Chapter 23: Politics in the Gilded Age 1869–1896

1. Chapter 23: Politics in the Gilded Age 1869–1896

2. The Aftermath of Reconstruction Black Codes to regulate freed slaves Sharecropping Rise of White Supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan (the invisible empire of the South) Amnesty Act of 1872-removed restrictions on ex-Confederates, except for top leaders. Attempt at interracial democracy New opportunities-Blacks could vote, form political and religious organizations, and had some economic independence. Also-Secretary of State William Seward-Seward’s Folly-purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million. Were the newly freed slaves truly free?

3. What are the characteristics of the word gilded? A characteristic is ___________________________________ A characteristic of _____________ and _________________ is ________________ The group has ________________________ All ___________ are ________________ All __________ have ________________ All ___________ are not _____________ All _______________ do not have ______________ Another example might be_______________ because __________________

4. Presidents of the Gilded Age The phrase “Gilded Age” means to be covered with gold; Depicted an American society that on the surface appeared prosperous and full of opportunities but underneath was corrupt and scandalous. Ulysses S. Grant (R) 1869-1877 Rutherford B. Hayes (R) 1877-1881 James A. Garfield (R) 1881 Chester A. Arthur (R) 1881-1885 Grover Cleveland (D) 1885-1889 Benjamin Harrison (R) 1889-1893 Grover Cleveland (D) 1893-1897 William McKinley (R) 1897-1901

5. Politics in the Gilded Age, 1870’s to WW I Main political issues: reforms in the Civil Service, currency, and tariff legislation. Voter turnout was as high as 80%, however people were able to vote more than once due to very few restrictions in place to prevent voter fraud. “Voting the Graveyard” was rampant as political machines cast votes in the name of dead citizens. The Republican Party was made up primarily of northern White Protestants (from Northern Europe), Black men from the north and south, and Union Civil War veterans. The Democrat Party consisted primarily of southern Whites, Roman Catholics and immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. Many of the big cities were run by Democratic Party bosses who built effective political machines to keep themselves in power.

6. The power and scope of government at all levels greatly expanded at the end of 19th century. This was due to the expansion of the economy and the task of governing a rapidly industrializing and urbanizing nation. This made the job of the government more complicated and required a larger bureaucracy with increased taxes to support the growing number of government employees at the municipal, county, state and federal levels.

7. The Presidential Election of 1868

8. Major scandals during Grant’s two terms as president Black Friday Scandal (1869) James Fisk and Jay Gould, railroad and Wall street speculators, tried to corner the gold market due to their belief that the government would pay back the credit extended during the Civil War in gold. Fisk and Gould bribed Grant’s brother-in-law who encouraged an appointment to the Treasury who would alert Fisk and Gould when the government was selling gold so they could profit. Grant learned of the scheme and was able to sell enough gold to prevent a major financial disaster for the government. Credit Mobilier Scandal (1872) Major stockholders in the Union Pacific Railroad formed a company, the Credit Mobilier of America, and gave it contracts to build the railroad. They sold or gave shares in this construction to influential congressmen. It was a lucrative deal for the congressmen, because they helped themselves by approving federal subsidies for the cost of railroad construction without paying much attention to expenses, enabling railroad builders to make huge profits. Whiskey Ring Scandal (1875) Benjamin H. Bristow, Grant’s third secretary of the Treasury, found a group of distillers falsifying reports. They cheated the government out of millions in tax dollars. It was then discovered that many of Grant's appointees were also involved in the scandal. Included in these appointees was Grant's personal secretary, Orville E. Babcock.

9. The Great Panic of 1873 Began in September 1873 when the important Philadelphia banking firm of Jay Cooke & Company declared bankruptcy. Jay Cooke’s company helped the Union cause during the Civil War by marketing federal bonds to finance the war. After the war the company became the government's agent in financing railroad construction. The collapse of the company set off a chain reaction of bankruptcies and unemployment. The New York Stock Exchange closed for 10 days in reaction to the economic disaster as the prices of stocks rapidly declined. Almost 25% of the nation’s railroads went bankrupt. 18,000 businesses failed between 1873 and 1875. By 1877 estimates of the unemployed ranged from 14% to 24%. 9

10. 1876 election results

11. Compromise of 1877 Tilden won the popular vote, but lacked one electoral vote to earn a majority in the electoral college. There were 22 disputed electoral votes from the states of Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon. Each state sent two sets of election returns. Republicans made deals with Southern Democrats which gave Hayes the presidency. The Southern politicians gave their support to Hayes in return for his promise to pull all the remaining troops out of the former Confederate states. The South also wanted the appointment of at least one Southerner to Hayes's cabinet and support for Southern railroad construction. The Compromise of 1877 is often called the deal that ended Reconstruction.

12. The name “Jim Crow” was first used in 1832 for an exaggerated Black character in a minstrel show. It quickly became a widely-used offensive racial slur. By the end of the 19th century it had taken on a different meaning, and was used to describe the segregationist regimen that had spread throughout the South.

