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Aim : How did the American government help to make big business grow?. Do Now Read pages 440-443. Answer the questions on the note sheet. Turn in your HW. Look at the HW board for your assignment. Objectives. By the end of this lesson, you, one red-blooded American student, will be able to:
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Aim: How did the American government help to make big business grow? Do Now Read pages 440-443. Answer the questions on the note sheet. Turn in your HW. Look at the HW board for your assignment.
Objectives • By the end of this lesson, you, one red-blooded American student, will be able to: List the ways in which political leaders responded to the problems of the late 1800s.
Let’s Discuss • Yesterday, we discussed the major industrial figures in American big business in the late 1800s. • Today, we are going to play a game called: Who Am I?
Who am I? Question 1 • I was a Scottish immigrant who made a lot of money in the steel industry. Unlike my fellow robber barons, I donated my money into forming a university that bears my name in Pennsylvania and I currently have an entertainment center in NYC named in my honor. • Who am I?
Who Am I? Question 2 • I made my money in transportation. I started out in NY by owning the small railroad and shipping lines within the city, then I consolidated my companies to form the biggest rail company on the east coast. I have a street named in my honor in Staten Island while there is a university named in my honor in Tennessee. Who am I?
Who Am I? Question 3 • I established Standard Oil in Cleveland, Ohio back in the 1870s. By 1900, I had owned over 90% of the oil refineries in the United States. I used my money to build a center in New York, establish the University of Chicago and my influence is the reason why Jay-Z owns a record company which is named for me. (Although their spelling is incorrect.) Who am I?
Questions • What did the alliance of big business and government lead to? • What had backed paper money since the beginning of the United States? • What does it mean when the United States went on the gold standard? • What was the purpose of the Bland-Allison Bill? • Who were the Half-Breeds? the Stalwarts? • Who did the Republicans nominate for President in 1880? • If he was nominated and elected, Ulysses Grant would have been elected for a third term. Why would this occur without a problem? • What did the Hatch Act provide? • What happened to interfere with Cleveland’s popularity?
Reasons for the alliance between big business and government are due to five reasons.
3. Well-Defined Voting Blocs Democratic Bloc RepublicanBloc DemocraticBloc • Northern whites(pro-business) • African Americans • Northern Protestants • Old WASPs (supportfor anti-immigrant laws) • Most of the middleclass • White southerners(preservation ofwhite supremacy) • Catholics • Recent immigrants(esp. Jews) • Urban working poor (pro-labor) • Most farmers
4. Very Laissez Faire Federal Govt. • From 1870-1900 Govt. did verylittle domestically. • Main duties of the federal govt.: • Deliver the mail. • Maintain a national military. • Collect taxes & tariffs. • Conduct a foreign policy. • Exception administer the annual Civil War veterans’ pension.
5. The Presidency as a Symbolic Office • 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 “ “ “ “ “ “ Senator Roscoe Conkling
3. Business and Government • During the late 1800s, big business received support from the United States Government. • What did the alliance of big business and government lead to? • Many people thought that society and government were not what they appeared to be on the surface. • The American writer, Mark Twain, called the late 1800s, the Gilded Age. He pointed out that underneath the surface was corruption. • Attempts were made at reforming the system.
3.1 Presidents During the Gilded Age • The Presidents of the late 1800s, were not active leaders. • One reason was due to the delicate balance between the Republicans and the Democrats. • Although the Republicans were in control of the presidency, they did not have enough power to control things completely
Rutherford Hayes (1877-1881) a) Became president in disputed Election of 1876. b) Turned his efforts to civil service reform. Passed laws which gave jobs based on merit and were designed to prevent corrupt officials in government. c) Had to address issues regarding currency reform. 1. Paper money used to be backed by gold and silver. 2. Silver coins dropped out of use, so the United States went on the gold standard. 3. Hayes soon passes the Resumption Act, which was designed to reduce the number of greenbacks in circulation and they would be redeemed for gold. 4. During Hayes’ administration, large deposits of silver were found in the western United States. Congressmen from these states believed that silver could be used to back money because it was cheaper than gold in price 5. Congress passes the Bland-Allison Act which is vetoed by Hayes. However, the Congress overrides the veto.
