

 fusion, and of extravagance in public and pri- 

 vate life. Cleveland's appearance in public life 

 nearly coincided with the beginning of a re- 

 action against the looseness of morals which 

 had been apparent during these years. Cleve- 

 land as sheriff had displayed an honesty and 

 devotion to duty which led to his nomination 

 and election in November, 1881, as mayor of 

 Buffalo on a reform ticket. In a year Buffalo 

 experienced little less than a revolution, for its 

 mayor was a man who went on his course with- 

 out regard to "influence." A year in the 



mayor's office won him the Democratic nom- 

 ination for governor of New York. His oppo- 

 nent was Charles J. Folger, President Arthur's 

 Secretary of the Treasury, a man of great 

 ability but unfortunate in that the people of 

 New York thought he was being forced upon 

 them by "machine" politics. Cleveland was 

 elected by a plurality of 192,800 votes an 

 unprecedented number. As governor Cleve- 

 land continued to show the same fearless inde- 

 pendence which had characterized his course as 

 mayor of Buffalo. He kept a watchful eye on 

 many details of administration which governors 

 usually neglect. It is said that he never signed 

 a bill until he had read it through ; he accepted 

 nobody's interpretation of it, but always relied 

 on his own judgment. He vetoed so many 

 bills that he was often called the "veto gov- 

 ernor." He offended Tammany, the labor ele- 

 ment and many others. Nothing better showed 

 his disregard of public clamor than his veto 

 of a bill which provided lower rates of fare 

 on the elevated railroad! of New York City. 

 The object of the bill met his approval, but 

 not the method. Nevertheless, he won a large 

 personal following, simply because he was fear- 

 less and independent. 



Cleveland's Career as President 



The Election of 1884. Cleveland's terms as 

 mayor of Buffalo and governor of New York 

 made him a national figure. As the time for 

 the campaign of 1884 approached, he was recog- 

 nized as the leading candidate for the Demo- 

 cratic nomination, and at the national con- 

 vention in Chicago was nominated practically 

 without opposition. The Republicans nomi- 

 nated James G. Blaine, one of the most bril- 

 liant men in public life and one of the most 

 popular. Yet Blaine had many enemies, and 

 thousands of Republicans refused to vote for 

 him. It was this element, called Mugwumps 

 (which see), who turned against Blaine and 

 elected Cleveland. The campaign was one of 

 the bitterest in the history of the United 

 States. Blaine attempted to keep alive the 

 issues of the War of Secession and reconstruc- 

 tion, but the campaign proved that they were 

 dead. The real contest was personal, and was 

 marked by charges against the characters of 

 both Cleveland and Blaine. When friends of 

 Cleveland asked him how they should answer 

 the charges against him he said, "Tell the 

 truth!" The election was close; the result was 

 not known for three days, until the official 



count gave Cleveland a plurality of fewer 

 than 1,500 votes in New York state. New 

 York's vote gave Cleveland a plurality of 

 thirty-seven in the electoral college. Cleve- 

 land's popular vote was 4,912,696, against 

 4,849,680 for Blaine. 



First Administration (1885-1889). His term 

 of office was in many respects notable. It was 

 apparent from the first that Cleveland was 

 prepared to take, and even insisted on taking, 

 the entire responsibility of the administration. 

 He showed his independence at the start by 

 refusing to make wholesale removals of Re- 

 publican office-holders. Although he made 

 enough changes to incur the disapproval of 

 reformers, his administration marked a great 

 advance in civil service. He applied the prin- 

 ciples of the Civil Service Act of 1883 to many 

 offices not specifically mentioned in the act; 

 and during his term in office added nearly 

 12,000 officers to the classified service. 



Vigorous Use of the Executive Power. Dur- 

 ing his term Cleveland frequently proved his 

 independence. He became involved in a quar- 

 rel with the Senate, in which the Republicans 

 were in the majority, because he refused to 



