The Conservative Democrat

After Chester Arthur served out the presidential term for the late James Garfield, Republicans were so unhappy with Arthur that they did not renominate him. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party -- which had not won a presidential election in nearly 30 years, turned to a conservative candidate from the Republican State of New York: Grover Cleveland. The Democrats hoped that by nominating the conservative Grover Cleveland they could pick up some Republican support and finally win a presidential election.

His opponent was the Republican Senator James Blaine from Maine, who was a liberal (or a "moderate"). Blaine is best known today for his opposition to funding by States of religiously affiliated schools (and particularly Catholic schools). In 1875, Blaine tried to amend the U.S. Constitution to prohibit States from providing any funding to religiously affiliated elementary and high schools. When that failed, his "Blaine Amendment" was incorporated into 36 State Constitutions, where they remain today and frustrate school voucher programs.^[10] A recent effort in Florida to establish school vouchers and to repeal the Blaine Amendment there failed.

Some key eastern Republicans opposed James Blaine in 1884 due to scandals, and supported Grover Cleveland for president instead. These Republicans were known as the "Mugwumps"; they felt Blaine could not be trusted, and they were probably right! The defection by the Mugwumps to support Cleveland enabled him to win his key home state of New York, despite its Republican tradition at the time. (Today New York is very Democratic.)

This strategy of the Democrats, aided by division within the Republican Party, worked. Cleveland was elected president in 1884 for his integrity, his support of gold standard, his opposition to unions, his opposition to government spending, and his support of free enterprise. Cleveland was the most conservative president since James Monroe, even though Cleveland was a Democrat.

Cleveland did as he said he would. He vetoed a record number of bills passed by Congress, mostly concerning pensions for Civil War veterans. Cleveland was frugal like most conservatives, and did not want more government spending.

In 1888, Cleveland faced a new Republican challenger for president, Benjamin Harrison. Cleveland won more votes, but Harrison won more electoral college votes and thereby won this close election. Harrison, who was from Indiana and enjoyed the popularity of his grandfather (who had been president), favored protective tariffs and increasing veterans' pay.

Cleveland came back for a rematch in the presidential election of 1892, and beat Harrison that time. But then he was faced with the financial Panic of 1893, during which hundreds of banks and businesses failed, President Cleveland was criticized for doing nothing, but refusing to bail out the banks is a conservative solution. In fall 2008, President Bush and Congress did bail out the banks, in contrast to Cleveland's conservative approach.

The Panic of 1893 caused a wealthy Ohio populist who had been hurt by it to lead a march on Washington, D.C., setting a precedent for "marching on Washington." Jacob Coxey promised to gather 10,000, but by the time he arrived in D.C. "Coxey's Army" consisted of only 500 people, which is still enough to attract attention. But the conservative Cleveland held his ground:^[11]

Upon arriving in Washington, Coxey and his supporters demanded that the federal government immediately assist workers by hiring them to work on public projects such as roads and government buildings. The United States Congress and President Grover Cleveland refused. Law enforcement officials arrested Coxey for trespassing on public property. Coxey's Army quickly dispersed upon its leader's arrest.

Historians cite this march on Washington as an example of how Americans increasingly looked to the national government to solve their problems.

Cleveland also held his ground against problems instigated by unions. He put down ("broke") the (railroad) Pullman Strike in Chicago in 1894.