1. Gilded
Age
Politics

2. Think About It
What does the word “gilded” mean?

3. EQ: What events and issues characterized politics in the Gilded Age?

4. 1. A Two-Party Stalemate

5. 2. Intense Voter Loyalty to the Two Major Political Parties

6. 3. Well-Defined Voting Blocs
Democratic Bloc
Republican Bloc
White southerners (preservation of white supremacy)
Catholics
Recent immigrants (esp. Jews)
Urban working poor (pro-labor)
Most farmers
Northern whites (pro-business)
African Americans
Northern Protestants
Old WASPs (support for anti-immigrant laws)
Most of the middle class

7. Opposing Politic Parties
Republican
Appeal to industrialists, bankers, eastern farmers
Want $ backed by gold (keep inflation down); high tariffs, pensions to veterans; gov’t aid to RRs; limits on immigration
Enforcement of blue laws: prohibit activities seen as immoral
Democrats
Appeal to less privileged urban workers, laborers, southern planters, western farmers
Want increase of $ supply; low tariffs; high farm prices; less gov’t aid to business; less blue laws

8. 4. Very Laissez Faire Federal Govt.
From  Govt. did very little domestically.
Main duties of the federal govt.:
Deliver the mail.
Maintain a national military.
Collect taxes & tariffs.
Conduct a foreign policy.
Exception  administer the annual Civil War veterans’ pension.

9. 5. The Presidency as a Symbolic Office Senator Roscoe Conkling
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 govt.
1890  166,000 “ “ “ “ “ “
Senator Roscoe Conkling

10. The
Grant
Administration
( )

11. 1868 Presidential Election

12. President Ulysses S. Grant

13. Grant Administration Scandals
Grant presided over an era of unprecedented growth and corruption.
Credit Mobilier Scandal.
Whiskey Ring.
The “Indian Ring.”

14. The Tweed Ring in NYC
William Marcy Tweed (notorious head of Tammany Hall’s political machine)
[Thomas Nast  crusading cartoonist/reporter]

15. The Election of 1872
Rumors of corruption during Grant’s first term discredits Republicans.
Horace Greeley runs as a Democrat/Liberal Republican candidate.
Greeley attacked as a fool and a crank.
Greeley died on November 29, 1872!

16. 1872 Presidential Election

17. The Panic of 1873 It raises “the money question.”
debtors seek inflationary monetary policy by continuing circulation of greenbacks.
creditors, intellectuals support hard money.
1875  Resumption Act of 1875 (Specie Redemption Act.)
-U.S. Treasury be prepared to resume the redemption of legal tender notes in specie (gold) as of January 1, 1879
-reduce the number of greenbacks in circulation “contraction”
-all "paper coins" (notes with denominations less than one dollar) be removed from circulation and be replaced with silver coins.
1876  Greenback Party formed & makes gains in congressional races  The “Crime of ’73’!

18. And They Say He Wants a Third Term

19. 1880 Presidential Election: Republicans
Half Breeds
Stalwarts
Sen. James G. Blaine Sen. Roscoe Conkling (Maine) (New York)
compromise
James A. Garfield Chester A. Arthur (VP)

20. 1880 Presidential Election

21. 1881: Garfield Assassinated!
*Death causes reexamination of the spoils system
Charles Guiteau: I Am a Stalwart, and Arthur is President now!

22. 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 civil service federal govt. jobs.

23. Republican “Mugwumps”
Reformers who wouldn’t re-nominate Chester A. Arthur.
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 govt. intervention in society.
Their target was political corruption, not social or economic reform!

24. 1884 Presidential Election
Grover Cleveland James Blaine * (DEM) (REP)

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

26. 1884 Presidential Election

27. Cleveland’s First Term
The “Veto Governor” from New York.
First Democratic 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!

28. The Tariff Issue
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 mil in surplus!
Lower Tariff hurts factories and economy
Tariffs became a major issue in the 1888 presidential election.

29. 1888 Presidential Election
Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison (DEM) * (REP)

30. Coming Out for Harrison

31. 1888 Presidential Election

32. Changing Public Opinion
Americans wanted the federal govt. to deal with growing soc. & eco. problems & to curb the power of the trusts:
Interstate Commerce Act – 1887
Sherman Antitrust Act – 1890
McKinley Tariff – 1890
Based on the theory that prosperity flowed directly from protectionism.
Increased already high rates to 48.4%
Rep. Party suffered big losses in 1890 (even McKinley lost his House seat!).

33. 1892 Presidential Election
Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison again! * (DEM) (REP)

34. 1892 Presidential Election

35. Cleveland Loses Support Fast!
The only President to serve two non- consecutive terms.
Blamed for the 1893 Panic.
Defended the gold standard.
Used federal troops in the 1894 Pullman strike.
Refused to sign the Wilson-Gorman Tariff of 1894: set to lower tariffs and tax incomes over $4000 by 2%
Repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.

36. Gilded Age Presidents in a Nutshell The Forgettable “Presidents”

37. 19th-Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881)
18th-Ulysses S Grant ( )
Political Corruption
Credit Mobilier Scandal
Panic of 1873
19th-Rutherford B. Hayes ( )
Electoral Count Act (Compromise of 1877)
Jim Crow Laws
20th-James A. Garfield (1881)
Assassinated by Charles J. Guiteau on September 19, 1881 (due to this reform of Spoils System

38. 22nd and 24th-Grover Cleveland (1885-1889, 1893-1897)
21st-Chester Arthur ( )
Before taking office had benefited from the system
In office-works for reform
Passes Pendleton Civil Service Act 1883
Classify gov’t jobs and tests fitness for
22nd and 24th-Grover Cleveland ( , )
Supports RR, business (laissez-faire)
In 2nd term manages to turn many voters to Democratic party- sent troops to break up Pullman strike
Panic of 1893

39. 23rd-Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893)
Signed Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Approves high tariffs
Hurts economy; dips too deep into treasury to pay pensions
25th-William McKinley ( )
Oversees tariff bill and stronger gold standard
Imperialist (more on this later!)
Society begins climb out of depression
assassinated by an anarchist, September 6th, 1901

40. Writing Prompt
Do you think government reforms made a difference during this period? Why or Why not?
What role do you think government should play in business (even today)?