One of the quickest and best ways to get a feel for the overall course of American political history is to read through the inaugural addresses of the presidents on the Bartleby "Great Books Online" site. Please select *one* of the inaugural addresses from the period we have been studying. Read through the address and cite here a line that seems to you particularly important. Try to find a line that might help you and others reading the blog prepare for one of the exam study questions, e.g., the question on the quality of the men elected to the presidency during this period. Garfield's address might be particularly useful since his time as president was so brief and there is little else to evaluate him on.Ulysses S. Grant: First Inaugural Address, Second Inaugural Address
Rutherford B. Hayes
James A. Garfield
Grover Cleveland: First Inaugural
Benjamin Harrison
"I shall greatly rely upon the wisdom and patriotism of Congress..."
ReplyDeleteI chose this line from Garfield's address for a few reasons.
Firstly, we have heard several times already as to the corruption of Congress at the time. To say that he will look to their "patriotism" is rather ironic, as that type of corruption is the opposite of what should be seen in office.
Second, it helps show Garfield knew where power was. He knew who had a majority of the control of the offices, even if he himself had the presidency. This means he had a thinking mind, and knew how to play the politics game. The politics game statement should be obvious, though, because hey. Look who won the presidency.
We can make an assumption as point three based on point two. Garfield was educated, and had a strategic mind. Either he seems to be a patriot that listens to the offices, while secretly enjoying his own shares from the corruption, OR, he seems loyal to Congress so as to keep his true motives hidden from Congress itself. Congress made it known with Johnson that they had the ability to shut down those who didn't see as they did. This probably held quite the shadow for numerous presidents after. Due to his short occupation of office, one cannot be terribly sure of his motives and true ideals when in power.
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ReplyDeleteSurely I do not misinterpret the spirit of the occasion when I assume that the whole body of the people covenant with me and with each other to-day to support and defend the Constitution and the Union of the States, to yield willing obedience to all the laws and each to every other citizen his equal civil and political rights. This indicates to me that he means well, but so much of this could actually be somewhat misguided.
ReplyDelete"But on the whole the opportunities offered to the individual to secure the comforts of life are better than are found elsewhere and largely better than they were here one hundred years ago."
ReplyDeleteI chose this line from Cleveland's First inaugural.
This line captured my attention because it states that the people's lives are better than they have been for a long time. I believe this in some ways, but not in others.
In some ways this is true. Lives have greatly changed for the better since the beginning of time. Families are able to financially support their children, workers are not working as many hours, and women and blacks are starting to get equal rights.
But in other ways I do not believe it. A little recession happened between 1877-1900 and it cut businesses and banks. This led to loss of money to families. Also, women and blacks might be getting close to equal rights, they are still being underpaid and treated unfairly.
Cleveland was a popular man and people loved him. He was voted into presidency three different terms. He won praise for his honesty and commitment to his principles. Although in his second term the Panic of 1893 occurred, Cleveland handled it well and took the consequences to better the United States.
Samantha Chastain