Ch. 23: Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age (Mark Twain) Era when society was perceived as doing well but the reality was corruption, poverty, crime, and a huge gap between the rich and poor.

Era of Good Stealings  Black Friday 1869  Credit Mobilier 1872  Whiskey Ring  Sec. of War resignation 1876

Political Bosses Boss Tweed Hinky Dink Kenna

Depression of Commercial overexpansion: RR, gains, mining, loans 2. Bankruptcies high 3. AA suffer 4. Hard-money vs. greenbacks 5. Resumption Act 1875: redeem greenbacks for gold 6. Silver backing as well?

Political Party Membership  Republicans:  Puritan values  Gov’t control on soc/eco/moral  Midwest, rural, small town  Freedmen Ethnic and cultural difference at the heart of political differences! Not the “issues.”  Democrats:  Catholic/Lutherans  Immigrants/Tolerant  Morality not a gov’t issue  South/N. cities  Political machines

Stalwart’s vs. the Half-Breeds both belong to the Republican party!  Stalwarts:  conservative  Keep patronage/no civil service reform  backed the protective tariff  Roscoe Conkling of New York was the most prominent Stalwart leader.  The Half-Breeds  “half Republican”  moderately liberal  supported civil service reform  James Blaine of Maine was the leader of this group

Post-reconstruction South Sharecropping & crop-lien systems

Jim Crow

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) “The New Order”

Class Conflicts & Ethnic Clashes The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Great Uprising of Began in West Va; spread from coast to coast! 2. Supported by community 3. >100 dead 4. Pinkertons hired 5. Pres. Hayes sends in federal troops 6. Formation of the National Guard 7. Trickle effect of trains going on strike?

Strikes by States, 1880

Ethnic Clashes

Pres. Garfield Assassination C.J. Guiteau

Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act (1883) 1. position based on merit via exams 2. Get rid of the spoils system 3. Taxation of employees for campaigns no longer allowed

President Grover Cleveland (D) 1884  22 nd and 24 th president  Favored Laissez-faire economics  Probusiness  Non-military  $145M surplus!  Pork barreling  Lower tariffs, to the chagrin of the Democrats

Benjamin Harrison (R) 23 rd President 1888

Harrison’s Billion Dollar Congress  Passes McKinley Tariff Act 1890  Highest tariff to date!  Farmers goods not protected by tariffs= support Democratic party  Sherman Silver Purchase Act 1890: puts more silver out into circulation; results in inflation although helps farmers able to pay off debt

Farmers and Workers Organize Populist Movement (1890s) Farmers come together to challenge RR and the two-party system

aka The People's Party

Populist Movement Grangers Colored Farmers Alliance Farmers Alliance

Populists’ Goals 1. Gov’t control of major industries!! RR, banks, communications, etc. 2. Graduated income tax 3. Eradicate monopolies 4. Restrict immigrant/no land 5. Lower tariffs 6. Coinage of silver 1/16 7. One term president 8. Direct senatorial elections 9. Better working conditions/wages/hrs James Weaver (1892E.)

Farmers’ Alliance & Populist  Wanted “Free coinage of silver” to help pay off their debt  Negative consequence of all this silver in circulation?

Homestead Strike (steel workers/1892) 1. Wage cuts/break union 2. Pinkerton’s hired 3. Fighting ensues 4. Pa. National Guard sent out/scabs hired 5. Conditions worsen: hrs increased, wages cut, union defeated

Colored Farmers’ National Alliance

Populist Tom Watson Goes from a civil rights supporter to White supremacist

Voting Disenfranchisement 1. Literacy test 2. Poll taxes 3. Property qualification 4. Grandfather clause 5. SCJ = ensured “qualified” voters

Guess who’s back in 1892?

Cleveland & the Depression, 1893  Repeals Silver Purchase Act  Gov’t gets loan from JP Morgan  Many saw deal as shady  Republicans prepare for a comeback!