1. The Forgettable Presidents
Politics in the Gilded Age

2. Gilded not Golden Term coined by Mark Twain
An era with income inequality
Why?
Corruption and Greed
What will be the result
Era of the Forgettable Presidents
Partisan politics with little differentiation

3. Grant: 1868-1878 Republican Inept Grantism Scandals
Credit Mobilier
Whiskey Ring
Gold and Gould
Corrupt Cabinet
Growth of the Political Machine
Tweed and Tammany Hall

4. Split in the Republican Party
Stalwarts – keep things the way they are
Roscoe Conkling
Half breeds – civil service reformers
Jim Blaine

5. Election of 1876 Republicans nominate Rutherford B Hayes (Ohio)
Federal control of the south, reform civil service, rising fear of immigrants
Democrats nominate Sam Tilden
End military reconstructions, restrict oriental immigration, end of land grants
Compromise of 1877
Composition of the two parties?

6. Rutherford B. Hayes
Alienated Stalwart Republicans by his cabinet choices
Allow women lawyers to argue in front of Supreme Court
Desert Land Act
Hard money advocate
Sides with business in labor dispute
Use of Federal troops
Unsuccessful veto of Chinese Exclusion Act

7. James Garfield Compromise candidate from Ohio
Stalwarts wanted Grant, Half-Breeds wanted Blaine
Chester Arthur (Stalwart) as VP
Once in office, angered Sen. Conkling by supporting civil service reform
Assassinated by Guiteau, a deranged Stalwart

8. Chester Arthur Stalwart, turned independent Passed Pendleton Act
Require civil service examination for some government positions
Unsuccessfully attempted to lower tariffs to eliminate Treasury surplus

9. Election of 1884 Republicans nominate Jim Blaine
Democrats nominate Grover Cleveland
Campaign focused on public or private misdeeds
Mulligan Letters – rum, Romanism and rebellion
Mugwumps – Liberal Republicans who voted Democrat

10. Cleveland (I) Replaced Republicans with Democrats in government
Increased number of classified government positions
Suspicious of government support (federal aid)
Vetoed private pension bills to Civil War veterans
Investigated railroad land grants
Signed the Interstate Commerce Act
Proposed labor arbitration legislation

11. Benjamin Harrison
Republican Harrison ran a polite campaign that captured an electoral college victory from Cleveland in 1888
Protectionist – McKinley Tariff of 1890 had the highest import duties in history
Passed Sherman Silver Purchase Act – silver used in federal coinage
Favored conservation, imperialism
Sherman Antitrust Act – used against labor
Billion Dollar Congress passed Dependent Pension Act

12. Election of 1892 Harrison re-nominated by Republicans
Democrats re-nominate Cleveland
Both parties were split
Republican support for Blain and McKinley
Democratic interests in the south and west urged support for silver programs
Democratic platform urged a revenue only tariff
Populist Party nominates Gen. James. Weaver
Free coinage of silver and government ownership of railroads

13. Cleveland (2) The Panic (Depression) of 1893 dominates
Worldwide in scope
Sherman Silver Purchase Act and McKinley tariff are blamed
Gold drain on the Treasury
Support of J.P. Morgan

14. Election of 1896 Depression assures Republican victory
Political boss Mark Hanna orchestrates nomination of McKinley
Democrats are divided
Gold- Democrats for Cleveland
Free silver advocates favored William Jennings Bryan
McKinley outspends Bryan $5 to $1

15. McKinley
End of depression in 1897 allowed the nation to turn towards foreign policy issues
Selection of Theodore Roosevelt as running mate in the 1900 election
Ran against Bryan again
Free silver issue takes a back seat to looming war with Spain
McKinley is assassinated by Leon Czolgosz