Wedding in the White House & $1,000 Bill: President Gover Cleveland

Did you know President Grover Cleveland fathered an illegitimate child, hung 2 criminals while serving as sheriff, and was nicknamed "the buxom Buffalonian"? Find out more about the President who appears on our $1,000 by checking out my favorite YouTube video clips, books, recipes, and free worksheets and lapbooks all on our 22nd and 24th President, Grover Cleveland. This is part of a series of lessons I posted on individual Presidents. You can find links to all the lessons at President's Day Unit Study .

Full Name: Stephen Grover Cleveland

Presidential Terms: 1885-1889 & 1893-1897

Political Party: Democrat

Vice Presidents: Thomas Hendricks (1885-1889) & Adlai Stevenson (1893-1897)

Birthplace: New Jersey

Occupation: Lawyer

Yearly Salary as President: $50,000

Height: 5'11"

First Lady: Frances Folsom Cleveland

Grover Cleveland for Teachers offers links to free worksheets, book suggestions, general information and trivia, interactive computer games, and more related to President Cleveland.

Grover Cleveland's Favorite Foods provides a description of Cleveland's favorite foods such as corned beef and cabbage.

President Cleveland's White Cake Recipe provides the recipe for one of Grover Cleveland's favorite cake recipes.

Presidential Statistics and Points of Interest includes an overview of Grover Cleveland's life and some fun points of interest.

1885
Statue of Liberty arrived in US

1886
Grover Cleveland wed Frances Folsom, making him the only president to marry in the White House
1st Civil Rights Act passed
Presidential Succession Act
Geronimo surrendered, ending Apache Wars

1887
First Groundhog Day observed (Punxsutawney, PA)
Dawes Severalty Act
Anne Sullivan began teaching Helen Keller
Interstate Commerce Act
Anti-Polygamy Act
Tenure of Office Act repealed
US gained rights to Pearl Harbor

1888
National Geographic Society founded
George Eastman registered Kodak
Department of Labor created
Thomas Edison invented the "Optical Phonograph" thus creating the first movie
New Chinese Exclusion Act

1889
The Pemberton Medicine Company (later know as Coca-Cola) started business in Atlanta

The only U.S. President to serve 2 nonconsecutive presidential terms is Grover Cleveland. He actually won the popular vote in all three elections, 1884, 1888, and 1892, but he lost the electoral college votes to Benjamin Harrison for the 1888 presidential term largely due to his stance on tariffs.

During Cleveland's first term, he earned his nickname, "The Veto President" by working on tariff reform, financial integrity in the government, and civil service reform. He vetoed 414 bills in his first term alone and went on to veto 170 more bills during his second term as President.

1893
Park Act
Panic of 1893 of the NY Stock Exchange
World's First Ferris Wheel (Chicago's Columbian Exposition)
Katharine Lee Bates penned "America the Beautiful"
Chinese immigrants in San Francisco deported under Exclusion Act
Pullman Strike
Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 repealed

1894
Enforcement Act repealed, allowing for the disenfranchisement of African-Americans

1895
First commercial movie
Controversy with Great Britain over Venezuela

1896
Start of Klondike Gold Rush
Yosemite became a National Park
Utah admitted as 45th state

During his second year as President, Grover Cleveland wed Frances Folsom, 21 years his younger. He was the second President to get married while President and the first to hold the wedding in the White House. He is also the only President to have had a child born while he was serving as President.

Cleveland's second term started out with the Panic of 1893 which drove the American economy into a deep depression. In an attempt to stave off further downfalls in the economy, Cleveland encouraged Congress to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and allow for more gold to be made available to the public. This paved the way for American currency to be based on the gold standard rather than upon silver. Both this event and Cleveland's stance on the Pullman strike caused the Democratic party to lose its popularity in the next election.

Cleveland held to a belief of non-intervention when it came to international policies but saw America as a protector of nearby nations. During Cleveland's second term, American and European businessmen overthrew Hawaii's ruler, Queen Liliuokalani, and encouraged America to annex Hawaii. Cleveland refused. Cleveland also supported Venezuela when the British sought to annex more of its land over a "border dispute."

Image Credit

Grover Cleveland left office with a "reputation for honesty and good character." When writing a biography on President Cleveland, Allan Nevins noted: "in Grover Cleveland the greatness lies in typical rather than unusual qualities. He had no endowments that thousands of men do not have. He possessed honesty, courage, firmness, independence, and common sense. But he possessed them to a degree other men do not." This could be seen in Grover Cleveland's dying words, "I have tried so hard to do right."

• President's Day Unit Study - I posted links to each of my lessons on individual Presidents here. In each lesson I included fun worksheets, children's books, YouTube clips, timelines, and recipe ideas. On this page I also included our favorite books and YouTube video clips that cover all of the Presidents of the United States.
• Fun, FREE Hands-On Unit Studies - I have posted my links to over 35 hands-on unit studies (compromised of over 170 lessons) that focus primarily on science and social studies. In each lesson plan I have listed the activities that we did (and included photos), the books we read, YouTube video clips that we watched, and lapbook links that pair with the lesson.