Gilded Age Politics

•National politics and influence of corporate power •Agrarian discontent and political issues of the late

nineteenth century

Politics in the Gilded Age

• Gilded Age - ‘covered with a thin layer of gold’– Wealth and prosperity

and progress VS.

- Urban, labor, and farming problems and big business corruption

Gilded Age Politics

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The “Business of Politics”• Laissez-faire

– Government should play a very limited role in business

• Favored high tariffs on imports (to protect American businesses)

• Government subsidies– payment by government

to encourage development of certain businesses and/or industries (I.e. RR)

Credit Mobilier Scandal: 1873• Gov’t awarded Union

Pacific (UP) RR loans and land to build Transcontinental RR

• Credit Mobilier company - hired to build RR

• Credit Mobilier charged UP way too much $$$.

• In order for Congress to keep funding, Credit Mobilier offered cheap shares of stock to Congressmen who agreed to support continued funding

• Investigated in 1872 - both parties, lots of indivuduals - guilty

Harper's Weekly March 15, 1873

“Every Public Question With an Eye Only to the Public Good”

Spoils System - Patronage system

• Started in American politics with Andrew Jackson (1828)

• ‘To the victor, go the spoils of war…’

• Giving of jobs as a reward for loyalty - even to unqualified people

Political Parties in the Gilded Age• Republicans

– Appealed to industrialists, bankers, and eastern farmers

– Strongest in N and upper Midwest

– Favored tight money supply backed by GOLD

– High tariffs– High pensions for Union

soldiers– Gov’t aid to RR– Strict limit on immigration– Enforcement of blue laws -

prohibited private activities many considered immoral

• Democrats– Attracted those less privileged– Northern immigrant workers,

laborers, southern planters, western farmers

– Claimed to represent ordinary people

– Favored increased money supply backed by SILVER

– Lower tariffs– Higher farm prices– Less gov’t aid to big business– Fewer blue laws

“Waving the Bloody Shirt”

• Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) organization of northern Civil War veterans

• Campaigned for Republicans• Called on former Union generals as

candidates

Ethnic Divisions and Gilded Age Politics

• Democrats– Family tradition =

Irish, immigrants– Religious affiliation =

Catholic– Appealed to common

city laborers– Local issues =

prohibition

• Republicans– Family tradition =

Protestant, old-stock northerners,

– Religious affiliation = Protestant

– African-Americans– Local issues = against

“vices” and for Prohibition in most cases

Well-Defined Voting Blocs

DemocraticBloc

RepublicanBloc

White southerners (preservation of white supremacy)

Catholics

Recent immigrants (esp. Jews)

Urban working poor (pro-labor)

Most farmers

Northern whites (pro-business)

African Americans

Northern Protestants

Old WASPs (support for anti-immigrant laws)

Most of the middle class

Figure 18.1 Ethnocultural Voting Patterns in the Midwest, 1870–1892 (p. 521)

•Intense Voter Loyalty to the Two MajorPolitical Parties

•High Levels of Political Participation

The Money Supply

• Most $ in gold and silver coinage or U.S. Treasury notes

• Bankers = limit $ supply• Debtors = expand $

supply• Panic of 1873• Greenback Party of 1877 -

expanded $ supply

Money Supply - continued• Silver demonetized in 1873• Silver discovered in huge

quantities in 1873 in Nevada (Comstock Lode)

• Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890– Treasury to buy silver monthly– Issue Treasury notes

• Increased $ supply some but not enough for farmers and other debtors

The Silver Issue “Crime of ’73” - demonetization of silver (govt. stopped coining silver).

Bland-Allison Act (1878) - limited silver coinage to $2-$4 mil. per mo. (based on the 16:1 ratio of silver to gold).

Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890) The US Treasury must purchase $4.5 mil. oz. of silver a month.

Govt. deposited most silver in the US Treasury rather than circulation.

