The US Constitution assigns no duties or responsibilities to the president’s spouse. Every woman had to define for herself the role she wanted to play. From the blank slate that Martha Washington...

Grover Cleveland was elected the twenty-fourth president of the United States thanks in part to a third party movement—the Populists—that siphoned off some of the strength of the Republican Party, and by a vigorous campaign against the extravagance of the Republican “Billion Dollar Congress.” But his second term would be ruined by the economic depression of the mid-1890s, the worst economic crisis that the country had ever seen. Insisting on sound money, in his second term Cleveland would seek to keep the country on the gold standard and...

The presidential campaign of 1884 was one of the most memorable in American history. The Republican nominee, James G. Blaine of Maine, was nicknamed the “plumed knight,” but disgruntled Republican reformers regarded him as a symbol of corruption. These liberal Republicans indicated to Democratic leaders that they would bolt their own party and support a Democrat, provided he was a decent and honorable man. Grover Cleveland seemed to meet these qualifications. He had started his career as sheriff of Erie County where he personally hanged two...

After 1887, the tariff became the central issue in American politics. Democrats, led by Grover Cleveland, charged that the tariff raised prices, enriched the wealthy, and fostered inefficiency. Republicans argued that tariffs promoted infant industries, protected established industries, raised workers’ wages and protected them against low-wage competition, and fostered a rich home market for farm goods. In fact, the tariff was not especially important for manufacturers. European manufacturers could not compete with the American advantages...