Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. VIII.: James A. Garfield

Messages and Papers of the
Presidents, Vol. VIII.: James A.
Garfield

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Presidents, Vol.
VIII.: James A. Garfield, by James D. Richardson This eBook is for the
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Title: Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Vol. VIII.: James A.
Garfield
Author: James D. Richardson
Release Date: May 10, 2004 [EBook #12318]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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A COMPILATION OF THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE
PRESIDENTS

By JAMES D. RICHARDSON
A Representative from the State of Tennessee

VOLUME VIII
1897

Prefatory Note
This volume comprises the Garfield-Arthur term of four years and the
first term of Cleveland. The period covered is from March 4, 1881, to
March 4, 1889. The death of President Garfield at the hand of an
assassin early in his Administration created a vacancy in the office of
the Chief Executive, and for the fourth time in our history the
Vice-President succeeded to that office. The intense excitement
throughout the land brought about by the tragic death of the President,
and the succession of the Vice-President, caused no dangerous strain
upon our institutions, and once more proof was given, if, indeed,
further evidence was required, that our Government was strong enough
to quietly and peacefully endure a sudden change of rulers and of
administration, no matter how distressing and odious the cause.
During the Administration of President Arthur a treaty between the
United States and the Republic of Nicaragua was signed, providing for
an interoceanic canal across the territory of that State. An able and
learned discussion of this proposition will be found among his papers.
This treaty was pending when he retired from office, and was promptly
withdrawn by President Cleveland. The act to regulate and improve the
civil service of the United States was approved by President Arthur,
and he put into operation rules and regulations wide in their scope and
far-reaching for the enforcement of the measure. In his papers will be
found frequent and interesting discussions of this question. His vetoes
of "An act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese" and
of "An act making appropriations for the construction, repair, and
preservation of certain works on rivers and harbors, and for other
purposes," are interesting and effective papers.
The latter half of the period comprised in this volume, as already stated,
covers the Administration of Cleveland. His accession to the
Presidency marked the return of the Democratic party to power. No

Democrat who had been chosen by his party had held the office since
the retirement of Buchanan, in 1861. President Cleveland's papers fill
558 pages of this volume, occupying more space than any other Chief
Magistrate, Andrew Johnson being next with 457 pages. At an early
date after Mr. Cleveland's inauguration he became involved in an
important and rather acrimonious discussion with the Senate on the
subject of suspensions from office. The Senate demanded of him and of
the heads of some of the Executive Departments the reasons for the
suspension of certain officials and the papers and correspondence
incident thereto. In an exhaustive and interesting paper he declined to
comply with the demand. His annual message of December, 1887, was
devoted exclusively to a discussion of the tariff. It is conceded by all to
be an able document, and is the only instance where a President in his
annual message made reference to only one question. His vetoes are
more numerous than those of any other Chief Executive, amounting
within the four years to over three hundred, or more than twice the
number in the aggregate of all his predecessors. These vetoes relate to
almost all subjects of legislation, but mainly to pension cases and bills
providing for the erection of public buildings throughout the country.
James D. Richardson.
July 4, 1898.

James A. Garfield
March 4, 1881, to September 19, 1881

James A. Garfield
James Abram Garfield was born in Orange, Cuyahoga County, Ohio,
November 19, 1831. His father, Abram Garfield, was a native of New
York, but of Massachusetts ancestry; descended from Edward Garfield,
an English Puritan, who in 1630 was one of the founders of Watertown.
His mother, Eliza Ballou, was born in New Hampshire, of a Huguenot
family that fled from France to New England after the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes in 1685. Garfield, therefore, was from lineage well
represented in the struggles for civil and religious liberty,