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Politics and Economics of the Gilded Age

Explore the complex landscape of third-party systems, political machines, and economic reforms in the Gilded Age (1860-1896) in AP U.S. History. Understand the ideologies of Democrats, Republicans, and third-party factions like the Populist Party. Dive into Civil War legacies, Reconstruction policies, and the impact of tariffs, protectionism, and the gold standard. Learn about significant events such as the Panic of 1873, the Election of 1876, and the Compromise of 1877. Discover key figures like Ulysses S. Grant, Samuel J. Tilden, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison. Unravel the complexities of the era through the lens of political power struggles and economic transformations.

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Politics and Economics of the Gilded Age

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  1. Politics and Economics of the Gilded Age AP U.S. History

  2. Third Party System (1860-1896) Democrats Platform Pro-slavery States’ rights; laissez-faire Factions Bourbon Democrats Pro-business Democrats Supported civil service reforms Redeemer Democrats Coalition White Southerners, Catholics, Lutherans, Jews, Immigrants, working class Solid South Republicans Platform Radical Reconstruction Pro-business; tariffs; protectionism Factions Stalwarts Preserve spoils system and machine politics Half-Breeds Pursued civil service reform Mugwumps Independents discouraged with corrupt GOP Coalition Business, upper-class, middle-class, Northern WASPs, reformers, blacks, scalawags, carpetbaggers Northeast and West • Antebellum and Post War Issues(1854-1877) • Slavery and Emancipation • Reconstruction policies • Post Reconstruction Issues (1877-1896) • Civil Service Reform • Tariffs and Protectionism • Gold Standard and Silver • Populist Party

  3. Political Machines and Boss Politics Definition “in U.S. politics, a party organization, headed by a single boss or small autocratic group, that commands enough votes to maintain political and administrative control of a city, county, or state” Patronage and spoils system Tammany Hall (New York City) William “Boss” Tweed

  4. Election of 1868 Ulysses S. Grant (R) Horatio Seymour (D)

  5. Ulysses S. Grant (R) (1869-1877) Civil War hero, but no political experience; linked with moderates and Radicals Grantism Credit Mobilier Union Pacific Railroad creates dummy construction company to hire execs at inflated salaries and earn high dividends Sold stock to Republican congressmen and bribed press to keep quiet Whiskey Ring Republicans embezzled liquor tax revenues using bribes and networks Amnesty Act of 1872 Panic of 1873

  6. Election of 1872

  7. Panic of 1873: The Long Depression Causes Expansion of railroads, enterprises in industries and mines outpaces market demand Coinage Act of 1873 Demonetizes silver contracting the money supply “Crime of 73” Jay Cooke & Company bankrupt Major financing investment firm leads to chain reaction of banks Effects Over 100 railroads fail; 16,000 businesses fail Unemployment at 14%

  8. “Election” of 1876 Republicans struggle to nominate “boring” Rutherford B. Hayes Democrats nominate solid and popular Samuel J. Tilden Tilden won the popular vote solidly and needed only 1 more electoral vote for majority Contested electoral votes in 3 Reconstruction states (Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida) Electoral Commission rewarded 3 sets of electoral votes to Hayes Split ideologically 8-7 in favor of Republicans Samuel Tilden (D) Rutherford B. Hayes (R) 81.8% voter turnout

  9. Compromise of 1877 Hayes will become president, if… Remove federal troops from the South Help develop infrastructure in South, ex. Railroads Appoint Southerner to Cabinet Limited enforcement of racial equality Redemption Redeemer Democrats Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Jim Crow Laws Segregation Disenfranchisement Literacy tests Poll taxes Grandfather clauses

  10. Rutherford B. Hayes (R) (1877-1881) Compromise of 1877 Great Railroad Strike of 1877 Civil service reform

  11. Election of 1880 James A. Garfield (R) Protective tariffs Winfield S. Hancock (D) Lower tariffs 79.4% voter turnout

  12. James A. Garfield (R) (1881) Challenged political machines, spoils system, and senatorial courtesy Assassination July 2, 1881 Charles J. Guiteau “a disgruntled office-seeker” Death September 19, 1881 Chester A. Arthur assumes presidency

  13. Civil Service Reform Corruption during Grant administration called for reform Stalwarts Supported machine politics and spoils system Roscoe Conkling Half-breeds Pursued civil service reform James G. Blaine Garfield’s assassination Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act (1883) United States Civil Service Commission Federal employees based on expertise, civil service exams Prohibited federal employees and campaign contributions

