President Grover Cleveland is the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms.
He won the Presidential Election of 1884, then lost the election of 1888, and then regained the presidency in the election of 1892.
He was known to be honest and hardworking and wanted the government to run efficiently without corruption. This came during an age when many had lost faith in the government due to the corruption that had run rampant, especially during the Grant Administration, and although somewhat cleaned up during the Hayes administration, it had not regained its reputation.
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First Term
March 4, 1885: Grover Cleveland is sworn in as the 22nd President of the United States.
November 25, 1885: Vice President Thomas Hendricks dies suddenly.
January 19, 1886: President Cleveland signs the Presidential Succession Act that says if the President and Vice President die, then the next president shall come from the head of the department in the order that they were created. This lasts until 1947, when the order was changed.
February 8, 1886: Cleveland signs the Dawes General Allotment Act, which dissolves Native American reservations and forces them to be broken up into smaller plots of land that are owned by families. This devastates Native American culture as they had never in their history broken up land this way.
May 1, 1886: 340,000 workers strike and demand an eight-hour workday. This causes a nationwide work stoppage that would put Chicago at the center.
May 3, 1886: In response, the Chicago Police fire into a crowd of unarmed workers. This would kill one man and wound many others.
May 4, 1886: The Haymaker Massacre occurs when an unknown civilian throws a bomb at the police who were advancing to try and maintain order. The bomb kills eight and wounds sixty-seven officers. The police respond by shooting and clubbing members of the crowd. The end result was the capture of four of the union leaders, who were not involved in the bombing, and had them hanged.
May 11, 1886: Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad establishes that corporations have the same protection as individuals.
August 3, 1886: Congress authorizes additional ships to be built for the Navy.
November 2, 1886: Despite both parties losing seats in the Senate and House, the Republicans maintain a majority in the Senate while the Democrats maintained a majority in the House.
December 8, 1886: The American Federation of Labor was founded by Samuel Gompers.
January 20, 1887: The Senate approves the 1875 commercial treaty with Hawaii that gave the United States permission to build a naval base at Pearl Harbor, Oahu.
February 3, 1887: Congress passes the Electoral Count Act that helps avoid disputed elections by giving states more power over their electoral count.
February 4, 1887: The Interstate Commerce Commission was created to manage interstate railroads.
February 11, 1887: Cleveland vetoes the dependent pension bill, which angers many veteran groups.
February 16, 1887: Cleveland vetoes the Texas Seed Bill, which aims to provide $10,000 to drought-stricken farmers. His veto was based on the argument that federal aid encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the government and weakens the reputation of the national character. While arguing this, he uses the government surplus to pay off wealthy bondholders at $28 above the value of each, which comes to a cost of $45 million.
March 2, 1887: Congress passes the Hatch Act.
March 3, 1887: The Tenure of Office Act if repealed, which disallowed Congress to have influence over the President's cabinet.
June 7 - 17, 1887: Cleveland returns over 500 Confederate flags to the South but eventually repeals it due to much opposition from the North.
December 6, 1887: In his annual address to Congress, President Cleveland argues against high tariffs. His argument was pointless as Congress never passed any change to tariffs.
March 12, 1888: A 36-hour blizzard hits New York City, kills 400 people, and causes millions of dollars in property damage.
April 30, 1888: Melville W. Fuller is appointed to the Supreme Court. It would be the Fuller Court that decided the Plessy v. Ferguson case in which Fuller established the "Separate but Equal" logic, which supports the Jim Crow laws of the South. His court would be disgraced by that decision as it would lead to years of racism against Black Americans.
May 28, 1888: Benjamin Butler is nominated for president by the Greenback Party.
May 30, 1888: Clinton Fisk is nominated for president by the Prohibition Party.
June 13, 1888: The Department of Labor is established.
June 25, 1888: Benjamin Harrison, the grandson of William Henry Harrison, is nominated for president by the Republican Party.
July 29, 1888: A yellow fever epidemic hits Jacksonville, Florida. It kills over 400 people and causes over 4,500 to become sick.
September 8, 1888: The Democrats nominate President Grover Cleveland as their nominee for President. Adlai Stevenson becomes his running mate.
October 8, 1888: Cleveland extends the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibits Chinese immigration.
November 6, 1888: Benjamin Harrison defeats Grover Cleveland in the election of 1888.
January 15, 1889: Germany and the United States come into conflict when Germany sends troops to the Samoan Islands.
February 11, 1889: The Department of Agriculture is established.
February 22, 1889: Grover Cleveland signs a bill that admits North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington.
Second Term
March 4, 1893: Grover Cleveland is inaugurated and becomes the first and only president to serve two terms that were not consecutive.
March 9, 1893: Cleveland withdraws from the treaty to annex Hawaii. At the time, most native Hawaiians were not in favor of annexation and only wealthy American sugar planters.
April 22, 1893: The Panic of 1893 begins. Stocks and employment plummet.
June 30, 1893: Cleveland asks Congress to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. It would be repealed on August 24.
August 24, 1893: A tornado touches down in Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina. It would kill 1,000 people.
September 16, 1893: The Cherokee Strip opens for settlement.
September 17, 1893: Yellow fever breaks out in Brunswick, Georgia.
November 7, 1893: Women's suffrage is adopted in Colorado.
December 18, 1893: President Cleveland recommends that Queen Liliokalani return to the throne in Hawaii after being overthrown. The provisional government refuses to cede power, and Cleveland does not use military force; therefore, the provisional government retains power.
January 4, 1894: President Cleveland grants amnesty to elderly Mormons who had practiced bigamy and polygamy. Amnesty was only granted if they agreed to follow the law thereafter.
January 8, 1894: A Chicago fire ignites and destroys almost all exhibits at the World's Columbian Exhibit.
April 20, 1894: Over 100,000 coal workers strike for higher wages in Columbus, Ohio.
May 11 - July 20, 1893: Eugene Debs, President of the American Railway Union, organized the Pullman strike to protest the high cost of living in a small town outside of Chicago. The strike halts rail service in 27 states and territories. Violence ensues, and Cleveland sends in federal troops to restore order. Debs is arrested.
July 4, 1894: The provisional Hawaiian government declares the Republic of Hawaii as a new nation. The United States recognizes the government the next month.
August 27, 1894: The Democrats push through the First Graduated Income Tax. The law was declared unconstitutional the following year by the Supreme Court.
September 4, 1894: 12,000 New York City garment workers go on strike to protest low wages and work conditions.
November 6, 1894: Republicans win control of Congress
December 24, 1894: Henry Ford finishes the construction of the first working gasoline engine.
February 20, 1895: Congress gives President Cleveland the authority to try to negotiate a settlement between Venezuela and Great Britain over the border of British Guiana.
January 4, 1896: Utah is admitted to the union as the 44th state. They had agreed to ban bigamy and polygamy.
February 24, 1896: Cuban nationals rebel against Spanish rule.
May 18, 1896: The Supreme Court makes its infamous "separate but equal" ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson. This would lead to decades of segregation.
May 27, 1896: The Prohibition Party nominates Joshua Levering as their candidate for President.
June 16-18, 1896: William McKinley is nominated by Republicans as their candidate for election.
July 8, 1896: William Jennings Bryan is nominated by the Democrats as their candidate to replace Cleveland.
July 20, 1896: President Cleveland strong-arms Britain into agreeing to the terms with Venezuela by citing the Monroe Doctrine.
August 16, 1896: The Klondike Gold Rush begins when Gold is discovered in the Yukon Territory.
November 3, 1896: William McKinley is elected President after winning the election of 1896.