CHAPTER 8

1. CHAPTER 8 THE GILDED AGE

2. POLITICS IN THE GILDED AGE • Term Gilded Age was coined by Mark Twain to describe the post reconstruction era. Gilded means covered with gold. Gilded Age suggests a layer of prosperity covering the corruption and poverty of much of society. • Wealth held by industrialists helped hide the problems faced by immigrants, laborers, and farmers. • Widespread abuse of power in both business & government.

3. Laissez-faire • Term for pure capitalism or the view that government should play almost no role in the economy. • Holds that if the government does not interfere, the strongest businesses will succeed and bring wealth to the nation as a whole. • Leading advocate was Adam Smith in The wealth of nations. (1776)

4. Laissez-faire continued • Believed that trade should be controlled by a free market. • In the late 1800s even though most Americans accepted laissez-faire in theory, in practice many supported government involvement in the economy that helped them.

5. Many American businesses supported high tariffs to encourage people to buy American goods. • During the Gilded Age American businesses accepted subsidies. • A subsidy is a payment made by the Government to encourage development of key industries. • During the Gilded Age business giants often used bribes to get politicians to vote a certain way.

6. Credit Mobilier • Railroad construction company that was created to build the Union Pacific Railroad. • In the 1870s, its tactics were found to be fraudulent. Its stockholders were taking congressional funds, meant for railroad construction, for their own personal use. • Its managers gave cheap shares of its valuable stock to congressmen who agreed to support its funding. • The Credit Mobilier was only one of many scandals that marked the Grant’s 8 years as President.

7. The Spoils System • Provided for the removal and replacement of all high ranking officials within the executive office, who were members of a new president’s opposition. • These offices would be filled by loyal members of the winning party. • Resulted in unqualified appointments. • Led to corruption when dishonest appointees used their jobs for personal profit.

8. Republican Party • Appealed to industrialists, bankers, and eastern farmers. • Strongest in the North and upper Midwest and weak to nonexistent in the South (with the exception of African Americans who had no political power). • Favored a tight money supply backed by gold. • Favored high tariffs and generous pensions for Union soldiers.

9. Republican Party favored • Government aid to the railroads. • Strict limits on immigration. • Enforcement of blue laws. • Blue laws were regulations that prohibited certain private activities that some people considered immoral.

10. Democratic Party • Tended to attract those in society who were less privileged, including northern urban immigrants, laborers, southern planters, and western farmers. • Claimed to represent the interests of ordinary people, an increased money supply backed by silver, lower tariffs, higher farm prices, less government aid to big business, and fewer blue laws.

11. Politics in the Gilded Age • Candidates tended to avoid taking stands on controversial issues to prevent offending party members. • Since most states tended to be strongly tied to one party or the other, candidates tended to come from swing states. • Swing states might vote either Republican or Democrat. • When the Republican Party would recall the Civil War and blame it on the Democratic party it was called “waving the bloody shirt.” • The democrats had their own “bloody shirt” in the abuses of Radical Reconstruction.

12. Reforming the Spoils System • President Rutherford B. Hayes surprised many of his supporters by refusing to use the patronage (spoils) system. • Hayes began to reform the civil service system by basing appointments on merit rather than spoils or patronage. • The Civil Service is the government’s nonelected workers.

13. Three factions of the Republican Party in 1880 • Stalwarts were the followers of Senator Roscoe Conkling who defended the Spoils system. • Half-Breeds were the followers of James G. Blaine, who hoped to reform the spoils system while remaining loyal to the party. • Independents opposed the spoils system altogether.

14. James A. Garfield an ally of the Half-Breeds won the Republican presidential nomination in 1880. • Chester A. Arthur was a stalwart who was added as the Vice Presidential candidate to balance the Republican ticket of 1880. • Garfield won by a narrow margin over Democratic candidate, General Winfield S. Hancock. • Garfield was assassinated by a man who had expected to receive a civil service appointment.

15. Pendleton Civil Service Act • Chester Arthur succeeded Garfield to the presidency. • The assassination of James Garfield caused a public outcry against the spoils system. • Garfield’s assassination enabled Arthur to get congressional support for civil service reform, which resulted in the passage of the Pendleton Civil Service Act in 1883.

16. Pendleton Civil Service Act continued • Created a Civil Service Commission, which classified government jobs and tested applicants fitness for them. • Stated that federal employees could not be required to contribute to campaign funds and could not be fired for political reasons.

17. Presidential Election of 1884 • Republicans nominated James G. Blaine and the democrats nominated Grover Cleveland. • Even though there were important issues confronting the nation the elections focused on scandal. • Cleveland became the first Democrat elected president since 1856. • Cleveland won partially because he was supported by the “mugwumps,” Republican independents who believed Blaine was too corrupt.

18. Depression to Prosperity • American business generally grew during the late 1880s and into the 1890s. • In 1893 a depression struck, and prosperity did not return until around 1900. • The economy became the hottest political issue. • Benjamin Harrison the Republican candidate defeated Cleveland in 1888 because he favored an increase in tariffs, where Cleveland favored a minor reduction.

19. Harrison’s Presidency • Signed the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890, though it wasn’t effective until the 20th century. • Approved a huge tariff increase in 1890. • Awarded huge new pensions to the dependents of Civil War soldiers. • Harrison’s actions hurt the economy and partially resulted in him not being reelected.

20. Cleveland’s Second Term • Many new immigrants had swelled the ranks of the Democratic Party. • Campaigning for lower tariffs, Cleveland was returned to the presidency in the election of 1892. • A worldwide economic slowdown contributed to a panic in the U.S. in 1893. • Despite the suffering and high unemployment the government offered no help.

21. Cleveland’s 2nd term continued • Coxey’s army was a group of protestors who marched on Washington in 1894, demanding that Washington create jobs for the unemployed. • In 1893, Cleveland upset farmers by repealing the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. • He enraged unions when he sent federal troops to Chicago during the Pullman strike of 1894. • Cleveland did not even win his party’s nomination in 1896.

22. McKinley wins in 1896 • The Populists had emerged as an economic power during the economic hard times of the early 1890s. • In 1896, William Jennings Bryan was the candidate of both the Democratic and Populist parties. • Bryan lost to the Republican Candidate William McKinley who was supported by urban workers and the middle class.

23. McKinley’s Presidency • McKinley oversaw a new tariff bill and a stronger gold standard. • These actions brought McKinley an even larger victory over Bryan in 1900. • As the economy began to climb out of the 1890’s depression, Republicans claimed credit with the slogan “a full dinner pail.” • In 1901 McKinley was assassinated by a self proclaimed anarchist.