Transcript Politics and Corruption 5x

Government Corruption
“City Bosses” and Early Reform
Gilded Age
Growth of cities = City Bosses
• Urbanization required the expansion of public
services (streets, subways, parks, sewers, etc)
• Led to the development of the “Professional
Politicians”
– Also known as “city bosses”
• Many times these men were corrupt, but
ensured public services and provided stability.
“Boss” Tweed
• Most notorious was William Tweed of New York
City.
• Led the Tammany Hall political machine
– Democratic party organized at the “grassroots”
level.
– Power based on loyalty and patronage; Push voters
to support certain candidates and receive kickbacks
and bribes from politicians
– Created a “shadow” government, more powerful
than the city’s elected officials
Tweed’s rule
• Patronage - Purpose
was to win elections
and reward its followers
with jobs on the city’s
payroll.
• Graft – inflating the cost
of city projects in order
to pocket or keep some
of the money (ex. NYC
courthouse)
George Washington Plunkett
• An influential leader in Tammany Hall,
New York's Democratic political machine.
• He served as a state senator and a
representative to the New York Assembly.
• He exercised great political influence as a
ward boss in New York's Fifteenth
Assembly District.
• Use political power to advance his own
personal interests
• Grafting and spoils, okay. It helps the
weak!
Reform
Reformers
• Thomas Nast used political
cartoons to expose the
corruption of Tammany
Hall.
– Boss Tweed would be
tried and convicted and
died in jail.
• Lincoln Steffens “The
Shame of the Cities”
exposed the corruption of
another city boss.
Voting Reforms
Initiative
Uses a public
petition to propose
legislation.
Referendum Submits an issue to
popular vote.
Recall
Method of removing
elected officials by
calling a special
election.
Presidents of the Gilded Age
• From 1877-1896, most presidents are
forgotten.
– Few Americans expected so little of them.
• Ideas of Laissez-faire Economics (Government
Leave Economy Alone) & social Darwinism
discouraged them from becoming involved in
regulating business.
Federal Government Corruption
• Whiskey Ring - in this scandal federal officials
were charged with increasing liquor taxes and
transferring the funds to the Republican Party
for campaigning.
• Credit Mobilier Affair - charged congressmen
buying or taking shares of railroad companies,
and then approving federal money to help
build these railroads.
• End of President Grant remember!
Comstock Act 1873
• Congress passed the Act for the "Suppression
of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene
Literature and Articles of Immoral Use".
• The Act criminalized usage of the U.S. Postal
Service to send any of the following things:
erotica. contraceptives.
Bland-Allison Act 1878
• Grand Bland Plan was an act of United States
Congress requiring the U.S. Treasury to buy a
certain amount of silver and put it into
circulation as silver dollars
• Democrats and populists favored
• Republican President Hayes vetoed but
Congress passed
• bimetalism
Civil Service (Government Jobs)
• Republicans were divided in the late 1800s
– Stalwarts – Republicans supporters of city bosses –
against CSS, wanted Grant to run 3rd term in 1880.
Led by Roscoe Conkling NY politician against the
Civil Service radical
– Half-Breeds – Republicans supported by city bosses,
backed reform for their own purposes, led by James
Blaine moderate
– Mugwumps – Republicans who left party and
wanted major reform; voted Democrat in 1884
Election of 1880
• James Garfield of Ohio, a half-breed won
• Chester A. Arthur, a stalwart and friend of
Roscoe Conkling became VP
• Winfield Scott, general, hero and no political
ties LOST!
• After 200 days, Garfield was assassinated by
Charles Guiteau a stalwart!
Pendleton Act 1883
• President Arthur
• Federal law that required federal employees
take and pass exam for employment with
federal jobs
• Merit system
• End to spoils and corruption in government
• Create Civil service Commission to administer
& regulate exams
Garfield’s Assassination & CSS
• Less than 4 months after inauguration,
Garfield was fatally shot by Charles Guiteau,
who claimed he was a Stalwart.
• Increased support for the CSS followed his
death.
• Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883
– Established Civil Service Commission
– People were required to pass examinations and
prove qualifications before working for the govt.
Thomas Nast
• German-born cartoonist
• Father of American Political
Cartoons
• He hated Democrat Boss
Tweed
• Republican Party elephant
• Harper’s Weekly 1859-86
Muckraking
• Sensationalizing stories to sell papers
• Reporting of abuses of corporations and
companies
• Exposing scandals and corruption
Henry Demarest Lloyd
• American progressive
political activist and pioneer
muckraking journalist
• Known for writing about the
Standard oil monopoly
• Wealth Against Wealth 1894
• History of Standard Oil
Company 1904
Election of 1884
• Democrat Grover Cleveland (#22)
wins
• Against Republican James Blaine
(stalwart)
• Republican Mugwumps supported
• Cleveland had an illegitimate child
he financed that stalwart
Republicans fed on to hurt his
character
Silver Sherman Purchase Act 1890
• 1890 act that was a compromise between the
western silver agitators (Democrats) and the
eastern protectionists (Republicans).
• The Westerners agreed to support higher
tariffs and the protectionists agreed to use
silver to help aid the economy (cheaper)
• Treasury ordered 4.5 million ounces of silver
each month (high supply, cheaper prices)
• Wages and jobs cut out west in the mines!
Election of 1892
• Democrat Grover Cleveland (#24) wins again!
• Priority: dealing with Panic of 1893
• Repeal the Sherman Silver Act and maintain the
Gold Standard only
• Had to deal with the Railroad Strike: When
railroad strikers in Chicago violated an injunction,
Cleveland sent Federal troops to enforce it. "If it
takes the entire army and navy of the United
States to deliver a post card in Chicago," he
thundered, "that card will be delivered."
Panic of 1893 Causes
National economic crisis set off by the collapse of
two of the country's largest employers, the
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the
National Cordage Company. F
A panic erupted on the stock market. Hundreds of
businesses had overextended themselves,
borrowing money to expand their operations.
When the financial crisis struck, banks and other
investment firms began calling in loans, causing
hundreds of business bankruptcies across the
United States.
Panic of 1893 Effects
• Banks, railroads, and steel mills especially fell into
bankruptcy. Over fifteen thousand businesses
closed during the Panic of 1893.
• Unemployment rates soared to twenty to twentyfive percent in the United States during the Panic
of 1893. Homelessness skyrocketed, as workers
were laid off and could not pay their rent or
mortgages. The unemployed also had difficulty
buying food due to the lack of income
• 5-YEAR DEPRESSION!
U.S. v EC Knight Co. 1895
• American Sugar Refining Company (American)
purchased four refineries in Philadelphia,
effectively monopolizing sugar refining in the
United States. The company was subsequently
sued by the federal government for engaging
in combinations in restraint of trade.
• Did Congress overuse the Commerce Clause?