Guilded Age Presidents essays

Guilded Age Presidents essays Some presidents names you can recognize right away while others you may never have heard of. Rutherford B Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison are all largely indistinguishable presidents that reigned in the last half of the nineteenth century. They are known as the lost presidents. While nothing monumental happened during their presidencies, they still contributed to the growth and success of the United States, some more than others though, and I found it difficult to rank them due to their low profiles. I chose Grover Cleveland as having the best overall performance out of the presidents of this time for many reasons. First, because he was the only president to serve two non consecutive terms and that says to me he was well liked by the people. If he was president in 1885-1889 and then again in 1893-1897 that shows that people missed his leadership and re-elected in 1893. Secondly, he used his veto power 584 times. He was not afraid to go against the popular vote and against the people if he did not believe in it. Cleveland also went against strong railroads and took back land that did not belong to them. Finally and most importantly, the reason I chose Cleveland first was because he maintained the treasury gold reserve during the depression. Grover Cleveland was the back bone of the Monitory System, which is still in use today. Who knows where we would be if he did not keep it strong. My second choice was Benjamin Harris. I chose him to be second because he signed the Sherman Antitrust Act which protects against companies forming monopolies. Although I am not a business expert, I know that forming Monopolies can make a business too strong and powerful. For example, companies like Microsoft are always being accused of being a monopoly. The Sherman Antitrust Act or variations of it are still being used today and without it companies would have the ability to change pri...