Spoils System Reform

• 1877 - President Rutherford B. Hayes refused to use patronage system

• Began attempt at CIVIL SERVICE reform

• Split his party (Republicans) in 1878

Rutherford B. Hayes and Civil Service Reform

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Republican split

• Stalwarts - Sen. Conkling - defended spoils system

• Half-Breeds - Sen. Blaine - reform spoils system but maintain party loyalty

• Independents - opposed spoils system entirely (Mugwumps)

James Garfield 1880-1881• Elected 1880• Half-Breed faction - to

reform spoils system but maintain party loyalty

• Assassinated by Stalwart supporter - Guiteau - (who expected a job from Garfield and didn’t get it)

Garfield and the Pendleton Act

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Chester Arthur• VP w/ Garfield• Became president after

assassination• Beneficiary of

patronage in NY• Pendleton Civil

Service Act of 1883

Pendleton Civil Service Act

• Civil Service Commission set up– Tested applicants– Fed employees not

required to contribute campaign $$$

– Could not be fired for political reasons

Pendleton Act (1883)Pendleton Act (1883)

Civil Service Act.

The “Magna Carta” of civil service reform.

1883 - 14,000 out of 117,000 federal govt. jobs became civil service exam positions.

1900 - 100,000 out of 200,00 civil service federal govt. jobs.

Election of 1884 - Grover Cleveland

• Grover Cleveland - Democrat

• Cleveland heavily criticized

• Issues:– Favored tight money

policies– Opposed high tariffs– Took back 80 million acres

from RR– Supported more gov’t

regulation of RR

Map 18.1 Presidential Elections of 1880, 1884, and 1888 (p. 517)

RR Regulation• Many complaints of questionable RR practices• Rebates - partial refunds to favored customers• 1877 - Munn v. Illinois - Supreme Court decision

allowed states to regulate certain businesses (including RR)

• 1886 - decision limited state control in Wabash v. Illinois (interstate commerce still unregulated)

– The Wabash decision led to the creation in 1887 of the first modern regulatory agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission.

• 1887 - Interstate Commerce Act set up Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) – ICC usually had to file suit against RRs and until 1905, lost 15

of 16 cases before the Supreme Court

Bandanna, 1888 Election (p. 514)

Cleveland lost bid in 1888 to Republican James Garfield

The Tariff Issue After the Civil War, Congress raised tariffs to protect new US industries.

Big business wanted to continue this; consumers did not.

1885 - tariffs earned the US $100 million - In surplus!

Mugwumps (branch of Republican Party) opposed it -

President Cleveland’s view on tariffs:

Tariffs too high and needed to be reduced

Tariffs became a major issue in the 1888 presidential election.

President Benjamin Harrison - 1888

• Republican - supported business interests

• Favored an increase in tariffs

• Awarded huge pensions to dependents of Civil War soldiers

• Hurt the economy in the long run

• Major Achievement:– Sherman Antitrust Act of

1890

Map 18.1 Presidential Election: 1888 (p. 517)

Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890

• Outlawed any combination for companies that restrained interstate trade or commerce

• Supposed to limit the formation and function of trusts and monopolies

• Proved ineffective for over 15 years• Vague wording - enforced rarely• Courts ruled pro-business

Cleveland’s second term - 1893-1897 (unpopular)

• Panic of 1893• Millions of workers lost

jobs or had wages slashed• 1894 - Coxey’s army

demanded gov’t create jobs for unemployed

• Repealed Sherman Silver Purchase Act

• Sent federal troops to Chicago during the Pullman strike of 1894

Election of 1896

• Populists - Democrats: William Jennings Bryan– Working class and

farmers– Free silver– Labor reform– “Cross of Gold”

speech

• Republicans: William McKinley– New tariff bill (raised)– Stronger gold standard– “A Full Dinner Pail”

Election of 1896

Map 18.5 The Election of 1896 (p. 540)

Election of 1896: Realignment

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