Politics in the Gilded Age 1869-1889

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Politics in the Gilded Age1869-1889

• Chapter 23

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The Bloody Shirt Elects Grant

• At the end of the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant
  accepted gifts, houses, and money.
• Grant owed the election of 1868 to the former
  slaves who voted.

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continued

• After the Civil War, some political candidates
  would wave a bloody shirt to remind the voters
  of the treason of the Confederate Democrats
  during the Civil War.

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The Era of Good Stealing

• Gold Market Scandal
• Jim Fisk and Jay Gould plotted with
  Grants brother-in-law to corner the gold
  market.
• Black Friday Stock Market crash on
  September 24, 1869

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continued

• Credit Mobilier Scandal
• involved railroad construction
• profits from the construction of the Union
  Pacific Railroad went to the roads promoters.
• In an attempt to avoid prosecution for their
  corrupt dealings, the owners distributed shares
  of the companys valuable stock to key
  congressmen.

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Continued

• Whiskey Ring Scandal
• bribing of the Secretary of War by corrupt
  Indian agents
• robbed the Treasury of millions of dollars in
  excise-tax revenues.

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Continued

• Tweed Ring
• New Yorks Tammany Hall was a political
  machine headed by William M. Tweed.
• Through graft and corruption, machines were
  also vehicles for making money.

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The Liberal Republican Revolt of 1872

• Republicans nominated Grant for a second term
• Democrats nominated Horace Greeley
• Greeley was also a candidate for the Liberal
  Republicans (who had bolted over the issue of
  political corruption).
• Grant was reelected because his opponents chose a
  poor candidate to run for the presidency.

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Election of 1872
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Depression and Demands for Inflation

• The Panic of 1873 began a six-year depression.
• One cause of the panic was the erection of more
  factories than existing markets could bear.
• Some debtors suggested inflationary policies as a
  possible solution.
• The Redemption Act of 1875 provided for payment
  for greenbacks in gold.

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Continued

• Because of the Republican hard money policies
  the Greenback Labor Party was formed.

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Pallid Politics in the Gilded Age

• Those who enjoyed a successful political career
  in the post-Civil War decades were usually party
  loyalists.
• During the Gilded Age, the Democrats and the
  Republicans had few significant economic
  differences.
• The presidential elections of the 1870s and 1880s
  aroused great interest among voters.

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Continued

• One reason for the extremely high voter turnouts
  and partisan fervor of the Gilded Age was sharp
  ethnic and cultural differences in the membership
  of the two parties.
• The lifeblood of both the Democratic and the
  Republican parties was political patronage.
• Spoilsmen was the label attached to those who
  expected government jobs from their partys
  elected officeholders.

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Continued

• Stalwarts term first used by a group of
  Republicans who supported Grant for a third term
  against Garfield.
• leader Roscoe Conkling (New York
• Senator)
• Half-breeds term (used mostly after the
  election of Rutherford B. Hayes) referring to a
  section of the Republican party.
• supported civil service reform and opposed
  corruption in government.
• leader James G. Blaine.

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The Hayes-Tilden Standoff, 1876

• Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio became the Republican
  candidate.
• Republicans waved the bloody shirt and gained
  some votes because the party was hurt by the
  corruption in Grants administration.

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Continued

• Samuel J. Tilden, a reform governor from New
  York, was the Democrat Candidate.
• He helped to smash the Tweed Ring.

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continued

• The major problem with the election of 1876 two
  sets of election returns were submitted by the
  southern states.
• 20 votes in 3 states were in dispute (Louisiana,
  South Carolina, Florida)
• Tilden, with a popular majority, was one
  electoral vote short (184 and he needed 185)
• A special electoral commission voted 8 7 along
  party lines for Hayes, who would win by 185-184.
• With control of the two houses of Congress split,
  a constitutional crisis loomed.

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The Compromise of 1877 and the End of
Reconstruction

• A bargain was struck between the two parties.
• The last federal troops would leave South
  Carolina and Louisiana.
• Republicans would pledge financial aid and
  patronage to Southern states.
• The election of Hayes would be certified.

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continued

• Redemption
• Return to home rule in the South
• Occupation of federal troops ended in the South
• Conservative Democratic control returned (Solid
  South)
• Jim Crow segregation laws began to be passed
  throughout the South. (legal codes that
  established the system of segregation)
• Southern whites disenfranchised African Americans
  with literacy requirements, poll taxes, and
  economic intimidation.

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continued

• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
• Plessy (1/8th African American) attempted to sit
  in the white section of a train.
• He was ordered to move, but refused
• He was forcefully removed from the train.
• First person of color to challenge racial
  segregation laws in court.

John Marshall Harlan
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Continued

• Plessy appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on the
  grounds that the Louisianas statue violated the
  Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments.
• The Supreme Court ruled 7-1 in favor of the state
  statue. (one justice dissented)
• Justice John Marshall Harlan was the only justice
  on Plessys side.
• The Court ruled separate but equal facilities
  were constitutional.

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Class Conflict and Ethnic Clashes

• The Railroad Strike of 1877
• started when the four largest railroads cut
  salaries by ten percent.
• First major strike
• Began against BO Railroad Company and spread to
  other lines.
• Railroad workers went back to work at lower wages
  set by the railroads.

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Continued

• Labor unrest during the Hayes administration
  stemmed from long years of depression and
  deflation.
• Labor unrest resulted in the use of federal
  troops during strikes.
• In the wake of anti-Chinese violence in
  California, the U.S. Congress passed a law
  prohibiting the immigration of Chinese laborers
  to America (Chinese Immigration Act)

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The Chinese

• The seizure of farmland by landlords, the
  disintegration of the Chinese Empire, and the
  intrusion of European powers were all internal
  developments in China that resulted in Chinese
  Immigration to the United States.
• Chinese came to the U.S. to dig for gold.

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Election of 1880
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The Garfield Interlude

• Supported civil service reform
• James A Garfield, was the second president to be
  assassinated while in office.
• He was assassinated by a deranged, disappointed
  office seeker. (Charles J. Guiteau)

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Chester Arthur Takes Command

• Arthur was Vice president under Garfield.
• Before he was a supporter of Roscoe Conkling and
  of the traditional spoils system.
• As president he urged Congress to enact the Civil
  Service law (Pendleton Act)

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Continued

• Pendleton Act
• Required appointees to public office to take a
  competitive examination.
• After the passage, politicians now sought money
  from big corporations.

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The Blaine-Cleveland Mudslingers of 1884

• The election was noted for its personal attacks
  on the two candidates.
• James G. Blaine was the Republican candidate
• Grover Cleveland was the Democrat candidate
• Mugwumps a group of Republicans that withdrew
  from the party in protest of Blaine and gave
  their support to Cleveland.

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Old Grover Takes Over

• The only Gilded Age president that was a
  Democrat.
• As president, his hands-off approach to
  government gained the support of businesspeople.

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Cleveland Battles for a Lower Tariff

• Cleveland supported civil service reform and a
  lower tariff but was not successful in getting
  Congress to lower tariffs in 1887.
• The tariff would be a real issue for dividing the
  two parties and dominating the election of 1888.

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Election of 1888
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Harrison Ousts Cleveland in 1888

• The major issue was the tariff policy.
• Harrison was a Republican from Indiana
• Cleveland the Democrat
• Harrison is the Grandson of William Henry
  Harrison (9th President)
• Congress was the locus of political power in the
  latter nineteenth century.

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Forgettable Presidents of the Gilded Age

• Rutherford B. Hayes
• James A. Garfield
• Chester A. Arthur
• Benjamin Harrison