13. EXAMPLES OF “JIM CROW” LAWS • Lunch Counters No persons, firms, or corporations, who or which furnish meals to passengers at station restaurants or station eating houses, in times limited by common carriers of said passengers, shall furnish said meals to white and colored passengers in the same room, or at the same table, or at the same counter. South Carolina • Textbooks Books shall not be interchangeable between the white and colored schools, but shall continue to be used by the race first using them. North Carolina • Prisons The warden shall see that the white convicts shall have separate apartments for both eating and sleeping from the Negro convicts. Mississippi • Parks It shall be unlawful for colored people to frequent any park owned or maintained by the city for the benefit, use and enjoyment of white persons...and unlawful for any white person to frequent any park owned or maintained by the city for the use and benefit of colored persons. Georgia • Burial The officer in charge shall not bury, or allow to be buried, any colored persons upon ground set apart or used for the burial of white persons. Georgia • Nurses No person or corporation shall require any white female nurse to nurse in wards or rooms in hospitals, either public or private, in which Negro men are placed. Alabama • Intermarriage All marriages of white persons with Negroes, Mulattos, Mongolians, or Malaya hereafter contracted in the State of Wyoming are and shall be illegal and void. Wyoming

14. EXAMPLES OF SEGREGATED FACILITIES 14

15. ELLIS ISLAND IMMIGRATION CENTER, NEW YORK CITY WEST COAST IMMIGRATION CENTER, ANGEL ISLAND

16. REACTIONS TO INCREASED IMMIGRATION AMERICANIZATION MOVEMENT AMERICAN PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION INCREASED IMMIGRATION CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT NATIVISM

17. THIS VICIOUS ANTI-CHINESE CARTOON SHOWS AN “HONEST” AMERICAN WORKING FAMILY MAN AND COMPARES IT DO RAT EATING CHINESE. WHAT ARE NEGATIVE ACTIVITIES ARE THE CHINESE SHOW TO BE DOING. (OPIUM DEN)

18. Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 Anti-Chinese sentiment escalated into violence The law excluded Chinese from entering the country for 10 years. Later the law was extended and not repealed until 1940s Any Chinese in the country had to reapply for entry. They were given permanent alien status and denied citizenship. After the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, some Chinese moved to the mining areas of Idaho, Montana, and Colorado. Most, however, moved to California.

19. 1880 election results

20. Charles Guiteau, a lawyer with a history of mental illness, shot Garfield in the back on July 2, 1881. He believed God told him to shoot the president. Doctors searched for the bullet in Garfield’s wound with unwashed fingers and unsterilized medical devices (sterilization was a new concept in 1881). A massive infection developed. After 2½ months, Garfield died on September 19, 1881. Garfield’s death led to the passage of the Pendleton Act which created the Civil Service System. Potential federal employees were required to pass an exam in order to receive the job, instead of patronage where a recipient was hired for political reasons rather than qualifications. Guiteau

21. Cleveland is the only president to win a second term 4 years after his first term.

22. 1888 Presidential election

23. "Billion Dollar" Congress The 51st Congress which had access to approximately a 1 billion dollar surplus in the Treasury. The "Billion Dollar" Congress passed the Pension Act of 1890, which provided pensions for all Union Civil War veterans who had served for 90 days and were no longer capable of manual labor. This policy solved the dilemma of the existing surplus.

24. The situation for farmers during the last decades of the 19th century The Civil War and its demands for farm products led to increased production and prosperity for farmers. Farmers began exporting their crops overseas, which made them major players in international trade. However, they were subject to the instability of the world market. New technology led to the mechanization of agriculture, and farmers were forced to purchase expensive new machinery with borrowed money. At the same time that U.S. farmers expanded crop production, nations such as Argentina, Canada and Australia also began large-scale farming. This flooded the world market with many farm products and led to a drop in crop prices. U.S. farmers tried to increase their income by growing more crops, but that only lowered prices even more. As farm income dropped, farmers blamed businessmen, railroads and Wall Street for their declining incomes. Farmers began organizing and entering politics. They formed new parties as they began to see the existing Democrats and Republicans as tools of business and hostile to the needs of agriculture. The issue of free coinage of silver became a key demand of farmers and other groups. Alliances with labor unions and other progressive groups became a goal of the newly- created farmer organizations. 24

25. AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT The Grange: National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry Grangers elected members to state legislatures and Congress who supported their goals. A series of laws known as the “Granger Laws” were passed in several states which established public regulation on the rates and operating practices of railroads. In 1877 in Munn vs. Illinois the Supreme Court upheld the right of state legislatures to regulate railroad rates. With this victory the Grange became more of a fraternal social organization for farm families. In the 1880s Granger laws were struck down by other Supreme Court cases. This meant that any laws regulating railroads would have to come from Congress, not the states. Founded by Oliver H. Kelley in 1867 Dedicated to improving the lives of farmers and ending the isolation and loneliness of rural life with social functions Farmers organized themselves into local “granges” throughout the U.S. They grew rapidly after the Panic of 1873, growing to 20,000 chapters with 1.5 million members Their main grievances were opposing the high tariffs because they made manufactured goods like farm machinery more expensive, railway freight-rates, the fall of wheat prices, and the increase of mortgages Grangers set up cooperatives consisting of their own marketing systems, stores, processing plants, factories, grain elevators and other services. They failed due to a lack of business experience

26. The Greenback Party The Greenback Party, which lasted from roughly 1876 to 1884. Party members supported an expansion of U.S. currency as paper money in order to help the farmers who had been suffering economically. The party was also strongly anti-monopoly, and they viewed banks as their opposition. In 1878, they received 13.8% of the national vote. These Green backers formed "the basis of subsequent populist mobilization". Many of the ideas and the key people of the Greenback Party would become important in the rise of the People's Party. 26

27. Farmer’s Alliances Founded in the 1880’s out of the Granger movement By 1890 there were about 1.5 million members from New York to California in three regional branches. One of the branches was the Colored Farmers National Alliance made up of southern African-Americans with over 1 million members Their program called for the regulation of the railroads, currency inflation by using silver to provide debt relief, lowering of the high tariff rates, the establishment of government-owned storehouses and low-interest lending facilities In the elections of 1890 they won control of twelve state legislatures, six Governors, five U.S. Senators, and forty six Congressmen. This success led to plans for their own political party William Peffer, Farmer’s Alliances first U.S. Senator Farmers Alliance convention

28. The Populist Party Farmers were hurt in the late 1880’s by droughts and the McKinley Tariff of 1890 which put the highest tariffs yet seen on manufactured goods. This lowered farmers’ income because manufactured goods became more expensive. In 1892 various farmer and labor groups met in Omaha and formed the People’s Party which soon was called the Populist Party. The party was made up of a merger between the Farmers' Alliance and the Knights of Labor. The major issue they addressed was money. The Populists, and many others, believed that silver should join gold in being minted for money. This would put more money in circulation and create inflation which would help debtors pay off their mortgages with “cheap” money.

29. The Populist platform’s major goals included:  • The free and unrestricted coinage of silver and gold at ratio of 16 to 1. • The passage of a progressive income tax based on how much one earns. • A plan to support farm price to halt the decline in farmers incomes by having the government buy the crops at a fixed prices. • Government ownership of key industries such as railroads, telegraph and banks instead of attempts to regulate them. • Direct election of senators by the people not state legislators. • Secret ballots so no one could know how you voted. • An initiative and referendum process so the people could propose their own laws and reject laws by passed by legislatures. • An eight-hour work day for workers. This was offered to win support of unions and laborers.  29

30. The Populist Party became a major player in the 1890s Why was the money issue so important to the Populists? Farmers who had large debts from mortgages and farm machinery purchases wanted to pay back the loans with cheaper money which would come from inflation. This meant there had to be more money created by the government. The U.S. was on a gold standard which meant paper money could only be issued if there was enough gold to back it up. If someone took a gold backed paper dollar to a bank they could get a dollars worth of gold in return. This limited the amount of paper money in circulation and caused deflation as gold was a resource. Populists and others demanded that silver also be used to back paper dollars in order to increase the money supply. More money would cause inflation so that it would be worth less and therefore farmers could pay back their debts with less valuable money. Inflation would help borrowers and hurt creditors such as banks and mortgage companies. The Populists did better in the election of 1892 than any other third party since the Civil War. The Populist Party (People’s Party) virtually replaced Democrats in the West and Republicans in the South.They wanted to win the presidency in 1896. The People's Party was the main opposition to the Democrats and Republicans and believed that they had a chance for control of the government in the 1896 general election. In the severe depression of 1893 President Cleveland did not provide needed relief to the unemployed and other victims. His only solution was a return to the gold standard, ending massive government purchase of silver. Various Supreme Court decisions struck down causes the Populists supported, which motivated them to win political office to achieve their agenda.

31. Grover Cleveland 1893-1897 31

32. The Panic of 1893 The Panic was the worst financial downturn in American history up until that point. A few major causes included too many people trying to get gold from the Treasury at once, major railroad lines going bankrupt, and the stock market going down. Deflation (fall in prices) and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act caused a run on gold as silver prices tumbled. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 increased the amount of silver the government bought each year. This led to a lack of money for loans and investment. These factors led to a severe depression that lasted for several years. President Cleveland did almost nothing to end the depression. He believed, as many did at the time from both major parties, that the ups and downs of the business cycle was a natural occurrence and should not be tampered with by politicians. Strikes increased as workers tried to avoid pay cuts and layoffs. Hunger and homelessness increased as millions slipped into poverty and there was no help from the government at the time.