1. So far, what do we think about the late 19th century?

2. What do you know about the national government during the Gilded Age?

3. Republican
Republican
Republican
Republican
Democrat
Republican
Democrat
Republican

4. Questions
Notate 3 significant observations about the presidents of the Gilded Age.
In cartoon 1, what is Rockefeller holding in his hand? What does this infer about the national government during the Gilded Age?
Cartoon 2 deals with who has the most power in the national government. Based on the image, who does the cartoonist believe controls the national government? Notate 3 images or texts from the cartoon that justify that position.
Presidents were forgettable/do not know; Republican dominated/CW blame Democrats; no one wins second term!!!; governmetn dominated by monopolists – must be corrupt…? Why???

5. The “Forgettable Presidents”
Republican
Republican
In the Gilded Age, presidents were seen as less powerful than monopolists like Carnegie, JP Morgan, and Rockefeller
Republican
Republican
Democrat
Republican
Republican
Democrat

6. National Political landscape
Republican dominated
Congress “rowdy”, “inefficient” and corrupt
Very little accomplished
Senate known as “rich man’s club” because often paid for, literally!
President did not challenge Congress
Lots of corruption everywhere
Harrison later discovered that his support had been bought by the machine: “I could not name my own cabinet. They had sold out every position in the cabinet to pay the expenses.”
PATRONAGE
Big Issues of the day: tariff & money
What are the issues of today???

7. Grant Administration Whisky Ring Black Friday
Credit Mobilier - A construction company that Union Pacific Railroad hired to build the transcontinental railroad
Really Credit Mobilier was being run by executives of Union Pacific (T. Durant)
Credit Mobilier overcharged Union Pacific for its work
348% profits!
Gave stock to Congressmen & VP Schuyler Colfax to keep it quiet
Uncovered by newspaper
72 million given for a 53 million railroad
Whisky Ring
Black Friday
Nepotism – 40 family members!
Treasury agents (IRS) and whiskey distributors scammed the US government out of millions of tax revenue from whisky
In 1875, Grant in a reforming mood wrote, "Let no guilty man escape."
In 1875, Grant’s personal secretary and chief treasury clerk indicted
1860 Financiers Gould and Fisk got close to Grant’s brother in law and then Grant himself
Got Grant to hire an assistant Treasury Secretary connected to Gould and Fisk
“insider information” on gold prices and when to buy and sell
Huge panic after Grant found out
Over 40 family members in government appointments and employment

8. Rutherford B. Hayes 1876 election: Hayes Versus Tilden
20 electoral votes in dispute because of widespread fraud reports
Compromise 1877 Hayes gets the office!
Agreed to end reconstruction in the South
The Electoral Commission was a temporary body created by Congress to resolve the disputed United States presidential election of It consisted of 15 members. The election was contested by the Democratic ticket, Samuel J. Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks, and the Republican ticket, Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler. Twenty electoral votes, from the states of Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, and South Carolina, were in dispute; the resolution of these disputes would determine the outcome of the election. Facing a constitutional crisis the likes of which the nation had never seen, Congress passed a law forming the Electoral Commission to settle the result.
The Commission consisted of fifteen members: five representatives, five senators, and five Supreme Court justices. Eight members were Republicans; seven were Democrats. The Commission ultimately voted along party lines to award all twenty disputed votes to Hayes, thus assuring his victory in the Electoral College by a margin of
The presidential election was held on November 7, Tilden carried his home state of New York and most of the South, while Hayes' strength lay in New England, the Midwest, and the West. Early returns suggested that Tilden had won the election; many major newspapers prematurely reported a Democratic victory in their morning editions. However, several other newspapers were more cautious; for example, the headline of The New York Times read: "The Results Still Uncertain." The returns in several states were tainted by allegations of electoral fraud; each side charged that ballot boxes had been stuffed, that ballots had been altered, and that voters had been intimidated

9. Then there was: Garfield: shot by a distraught patronage seeker!
Chester Arthur, the reformed crook, becomes president.
Pendleton Civil Service Act – qualifying exam to get a job in the national government
Supposed to end spoils system
Enforcement questionable!
Garfield’s tenure as president was brief, as he was assassinated on July 2, 1881; he died on September 19. Although he did not have time to implement his plans, his inaugural address was evidence of a promising tenure in office
The tragedy of Garfield’s death is that even with the state of medical knowledge as it existed at the time, he should not have died. Recent biographer Ira Rutkow, a historian and professor of surgery, notes that even as Garfield lay dying, a medical revolution had recently taken place; uniform standards of medical education were being adopted. Garfield’s wound, though serious, was fatally undermined by lack of sanitary procedures, knowledge of which was available. Garfield’s doctors probed his wound with unsterile instruments and fingers, ignoring the importance of antisepsis. As a result, writes Rutkow, “What had been a relatively clean bullet track was transformed into a highly contaminated one.” His painful death was the result.
President Garfield suffered grievously during the two and a half months following his being wounded. Comparing Garfield’s assassination with the shooting of President Ronald Reagan’s almost 100 years later, Rutkow points out that whereas the bullet that struck president Reagan came within an inch of killing him instantly, he was “on his feet within 24 hours of the shooting and, eleven days later, returned to the White House—fully able to conduct the nation’s business.” Even absent modern medical technology, President Garfield, if treated with greater care, might have recovered with a few weeks. Had he received medical attention of the quality available when President Reagan was shot, he would likely have been back at work in his office within twenty-four hours.
Vice President Chester A. Arthur had been placed on the Republican Party ticket as a concession to the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party, whose support was necessary for electoral success. Contrary to the wishes Boss Conkling, Arthur accepted the nomination and campaigned hard for the ticket.
Teddy in charge of enforcing Civil Service reform – until became police commissioner NY – made name for himself in government!!!

10. The major Issues of the day
Tariff: tax on imports (stuff from other countries)
Big Business wants high tariffs
Average Americans want low tariffs
Tariffs during Gilded Age VERY high – Cleveland proposed lower tariff but shot down!
Make sense based on what we have said so far??
Currency: value of America’s money
Big business/banks wanted “hard money”/less in circulation & backed by gold so value stays stable
Farmers wanted “soft money”/more in circulation so value decreases
Greenback Party/Populist Party/William Jennings Bryan
Why would these be THE issues of the era?
Business so profitable – want to be competitive in US and make americans buy there stuff

11. Why was the “gilded age” an apt description for this era?
Give 5 VARIED reasons