ently dictated more by fear than by hope. One party
would be raised up and the other party cast down, not because the one
was trusted more than the other, but because it was for a while less
odious. Thus a party success might well be a prelude to a party disaster
because neither party knew how to improve its political opportunity.
The record of party fluctuation in Congress during this period is almost
unparalleled in sharpness.*

* In 1875, at the opening of the Forty-fourth Congress, the House
stood 110 Republicans and 182 Democrats. In 1881, the House stood 150
Republicans to 131 Democrats, with 12 Independent members. In 1884, the
Republican list had declined to 119 and the Democratic had grown to 201,
and there were five Independents. The Senate, although only a third
of its membership is renewed every two years, displayed extraordinary
changes during this period. The Republican membership of 46 in 1876 had
declined to 33 by 1880, and the Democratic membership had increased
to 42. In 1882, the Senate was evenly balanced in party strength, each
party having 37 avowed adherents, but there were two Independents.

In state politics, the polling showed that both parties were disgusted
with their leadership and that there was a public indifference to issues
which kept people away from the polls. A comparison of the total vote
cast in state elections in 1882 with that cast in the presidential
election of 1880, showed a decline of over eight hundred thousand in the
Republican vote and of nearly four hundred thousand in the Democratic
vote. The most violent of the party changes that took place during this
period occurred in the election of 1882, in New York State, when the
Republican vote showed a decline of over two hundred thousand and the
Democratic candidate for Governor was elected by a plurality of nearly
that amount. It was this election which brought Grover Cleveland into
national prominence.

CHAPTER III. THE ADVENT OF CLEVELAND

Popular dissatisfaction with the behavior of public authority had not
up to this time extended to the formal Constitution. Schemes of radical
rearrangement of the political institutions of the country had not yet
been agitated. New party movements were devoted to particular measures
such as fresh greenback issues or the prohibition of liquor traffic.
Popular reverence for the Constitution was deep and strong, and it was
the habit of the American people to impute practical