Political Paralysis of
the
Gilded Age
AP Chapter 23
What were the patterns of party
strength?
Elections
were close
Voter participation very
high – 80 to 95%
Family tradition, ethnic
ties, religious affiliation
often determined how one
voted
What were the issues?
 Tariff
 Nature
of the nation’s money
supply
 Pensions awarded to Civil
War veterans
 “waving the bloody shirt”
 Lackluster presidents
Greenbacks and Silver
 Create
a money supply adequate
for a growing and diverse
economy
 Gold and silver – trustworthy
 Bankers and creditors wanted
gold
 Farmers and debtors wanted an
expanded money supply backed
by gold and silver – even
greenbacks
The Spoils System
Since the Jacksonian era
 Reward supporters and contributors with
government jobs – maintain party loyalty
 Unqualified and incompetent often
received jobs
 Office holders had to contribute to future
campaigns
 Battle for reform in the GOP – Stalwarts
vs. Half-breeds

– Stalwarts led by Conkling and were propatronage
– Half-Breeds led by Blaine and were for reform
Election of 1868
Republican
 “Bloody Shirt”
campaign
 Inexperienced in
politics
 Inept in choosing
assistants
 Deferred to
Congress

Era of Good Stealings
 Corruption
– Railroads, Stockmarket, judges and legislators
for hire
 Political machines and bosses –
Tweed Ring of NYC cheated the
city of $200 million
 Scandals in the presidency
The Fisk – Gould Scheme
 Jim
Fisk and Jay Gould – wealthy
businessmen
 Attempted to corner the gold
market
 Bribed government officials to
stop selling gold
 Sept. 24, 1869 – began to bid up
the price of gold - Treasury
released more gold
Tweed Ring - NYC
 Tammany
Hall – NYC democratic
headquarters
 Political machine politics
 Graft, bribery, fraudulent
elections
 Bilked the city of almost $200
million
 Brought down by the cartoonist
Thomas Nast
Grant Scandals
 Credit
Mobilier - VP received stock
not to investigate fraud by a RR
construction company -- 1872
 Whiskey Ring – Grant’s private
secretary took bribes not to collect
taxes from distillers – 1874-75
 Sec. of War accepted bribes from
agents on Indian reservations -1876
Election of 1872
 Liberal
Republicans – fed up with
corruption and graft – nominated
Horace Greeley
– Editor of NY Tribune
 Democrats
– nominated Greeley
 Republicans – Grant
 Mud – spattered campaign
 Both were unqualified
Depression of 1873
 First
major economic depression
in U.S. history
 Result of rapid economic
expansion after the Civil War
 Boom – bust
 Overextended economy + risky
loans
 The Crime of ’73 – de-monitized
silver
 Millions out of work
Resumption Act of 1875
Debtors and farmers sought the reissue
of greenbacks
 “soft money” vs. “hard money”
 “hard money” won – redemption of all
paper money in gold beginning 1879
 Contraction – decrease in nation’s
money supply

– deflation
– stabilized greenbacks

“soft money” began demanding free
coinage of silver
Bland – Allison Act - 1878
The U.S. Treasury purchase between
$2 and $4 million in silver each month
from the western mines
 The silver was to be purchased at
market rates, not at a pre-determined
ratio of 16 to 1
 The metal was to be minted into
silver dollars as legal tender
 Government purchased a minimal
amt. of silver – little effect

Sherman Silver Purchase Act of
1890
 Gov’t
required to 4.5 million
ounces of silver each month
 Issue redeemable in gold and
silver
 Surplus of silver – drove down
value
 People preferred to redeem issue
for gold and not silver  drain on
gold reserves
 Panic of 1893
Who voted Republican during
the Gilded Age?
 Region?
 Religion?
 Blue
laws?
 Tariffs?
 Money issues?
 Union pensions?
Who voted Democratic during
the Gilded Age?
 Region?
 Religion?
 Blue
laws?
 Tariffs?
 Money issues?
 Union pensions?
The Election of 1876 – The End
of Reconstruction
 Rutherford
B. Hayes vs. Samuel
Tilden
 Tilden (D) won 184 votes out of the
needed 185 to win the Electoral
College
 Votes in Louisiana, South Carolina,
and Florida in dispute ( 2 sets of
results)
 Commission of 15 (8 republicans
and 7 democrats) counted the
disputed votes
Compromise of 1877
 Hayes
(R) would get the votes
and become president
 Federal troop withdrawn from
Louisiana and S. Carolina – ending
Reconstruction
– Repubs abandon commitment to
racial equality
 Bill
to subsidize the Texas Pacific
Rail - line
The Great RR Strike of 1877
 Wild-cat
strike – 1st national
strike
 Baltimore and Ohio RR
 10% wage cut
 Spread from the East to Mid-west
 2/3 RR idle – property burned
 Hayes called in federal troops –
100 dead
 Exposed weakness of labor movt
The Election of 1880 and the
Patronage Issue
Republican convention split between
Half-Breeds and Stalwarts
 James A. Garfield – Half-Breed
nominated for president
 Chester Arthur – Stalwart – VP nominee
 Garfield beat Winfield Hancock by 40,000
out of 9.2 million votes
 1881 Garfield assassinated by Charles
Guiteau – a stalwart
 Arthur became president
 Shocked nation into reforming spoils
system

