Gilded Age Politics (4)

Unit 6

Mark Twain (Book)

• The Gilded Age

Rutherford B. Hayes elected following:

• The Compromise of 1877 (ends Reconstruction)

1876-1896: extremely close elections

• Politicians avoid taking stances on major issues

• Maintaining party loyalty (patronage)

Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican, 1876-1880)

• Withdraws federal troops from the South

• Helped reestablish honest government after Grant’s presidency

James Garfield (Republican, 1880-1881)

• Besieged by Republicans seeking 100,000+ federal jobs

• Assassinated in 1881

• Chester Arthur takes over

Chester Arthur (1881-1884)

• Not bad, but doesn’t really stick to Republican Policies

The Election of 1884

• Grover Cleveland is first Democrat since 1856

Cleveland’s First Term (1884-1888)

• The Dawes Act

• The Interstate Commerce Act: 1st time the U.S. government tries to regulate a business industry (The Railroad Industry) → the ICC = monitors the railroads rates $$$

Money supply + Currency Questions

• Debtors + Farmers want more “soft” money in circulation (“worthless green paper”)

• Bankers, creditors, and investors want to only issue “hard” money - (money backed in gold)

Civil Service Reform : The Pendleton Act (1881)

• Federal jobs applicants selected based on merit

The Election of 1888

• Cleveland (Democrat) versus Benjamin Harrison (Republican)

• Harrison wins by slim margin

1888-1890: Republicans control the presidency and congress

• Unusually active congress for 2 years

• “The Billion Dollar Congress”

• Pass the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

The Populist Party (formed 1892)

• Concerned about trust + concentration of economic power

• Omaha Platform calls for… → Giving people more direct voting and legislative power & Economic Changes: unlimited coinage of silver to increase money supply, graduated income tax, and an official 8-hour workday

The Election of 1892

• Rematch between Harrison and Cleveland

• Cleveland wins

The Panic of 1893

• Farm Foreclosures, unemployment, bankruptcy, etc.

• 1894 Midterms: Democrats lose may seats in congress

(Election of 1896) Democrats divided between Cleveland and William Jennings Bryan

• Populists support Bryan

Republicans nominate William Mckinley

• Supports high tariffs and the gold standard

• Decisive victory for McKinley and Republicans

1897

• Gold discovered in Alaska

Significance of 1896

• Marked the end of the stalemate +stagnation of the Gilded Age

• Populist party declined and later disappeared