Politics in the Gilded Age

1. Politics in the Gilded Age “I know now that all that glitters is not gold... However, I still go underrating men of gold, and glorifying men of mica. Commonplace human nature cannot rise above that.” ― Mark Twain

2. Waving the Bloody Shirt! • Republicans nominated Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant • great soldier • had no political experience • Democrats? • could only denounce military Reconstruction

3. Waving the Bloody Shirt! • The Republicans got Grant elected (barely) by “waving the bloody shirt”

4. 1868 Presidential Election

5. President Ulysses S. Grant

6. The Era of Good Stealings • Despite the Civil War, the population grew • Partiallydue to immigration • politics became very corrupt • Railroad promoters cheated gullible customers • Too many judges and legislators put their power up for hire

7. The Era of Good Stealings • Jim Fisk and Jay Gould • notorious millionaires • In 1869, they concocted a plot to corner the gold market • Plan would only work if the treasury stopped selling gold • they worked on President Grant directly and through his brother-in-law • plan failed when the treasury sold gold

8. The Era of Good Stealings • Tweed Ring (AKA, “Tammany Hall) of NYC • Headedby “Boss” Tweed • Used bribery, graft, and fakeelections to cheat the city of as much as $200 million • caught when The New York Times secured evidence of his misdeeds • died in jail

9. The Tweed Ring in NYC William Marcy Tweed (notorious head of Tammany Hall’s political machine) [Thomas Nast crusading cartoonist/reporter]

10. Who Stole the People’s Money?

11. A Carnival of Corruption • Grant • failed to see corruption going on • many of his friends wanted offices • his cabinet was totally corrupt

12. Credit Mobilier • railroad construction company that paiditself huge sums of money for small railroad construction • NY newspaper reported it • 2 members of Congress were formally censured • company had given some of its stock to the congressmen • Vice President was shown to have accepted 20 shares of stock

13. And They Say He Wants a Third Term

14. The Election of 1872 • Rumors of corruption during Grant’s first term discredit Republicans • Horace Greeley runsas a Democrat/LiberalRepublican candidate • Greeley attacked as afool and a crank. • Greeley died on November 29, 1872!

15. 1872 Presidential Election

16. Popular Vote for President: 1872

17. The Panic of 1873 • Causes: • Unrestrained speculation on the railroads • Too easy credit • Started when… • failure of the NY banking firm JayCooke & Company, which was headed by the rich Jay Cooke, afinancier of the Civil War

18.  Depression, Deflation, & Inflation • Greenbacks that had been issued in the Civil War werebeing recalled • but now, during the panic • “cheap-money” supporters wanted greenbacks to be printed enmass again, to create inflation •  supporters of “hard-money” (actual gold andsilver) persuaded Grant to veto a bill that would print more papermoney

19.  Depression, Deflation, & Inflation • Resumption Act of 1875 • government wouldwithdraw greenbacks & make all further redemption of paper money ingold at face value, starting in 1879 • Debtors now cried that silver was under-valued (another call for inflation), • Grant refused to coin more silver dollars, which (stopped in 1873) • new silver discoveries in the later 1870s shot the price of silver way down. Grant’s name remained fused to sound money, though not sound government.

20.  Depression, Deflation, & Inflation • greenbacks regain their value • few greenback holders exchange their more convenient bills for gold when Redemption Day came in 1879 • 1878, the Bland-Allison Act instructed the Treasury to buy andcoin between $2 million and $4 million worth of silver bullion eachmonth. The minimum was actually coined and its effect was minimal on creating “cheap money.”

21.  Depression, Deflation, & Inflation • Republican hard-money policy, • led to the election of a Democratic House of Representatives in 1874 • Spawned the Greenback Labor Party in 1878 • primarily composed of prairie farmers who went into debt during the Panic of 1873 • fought for increased monetary circulation through issuance of paper currency and bimetallism (using both gold and silver as legal tender) • supported inflationary • sought benefits for labor such as shorter working hours and a national labor bureau. • wanted the government to print more greenbacks.

