The Election of 1884 - Cleveland and Blaine

The election of 1884 shook up politics in the United States as it brought a Democrat, Grover Cleveland, to the White House for the first time since the administration of James Buchanan a quarter-century earlier. And the 1884 campaign was also marked by notorious mudslinging, including a paternity scandal. In an era when highly competitive daily newspapers were relaying every scrap of news about the two major candidates, it seems that rumors about Clevelands scandalous past would cost him the election. But then his opponent, James G. Blaine, a longtime political figure with a national reputation, participated in a catastrophic gaffe a week before election day. The momentum, especially in the critical state of New York, dramatically  swung from Blaine to Cleveland. And not only was the election of 1884 tumultuous, but it set the stage for several presidential elections to follow in the 19th century. Clevelands Surprising Rise to Prominence Grover Cleveland had been born in 1837 in New Jersey, but lived most of his life in New York State. He became a successful lawyer in Buffalo, New York. During the Civil War he chose to send a substitute to take his place in the ranks. That was entirely legal at the time, but he was later criticized for it. In an era when Civil War veterans dominated many facets of politics, Clevelands decision not to serve was ridiculed. In the 1870s Cleveland held a local post as sheriff for three years, but returned to his private law practice and probably anticipated no further political career. But when a reform movement swept New York State politics, the Democrats of Buffalo encouraged him to run for mayor. He served a one-year term, in 1881, and the following year ran for governor of New York. He was elected, and made a point of standing up to Tammany Hall, the political machine in New York City. Cleveland’s one term as New York’s governor positioned him to be the Democratic nominee for president in 1884. Within a span of four years, Cleveland was propelled by reform movements from his obscure law practice in Buffalo to the top spot on a national ticket. James G. Blaine, the Republican Candidate in 1884 James G. Blaine had been born into a political family in Pennsylvania, but when he married a woman from Maine he moved to her home state. Rising quickly in Maine politics, Blaine held statewide office before being elected to Congress. In Washington, Blaine served as Speaker of the House during the years of Reconstruction. He was elected to the Senate in 1876. He was also a contender for the Republican nomination for president in 1876. He  dropped out of the race in 1876 when he was implicated in a financial scandal involving railroad stocks. Blaine proclaimed his innocence, but he was often viewed with suspicion. Blaine’s political persistence paid off when he secured the Republican nomination in 1884. The 1884 Presidential Campaign The stage for the 1884 election had really been set eight years earlier, with the controversial and disputed election of 1876, when Rutherford B. Hayes took office and pledged to serve only one term. Hayes was followed by James Garfield, who was elected in 1880, only to be shot by an assassin a few months after taking office. Garfield eventually died from the gunshot wound and was succeeded by Chester A. Arthur. As 1884 approached, President Arthur sought the Republican nomination for 1884, but he wasn’t able to bring various party factions together. And, it was widely rumored that Arthur was in poor health. (President Arthur was indeed ill, and died in what would have been the middle of his second term.) With the Republican Party, which had held power since the Civil War, now in disarray, it seemed the Democrat Grover Cleveland had a good chance to win. Bolstering Cleveland’s candidacy was his reputation as a reformer. A number of Republicans who couldn’t support Blaine as they believed him to be corrupt threw their support behind Cleveland. The faction of Republicans supporting Democrats was dubbed Mugwumps by the press. A Paternity Scandal Surfaced in the 1884 Campaign Cleveland campaigned little in 1884, while Blaine ran a very busy campaign, giving about 400 speeches. But Cleveland encountered a huge obstacle when a scandal erupted in July 1884. The bachelor Cleveland, it was revealed by a newspaper in Buffalo, was having an affair with a widow in Buffalo. And it was also alleged that he had fathered a son with the woman. The accusations traveled quickly, as newspapers supported Blaine spread the story. Other newspapers, inclined to support the Democratic nominee, hustled to debunk the scandalous tale. On August 12, 1884, the New York Times reported that a committee of independent Republicans of Buffalo had investigated the charges against Cleveland. In a lengthy report, they proclaimed that the rumors, which involved charges of drunkenness as well as the purported abduction of a woman, were baseless.   The rumors, though, continued until election day. Republicans seized on the paternity scandal, mocking Cleveland by chanting the rhyme, â€Å"Ma, Ma, where’s my Pa?† Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion Created Trouble for Blaine The Republican candidate created a huge problem for himself a week before the election. Blaine attended a meeting in a Protestant church at which a minister chided those who had left the Republican Party by stating, â€Å"We don’t propose to leave our party and identify with the party whose antecedents are rum, Romanism, and rebellion.† Blaine sat quietly during the attack aimed at Catholics and Irish voters in particular. The scene was reported widely in the press, and it cost Blaine in the election, particularly in New York City. A Close Election Determines the Outcome The 1884 election, perhaps due to Cleveland’s scandal, was closer than many people expected. Cleveland won the popular vote by a narrow margin, less than half a percent, but secured 218 electoral votes to Blaine’s 182. Blaine lost the state of New York by little more than a thousand votes, and it was believed the â€Å"rum, Romanism, and rebellion† comments had been the fatal blow. The Democrats, celebrating Cleveland’s victory, took to mocking the Republican attacks on Cleveland by chanting, â€Å"Ma, Ma, where’s my Pa? Gone to the White House, ha ha ha!† Grover Cleveland’s Interrupted White House Career Grover Cleveland served a term in the White House but was defeated in his bid for reelection in 1888. However, he achieved something unique in American politics when he ran again in 1892 and was elected, thus becoming the only president to serve two terms that were not consecutive. The man who defeated Cleveland in 1888, Benjamin Harrison, appointed Blaine as his Secretary of State. Blaine was active as a diplomat, but resigned the post in 1892, perhaps hoping to once again secure the Republican nomination for president. That would have set the stage for another Cleveland-Blaine election, but Blaine wasn’t able to secure the nomination. His health failed and he died in 1893.

