Transcript UsHistoryGildedAgePwrPt1870to1900

National Politics in the
Gilded Age
The Gilded Age
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The term "Gilded Age“ coined by
Mark Twain and Charles Dudley in
their 1873 novel The Gilded Age: A Tale
of Today.
It refers to the decades between the
end of reconstruction and the turn of
the century (about 1877 to 1900).
The three main themes:
 lassiez-faire versus government
expansion
 economic and political corruption
 formation of modern political and
economic norms
Gilded Age Timeline
1868: Congress enacts an 8-hour workday
for workers employed by the
government.
1894: The American Railway Union’s strike
and boycott of Pullman cars end in
violence.
1869: The transcontinental railroad is
completed.
1886: The Haymarket riot occurs in
Chicago following a demonstration of
over 300,000 workers for 8 hour work
days.
American Federation of Labor
Founded.
1870: Rockefeller forms Standard Oil of
Ohio
1873: The Financial Panic of 1873 begins.
5,183 business fail.
1876: Bell patents the telephone.
1877: Edison invents the phonograph.
1879: Edison invents the light bulb
1890: Sherman Anti-Trust Act is passed
and promptly ignored.
1892: The Homestead Strike at one of
Andrew Carnegie’s steel works ends in
violence.
The Election of 1880
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After 18 years in Congress, James
Garfield became the dark horse
Republican nominee for President .
His running mate was Chester Arthur.
The race between Garfield and the
Democrat Winfield Hancock centered
on the tariff issue.
Republicans won favor with business,
labor, and Northerners by advocating a
protective tariff.
Democrats sought to appease the
interests of farmers and Southerners by
opposing such tariffs as inflationary
and anti-consumer.
The Election of 1880
The pie graph of the popular vote on the electoral map below demonstrates the
divided nature of the American electorate, which would continue throughout the
1880's and 1890's.
The Assassination of James Garfield
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Garfield’s presidency was cut short after only four months, when a disappointed
office seeker shot and mortally wounded the president.
The assassination became a catalyst for Civil Service Reform Act, which officially
made the United States’ bureaucracy a meritocracy instead of a system rooted in
patronage and graft.
The Presidency of Chester Arthur
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Chester Arthur became the twenty-first
President of the United States after
President Garfield was slain.
He was a product of the patronage
system.
It was a surprise when Arthur proved
himself an independent executive who
was able to make unpopular decisions.
He pushed for lower tariffs, though
Republicans usually sought to appease
corporate constituents.
The Pendleton Civil Service Act
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One of Arthur's most surprising actions was his support of the
Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883, which created a new system
for filling vacancies and outlawed political contributions from
civil servants:
“First, for open, competitive examinations for testing the fitness
of applicants for the public service … Second, that all the
offices… shall be filled by selections according to grade from
among those graded highest as the results of such
competitive examinations.”
The Chinese Exclusion Act
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Another of legislation that came during Arthur's
presidency was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882,
which was the first federal restriction on immigration.
Arthur vetoed a more restrictive version of the bill,
which angered labor groups, but signed one that halted
Chinese immigration for ten years and forbid
citizenship for Chinese persons already in the country.
Mugwumps and the Election of 1884
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Democrat Grover Cleveland narrowly
won the thanks to divisions within the
Republican Party.
Idealistic Republican "Mugwumps,“
voted for Cleveland because of their
disgust over James Blaine’s implication
in scandals.
Cleveland became the first Democratic
president since James Buchanan.
The "honest" (Mugwump) Republican
voter in this cartoon chooses the path
of independence, following the brains
end of the Republican elephant.
The Election of 1884
This mass defection of reform-minded Republicans became known as the "Republican
Revolt."
The First Cleveland Administration
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As a "caretaker" president, Cleveland
rarely proposed legislation on his own.
However, he pushed civil service
reform and opposed the costly
pensions that Civil War veterans
clamored for.
He sided with creditors and
conservatives as a proponent of the
gold standard in the controversy over
currency.
Cleveland and the Tariff Issue
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Cleveland dedicated his 1887 State of the Union Address to one
of the defining issues of his presidency and his time: tariff
reform.
After the Civil War, the government routinely ran a budget
surplus.
Manufacturers advocated the tariff because it allowed them to
charge higher prices in the absence of foreign competition.
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Farmers opposed it for the same reason.
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Cleveland advocated a reduction in tariffs, which alienated the
Republican faction that got him elected.
The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887
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In 1887, Cleveland signed the Interstate Commerce Act, which
established the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC).
The ICC was first independent regulatory agency in the history
of the United States Government.
It was designed to regulate the monopolistic railroad industry,
which employed discriminatory pricing practices and kickbacks
to benefit big business, like Standard Oil, and politicians, like
James Blaine.
The Election of 1888
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Cleveland's position on the tariff alienated the Republicans who supported him in
1884.
The Republicans chose Benjamin Harrison of Indiana.
The campaign was subdued and narrowly focused on the tariff issue.
Cleveland narrowly won the popular vote, but Harrison won with a majority of the
electoral vote.
The Presidency of Benjamin
Harrison
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Though he received 100,000 fewer
votes than Cleveland, Benjamin
Harrison became the nation's 23rd
President.
He was active in establishing trade
relations with Mexico and Central
America .