22. The Abandonment of Reconstruction

23. 1876 Presidential Tickets

24. 1876 Presidential Election

25. The Political Crisis of 1877 • “Corrupt Bargain”Part II?

26. Hayes Prevails

27. A Political Crisis: The “Compromise” of 1877

28. Well-Defined Voting Blocks DemocraticBloc RepublicanBloc • 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

29. Laissez Faire Government • Government stayed out of domestic policies from about 1877-1900 • Deliver the mail • Maintain a national military • Collect taxes & tariffs • Conduct a foreign policy

30. A Symbolic Presidency • Party bosses ruled • Presidents should avoid offending anyfactions within theirown party • The President justdoled out federal jobs. • 1865  53,000 people worked for the federal govt. • 1890  166,000 “ “ “ “ “ “

31. The Birth of Jim Crow in the Post-Reconstruction South • Reconstruction ended …military returned northward • whites asserted their power • Literacy requirements for voting began, • voter registration laws emerged • poll taxes began • targeted at black voters

32. The Birth of Jim Crow in the Post-Reconstruction South • Most blacks became sharecroppers • providing nothing but labor • Or tenant farmers • if they could provide their own tools • Plessy v. Ferguson: • 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of that “separate but equal” facilities were constitutional • “Jim Crow” segregation was legalized

33. Class Conflicts & Ethnic Clashes • Railroad Strike • Background • 1877, the presidents of the nation’s 4 largestrailroads decided to cut wages by 10%. • Workers struck back, stopping work • President Hayes sent troops to stop this • violence erupted • more than 100 people died in the several weeks of chaos

34. Class Conflicts & Ethnic Clashes • Failure of the railroad strike? • showed weakness of the labormovement • Note: this was partly caused by friction between races, especially between the Irish and the Chinese. • In San Francisco, Irish-born Denis Kearney incited his followers to terrorize the Chinese

35. Class Conflicts & Ethnic Clashes • Anti-Chinese sentiment: • 1879-Congress passed a bill severely restricting the influx of Chinese immigrants (most of whom were males who had come to California to work on the railroads • Hayes vetoed the bill • Said that it violated an existing treaty with China • After Hayes left office, the Chinese Exclusion Act, was passed in • first law limiting immigration.

36. James A. Garfield • 1880 : Republicans nominated James A. Garfield • from Ohio • rose to the rank of major general in the Civil War • Democrats chose Winfield S. Hancock • Civil War general (appealed to the South)

37. 1880 Presidential Election

38. James A. Garfield • campaign avoided touchy issues • Garfield squeaked by in the popular vote • Garfield died after being shot in the head by a disappointed office seeker

39. Republican infighting • StalwartsRepublicans fighting for civil service reform during Garfield's term; they supported Cleveland • Half-breeds • Favored tariff reform and social • did not seem to be dedicated members of either party

40. Chester Arthur • Chester Arthur surprised many • called for reform • Republican party slowly embraces reform

41. Pendleton Act (1883) • Civil Service Act • 1883  14,000 out of117,000 federal governmentjobs became civilservice exam positions • 1900  100,000 out of 200,000 government jobs were exam positions

42. Republican “Mugwumps” • Reformers who wouldn’t re-nominateChester A. Arthur • Reform to them • create an impartial government run by an educated elite • Social Darwinists • Laissez faire government to them • Favoritism & the spoils system seen as govt. intervention in society. • Their target was political corruption, not social or economic reform!

43. TheMugwumps Men may come and men may go, but the work of reform shall go on forever. • Will support Cleveland in the1884 election.

44. 1884 Presidential Election Grover Cleveland James Blaine* (DEM) (REP)

45. A Dirty Campaign Ma, Ma…where’s my pa?He’s going to the White House, ha… ha… ha…!

46. 1884 Presidential Election

47. Cleveland’s First Term • The “Veto Governor” from New York • First Democratic elected since 1856 • A public office is a public trust! • His laissez-faire presidency: • Opposed bills to assist the poor aswell as the rich • Vetoed over 200 special pension billsfor Civil War veterans!