Hamlet as a Revenge Tragedy Essay examples - 1285 Words

Hamlet as a Revenge Tragedy Revenge tragedy was a brief sub genre of tragedy at the end of the sixteenth century, despite some clashes with the teachings of the church. In a revenge tragedy a crime, normally murder, has gone unpunished, because the criminal has too much power and cannot be reached by the law. This fact is revealed by a ghost to someone closely connected with the victim, laying on him the responsibility to revenge the crime. The revenger is usually an outsider who lacks access to the criminal, who is at the centre of a completely corrupt court. Poison plays a large part and methods of killing are intricate, insidious and imaginative. The revenger dies at the end of the play, as†¦show more content†¦Hamlet spends more time contemplating whether and, if so, when to kill Claudius and never actually considers the method. This is surprising, as poison is normally the main method of killing in revenge tragedies. The revenger is cold blooded, quick to act and calculating, everything that Ha mlet is not. Normally the revenger lacks access to the criminal. Hamlet in this case is his own obstacle. His principles and conscience will not allow him to kill Claudius. That is, of course, until he learns that Claudiuss devious plotting has killed his mother. Hamlet loves his mother dearly but does not understand her actions. He is unable to comprehend how she can sleep night after night in her incestuous bed. Her actions lead him to think that all women are untrustworthy. He clearly views Ophelia as a being not to be trusted. He insults her - Get thee to a nunnery. Why, wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? A nunnery in Elizabethan times was also used as slang for a whorehouse. Hamlet here shows his jaundiced view of women. Shakespeare uses poison not only as an aspect of the plot, but also as a metaphor for Claudiuss lies poured into peoples ears and the extreme corruption his reign has brought. The court of Elsinore has been corrupted by theShow MoreRelatedThe Revenge Tragedy Of Hamlet Essay1976 Words   |  8 PagesIssara Butt Professor Abbott English 102 November 30, 2016 The Revenge Tragedy of Hamlet Revenge tragedies share some common characteristics of the play Hamlet which classify them in the group of many great stories such as The Spanish Tragedy, and King Lear. A vengeful ghost, a play within a play, and the main character who seeks revenge on an opponent and murdered (KAY). At some point in life many of us feel the need to seek revenge and never actually act upon it, but what if we did? What wouldRead MoreHamlet : A Classic Revenge Tragedy1103 Words   |  5 PagesHamlet is not like any tragedy. Hamlet is a classic revenge tragedy. All the revenge tragedies were popular in England during the late 16th and early 17th. 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Once their fathers are murdered, Hamlet and Laertes become mentally insane committed acts of reprisal. In particular, Hamlet wants to kill Claudius and Laertes wants to kill Hamlet. While Hamlet and Laertes share similar experiencesRead MoreThe Role Of Revenge Tragedy In Hamlet1020 Words   |  5 Pageswhole world blind is a common saying for revenge. Like Shakespeare he based most of his tragedies based on: betrayal, death, lies, and revenge, and they can be view throughout the whole play Hamlet. In the tragedy Hamlet, Shakespeare utilizes Hamlet’s character as a major role in the development of a revenge tragedy by his loss of morality, individuality, and madness throughout the play, further clarifying that indeed Hamlet is a revenge traged y. Although Hamlet is not the only Shakespearean play thatRead MoreExamples Of Revenge Tragedy In Hamlet1033 Words   |  5 Pagesof Shakespeare’s plays allude to revenge and revenge tragedy. 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However, this is a very dangerous theory to live by. Throughout Hamlet, revenge is a dominant theme. Fortinbras, Laertes, and Hamlet all seek to avenge the deaths of their fathers. But in so doing, all three rely more on emotion than thought, and takeRead MoreA Traditional Revenge Tragedy Approach To Hamlet759 Words   |  4 PagesA Traditional Revenge Tragedy approach involves the drama of a character seeking revenge for an injury or caused by another character (Reedy). In the play of Hamlet, this approach can easily be seen in the character Hamlet’s plot to â€Å"remember† his father. After his father’s death, Hamlet spends the whole play concocting a plan to avenge his father. He develops a play to bring guilt to his father’s murderer and to convince t he royal subjects of their king’s foul sin. The tragedy in this approach occurs

