The Gilded Age

1
The Gilded Age

• Politics in the Late 19th Century

2
Conventional View

• Politicians of the Gilded Age are normally
  condemned for
• Evading issues
• Dodging the responsibility of enacting major
  legislation
• Nor reflecting the mood and purpose of the
  American people
• Deteriorating into a group of spoilsmen
• Best serving the business community as they
  themselves were served by business

3
True Shortcomings

• Presidents and Congressmen of the period failed
  to realize or did not appreciate the major
  problem of the time
• The adjustment of American politics to the great
  economic and social changes that had come to the
  US with the rise of industrialism and urbanism.

4
Themes and Tension

• Two general themes caused tension during the
  Gilded Age
• Laissez-faire a doctrine opposing government
  interference in economic affairs beyond the
  minimum necessary for the maintenance of peace
  and property rights." Source Webster's Ninth New
  Collegiate Dictionary (1990).
• Concentration of power in the hands of the
  government at all levels - local, state, and
  federal. Government during this period assumed
  more authority and power, especially expanding
  its bureaucratic control and authority. Major
  areas of expansion of government power included
  land policy, railroad subsidies, tax/tariff
  policy, immigration policy, and Indian policy.

5
National GovernmentEnumerated Powers

• Provide for National defense
• Coin money
• Regulate international trade
• Establish immigrations laws
• Establish Bankruptcy laws
• Establish and administer post office
• Promote science arts
• Establish Federal Courts system
• Make treaties

6
Federal Government Oversight of Business

• No clear constitutional role
• America, like most West European nations at the
  time, followed a policy of Laissez Faire
• Literally means allow to do
• In the vernacular, would be hands off
• Laissez Faire - government should not interfere
  w/ decisions made in an open/competitive market.
  Government should not make decisions that affect
  the sale of goods services (i.e. setting prices
  wages)
• Critics call this the age of negation or the
  politics of dead center
• During this period government simply did not
  concern itself with economic or social matter

7
Laissez Faire as an Economic Policy

• Two major problems
• Not all markets are free and competitive
• Over emphasizes role of economics
• Only those items/services that are marketable
  will be offered
• Ignores social costs

8
Political Control

• While both parties sought to control both
  Congress and the presidency neither was able to
  accomplish either task.
• In PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS between 1876 and 1896
  three elections provided the winner with a
  popular vote of less than one per cent.
• Two presidents were elected while their major
  opponents received the majority of the popular
  vote.

9
Political Control

• Republicans won four of six elections but
• Gained a majority in only one (1896)
• Gained a plurality in one other (1880)
• Democrats won the presidency twice in 1884 and
  1892 but
• Won the majority of the popular vote in 1876
• Won a plurality in 1884, 1888 and 1892

10
Political Control

• Controlling both Congress and the Presidency
• Between 1877 and 1897 Republicans controlled both
  branches at the same time for only four years,
  1881-1883 and again in 1889-1891.
• During the same period Democrats controlled both
  branches for only two years, 1893-1895.
• Republican control during 1881-1883 the
  Republicans had control only because one member
  of the House was William Mahone Readjuster from
  Virginia who cooperated with them.

11
State Local Governments

• Primarily responsibility for
• Law order (police power)
• Regulatory authority
• Housing/zoning rules
• Taxation
• Social services

12
Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)(established
1887)

• Charged w/ bringing order to growing patchwork of
  state laws
• Approved freight and passenger rates on railroads
• Set a precedent for future regulation of trade as
  well as proactive government - intervention of
  government into private enterprise
• Also marked a shift in power from states to
  federal government

13
The Spoils System

• Supporters argued
• Was an essential tool of governance
• Only loyal followers could effectively pursue
  the leaders policies
• Enabled parties to strengthen their organizations
• Rewarded party loyalty
• Had a positive impact on the country
• Attracted needed government workers
• Mobilized the electorate
• Allowed wider participation in democratic system
• Prevented emergence of entrenched bureaucracy

14
The Spoils System

• Detractors argued
• Inefficiency
• Unqualified personnel
• Instability due to turnover
• Lack of continuity in government
• Frequent policy shifts hamper business growth
• Frequent policy shifts cripple foreign policy
• Graft, corruption
• Distracted officials from actual process of
  governing

15
Rise of the Political Machine

• The boss exploited the inability of government
  to supply the demands of the emerging city. He
  created a mechanism the machine for coping
  with the complex political, economic, and social
  adaptations entailed in the transformation of
  American society.

16
Rise of the Political Machine

• The machine responded to the needs of three
  groups
• Immigrants and the urban poor
• Legitimate businesses
• Illegitimate businesses

17
Rise of the Political Machine

• Cornerstones of the bosses success
• Personal touch
• Political power
• Patronage
• Theres got to be in every ward somebody that
  any bloke can come to no matter what hes done
  and get help. Help, you understand, none of
  your law and justice, but help.

18
Tammany Hall(a.k.a the Tweed ring)

• The model of the big city machine in the Gilded
  Age
• Dominated New York city and state politics from
  1866 to 1871
• The ring was composed of only four men
• Treasurer Peter Barr Sweeny the Brains
• City Controller Richard Connolly, Slippery Dick
• Mayor Abraham Hall the Elegant
• William Marcy Tweed the Boss

19
Tammany Hall(a.k.a the Tweed ring)

• Tweed ring never controlled a true majority of
  the voters
• Power base was control of
• City Hall
• Hall of Justice
• State Capital
• Tammany Hall (Dem party headquarters)
• Through patronage, Tweed claimed to control
  12,000 electors in the citys 21 wards
• Numerous ways to cheat at the polls
• Padded registration lists
• Repeat voters vote early and vote often
• Opponents votes were often delivered to the
  Hudson River

20
THE TAMMANY TIGER LOOSE What are you going to do
about it?
21
GOING THROUGH THE FORM OF UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE
You have the liberty of voting for anyone you
please we have the liberty of counting in any
one we please.
22
A GROUP OF VULTURES WAITING FOR THE STORM TO
BLOW OVER - LET US PREY