gilded age - chapter 23

apush

election of 1868

grant (R)

• war hero

• waving the bloody shirt

Seymour (d)

• former NY governor

• Ohio idea - redeem war bonds in greenbacks (money)

300,000 vote majority

• grant owes his win to former slaves

• 3 states not counted (TX, LA, VA)

  • they are unreconstructed, still have soldiers, did not agree with Reconstruction ideas

what happened in grants presidency

it was riddled with corruption

tweed ring

Boss Tweed: NYC

• ran the Tammany Ring (political chain)

• a group of corrupt officials who engaged in widespread graft and embezzlement

• manipulated the city and took millions of dollars from them

Credit Mobilier 1872

• US gov hired Union Pacific to build RR

• Thomas Durant (UP Executive) creates a construction co (credit mobilier) and hires himself to do the work

• gave stocks to key politicians in exchange for their silence

• VP Colfax accepts stocks

• Result is average Americans that invest in UP get nothing because all money has been funneled into CM

Election of 1872

Grant (R) vs Greely (Liberal Republicans

• grant wins

Liberal Republican Revolt of 1872

• led by Greely

• goal of purifying Washington and to end military reconstruction in the South

• Some clean up in R party→ mild civil service reform and attempts to lower protective tariff

Panic of 1873

• during Grants second term as president

  • too much money in circulation

  • conflict between hard money vs soft money

Resumption Act of 1875

• contractions in an attempt to stabilize the currency

• government withdrew greenbacks from the circulation

• can be redeemed for gold in 1879

Politics of the Era

• similar views between parties

  • tariffs, civil service, currency

• voter turnout

• bases of support differ

• patronage is a huge issue

Republican vs. Democrat Beliefs

Republican

• puritan ideals

• gov. should regulate the economy and morality

• MW, rural, small town NE, S freedman military

Democrats

• immigrants, Roman Catholics, lutherans

• tolerant

• opposed to gov. regulation of morality

• S&N industrial centers

Election of 1876

Hayes vs Tilden

• issues

  • stalwarts vs half breeds

    • stalwarts - in favor of patronage and spoils system

    • half breeds - disagreed with that, wanted merit system

  • tilden won popular votes, Hayes won electoral

  • disputed states: FL, SC, LA

  • Commission created via Electoral Count Act to decide election (7 D, 8 R)

Compromise of 1877

• end of military Reconstruction in the south

• Democrats would get federal positions

• marks the collapse of the R party in the south

  • R in the south was there to protect former slaves, now, since it was required for them to remove their troops from the south as part of the compromise, black men are left unprotected

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882-1943

• prohibited all Chinese immigration to the U.S.

  • exception of religious leaders and certain groups

• 14th amendment

  • citizenship to all native born citizens

• U.S. vs. Wong Kim Ark (1898)

  • citizenship by birthright not bloodright

Civil Rights Cases of 1883

overturned civil rights act of 1875

• the act had provided equal accommodation in public places

• 14th amendment does not protect against individual discrimination

• African Americans are forced in tenant farming and sharecropping

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896

• Homer Plessy was considered black under state law

• took a seat in white only train car and when asked to move, he refused

• he was put in jail

• court decided that the 13th and 14th amendment did not violate

  • did not display involuntary servitude (13th)

  • whites and black each have the same places the other race has (14th)

• separate but equal doctrine establishes

• led to the Jim Crow Laws and segregation in the south

election of 1880

Hayes does not re run due to chaos between stalwarts and reformers

Garfield and Arthur (running man) vs Hancock

• garfield gives patronage jobs to reformers

• garfield was nominated to try and unite R party because he was neutral

Issues

• civil service

• protective tariff

  • lower tariff would make cheaper

Assassination

July 2, 1881

Guiteau (Stalwart)

• unhappy about Garfield becoming president because he was not a stalwart

• wanted Arthur to be pres. because Guiteau thought he was connected to stalwarts

• assassinated him

Arthur

• becomes reformer despite stalwarts ties because he is upset about the assassination

Pendleton Act

1883

• created a bipartisan (two major political parties agree about all or many parts of a political choice) civil service commission

• people had to actually be right and fit for the job, cannot just give money/support for a job

