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Gilded Age Politics Pt. 1

Gilded Age Politics Pt. 1. By: Ms. Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY with additional slides by Bob Daugherty. The "Politics of Equilibrium". The term Gilded Age comes from Mark Twain as the title of one of his books

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Gilded Age Politics Pt. 1

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  1. Gilded Age Politics Pt. 1 By: Ms. Susan M. PojerHorace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY with additional slides by Bob Daugherty

  2. The "Politics of Equilibrium"

  3. The term Gilded Age comes from Mark Twain as the title of one of his books On the outside the wealth might have looked like gold but in reality was only a thin layer of gild Politics of time is of little substance Forgettable presidents who rarely serve two terms Politicians and parties avoided taking stances Problems were largely ignored Gilded Age

  4. 1. A Two-Party Stalemate

  5. Two-Party “Balance”

  6. Intense Voter Loyalty to theTwo MajorPolitical Parties • (brass bands, flags, campaign buttons, picnics, free beer!) • 80% of voters turned out!

  7. 3. Well-Defined Voting Blocs DemocraticBloc RepublicanBloc • Northern whites(pro-business and pro-tariff) • African Americans • Northern Protestants • Old WASPs (supportfor anti-immigrant laws) • Most of the middleclass • White southerners(preservation ofwhite supremacy) • “Solid South” • Catholics • Recent immigrants(esp. Jews) • Urban working poor (pro-labor) • Most farmers

  8. 4. Very Laissez Faire Federal Govt. • From 1870-1900  Govt. did verylittle domestically. • Supreme Court opposed efforts to regulate business • Main duties of the federal govt.: • Deliver the mail. • Maintain a national military. • Collect taxes & tariffs. • Conduct a foreign policy. • administer the annual Civil War veterans’ pension.

  9. Last Civil War Widow (and Pensioner)Alberta Martin She married a Confederate veteran in 1927 when she was 21 years old. He was 81. He died four years later. They had a son! She died in 2004 at age 97 (and was still collecting her pension).

  10. 5. The Presidency as a Symbolic Office • Party bosses Blaine and Conkling ruled. • Presidential candidates should avoid offending any factions within theirown party. • The President just doled out federal jobs. Blaine of the “Halfbreeds” Conkling of the “Stalwarts”

  11. 6. Patronage • Politics meant getting elected, holding office and rewarding party faithful with government jobs • 1865  53,000 people worked for the federal govt. • 1890  166,000 • Conkling controlled New York Customs House jobs Senator Roscoe Conkling Leader of the Stalwart Republicans

  12. 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)

  13. 1880 Presidential Election: Democrats

  14. Inspecting the Democratic Curiosity Shop

  15. 1880 Presidential Election Garfield won by a mere 10,000 votes!

  16. 1881: Garfield Assassinated! Shot by disappointed (really insane) office seeker named Charles Guiteau Garfield lived for eleven weeks Doctor's unsanitary practices contributed to his death Charles Guiteau:“I Am a Stalwart, and Arthur is President now!”

  17. Chester A. Arthur:The Fox in the Chicken Coop?

  18. Chester A. Arthur: “A Pleasant Surprise” Most expected very little from Arthur Distanced himself from Conkling and the Stalwarts by refusing to hire Garfield's picks He began building the US Navy that would win the Spanish-American War Redecorated the White House (by Louis Tiffany) Supported Civil Service Reform (“Only Nixon could go to China syndrome”) Did not get nominated for own term as president as a result Died of Bright's Disease shortly after term

  19. Pendleton Act (1883) • One good thing that comes out of Garfield’s assassination • Civil Service Act. • The “Magna Carta” of civil service reform. • 1883  14,000 out of117,000 federal govt.jobs required civilservice exams • 1900  100,000 out of 200,000 civil service federal govt. jobs required them Civil Service employees could not make political campaign donations Politicians would depend on the rich and party workers to get elected

  20. 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 (the reason that some succeed and others fail is due to their character) • 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!

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