Ch. 23: Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age

1. Ch. 23: Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age

2. 1. The “Bloody Shirt” Elects Grant • Election of 1868 • Grant was a Civil War hero (in the north ;) • Elected because fellow Republicans “waved the bloody shirt”- meaning they revived country's violent memories of Civil War deaths. • Unexperienced in politics- his presidency is considered a failure due to scandals among his staff/friends and his inability to fire them.

3. 2. Era of Good Stealings • Scandals of the Grant administration • Jim Fisk and Jay Gould tried to corner the gold market. Grant’s brother-in-law was bribed 25k . • Boss Tweed controlled the Democratic political machine in New York City until his bribes, intimidation, and fraudulent elections were uncovered. • Thomas Nast’s political cartoons helped dismantle Tweed’s empire and put him in jail, where he later died. Boss Tweed: Can the law reach him?

4. 2. Era of Good Stealings • More scandals of the Grant administration! • 1872 Union Pacific Railroad formed a construction company named Credit Mobilierand paid themselves a ton of extra cash. • 348% dividends! • Whiskey Ring avoiding federal taxes involved Grant’s secretary. • Secretary of War accepted bribes and resigned. Grant accepted his apology “with great regret.”

5. 3. Depression, Deflation, and Inflation

6. 3. Depression, Deflation, and Inflation • Hard money policies were supported by Grant and the Republican party. • Backlash: Democrats won the House in 1874, and the Greenback Labor party was formed.

7. 4. Characteristics of Political Parties During The Gilded Age

8. A Two-Party Stalemate

9. Intense Voter Loyalty and Turnout

10. Well-Defined Voting Blocs 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

11. Laissez Faire Federal Government • 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.

12. 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 “ “ “ “ “ “ Remember these forgettable Presidents? Yeah, me neither. Rutherford Hayes James Garfield Chester Arthur Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison Grover Cleveland

13. 5. Compromise of 1877 • Presidential Election of 1876 Hayes vs. Tilden was too close to call. • Compromise allowed Republican Hayes to win the presidency in exchange for removing federal troops from the South. • Resulted in loss of African American civil liberties in the South.

14. 6. African Americans in the Post-Reconstruction South • Without federal troops, southern Democrats were able to infringe upon the rights of African Americans. • Jim Crow Laws promoted discrimination against blacks and segregation in public places. • Lynchings were acceptable. • Blacks forced to sharecrop. • Literacy tests, poll taxes were designed to keep African Americans from voting. • Grandfather clauses kept whites exempt from these requirements.

15. 7. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) • Segregation was considered constitutional by the Supreme Court as long as facilities were “equal” to those of whites. • Catch phrase of the case: • “Separate but equal”

16. 8. Chinese Immigration • Chinese immigrated to work in gold mines, construct railroads, and complete least desired work. • 9%of California’s population • Faced major discrimination especially by Irish and poor laborers who accused them of stealing jobs. • Result: Congress passed Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which prohibited any Chinese immigration. (Ended in 1943)

17. 9. 1880 Presidential Election: Half Breeds Stalwarts Openly favored a spoils system Pretended to want reform compromise James A. Garfield (Rep) vs. Winfield Scott Hancock (Dem)

18. 10. President Garfield’s Assassination Charles Guiteau:”I Am a Stalwart, and Arthur is now President of the United States!”

19. 11. Pendleton Act (1883) • Civil Service Reform 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.

20. 12. Grover Cleveland Wins Election of 1884 • First Democrat elected since Buchanan 28 years prior. • Supported lowering the tariff rate, which divided the two parties and got him kicked out in 1888. • Replaced by Benjamin Harrison… but he’ll be back.

21. 13. Benjamin Harrison and the Billion Dollar Congress • For the first time Congress appropriated one billion dollars in spending mostly on: • Civil War Pensions • Purchased Silver

22. 14. The Populist Party • 1892, the Populist Party (aka People’s Party) formed. • Most support came from frustrated farmers in the West and South. • Party Platform: • Demanded inflation through silver coinage • Graduated income tax • Government ownership of railroads, telegraph, telephone • Direct election of Senators • One term limit for President • Shorter workday • Restrictions on immigration Populist ideas appealed to blacks, so the Southern Democrats tightened discrimination further.

23. 15. Cleveland and Depression • Populists too weak, Republicans discredited, so Grover Cleveland wins his second term in 1892. • Depression hits in 1893. • Looking for help, Cleveland accepts a loan of $65 million in gold from banking guru J.P. Morgan. • It helps the country’s economy, but the loan from Wall Street was condemned by many in the public.