The Politics , 1877-1900: Campaign Strategy and Patronage

Campaign Context and Turnout

Close elections between 1876 and 1892 led Republicans and Democrats to avoid taking strong positions in the electoral college; in the popular vote there were 4 elections won.
They nevertheless controlled the House after 8/10 general elections.
The Harrison administration (1889-1891) produced a divided government in Washington, with unified government for only 2 years (presidency and both houses under the same party).
With elections so evenly matched, the objective was to get out the vote and not alienate voters on the issues.

Campaigns featured brass bands, flags, campaign buttons, picnics, free beer, and crowd-pleasing oratory.
Both parties had strong organizations; Republicans usually at the state level and Democrats in the cities.
The issue-free campaigns produced turnout of about 0.80 of eligible voters (roughly four-fifths), much higher than in later periods, driven by strong party identification and loyalty linked to regional, religious, and ethnic ties.

In the North, Republicans kept Civil War memories alive with the 'bloody shirt' tactic, reminding veterans that their wounds were caused by Southern Democrats and that Lincoln had been murdered by a Democrat.
The party of Lincoln, due to its antislavery past, kept the votes of reformers and African Americans.
Core strength from business and from the middle class, Anglo-Saxon Protestants; many supported temperance or prohibition.
Republicans followed the tradition of Hamilton and the Whigs, supporting a pro-business economic program of high protective tariffs.

After 1877, Democrats could count on winning every election in the former Confederate states; the Solid South was solid until the mid-20th century.
In the North, Democratic strength came from big-city political machines and the immigrant vote; Democrats were often Catholics, Lutherans, and Jews who objected to temperance and prohibition crusades conducted by Protestant (and largely Republican) groups.
Democrats argued for states' rights and limiting powers for the federal government, following in the Jeffersonian tradition.

Since neither party had an active legislative agenda, politics in this era was chiefly a game of winning elections, holding office, and providing government jobs to the party faithful.
In New York, Republican Senator Roscoe Conkling became a powerful leader by dictating who in the Republican ranks would be appointed to lucrative jobs in the New York Customs House. Conkling and his supporters were known as the Stalwarts, while their rivals for patronage were the Half-Breeds, led by James G. Blaine.
Who got the patronage jobs within the party became more important than any policy.