Sold – Grover Cleveland Anticipates the Theme of His 1892 Campaign

In December 1887, President Cleveland sent Congress a message urging reduction of tariff levels. Since tariffs were then the chief source of federal revenue, he argued that the treasury's surplus would thus be reduced; at the same time, lower tariffs would save consumers money and end special federal privileges for favored, or protected, industries. The message was a bold stroke, but Cleveland found Congress under the sway of the corporations that opposed his effort, and either unable or unwilling to produce a reform bill. Running for reelection in 1888, he tried to continue with his support of lower tariffs while at the same time not alienating Democrats who sided with business on this issue. Cleveland was defeated in the election, winning a plurality of the popular vote but losing in the electoral college to the Republican Benjamin Harrison.

While Cleveland retired to private law practice in New York City, Harrison's administration produced several pieces of activist legislation, including the McKinley Tariff, which gave a small nod to reform by adding a few items to the free (not taxed) list. However, many more items were subject to higher rates. The result was the highest protective tariff in American history to that point with an average rate of 48 percent. The McKinley Tariff proved onerous and led to a sharp, rapid rise in the prices of many products. Voters were also consumers; they were disgruntled and saw Cleveland's low-tariff views as attractive by comparison. And he, knowing a winning issue when he saw one, determined to make it a theme for his upcoming effort to retake the White House in 1892.

Autograph Letter Signed on his law firm letterhead, New York, March 23, 1891, to William F. Davis, showing the stress he put on tariffs in the period before his second presidential term. “It would greatly gratify me if I could accept the invitation you kindly sent me to attend the banquet of theWoburn Tariff Reform Club on the twenty fifth instant. But my duties and engagements here are such as to preclude the possibility of my attendance. If I could participate, the occasion would be interesting to me on account of the importance of the cause which it is intended to advance, and also on account of the sentiments attaching to my Woburn ancestry…”

Cleveland easily won the Democratic nomination in 1892, and discontent within the Republican Party enabled him to defeat Harrison, with the Democrats winning control of both houses of Congress.