1. By: Ms. Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY
Gilded
Age
Politics
By: Ms. Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY

2. Objective
Describe the changing role of government in economic and political affairs.
Pendleton Act Civil service system
Sherman Antitrust Act Political machines
Boss Tweed Tammany Hall
Thomas Nast Graft
Credit Mobilier scandal Whiskey Ring scandal
Secret ballot (Australian) Initiative
Referendum Recall
Mugwumps U.S. v. E.C. Knight, Co. (1895)

3. Major Themes

4. “The Gilded Age”

5. Spoils System

6. Corruption & Reform Corruption Reform, Weak, “laissez faire”
government
Reform,
interventionist
government
Corruption

7. Grant
Administration

8. Grant’s Scandals Spoils system Credit Mobilier Whiskey Ring
Union Pacific Railroad Construction
Whiskey Ring
Siphoning of excise tax

9. State & Local
Political Machines

10. Political Machines – NYC
Bosses, Graft & Patronage

11. Tammany Hall

12. Tammany Hall

13. Tammany Hall

14. Guarding the Ballot Box

15. Boss Tweed

16. Thomas Nast – Political Cartoonist

17. Tammany Hall

18. The
Politics of
Equilibrium

19. 1. A Two-Party Stalemate

20. Two-Party “Balance”

21. Two-Party “Balance”

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

23. 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

24. 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.

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

26. Garfield, Arthur &
the Pendleton Act

27. 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)

28. 1880 Presidential Election: Democrats

29. Inspecting the Democratic Curiosity Shop

30. 1880 Presidential Election

31. 1881: Garfield Assassinated!
Charles Guiteau

32. 1881: Garfield Assassinated!
Charles Guiteau

33. Chester A. Arthur: The Fox in the Chicken Coup?

34. 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.
Spoils system…. To MERIT system

35. Civil Service Exam Sample Question:
You are in charge of maintaining order in a room where a large number of people gather to transact business. A woman in the back of one of the lines starts to shout that she has been waiting for an hour and her line “has not moved at all.” She continues to protest, and the rest of the crowd is getting restless.
Which one of the following actions would be best to take first in this situation?
A. Escort the woman to the head of the line and make sure her business is transacted promptly.
B. Tell the woman that unless she acts in a more orderly fashion, you will escort her out of the room.
C. Immediately remove the woman from the room.
D. Call the local police and detain the woman until the police arrive.

36. Civil Service System

37. Grover Cleveland,
Part I

38. 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!

39. 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.

40. 1884 Presidential Election
Grover Cleveland James Blaine * (DEM) (REP)

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

42. Little Lost Mugwump
Blaine in 1884

43. Rum, Romanism & Rebellion!
Led a delegation of ministers to Blaine in NYC.
Reference to the Democratic Party.
Blaine was slow to repudiate the remark.
Narrow victory for Cleveland [he wins NY by only 1149 votes!].
Dr. Samuel Burchard

44. 1884 Presidential Election

45. 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!

46. Bravo, Señor Clevelando!

47. 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  WHY???
President Cleveland’s view on tariffs????
Tariffs became a major issue in the 1888 presidential election.

48. Filing the Rough Edges
Tariff of 1888

49. President
Benjamin
Harrison

50. 1888 Presidential Election
Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison (DEM) * (REP)

51. Coming Out for Harrison

52. The Smallest Specimen Yet

53. 1888 Presidential Election

54. Disposing the Surplus

55. 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
US v. EC Knight Co
McKinley Tariff – 1890
Based on the theory that prosperity flowed directly from protectionism.
Increased already high rates another 4%!
Rep. Party suffered big losses in 1890 (even McKinley lost his House seat!).

56. Grover Cleveland,
Part II

57. 1892 Presidential Election
Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison again! * (DEM) (REP)

58. 1892 Presidential Election

59. 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.
Repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.

60. Populism & the
1896 Election

61. Populism
Farmers’ Movement
McKinley vs. Bryan

62. 1901: McKinley Assassinated!
Leon Czolgosz

63. Presidential Assassins
Abraham Lincoln
John Wilkes Booth
James Garfield
Charles Guiteau
William McKinley
Leon Czolgosz

64. Voting
Reforms

65. Populists’ Omaha Platform
William Jennings Bryan

66. Secret (Australian) Ballot

67. Initiative

68. Referendum

69. Recall