Grover Cleveland: “Principles above Spoils” Letter

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

When he left office after losing the presidency to Benjamin Harrison in 1888, Cleveland joined a private law firm in New York. Initially the former president remained out of the public eye and declined to criticize Harrison or his policies. However, Cleveland continued to be active behind the scenes in Democratic politics, and there was a general expectation that he would seek the presidency again in 1892. In 1890 a financial panic initiated an economic depression. In addition, the Republicans had enacted the 1890 McKinley Tariff, which raised taxes on imports to their highest level in U.S. history. As a result, the Democrats swept the 1890 midterm congressional elections, winning eighty-six new seats while the Republicans lost ninety-three and the small Populist Party gained eight. In the aftermath of the congressional balloting, Cleveland launched his bid to replace Harrison.

On December 4, 1890, Cleveland sent his “Principles above Spoils” Letter to a Democratic group celebrating victory in Canton, Ohio, after the midterm elections. Cleveland reminds his fellow Democrats that the American people were voting as much against Republicans as they were voting for Democrats and that it was incumbent upon the party to demonstrate that they were different from the Republicans. Cleveland notes that the victory occurred because of the support of many “who are not to be considered as irrevocably and under all circumstances members of our party.”

Cleveland urges Democrats to ensure that in the party's conduct “principles touching the public welfare shall be placed above spoils.” He also warns against using the party's newfound political power for personal gain. He wanted to make sure that the American people identified the Democrats as the party of reform—and the former president as the leader of the reform movement.