Pendleton Act
Created an independent civil service
outside of party politics
 Civil Service Commission to classify
government jobs and administer an
examination – est. standards of merit
 Gov’t employees could not be forced
to contribute to political campaigns
and could not be fired for political
reasons

Consequences of the Pendleton
Act?
 Stopped
the most blatant abuses
 Politicians forced to look
elsewhere for money
 Turned to businesses and
lobbyists
Election of 1884
Republican candidate – James G.
Blaine of Maine – not know for his
honesty
 Mugwumps – Republicans who
refused to support Blaine
 Democrats – Grover Cleveland – had a
reputation for integrity
 Mud – slinging again – Democrats
labeled the party of “Rum, Romanism,
and Rebellion”

Grover Cleveland
 1st
democratic
president since
Civil War
 “public office is
a public trust”
President Cleveland
Laissez – faire  business happy
 Expanded the merit system – but also
appointed many democrats to positions
 Surplus - $145 million/year
 Issue  military pensions – vetoed
special pension bills for Civil War vets
 Fought for lower tariffs

– Lower prices and end to surplus

Compelled return of 80 million acres of
public land held illegally by lumber and
railroad companies
Election of 1888
 Democrats
 Cleveland
 Republicans  Benjamin
Harrison
 Harrison supported high tariffs
and so the industrialists
supported him
 Cleveland won popular vote –
Harrison won the electoral vote
The First Billion Dollar Congress
Harrison did not assert presidential
authority – deferred to party leaders
 Congress – led by “Czar” Reed (R)
– Raised tariffs and reduced imports,
thus reducing federal revenues
(McKinley Tariff)
– Voted “pork barrel” public
expenditures
– Authorized generous pensions
previously vetoed by Cleveland
– Wiped out surplus

There’s Trouble Down on the
Farm!
Harsh conditions – drought and harsh
winters – 1886-87
 Railroad abuses
 Falling agriculture prices
 Tight money
 McKinley Tariff
 Voted for Democrats in 1890
 Formed Farmers’ Alliances and the
Grange

1892 – A year of discontent

Homestead Strike
– Strike against A. Carnegie’s Homestead
steel plant
– 300 armed Pinkerton’s called in
– Ten people killed
– Federal troops called in to break strike

Strike at Coeur d’Alene silver mine
broken by state and federal troops
Populist (Omaha) Platform
Inflation – free coinage of silver
 Graduated income tax
 Government ownership of the
railroads, telegraph, and telephone
 Direct election of U.S. senators
 One-term limit on the presidency
 Initiative and referendum
 8 hour day
 Immigration restriction

Election of 1892
 Populists
nominated General
James B. Weaver
–22 electoral votes
–Cut into republican strength in
Midwest
 Republicans
– Harrison
 Democrats – Cleveland
(winner)
Panic of 1893
 Economic
railroads
collapse of the
–Overbuilding and overspeculation
 Depletion
of gold reserves
 Government debt – veterans
benefits and high tariff
 Stock prices dropped
Depression 1893-1897
 200
railroads failed
 20-25 percent unemployment
 Recent immigrants faced disaster
 Harsh winters 1893-4
 Farm prices down 20%
 More people joined the Populist
Movement
 Jacob Coxey went to see the
President
What about the gold
standard?
 Defended
by Cleveland
 Gold reserve fell below $100
million
 Repeal of Sherman Silver
Purchase Act
 Gold reserve sank to $40 million
 Floated 2 Treasury bond issues
of over $100 million
 Turned to J.P. Morgan for help
What did Morgan do?
 Banker
and head of a Wall
Street syndicate
 Agreed to lend gov’t $65
million in gold
 Charged $7 million fee
 Saved the gold standard and
restore confidence in nation’s
finances
Backlash?
People resented cooperation with
Morgan
 Resented preservation of gold
standard
 Wilson – Gorman Tariff passed
– Lower but not enough
– Income tax – but declared
unconstitutional
 Coxey’s Army ignored
 Used troops and an injunction against
the Pullman Strike

Congressional Election of
1894
Democrats suffered
heavy losses
Republicans gained
control of the House of
Representatives
Populists increased
their base