Gilded Age Presidents

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Gilded Age Presidents

• Why businesses dominated
• and people suffered.

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2. inventions
3. Increase industrial jobs
Corrupt / inefficient Pres.
2. factories
4. Increased immigration
5b. ghettos
2. Free slaves
5a.. Dangerous workplaces
6c. Political machines
1. END OF RECONSTRUCTION
6a.Public outrage
6b. unions
REFORM
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Standards and EQ

• SSUSH13 The student will identify major efforts
  to reform American society and politics in the
  Progressive Era
• EQ Why were so many disturbing things able to
  happen to the working class during the Gilded age?

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Peculiarities of the Presidency

• What peculiarities did we notice about politics
  during the time period between 1873 1896?

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2 common themes

• 1. Laissez Faire business practices
• How did this affect the workers?
• 2. Massive political control at all levels of
  government. (Local, State, and federal)
• Local and State Democratic
• Federal (Democratic Congress, Rep Pres.)

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Typical Voters
Democratic
Republican

• White southerners(preservation ofwhite
  supremacy)
• Catholics
• Recent immigrants(esp. Jews)
• Urban working poor (pro-labor)
• Most farmers

• Northern whites(pro-business)
• African Americans
• Northern Protestants
• Old WASPs (supportfor anti-immigrant laws)
• Most of the middleclass

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Bottom Line

• Republican party understood the big business
  leaders had the money, THUS THE POWER!
• The only reason they even lost the white house
  was because of a fight amongst themselves.
• Political Machines illegitimately kept the
  democrats in power in the cities and states.

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Political Scandal

• Credit Mobilier scandal Happened during
  President Grants Presidency
• C.M. was a construction company chosen by the gov
  to award contracts to businesses that would
  receive gov. grants. Lied about the price to
  build part of the UP RR and cost the tax payers
  approx. 40 million.
• Caused much of the nation to lose faith in
  Republicans. (felt they only catered to rich)

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Bloody Shirt

• Tactic used by the Republicans during the Gilded
  Age time period to remind the nation that.
• Democrats THE SOUTH THE CONFEDERACY
  TRAITORS
• Republicans THE NORTH THE UNION LOYALTY

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Election of 1880

• Republicans break into factions

STALWARTS
HALF BREEDS
Believe patronage to be inefficient and the
source of political corruption Wanted James
Blaine For President
Believe the party is best served by
patronage. Wanted Arthur for President
The two factions agreed to the less radical
JAMES A GARFIELD (who was considered a half
breed) Chest A. Arthur would be VP
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Gilded age politics
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Garfield ASSASINATED

• Stalwart Charles A. Guiteau assassinates Garfield
  thus making stalwart Arthur Pres.
• Arthur shocks the Stalwarts by passing the
  Pendleton Civil Service Act
• Forces gov. workers to take civil service exams.
  
• Republican infighting ensues

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1884

• Rep. James Blaine vs. Grover Cleveland
• The Democratic Party accused Blaine of
  conspiring with wealthy plutocrats to win the
  White House, while Republicans attacked Cleveland
  for having an illegitimate son. In the end,
  Cleveland barely defeated Blaine, by a margin of
  only forty electoral votes and a paltry 30,000
  popular votes. sparknotes.com
• Cleveland is assisted by angry republicans called
  mugwumps who break from the party to vote for
  him.

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1888

• Big business owners in the North support Benjamin
  Harrison and assist the Republicans with retaking
  the White House.

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Theodore Roosevelt

• Very effective President who had high approval
  ratings and was beloved by the country.
• Hand picked Taft to be his successor.
• We will discuss Taft and Wilson in later weeks
• Important President because he marks the
  beginning and most significant time in the
  progressive era.
• Followed by Progressives Taft and Wilson