1. Chapter 24.2: Politics in the Gilded Age AP US Unit 9 With help from Ms. Susan Pojer

2. The “Gilded Age” Gilded Age : Name given by Mark Twain to the post Civil War era. Name given in 1873. Shiny on the outside, crap on the inside. Politics in the Gilded Age were a competitive battle between very similar parties. Control of the House, Senate, and White House see-sawed each election and each election saw narrow margins. – Strongly run parties Massive party loyalty that caused 80% voter turnout with rare ticket splitting.

3. A Two-Party Stalemate

4. Democratic Bloc Republican Bloc  Lutherans and Catholics (less stern)  Against gov’t effort to put a single moral standard on society  White southerners (preservation of white supremacy)  Recent immigrants (esp. Jews)  Urban working poor (pro-labor)  Most farmers  Puritans (stern view of human condition)  Northern whites (pro-business)  African Americans  Northern Protestants  Old WASPs (support for anti- immigrant laws)  Most of the middle class  Midwest and small town NE  GAR (Union Vets) Real differences were in ethnicity and culture Well-Defined Voting Blocs

5. Very Laissez Faire Federal Gov From 1870-1900: Government did very little domestically. Main duties of the federal government.: – Deliver the mail. – Maintain a national military. – Collect taxes & tariffs. – Conduct a foreign policy. – Exception: administer the annual Civil War veterans’ pension.

6.  Party bosses ruled.  Presidents should avoid offending any factions within their own party.  The President just doled out federal jobs.  1865  53,000 people worked for the federal gov  1890  166,000 people worked for the federal gov Senator Roscoe Conkling The Presidency as a Symbolic Office

7. Class Conflicts and Ethnic Clashes In 1877 the 4 major railroads decided to cut workers’ pay by 10%. – Work stoppages ensued and soldiers were sent to stop the riots. – After several weeks, 100 people were dead. The failure of the labor movement at this time caused workers to become desperate and lash out at what they could – immigrants. – Often this racism was immigrant against immigrant such as the Irish against the Chinese in California.

8. Class Conflicts and Ethnic Clashes Irish immigrant Denis Kearney and his followers, the Kearneyites, led these attacks. To put a stop to this violence, Congress tried to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1879, but Hayes vetoed it saying that it broke our treaty with China. This was political suicide for Hayes and the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed once he was out of office in 1882. – The door to Chinese immigration would not reopen until 1943.

9. Gilded Age Political Terms Spoils System : Embraced in the Gilded Age as supporters won government jobs, especially in the postal system. Stalwart : “One who steadfastly supports an organization or cause: party stalwarts.” Faction of the Republicans in the 1870’s and 1880’s led by Roscoe Conkling (Senator from NY). Who openly embraced the spoils system. Half-Breed : Fought with Conklinites. Still did spoils system but really had issues with who should give the spoils. Led by James G. Blaine (Congressman from Maine). Stalwarts and Half-Breeds deadlocked themselves and the Republican Party.

10. Election of 1880 - Republicans Hayes got very little accomplished in office and was a shock to the political parties since he was a religious and honorable man. Dark-horse James Garfield (of Ohio again) was nominated after Half-Breed / Stalwart standoffs at the convention. – Garfield had come from poor roots, was a veteran of the war who had risen to the rank of major general. – The Vice-Presidential candidate was a Stalwart, Chester A. Arthur of NY (like Conkling).

11. Election of 1880 - Democrats Democrats nominated vet Winfield S. Hancock who was wounded at Gettysburg and had fairly managed one of the Southern military districts (and therefore appealed to the South). The Democratic platform called for civil-service reform and a revenue-only tariff.

12. 1880 Presidential Election

13. 1881: Garfield Assassinated! Charles Guiteau: I Am a Stalwart, and Arthur is President now! Garfield was besieged with office-seekers. One of these, a mentally ill and disappointed Charles J. Guiteau shot Garfield in the back in Washington DC. Guiteau’s attorneys used (one of the first times) the “insanity defense.” He was still hung. Garfield’s death did manage to shock the country into civil service reform.

14. Chester A. Arthur and Reform Arthur was a former Conkling crony who ended up championing reform and rejecting the Stalwarts who came looking for spoils. The Republican Party began to champion for change and reform after losing the midterm 1882 elections. Arthur, who had actually made change, was not re-nominated by the Republicans and died in 1886.

15. Pendleton Act 1883  Civil Service Act.  The “Magna Carta” of civil service reform.  1883  14,000 out of 117,000 federal govt. jobs became civil service exam positions.  1900  100,000 out of 200,000 federal govt. jobs were civil service  Caused party machines to look towards businesses for money

16. Grover Cleveland James Blaine * (DEM) (REP) Half- Breed Champion and spoils- man, caused reformers to join Democrats (Mugwumps) Former governor of NY. Reformer. “Grover the Good” 1884 Presidential Election

17. Republican “Mugwumps”  Reformers who were upset about corruption with the Republicans so they switched to the Democratic Party in 1884  Reform to them: create a disinterested, impartial govt. run by an educated elite like themselves.  Social Darwinists.  Laissez faire government to them:  Favoritism & the spoils system seen as government intervention in society.  Their target was political corruption, not social or economic reform!

18. Men may come and men may go, but the work of reform shall go on forever.  Support Cleveland in the 1884 election. The Mugwumps

19. Ma, Ma…where’s my pa? He’s going to the White House, ha… ha… ha…! A Dirty Campaign

20.  At the end of the campaign, a Republican blasted Democrats in NY about their Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion – at the same time taking shots at the Irish.  Blaine was slow to repudiate the remark and Irish supported Cleveland.  Narrow victory for Cleveland (he wins NY by only 1149 votes!)  Mugwumps and RRR speech help Cleveland win by 30,000 popular votes Rum, Romanism & Rebellion!

21. 1884 Presidential Election

22. Cleveland’s First Term  The “Veto Governor” from New York.  First Democrat elected since 1856.  A public office is a public trust!  His laissez-faire presidency:  Opposed bills to assist the poor as well as the rich.  Vetoed over 200 special pension bills for Civil War veterans! (they were mostly fraudulent)  “Though the people support the government, the government should not support the people”

23.  After the Civil War, Congress raised tariffs to protect new US industries.  Big business wanted to continue this; consumers did not.  1885  tariffs earned the US $100 million in surplus!  Mugwumps opposed it  President Cleveland’s view on tariffs: opposed them because of fiscal responsibility  Tariffs became a major issue in the 1888 presidential election. The Tariff Issue

24. 1888 Presidential Election Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison (DEM) * (REP) Grandson of Tippecanoe. Raised massive money from scared businessmen Dems weren’t thrilled about him. Major blow came when it was leaked that England was excited about a lower tariff

25. Cleveland won the popular vote by 90,000 He was the first sitting president to be voted out since van Buren in 1840 1888 Presidential Election

26. Page 534 – Read last two paragraphs