History of Cocaine Free Essays

One of the most widely used illegal drugs in the United States is cocaine, and like many other drugs, it comes from a plant that has been used for thousands of years in other parts of the world. Cocaine comes from the coca leaf, a plant that has a long history in spiritual rituals. It used to be that in the Andean Indian culture, the coca plant was linked to a sacred goddess. We will write a custom essay sample on History of Cocaine or any similar topic only for you Order Now These cultures believed that they had to please the coca goddess in order to have a successful harvest. The leaves of the coca plant were chewed or smoked to help these natives connect with spiritual beings, as well as provide magical protection and powers. Coca leaves were chewed only by the leaders or royalty. Over time lower classes were encouraged to chew the leaves to experience the benefits. Over the course of the next several years the American majority became more and more aware of the dangers of cocaine. As this problem got eventually so bad it came to no choice but to ban the social use of cocaine. This public pressure forced Pemberton to remove cocaine from Coca Cola in 1903. Eventually the public pressure became so great as to place a national prohibition on cocaine and in 1920 cocaine was added to the list of narcotics to be outlawed by the passing of The Dangerous Drug Act of 1920. Unfortunately with other drugs like heroin, the dangers of cocaine abuse were recognized by law makers after the fact. The market for cocaine had already been established into American history and culture and is with us today. Cocaine has had a rocky history in the United States. There has been much controversy about the connection between the United States government and cocaine dealers. There have been articles and books written about the CIA working with cocaine dealers to help win the war on communism. Others argue that the aggressive role the U. S. government played in banning the drug actually led to the smuggling of it into our country. In fact, it was the negative side effects of cocaine use that was responsible for the phrase, â€Å"dope fiend†. This came about because of the behavior of a person abusing cocaine for prolonged periods of time. Because cocaine is such a powerful stimulant, prolonged daily use of the drug creates severe sleep deprivation and loss of appetite. A person might go days or sometimes weeks without sleeping or eating properly. The user often experiences psychotic behavior. Coming down from the drug causes a state of depression for the person in withdrawal. This person can then become so desperate for more of the drug that they will do just about anything to get more of it, including murder. If the drug is not readily available the depression experience in withdrawal can become so great the user will sometimes become suicidal. It is because of this effect on the user that the word â€Å"fiend† became associated with cocaine addiction. How to cite History of Cocaine, Papers