POLITICAL PARALYSIS IN THE GILDED AGE Chapter 23 Emily, John, Sam, Garrett Mark Twain wrote, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today in 1873

PRELUDE TO THE GILDED AGE  The Civil War Aftermath  Abraham Lincoln promised a new birth of freedom, unfortunately…  Grant, great soldier, atrocious politician

BLOODY SHIRT ELECTS GRANT  Nominated by Republicans in 1868 Republicans “bloody shirt” “Vote as you Shot”  Democrats elect Horatio Seymour  Electoral Votes: Grant 214 to Seymour 80 Popular Vote 3 Million to 2.7 Million Slaves votes MS, TX, VA votes not counted

DEPRESSION, DEFLATION, AND INFLATION  Panic of 1873 Railroads, mines, factories, grainfields Freedmen’s Bureau crash  Debtors favor Greenbacks  Creditors favor hard money Resumption Act of 1875 Causes: Democratic House of Reps in 1874 And Greenback Labor Party in 1878

PALLID POLITICS  Political Seesaw Change of party in House 6 times in 11 Sessions  Dems and Repubs see eye to eye  Republicans- Trace lineage to Puritanism Strict Morality  Democrats- Lineage to Lutheran and Roman Catholics Tolerance for differences

HAYES TILDEN STANDOFF  Rutherford B. Hayes- unknown Republican  Samuel J. Tilden- campaigned against Republican scandal  Election ended in tie and led to the Compromise of 1887

COMPROMISE OF 1887  Electoral deadlock in Florida, Louisiana, and S. Carolina  The deadlock was broken with the Electoral Count Act  The Democrats let Hayes have the presidency if the troops in the South were removed and a subsidy to construct a Tex-Pacific rail line.

JIM CROW LAWS  Freedmen found themselves working for former slave owners  The South made Jim Crow laws that supported segragation Plessy v. Furgeson (1896)

IRISH V. CHINESE  Denis Kearney led a fight against the Chinese

GARFIELD & ARTHUR  Republicans Repute Hayes for reelection, an replace him with James A. Garfield  Charles J. Guiteau shot Garfield  Pendleton Act of 1883

THE CHINESE  19 th century burgeoning industries Chinese answered the call  First Chinese China’s government collapses Chinese society in America  1868 Treaty with China  Immigrant Clubs  Anti-Chinese agitation Chinese Exclusion Act. Removal Burlingame Treaty of 1880

BLAINE CLEVELAND MUDSLINGERS OF 1884  James G. Blaine, Republican nominee Mulligan’s letters  Democrats choose Grover Cleveland  Campaign of 1884  Cleveland elected

OLD GROVER TAKES OVER  Supported laissez-faire  Narrowed North-South Chasm  Favored democrats  Military pensions  Battles for a Lower Tarriff Risked political neck 1881 treasury surplus  Election of 1888 Harrison vs. Cleveland

BILLION DOLLAR CONGRESS  Republicans regain control Control of the house Thomas B. Preed Tactics  Congress spends billions of dollars Higher tarrifs Bad for farmers

DRUMBEAT OF DISCONTENT  New party (populists) Wanted free silver  Strikes Violent supression  Showing in 1892 election (electoral votes)  Couldn’t carry both because of race Tightened voting restriction on blacks

CLEVELAND AND DEPRESSION  Elected again in 1892  Depression of 1893 over building and speculation  Repeals Sherman Sewer Purchase Act William Jennings Bryan  Turns to JP Morgan for loans

BACKLASH  People view sellout of government  Wilson-carman tariff  Cleveland, Party blamed  Election of 1896