Gilded Age Economics, Politics and Populism

1. Gilded Age Economics, Politics and Populism

2. • Neither political party achieved control of both the White House and Congress for more than two years in a row. • Presidents during the Gilded Age were elected only by slim margins. • This made it difficult to pass new laws. Between 1877 and 1897, party loyalties were evenly divided.

3. Corruption plagued national politics as many officials accepted bribes. Cartoonists such as Thomas Nast worked to expose corruption. Thomas Keppler’s “The Bosses of the Senate”

4. The spoils system was the glue of the political parties. The spoils system, in which party supporters received government jobs regardless of their qualifications, shifted power to a few. This system made the political parties extremely powerful.

5. A movement arose to promote civil service reform. Change finally happened, in part, because President James Garfield was assassinated by a man who believed the Republican Party owed him a job. Ending the spoils system was difficult.

6. Chester A. Arthur became President and supported civil service reform. In 1883, he signed into law the Pendleton Civil Service Act, which established a merit-based system for government employment.

7. Populism

8. People moving to the West and South in the late 1800s knew that their lives would not be easy. low prices for crops high transportation, equipment, and loan costs drought reduced influence in politics They did not anticipate the many problems that made survival nearly impossible.

9. Frustrated by these problems, farmers began to organize.

10. The spread of the Farmers’ Alliances led to the formation of the Populist Party in 1892. coinage of silver an income tax government ownership of railroads bank regulations

11. The Populists did well in 1892, electing three governors, five senators, and ten congressmen.

12. An economic depression began in 1893, and labor unrest and violence broke out. The Populist Party grew. In 1896, a young lawyer named William Jennings Bryan spoke at the national Democratic convention. The speech, with its Populist message of “free silver,” moved Democrats to nominate Bryan. The Populist Party chose to give him their support.

13. William Jennings Bryan campaigned against Republican candidate William McKinley in a way that had never been seen before. He toured the country,talking directly to voters.

14. McKinley won against Bryan in 1896 and in 1900.

15. The Populist Party was weakened by supporting William Jennings Bryan on the Democratic ticket. Many of the reforms sought by the Populists eventually became reality. The new campaigning style used by Bryan became the norm. It survived another decade, but its viability as an alternative to the two major parties was over.