All that glitters is not gold Political paralysis in the Gilded Age Chapter 23 American Pageant, 13th ed. All that glitters is not gold

Immigration & Urbanization After the Civil War… 1865-1920 Reconstruction (1865-1877) Gilded Age (1870-1900) Industrialization (1865-1920) Immigration & Urbanization (1870-1920)

The Gilded Age A time period from 1870-1900 Gilded: covered in gold on the outside, but made of cheap material inside Gilded Age covers the last part of Reconstruction, Industrialization and the height of immigration & urbanization Gilded Age saw the good (growth & rich culture) and the bad (poverty, corruption & crime)

Mr. President Ulysses S. Grant (R) elected President 1868 Illinois boy NOT a politician Elected by “waving his bloody shirt” Corruption abounded! Black Friday Tweed Ring Crédit Mobilier Scandal Whiskey Ring

Black Friday Jim Fisk and Jay Gould bought up gold to increase price, enlisted the help of Grant’s brother-in-law Grant got wind and sold $4million of US government gold, price plummeted Hurt many investors

Boss Tweed & Tammany Hall Political machine in New York Used immigrants as basis Jobs & assistance for votes Thomas Nast & New York Times published scathing information Tweed served time in the pen for fraudulent activity

Crédit Mobilier Scandal Insiders in Union Pacific Railroad (government funded) had formed a construction company - Crédit Mobilier They hired themselves as a contractor Charged outlandish fees Kept Congressmen quiet by handing out shares of Crédit Mobilier, the Vice President Schulyer Colfax No prosecutions occurred

Whiskey Ring Excise tax on liquor increased to pay Civil War debts Distillers bribed officials and received cuts in the amount of taxes paid US Treasury put an end to it, but over 100 officials were convicted President Grant’s personal secretary was involved but received no punishment

“Grant”ed the Presidency again Grant won re-election in 1872 Economic Panic of 1873 – rebuilding and reconstructing had left people in debt & no one was spending money Politically, things were balanced Citizens were voting in droves (80%)

Election of 1876 Samuel Tilden (D) vs. Rutherford Hayes (R) Tilden won popular vote; Republicans contested 20 electoral votes Of the 20 votes Tilden only needed one vote; Hayes needed all 20 15 person commission appointed to “count” contested votes Passed the Compromise of 1877 Hayes was President Federal troops were to be withdrawn from permanently from the South

Race & ethnic conflicts Hayes let the South do its thing Jim Crow set in: poll taxes, literacy tests, lynching, tenant farming… Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

Election on 1880 James Garfield (R) won with Chester Arthur as his VP Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau at a railroad station Garfield survived for 11 weeks & died in Sept. 1881 Arthur finished the term

Election of 1884 & 1888 Grover Cleveland (D) elected; first Dem since Buchanan (30 yrs ago) Laissez-faire philosophy Wanted lower tariffs to spur economic growth (lower prices); campaign issue for 1888 Benjamin Harrison (R) won in 1888

Populists enter the political scene Populists or “People’s party” Based in agriculture Helped to split the Democrat & Republican votes in 1892 election Grover Cleveland back again – only President reelected after a defeat (two non-consecutive terms)

The American Dream Individualism emerges as driving force in America “I can get a great job and rise above everyone and everything!” Horatio Alger embodied individualism

Social Darwinism Spencer used Darwin’s idea of evolution and applied it to human society “Survival of the fittest” Those who can make it will, those who can’t won’t