1. Warm Up
Why did Mark Twain call the period, 1865 – 1900, “The Gilded Age”?
Is a meritocracy essential to a democracy?
How do you create one?
List three ways in which the Federal gov’t was involved in the economy from 1793 – 1865

2. Gilded
Age
Politics

3. Grant’s Presidency: ‘The Era of Good Stealings’
No political experience & plagued by scandal
Credit Mobilier (VP bribed w/stock)
Whiskey Ring (Sec of Treasury & patronage workers cheated gov’t out of excise tax)
Black Friday Panic of 1869 (brother-in-law tipped off gold speculator Jay Gould)
Blatant use of the spoils system
Supported the Radical Republicans through 1875
Panic of year crisis
‘greenback’ debate
Specie Resumption Act –As of Jan 1879 all greenbacks issued had to be pegged to gold

4. The wreckage of Black Friday, Sept. 24, 1869 (courtesy of Gould & Fisk)

5. Grant: “Shouldering the Burdens of Republican Government”

6. I. A Two-Party Stalemate

7. II. Intense Voter Loyalty to the Two Major Political Parties

8. III. 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

9. IV. 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.

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

11. 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)

12. The Party Machine: Graft
political organization in which an authoritative boss commands a corps of supporters and businesses (usually campaign workers), who receive rewards for their efforts
Democrats - “Boss” Tweed (NY) ‘Tammany Hall’
Controlled NY politics from
3rd biggest landowner in NYC
Simultaneously member of US House of Reps & NY State legislature (unconstitutional)
eventually found guilty of embezzling $45 Mil.

13. 1880 Presidential Election

14. 1881: Garfield Assassinated
Charles Guiteau: I Am a Stalwart, and Arthur is President now!

16. Chester A. Arthur: The Fox in the Chicken Coop?

17. 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.

18. Caption: ‘With the Inevitable Result’

19. Republican “Mugwumps”
Reformers who wouldn’t re-nominate Chester A. Arthur.
Reform to them  create a disinterested, impartial gov’t run by an educated elite like themselves
Social Darwinists
Their target was political corruption, not social or economic reform

20. The Mugwumps
‘Men may come and men may go, but the work of reform shall go on forever.’
Will support Cleveland in the 1884 election.

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

22. 1884 Presidential Election
Grover Cleveland James Blaine * (DEM) (REP)

23. 1884 Presidential Election

24. Cleveland’s First Term
The “Veto Governor” from New York
Veto limits the power of the legislative branch
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!

25. Bravo, Señor Clevelando!

26. 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!
Mugwumps opposed it
farmers did not get protections
gov’t surplus was potential for graft
President Cleveland believed that tariffs should be lowered to help the common man
Tariffs became a major issue in the 1888 presidential election.

27. Filing the Rough Edges
Tariff of 1888

28. 1888 Presidential Election
Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison (DEM) * (REP)

29. 1888 Presidential Election

30. “Disposing of the Surplus

31. Changing Public Opinion
Americans wanted the federal gov’t 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 48%
Rep. Party suffered big losses in 1890 (even McKinley lost his House seat!)

32. 1892 Presidential Election
Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison again! * (DEM) (REP)

33. 1892 Presidential Election

34. 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
Repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act
Went to J.P. Morgan “the banker’s banker” to shore up US gold reserves -$65 million with a $7 million commission

35. The Money Question
The gold standard –prior to 1933, all US Treasury notes had to be backed by gold
Greatly limited the money supply
1869 Jay Gould & Jim Fisk tried to corner the gold market (control enough to rival US holdings)
Treasury Dept. insisted that 1 oz of silver = 1/16th of an ounce of gold
Panics of 1873 & 1893 were both brought on by speculation in land, railroads & gold AND the gov’t lack of foresight
Resumption Act of 1879
Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890

36. Populism
Populist Party (People’s Party) emerged out of the Farmer’s Alliance –militant group of southern & western farmers
Popular in the Midwest, not in Eastern cities
Southern Blacks joined, so whites would not
Rose to prominence after the McKinley Tariff (1890) & Panic of 1893 (4 yr depression)
Populist “Omaha Platform” (created in Nebraska)
Wanted “bimetalism” silver & gold backed currency
Graduated income tax
Nationalized railroads, telephone & telegraph service
Direct election of Senators
National referendum & initiative

37. Popular Populist Leaders
William Jennings Bryan
Nebraska Congressman who was the party’s Presidential candidate in 1896, 1900, 1908
Fundamentalist Christian
Famous for his “Cross of Gold” speech
Jacob Coxey
Ohio businessman who led the first ‘march on Washington’
Wanted to press Populist agenda (Omaha Platform) to relieve the Panic of 1893
“Coxey’s Army”, 1894