1. Essential Question: What were the goals and who were the supporters of the Democratic, Republican and Populist parties during the Gilded Age?

2. Stalemate Characterized as a period of inactivity # of faceless presidents and ineffective Congress Why? Hayes GarfieldArthurCleveland Harrison

3. Laissez-faire The belief that the less government did, the better Social Darwinism Regulatory laws found unconstitutional Limited role of gov’t

4. Campaign Strategy Elections were incredibly close Didn’t take a strong stance on issues The political experience Voting based on regional, ethnic, religious identity

6. Democratic Bloc Republican Bloc  White southerners  Catholics  Recent immigrants (esp. Jews)  Urban working poor (pro-labor)  Farmers  Northern whites (pro-business)  African Americans  Northern Protestants  Nativists  Middle class Democrats vs. Republicans

7. Rutherford Hayes Rep pres from 77- 81 Removed Reconstruction troops Lemonade Lucy Spoils system

8. Half BreedsStalwarts James A. Garfield (P) Chester A. Arthur (VP) compromise 1880 Presidential Election: The Republicans

9. Assassination of Garfield “I am a Stalwart and Arthur is President now!” - Charles Guiteau

10. Arthur disappointed Stalwarts He supported civil service reform Pendleton Act: civil service positions based off of test scores Arthur and the Pendleton Act

11. Election of 1884 Grover Cleveland vs. Blaine Impact of the “Mugwumps” and “Rum, Romanism and Rebellion”

12. Ma, Ma…where’s my pa? He’s going to the White House, ha… ha… ha…! Dirty Campaigning

13. Cleveland Part 1 Supporter of Laissez-faire Against high tariffs Use of veto power esp. for veterans’ pension bills

14. Election of 1888 Grover Cleveland vs. Benjamin Harrison Harrison won despite losing the popular vote Main issues were the economic tariff and pensions

15. Americans wanted the federal gov’t to deal with growing social and economic problems & to curb the power of the trusts  Interstate Commerce Act – 1887  Sherman Antitrust Act – 1890 Dislike high tariffs as they increased prices for consumers Legislating morality? Changing Public Opinion

16. The Agrarian Revolt

17. The Grangers Originally formed as a social group Farmer cooperatives with the goal of increasing their profits

18. Farmers’ Alliances More organized and powerful than the Grangers Promoted economic cooperation Women played a role Ocala Party Platform Creation of the People’s Party or Populists

19. Election of 1892

20. The Populist Constituency Attracted small farmers Supported workers and unions “Colored Alliances” - supported southern blacks Attracted miners w/ the idea of “Free Silver” *Many of these group’s goals contradicted each other

21. The Populist Platform Warehouses to store food until prices increased Direct election of U.S. senators Gov’t ownership of railroads, telephones, telegraphs Graduated income tax “Free Silver”

22. Coxey’s Army Panic of 1893

23. The Silver Question Value of the U.S. dollar based on (specie/precious metal) U.S. recognized both silver and gold  Mint ratio was 16 ounces silver to 1 ounce gold  Commercial ratio  so didn’t make sense to mint Congress discontinued silver coinage in 1873  Then, market value of silver fell below 16:1 ratio and people wanted silver minted again  “Crime of 73” – conspiracy of big bankers Two groups want silver minted again  Miners and farmers Silver was seen as the peoples money and gold as the money of the rich

24. Election of 1896 Republicans chose William McKinley (Gold) Democrats adopted the Populist platform and chose William Jennings Bryan (Silver) Bryan McKinley

25. “Cross of Gold” Speech Bryan’s famous speech at the Democratic Convention Declared his support for the silver standard “Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: ‘You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.’”

27. McKinley’s Presidency Economy improved Currency Act - confirmed the nations commitment to the Gold Standard  This worked because more gold was found

28. Significance of the 1896 Election Ended the stalemate Led to a Republican dominated gov’t, now a party that was less associated with “free soil, free labor, and free men,” and more w/ big business Demise of the Populist Party Triumph of urban industrial Americans over rural Americans