6.13 Politics in the Gilded Age

bloody shirt, veterans of the Union army, reformers, African Americans, Anglo-Saxon Protestants, temperance, Hamiltonian tradition, Whig past, pro-business, solid South, former states of the Confederacy, big-city political machines, immigrant voters, Catholics, Lutherans, Jews, Jeffersonian tradition, states' rights, limited federal power, rise of the Populists, Farmers' Alliances, Omaha Platform, government ownership, Thomas Watson, election of 1892, Grover Cleveland, Panic of 1893, march to Washington, Coxey's Army, Coin's Financial School, election of 1896, William Jennings Bryan, Cross of Gold speech, unlimited coinage of silver, Gold Bug Democrats, William McKinley, high protective tariff, Marcus/Mark Hanna, gold standard, mass media, racism, Era of Republican dominance, first modern president

politics in the Gilded Age

political stalemate

• avoided strong positions on issues, no active legislative agenda

• solely focused on holding office and giving supporters jobs (patronage)

• high voter turnout

Republicans in the Gilded Age

• “bloody shirt” - reminding veterans of the Union army of Anti - Democrat sentiment in the Civil War

• antislavery past → support of reformers and African Americans

• most strength from businessmen and middle-class Anglo-Saxon Protestants who supported temperance (prohibition)

• Hamiltonian tradition and Whig past - pro-business economics, high protective tariffs

Democrats in the Gilded Age

• support from every state in the “solid South” (former states of the Confederacy)

• some parts of the North: big-city political machines and immigrant voters

• Catholics, Lutherans, and Jews - anti-temperance (prohibition was considered Protestant and Republican)

• Jeffersonian tradition - states’ rights and limited federal power

Rise of the Populists

• Farmers’ Alliances’ discontent in the west and south in 1890s

• Omaha Platform - formed by Alliance movement calling drafting political platform against concentration of economic power held by trusts and bankers

  • political reform goal of increasing power of common voter

  • economic goals: unlimited coinage of silver/increased money supply, graduated income tax, government ownership, loans and federal warehouses, 8 hour day for industrial workers

• anti Laissez-Faire, attempted to politically unite black and white farmers to join the People’s Party

election of 1892

Democratic Grover Cleveland’s second (non-consecutive) term due to unpopularity of Republican tariffs

Depression politics

• Panic of 1893 - stock market crashed due to over speculation, railroad bankruptcy due to overbuilding

  • Cleveland promoted gold standard and did not intervene

• decrease of U.S. Treasury gold supply - Cleveland borrowed money from banker J. Pierpont Morgan

• Wilson-Gorman Tariff (1894) - moderate reduction in tariff rates, income tax, declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court

• march to Washington (1894) - Populist led thousands of unemployed to demand that the federal government spend money on programs to create jobs, leaders arrested

• Coin’s Financial School (1894) by William H. Harvey - argued that depression was caused by conspiracy of rich bankers, assumed prosperity would return if government started coining silver

election of 1896

• Republicans’ William McKinley elected

  • funded by Marcus/Mark Hanna, campaigned by being sold through mass media

  • blamed Democrats for the Panic of 1893, promised a strong and industrial nation through high protective tariffs (still considered friend of labor) and upholding the gold standard

• Democrats and Populists nominate William Jennings Bryan

  • Cross of Gold speech supporting unlimited coinage of silver

• Gold Bug Democrats - conservative Democrat faction including Cleveland that did not support unlimited coinage of silver

significance of the election of 1896

• Populist decline - racism was stronger than common economic interests

• Era of Republican dominance and aiming for candidates’ favorable publicity in print newspapers

• Urban dominance over rural America

• McKinley as the first modern president - helping the U.S. become a major player in international affairs