  • result

    • politicians looked at big businesses for support

election of 1884

Blaine (R) vs Cleveland (D)

• Blaine

  • mulligan letters

    • corrupt letters to Boston businessmen re: railroad deals

• Cleveland

  • “grover the good”

  • mugwamps

    • republican reformers who did not like blaine and voted democrat

Grover Cleveland

1st democrat pres. since Buchanan

supported laissez-faire

weak on civil service

tried addressing the tariff but republican Congress resisted

fell into party pressure

• Accomplishments

  • cleaned up pension abuse

  • massive surplus of $145 million by 1881

Dawes Severalty Act

1887

• reorganization of indian tribal land

• land was given to railroad grants

• government wants NA land to build RR

• creates conflict out west

• Promises citizenship and land ownership in 25 years; not actually granted until 1924

Interstate Commerce Act 1887

• stop RR fraud

• RR must publish rates and set prices

• RR companies were getting involved with politicians

Election of 1888

Cleveland (D) vs Harrsion (R)

• main issue: tariff

• Harrison wins

  • Cleveland is the first sitting president not re elected since Van Buren in 1840

• Cleveland said he would fix tariffs but never did

Billion $ Congress

Czar Reed

• Intimidation, inaccurate attendance, 1st in history to spend this much money

• massive overspending in congress

• czar approves everything, leading them to spend $1 billion

• at end of Harrison's term, the U.S. is left in $1 billion in debt

McKinley Tariff Act 1890

48.4% tax rate

• highest peacetime tariff

  • protection of US buisnesses

• major agrarian discontent

  • prices for consumer goods increase as companies increase prices

• Result

  • 1890 midterm elections

    • Republicans take massive hit dropping 88 seats

populist party

born from the Farmers Alliance→ frustrated farmers fighting the prolific womb of government injustice

Omaha Platform

• free and unlimited coinage of silver

  • more money in circulation, easier to pay back debts

• graduated income tax

  • tax set based on how much you make

  • farmers do not have to pay as much

• government ownership of RR, telegraph, and telephone

  • makes them readily available

• direction election of senators

  • farmers want their interests to be taken into account

  • current senators don't have farmers best interest in mind

• 1 term presidency

  • typically, people do not do much during 1st term pres. bc they want to be re-elected

  • forces pres. to do more in the first term

• initiative and referendum (direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue)

  • farmers have opportunity to get wants on board

• shorter workdays

• immigration restriction

  • believed immigrants were taking jobs away from them

election of 1892

Weaver (Populist) v Cleveland (D) vs Harrison (R)

• populist divide

  • “bourbon elite” are wealthy south farmers who used historic Southern Racism to divide the Populists thereby weakening their overall strength as a movement

• grandfather clause

  • only individuals whose grandfathers voted in the election of 1860 would be eligible to vote- essentially disqualifies all black Americans

panic of 1893

worst economic downturn of 19th c.

• causes

  • overbuilding

  • overspending

  • labor disorders

  • agricultural depression

• response

  • repeal of Sherman silver purchase act of 1890

    • End to government commitment to purchase large amounts of silver each month to back the paper currency in circulation

  • J.P Morgan loans $65 million to U.S federal gov.

Wilson Gorman Tariff 1894

2% income tax on income greater than $4,000

passed over Cleveland's veto

• result

  • 1894 midterm elections - republicans retake majority

  • 1895 - tariff was deemed unconstitutional

• 16th amendment

  • granted Congress the power to collect taxes on incomes from any source

Economic and Social trends from 1885-1901

• industrial expansion

• frontier closes (out west=frontier)

• increase in immigration from S and E Europe

• labor unions and strikes

• fall in agricultural prices

political developments from 1885-1901

• issues

  • tariff, currency, civil service

• first moves away from laissez-faire

  • ICA 1887

    • created the first regulatory body for railroads

    • aimed to curb monopolistic practices and unfair discrimination by railroads, establishing guidelines for "just and reasonable" rates

  • Sherman Antitrust Act 1890

    • federal law that prohibits anti-competitive business practices, outlawing any contract, combination, or conspiracy that restrains interstate or foreign commerce.

    • Its primary goals were to prevent the formation of trusts and monopolies

  • populist party