Grover Cleveland
Twenty-fourth President of the United States
Also, twenty-second President of the United
States
Personal information
Second Inaugural Address
Second Term in office
Return to list of
presidents
Personal Information
Birthplace: Caldwell, New Jersey
Birthdate: March 18, 1839
Death Place: Princeton, New Jersey
Death date: June 24, 1908
Prior Occupation: Laywer
Party: Democrat
Wife: Frances Folsom
Return to list of choices
Inaugural Address
MY FELLOW-CITIZENS: In obedience to the mandate of my countrymen I am about to
dedicate myself to their service under the sanction of a solemn oath. Deeply
moved by the expression of confidence and personal attachment which has called
me to this service, I am sure my gratitude can make no better return than the
pledge I now give before God and these witnesses of unreserved and complete
devotion to the interests and welfare of those who have honored me.
I deem it fitting on this occasion, while indicating the opinions I hold
concerning public questions of present importance, to also briefly refer to the
existence of certain conditions and tendencies among our people which seem to
menace the integrity and usefulness of their Government.
While every American citizen must contemplate with the utmost pride and
enthusiasm the growth and expansion of our country, the sufficiency of our
institutions to stand against the rudest shocks of violence, the wonderful
thrift and enterprise of our people, and the demonstrated superiority of our
free government, it behooves us to constantly watch for every symptom of
insidious infirmity that threatens our national vigor.
The strong man who in the confidence of sturdy health courts the sternest
activities of life and rejoices in the hardihood of constant labor may still
have lurking near his vitals the unheeded disease that dooms him to sudden
collapse.
It can not be doubted that our stupendous achievements as a people and our
country's robust strength have given rise to heedlessness of those laws
governing our national health which we can no more evade than human life can
escape the laws of God and nature.
manifestly nothing is more vital to our supremacy s a nation and to the
beneficent purposes of our Government than at sound and stable currency. Its
exposure to degradation should at once arouse to activity the more enlightened
statesmanship, and the danger of depreciation in the purchasing power of the
wages paid to toil should furnish the strongest incentive to prompt and
conservative precaution.
In dealing with our present embarrassing situation as related to this subject
we will be wise if we temper our confidence and faith in our national strength
and resources with the frank concession that even these will not permit us to
defy with impunity the inexorable laws of finance and trade. At the same time,
in our efforts to adjust differences of opinion we should be free from
intolerance or passion, and our judgments should be unmoved by alluring phrases
and unvexed by selfish interests.
I am confident that such an approach to the subject will result in prudent and
effective remedial legislation. In the meantime, so far as the executive
branch of Government can intervene, none of the powers with which it is
invested will be withheld when their exercise is deemed necessary to maintain
our national credit or avert financial disaster.
Closely related to the exaggerated confidence in our country's greatness which
tends to a disregard of the rules of national safety, another danger confronts
us not unless serious. I refer to the prevalence of a popular disposition to
expect from the operation of the Government especial and direct individual
advantages.
he verdict of our voters which condemned the injustice of maintaining
protection for protection's sake enjoins upon the people's servants the duty of
exposing and destroying the brood of kindred evils which we the unwholesome
progeny of paternalism. This is the bane of republican institutions and the
constant peril of our government by the people. It degrades to the purposes of
wily craft the plan of rule our fathers established and bequeathed to us as an
object of our love and veneration. It perverts the patriotic sentiments of our
countrymen and tempts them to pitiful calculation of the sordid gain to be
derived from their Government's maintenance. It undermines the self reliance
of our people and substitutes in its place dependence upon governmental
favoritism. If stifles the spirit of the true Americanism and stupefies every
ennobling trait of American citizenship.
The lessons of paternalism ought to be unlearned and the better lesson taught
that while the people should patriotically and cheerfully support their
Government its functions do not include the support of the people.
The acceptance of this principle leads to a refusal of bounties and subsidies,
which burden the labor and thrift of a portion of our citizen to aid
ill-advised or languishing enterprises in which they have no concern. It leads
also to a challenge of wild and reckless pension expenditure, which overlaps
the bounds of grateful recognition of patriotic service and prostitutes to
vicious uses the people's prompt and generous impulse to aid those disabled in
their country's defense.
Every thoughtful American must realize the importance of checking at its
beginning any tendency in public or private section to regard frugality and
economy as virtues which we may safely outgrow. The toleration of this idea
results in the waste of the people's money by their chosen servants and
encourages prodigality and extravagance in the home life of our countrymen.
Under our scheme of government the waste of public money is a crime against the
citizen, and the contempt of our people for economy and frugality in their
personal affairs deplorably saps the strength and sturdiness of our national
character.
It is a plain dictate of honesty and good government that public expenditures
should be limited by public necessity, and that this should be measured by the
rules of strict economy; and it is equally clear that frugality among the
people is the best guaranty of a contented and strong support of free
institutions.
One mode of the misappropriation of public funds is avoided when appointments
to office, instead of being the rewards of partisan activity, are awarded to
those whose efficiency promises a fair return of work for the compensation paid
to them. to secure the fitness and competency of appointees to office and
remove from political action the demoralizing madness for spoils, civil service
reform has found a place in our public policy and laws. The benefits already
gained through this instrumentality and the further usefulness it promises
entitle it to the hearty support and encouragement of all who desire to see our
public service well performed or who hope for the elevation of political
sentiment and the purification of political methods.
