Grover Cleveland: The Last Jeffersonian President

AMERICA WAS BORN OUT OF A REVOLUTION, the ideals of which became the foundation of conservatism: limited government, decentralization, states’ rights, low taxes, no debt, economy and accountability in government, non-interventionist foreign policy, and a strict construction of the Constitution, principles that were best espoused by Thomas Jefferson. Until Lincoln’s election in 1860, America was a Jeffersonian Republic. But after Lincoln’s counter-revolution, which remade the Union, Jeffersonian political thought fell by the wayside. Yet in the 1880s and 1890s it made a brief comeback with Grover Cleveland, who tried to return the country to the Age of Jefferson.

Yet Grover Cleveland would be the last of these Jeffersonian political fathers and the last president to uphold these traditional American values. As a mayor, governor, and president, he remained steadfast and committed to upholding Jeffersonian ideals at all costs.

The issues he faced as a public servant are relevant to the present day: public character and behavior of our candidates, the role of government in the everyday lives of the people, the burden of taxation, the distribution of wealth, government involvement in an economic depression, monetary policy, and complex foreign affairs.

By studying Cleveland’s policies and ideals, we can relearn those forgotten lessons of ancient times and restore the American republic of republics.