What had backed paper money since the beginning of the United States? • What does it mean when the United States went on the gold standard? • What was the purpose of the Bland-Allison Bill?
The Election of 1880 • The Republicans were deeply divided on who should run for President in 1880. • Hayes refused a second term. The Republicans were divided amongst the Stalwarts and Half-Breeds. • Ulysses S. Grant and James G. Blaine become the leading candidates, however, the Republicans turn to James Garfield and Chester Arthur for the nomination. • The Democrats turn to Winfield Scott and run on a platform of civil service reform and a lower tariff. • The Election of 1880 was close. Garfield received 214 electoral votes, Scott received 155.
4) Who were the Half-Breeds? the Stalwarts? 5) Who did the Republicans nominate for President in 1880? 6) If he was nominated and elected, Ulysses Grant would have been elected for a third term. Why would this occur without a problem?
1880 Presidential Election: Republicans Half Breeds Stalwarts Sen. James G. Blaine Sen. Roscoe Conkling (Maine) (New York) compromise James A. Garfield Chester A. Arthur (VP)
1881: Garfield Assassinated! Charles Guiteau:I Am a Stalwart, and Arthur is President now!
James Garfield and Chester Arthur • 1-They are elected in 1880. • 2-When they are inaugurated in 1881, they appointed Half-Breeds to many of the best jobs in the government. • 3-This annoys the Stalwarts. As a result, the Stalwarts attacked him. • 4-Four months into his first term, Garfield is shot and killed by a disappointed office seeker named Charles Guiteau. • 5-Chester Arthur replaced James Garfield. As president, he refused to let the Stalwarts take the spoils of office. Arthur passed the Pendleton Act, which now made it mandatory for all government workers to take examinations for their jobs.
Pendleton Act (1883) • Civil Service Act. • The “Magna Carta” of civil service reform. • 1883 14,000 out of117,000 federal govt.jobs became civilservice exam positions. • 1900 100,000 out of 200,000 civil service federal govt. jobs.
3.2 The Return of the Democrats • In the Election of 1884, the Republican Party again was divided. • The policies of Chester Arthur found favor with most Americans. However, these actions do not impress the Republicans. The Stalwarts chose James Blaine as their candidate even though he was corrupt. • The problem was that the reformers of the Republican Party called muguwumps, refused to support him. They supported the Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland, who is the first Democratic President elected since James Buchanan.
Republican “Mugwumps” • Reformers who wouldn’t re-nominateChester A. Arthur. • Reform to them create a disinterested, impartial govt. run by an educated elite like themselves. • 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!
TheMugwumps Men may come and men may go, but the work of reform shall go on forever. • Will support Cleveland in the1884 election.
1884 Presidential Election Grover Cleveland James Blaine* (DEM) (REP)
A Dirty Campaign Ma, Ma…where’s my pa?He’s going to the White House, ha… ha… ha…!
Little Lost Mugwump Blaine in 1884
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!
Grover Cleveland (1885-1889;1893-1897) • He is the 22nd and 24th president. • When he became President, Cleveland made changes. a. He added more jobs to the Pendleton Act. b. He reduced federal spending. c. He put 80,000,000 acres of land back under government control. d. He tried to get the tariff lowered. e. In 1887, he passed the Interstate Commerce Act, which established railroad regulations. f. He passed the Hatch Act 7) What did the Hatch Act provide?
Cleveland’s policies drew criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. 1. Republicans believed he was limiting the power of the free enterprise system. 2. Democrats believed he was passing too many reforms, while others believed he was not passing enough reforms. • Cleveland was nominated in 1888, but he lost in the general election to Benjamin Harrison. • Cleveland would win re-election in 1892.
3.3 The Political Pendulum • When Harrison defeated Cleveland in 1888, the political pendulum swung back to the Republicans. • The Republicans ended many of Cleveland’s policies. • Republicans gave political supporters jobs. • The Republicans voted for pensions for Civil War veterans which Cleveland did not want. • The Republicans pass the McKinley Tariff which raised the tariff to an all-time level high. • Voters were angered by the Republicans and re-elected Cleveland. • Voters also gave the Congress back to the Democrats.
1888 Presidential Election Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison(DEM) *(REP)