  14. Chester A. Arthur (R) (1881-1885) Assumed office after Garfield’s assassination Pendleton Act (1883) Despite being a Stalwart Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

  15. Election of 1884 Grover Cleveland (D) James G. Blaine (R) Campaign “Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine. Continental liar, from the state of Maine” “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion” “Mama, mama! Where’s my pa?” “On to the White House, HA HAHA” 77.5% voter turnout

  16. Grover Cleveland (D) (1885-1889) Haymarket Riot (1886) Interstate Commerce Act (1887) Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) Opposed Civil War veteran pensions Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) advocacy Pursued tariff reform

  17. Election of 1888 Benjamin Harrison (R) Protective tariffs Grover Cleveland (D) Lower tariffs Against inflationary currency and war pensions Won the popular vote 79.3% voter turnout

  18. Benjamin Harrison (R) (1889-1893) Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) Billion Dollar Congress Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890) Free Silver/Silverites McKinley Tariff (1890) Homestead Strike (1892)

  19. The Populist Movement Origin and Evolution of Populist Party Granger Movement -> Farmers Alliance -> Populist Movement -> People’s Party/Populist Party West and South Omaha Platform (July 4, 1892) Coinage of silver Direct election of Senators Graduated income tax State laws through referendums/initiatives Government regulation/ownership of infrastructure 8-hour workday Abolition of national banks Civil service reform

  20. A Populist Prescription for Social Reform;A Social Darwinist View of Social Reform People’s Party Platform of 1892 William Graham Sumner – The Challenge of Facts and Other Essays (1914) Competition, therefore, is a law of nature. Nature is entirely neutral; she submits to him who most energetically and resolutely assails her. She grants her rewards to the fittest, therefore, without regard to other considerations of any kind… If, therefore, men were willing to set to work with energy and courage to subdue the outlying parts of the earth, all might live in plenty and prosperity. But if they insist on remaining in slums of great cities or on the borders of an old society, and on a comparatively exhausted soil, there is no device of economists or statesmen which can prevent them from falling victims to poverty and misery or from succumbing in the competition of life to those who have greater command of capital. • We have witnessed, for more than a quarter of a century, the struggles of the two great political parties for power and plunder, while grievous wrongs have been inflicted upon the suffering people. We charge that the controlling influences dominating both these parties have permitted the existing dreadful conditions to develop without serious effort to prevent or restrain them. Neither do they now promise us any substantial reform… We believe that the powers of government – in other words, of the people – should be expanded as rapidly and as far as the good sense of an intelligent people and the teachings of experience shall justify, to the end that oppression, injustice and poverty, shall eventually cease in the land.

  21. Bimetallism Coinage Act of 1873 For Silver and Gold Inflationary effect “If a farmer owes $3,000 and can earn $1 for every bushel of wheat sold at harvest, he needs to sell 3,000 bushels to pay off the debt. If inflation could push the price of a bushel of wheat up to $3, he needs to sell only 1,000 bushels.” Free Silver/Silverites For Gold Standard “Sound money” Banks and businesses preferred gold standard Stable economy and prevents inflation Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890) U.S. Treasury ordered to buy 4.5 million oz of silver monthly Treasury notes could be turned in for silver or gold Most took gold depleting U.S. gold reserves

  22. Election of 1892 Grover Cleveland (D) Lower tariffs Gold standard Benjamin Harrison (R) Protective tariffs Bimetallism James B. Weaver (Pop) Coalition of farmers and labor unions 74.7% voter turnout

  23. Grover Cleveland (D) (1893-1897) Panic of 1893 Bimetallism Pullman Strike (1894)

  24. Panic of 1893 Causes Overexpansion Railroad speculation Pennsylvania and Reading Railroad bankruptcy Silver Purchase Act repealed Impact Unemployment to 18.4% 16,000 businesses and 500 banks bankrupt/failed Pullman Strike (July 1894) Coxey’s Army (1894) March on Washington by unemployed workers and farmers $500 million for jobs Dispersed by federal troops J.P. Morgan and the Treasury Cleveland and U.S. borrowed $65 million in gold

  25. William Jennings Bryan (D) “The Great Commoner” Appealed to farmers, working class, middle class “Cross of Gold” Speech “If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”

  26. Election of 1896 William McKinley (R) Mark Hanna Outspent Bryan 5 to 1 Benefited from recovering economy William Jennings Bryan (D) Populist rhetoric Campaign Bryan’s stump speeches McKinley’s “front-porch” Realignment election Ends Third Party System Begins Fourth Party System Republican domination

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