The existence of immense aggregations of kindred enterprises and combinations
of business interests formed for the purpose of limiting production and fixing
prices is inconsistent with the fair field which ought to be open to every
independent activity. Legitimate strife in business should not be superseded
by an enforced concession to the demands of combinations they have the power to
destroy, nor should the people to be served lose the benefit of cheapness which
usually results from wholesome competition. These aggregations and
combinations frequently constitute conspiracies against the interests of the
people, and in all their phases they are unnatural and opposed to our American
sense of fairness. To the extent that they can be reached and restrained by
Federal power the general Government should relieve our citizens from their
interference and exactions.
Loyalty to the principles upon which our government rests positively demands
that the equality before the law which it guarantees to every citizen should be
justly and in good faith conceded in all parts of the land. The enjoyment of
this right follows the badge of citizenship wherever found, and unimpaired by
race or color, it appeals for recognition to American manliness and fairness.
Our relations with the Indians located within our border impose upon us to
treat them with forbearance and in our dealings with them to honestly and
considerately regard their rights and interests. Every effort should be made
to lead them, through the paths of civilization and education, to
self-supporting and independent citizenship. In the meantime, as the nation's
wards, they should be promptly defended against the cupidity of designating men
and shielded from every influence or temptation that retards their
advancement.
The people of the United States have decreed that on this day the control of
their Government in its legislative and executive branches shall be given to a
political party pledged in the most positive terms to the accomplishment of
tariff reform. They hve thus determined in favor of a more just and equitable
system of Federal taxation. the agents they hve chosen to carry out their
purposes are bound by their promises not less than by the command of their
masters to devote themselves unremittingly to this service.
While there should be no surrender of principle, our task must be undertaken
wisely and without heedless of vindictiveness. Our mission is not punishment,
but the rectification of wrong. If in lifting burdens from the daily life of
our people we reduce inordinate and unequal advantages too long enjoyed, this
is but a necessary incident of our return to right and justice. If we exact
from unwilling minds acquiescence in the theory of an honest distribution of
the fund of the governmental beneficence treasured up for all, we but insist
upon a principle which underlies our free institutions. When we tear aside the
delusions and misconceptions which have blinded our countrymen to their
condition under vicious tariff laws, we but show them how far they have been
led away from the paths of contentment and prosperity. When we proclaim that
the necessity for revenue to support the Government furnishes the only
justification for taxing the people, we announce a truth so plain that its
denial would seem to indicate the extent to which judgment may be influenced by
familiarity with perversions of the taxing power. And when we seek to
reinstate the self-confidence and business enterprise of our citizens by
discrediting an abject dependence upon governmental favor, we strive to
stimulate those elements of American character which support the hope of
American achievement.
Anxiety for the redemption of the pledges which my party has made and
solicitude for the complete justification of the trust the people have reposed
in us constrain me to remind those with whom I am to cooperate that we can
succeed in doing the work which has been especially set before us only by the
most sincere, harmonious, and disinterested effort. Even if insuperable
obstacles and opposition prevent the consummation of our task, we shall hardly
be excused; and if failure can be traced to our fault or neglect we may be sure
the people will hold us to a swift and exacting accountability.
The oath I now take to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the
United States not only impressively defines the great responsibility I assume,
but suggests obedience to constitutional commands as the rule by which my
official conduct must be guided. I shall to the best of my ability and within
my sphere of duty preserve the Constitution by loyally protecting every grant
of Federal power it contains, by defending all its restraints when attacked by
impatience and restlessness, and by enforcing its limitations and reservations
in favor of the States and the people.
Fully impressed with the gravity of the duties that confront me and mindful of
my weakness, I should be appalled if it were my lot to bear unaided the
responsibilities which await me. I am, however, saved from discouragement when
I remember that I shall have the support and the counsel and cooperation of
wise and patriotic men who will stand at my side in Cabinet places or will
represent the people in their legislative halls.
I find also much comfort in remembering that my countrymen are just and
generous and in the assurance that they will not condemn those who by sincere
devotion to their service deserve their forbearance and approval.
Above all, I know there is a Supreme Being who rules the affairs of men and
whose goodness and mercy have always followed the American people, and I know
he will not turn from us now if we humbly and reverently see his powerful aid.
MARCH 4, 1893
Return to list
Term: 1893 - 1897
Vice President: Andlai E. Stevenson
-1893-
Inaugurated as president (March)
Gold Reserve below $100 million - first time (April)
-1894-
Government bonds went on sale (January)
Tariff Bill (February)
Bland Coinage Bill passes Senate (March)
Bland Coinage Bill vetoed (March)
Bering Sea Proclamation (April)
Railroad strike(June)
strike ended (July)
Utah becomes state (August)
Japan / United States treaty (December)
-1895-
Cuban Revolt (Febuary)
National park dedicated - Chickamauga battleground, Tennessee (September)
-1896-
Utah's statehood is official (January)
Civil Service rules revised (May)
-1897-
Published a book titles "Self Made Man in American Life"
Attended William McKinley's innaugural ceremony. (March)
Return to list of choices