He was the first president since 1875 to
enjoy majorities from his party in both
houses of Congress.
Huge appropriations bills increased the
national budget to over $1 billion.
Democrats were able to campaign
against the "Billion Dollar Congress"
and win the midterm elections of 1890.
The Sherman Silver Purchase Act
and the McKinley Tariff
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In return for passing the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, Republicans
established the protectionist McKinley Tariff of 1890.
The McKinley Tariff was the second highest in US History, raising duties by 50
percent. It also had the effect of raising prices for consumers.
The Sherman Silver Purchase Act put more silver-backed money into circulation, but it
also led to a depletion the government's gold reserves because an unexpectedly large
number of citizens took advantage of a provision in the law that allowed holders of US
Treasury bonds to redeem them for gold.
The Sherman Anti-Trust Act
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The Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 was the government's first
intervention to remedy the restraint of trade caused by
monopolies and trusts.
Though the measure passed unanimously in both houses of
Congress, it was vague in its definitions and depended on the
courts for enforcement.
It was not until the end of the 19th century that the Act was
stringently enforced and interpreted.
United States v. E.C. Knight and Co.
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The opinion from the 1895 United States v. E.C. Knight and Co. is
an example of the loose interpretation and enforcement of the
Sherman Anti-Trust Act in its early years.
According to Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress
may, "regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the
several states..."
Thus, the federal government cannot control economic activity
within one state.
In the Knight case, court declined to apply the law to a refining
corporation that controlled 98% of the nation's sugar because it
did not consider manufacturing to be interstate commerce.
The Election of 1892
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In 1892, the Democrats nominated Cleveland and the Republicans nominated
Harrison.
Three third parties joined the race for the presidency as well.
Grover Cleveland made history as the only president to be elected to two nonconsecutive terms.
He won by the largest margin of any other president during the Gilded Age.
He was the first Democratic president to have majorities in both houses of Congress
since before the Civil War.
The Election of 1892
The Second Cleveland
Administration and the Depression
of 1893
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As Cleveland took office for a second
time, the country was on the brink of
economic depression.
Over 16,000 business went bankrupt,
the unemployment rate exceeded 20
percent, and wage cuts led to violent
labor unrest and declining standards of
living.
Cleveland, to the dismay of fellow
Democrats, forced repeal of the
Sherman Silver Purchase Act and a
return to the gold standard as one
remedy for the financial crisis.
The Election of 1896: William
Jennings Bryan
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President Cleveland's actions during
the depression alienated Democrats,
who were pro-silver.
Instead they nominated the former
Congressman and electrifying orator
William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska.
The populist People's party also
endorsed him.
Bryan was called “The Great
Commoner” because of his
commitment and appeal to working
and middle class Americans.
Excerpt from Bryan’s “Cross of
Gold” Speech
Bryan’s support for the backing of currency with silver instead of
gold was due to the presumed inflation that it would cause,
allowing farmers to more easily pay back their debts.
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“If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold
standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost,
having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the
world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the
laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their
demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not
press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You
shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”
The Election of 1896: William
McKinley
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William McKinley won the Republican
nomination.
He was a pro-business protectionist
who was instrumental in the passage of
record-high tariffs during the Harrison
administration.
Prior to the twentieth century, it was
customary for presidential candidates
not to campaign openly.
McKinley ran a traditional "front
porch" campaign while Bryan broke
with tradition by touring the country.
The Grand Realignment
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Bryan's emphasis on the silver issue aroused fears of anarchy and alienated urban,
industrial states with increasingly high populations.
William McKinley won by the biggest margin since 1872.
The 1896 is often characterized as a "realigning election" because it broke the
stalemate between the parties to usher in an era of Republican dominance that thrived
until the 1930's.
When William McKinley was inaugurated 1897, both the depression and the silver
issues began to fade.
Citations
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Slide 1: http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture04.html
Slide 2: http://www.library.gsu.edu/spcoll/spcollimages/labor/19clabor/Labor%20Prints/80-39_1.jpg
Slide 4: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/gildedage_chron.cfm
Slide 5: http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/fi/000000e9.jpg
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Slide 7: http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/fi/000000ea.jpg
Slide 8: http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/fi/000000eb.jpg
Photo of Arthur:
http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/fi/000000eb.jpg">http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/fi/000000
eb.jpg
Slide 9:
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.php?page=transcript&doc=48&title=Transcript+of+Pendleton
+Act+%281883%29
Slide 11: http://elections.harpweek.com/1884/cartoon-1884-Medium.asp?UniqueID=55&Year=1884
Slide 12: http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/thumbnail236.html
Slide 13: http://freenet.buffalo.edu/bah/h/cleve/chron/image/cleve.jpg
Slide 16: http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/thumbnail239.html
Slide 17: http://benjamin-harrison-house.visit-indianapolis.com/Benjamin-Harrison.jpg
Slide 18:
http://www.money.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Money_Museum&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&
ContentID=5367
Slide 21: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/i?pp/PPALL:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3a10255))
Slide 22: http://wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/31/32716/figures/DIVI415.jpg
Slide 23: http://www.goldinform.com.ua/Pic/bricks.jpg
Slide 24: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/seminar/unit8/bryan.htm
Slide 25: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5354/
Slide 27: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/gildedage_chron.cfm