1 / 25

Politics and Government and Thought in the Gilded Age

Politics and Government and Thought in the Gilded Age. "What is the chief end of man?--to get rich. In what way?--dishonestly if we can; honestly if we must." Mark Twain-1871. Mainstream Politics: Politics as Entertainment. Political Theater High Turnout Competition

kirby
Download Presentation

Politics and Government and Thought in the Gilded Age

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Politics and Government and Thought in the Gilded Age • "What is the chief end of man?--to get rich. In what way?--dishonestly if we can; honestly if we must." • Mark Twain-1871

  2. Mainstream Politics: Politics as Entertainment • Political Theater • High Turnout • Competition • Party Methods: Revivalism Inspired • No Secret Ballot • Veteran Dominated • Women

  3. Partisanship • Regionalized Parties • Swing States: NY, NJ, IN, OH • Close Contests • Party Culture

  4. Republican Factions • Evangelical Middle-Class Protestants • Middle to Upper Classes (Urban) • Old-stock Americans and Germans • Appealed to: • Patriotism / Anti-Confederate sentiment • Industrial Economy • Evangelical / Middle-Class Social Control • Nativism

  5. Democratic Factions • Catholics • Irish and newer Immigrants • Urban Workers and Southern/Western Farmers • Pro-European Immigrant / Anti-Black and Chinese • Pro-Memory of Confedracy • Anti-Government Imposition of Morality

  6. Political Groups • Machine Politics • Associational Politics • Labor • Capital • Women’s Associations • National American Women’s Suffrage Association (1890) • Labor Reform • Temperance

  7. The Weaknesses of Government • The Weak Presidency • Inefficient Congress • Small, Corrupt Bureaucracy • Widening State Action

  8. Charles J. Guiteau Shot President Garfield

  9. Dominant Political Issues (I) • Civil Service Reform • Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883) • The Tariff • High to protect Industry? • Low to enable cheap imports for workers? • Protect Farm Prices?

  10. Dominant Political Issues (II):Federal Regulation of Business • Interstate Commerce Commission (1887) • Maximum Freight Rates Case (1897) • Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890) • United States v. E.C. Knight (1895)

  11. “The [Interstate Commerce] commission, as its functions have now been limited by the courts is, or can be made, of great use to the railroads. It satisfies the public clamor for a government supervision of railroads, at the same time that that supervision is almost entirely nominal.” -- Richard Olney, Attorney General under Grover Cleveland, advising a railroad president

  12. Dominant Political Issues (III): Hard vs. Soft Money • Debtors want inflation • Paper Money or Silver / Free Silver • Creditors want deflation • Hard Money / Gold / Sound Money • Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890)

  13. Crisis of the 1890s • Populist or People’s Party (1889) • Greenbacks and free silver • Economy in government • Confiscation of excess railroad lands • Public ownership of the means of communication and transportation

  14. Omaha Convention (1890) • Attacks “The Money Power” • Free Silver • Electoral Reforms • Labor Reforms • Credit and Shipping Reforms • 1892: 1 million out of 17 million votes / 22 electoral votes. But Cleveland wins (D).

  15. Depression of 1893-7 • 20% Unemployed • Cleveland Does Nothing • Coxey’s Army (1894) • Labor Turmoil: 1400 Strikes with 700,000 workers in 1894

  16. Currency Crisis • Unused Silver piling up / Bank Rush beginning • SSPA is repealed by Cleveland • Shows he helps bankers, lets everyone else go die • JP Morgan now has to bail out the feds financially.

  17. “Though the people support the government; the government should not support the people.” -- Grover Cleveland

  18. JP Morgan • I've got to get to the top of the hill. -- John Pierpont Morgan, Final Words

  19. “No one can earn a million dollars honestly.” -- William Jennings Bryan

  20. Bryan’s 1896 Campaign • William Jennings Bryan • Currency Conflict • “A CROSS OF GOLD” • Populist / Democratic Fusion • Gold Democrats • Campaigning Styles • McKinley wins, ushering in Republican rule

  21. Reform Movements • Women’s Christian Temperance Union • Settlement Houses • Florence Kelly • Illinois Consumer’s League (1898)

  22. Radical Thought • Socialism • Marxist Stages • Non-Marxist • Socialist Parties • Conservative Reaction • Anarchism • Henry George • Edward Bellamy--Looking Backwards

  23. "The life of the law has not been logic, but experience.” -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

  24. Intellectuals • William James • John Dewey • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. • Louis Brandeis • Political Science and Economists • Social Gospel

More Related