Gilded Age Presidents
Ulysses S. Grant—1868-76; Republican
 15th Amendment ratified
 Panic of 1873 saw bank failures in Europe, which affected overextended
bankers in the United States. Business owners were unable to repay loans.
Stock market crashed. Factories were shut down, and workers were laid off.
 Whiskey Ring was an extensive system of bribes and payoffs that affected
revenues from the taxation of alcoholic beverages in the United States.
 Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869, and additional rail
construction resulted in 56,000 miles of track being laid between 1866 and
1873.
Rutherford B. Hayes—1876-80; Republican
 Railroad Strike of 1877 occurred when Baltimore and Ohio employees struck
over attempts by the company to stop unionization and cut wages as a result
of the Panic of 1873. It spread across the country and affected sympathetic
industries which also struck. Troops were used to put down labor disputes,
and between seventy and one hundred workers were killed when the troops
opened fie on crowds.
 The Compromise of 1877 resulted in the election of Hayes to the presidency;
the disputed election was decided by a congressional commission. Sothern
members of Congress agreed to support Hayes if he would withdraw federal
troops from the still occupied Southern states and appoint one Southerner as
a member of his cabinet.
 Bland-Allison Act (1878) required the US Treasury to buy a certain amount
of silver and put into circulation as silver dollars.
 Munn v. Illinois (1876) determined that railroad rates could be controlled by
the government because railroads were considered to be private enterprises
which benefitted the public good.
James A. Garfield—1880-81; Republican
 Garfield accomplished little in domestic or foreign affairs because he was
assassinated after only one hundred days as president.
 Wanted to reform the spoils system
Chester A. Arthur—1881-84; Republican
 The Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883) created competitive examinations for
civil service workers. Aimed at reforming the spoils system, it covered only
10 percent of government jobs. It was passed as a result of Garfield’s
assassination by a disgruntled office seeker.
 Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) restricted Chinese immigrants from entering
the country for a period of ten years to work in the mining industry, required
Chinese residents who left the country to reapply for entry as aliens, and
excluded Chinese immigrants from citizenship.
Grover Cleveland—1884-88 and 1892-96; Democrat
 Depression of 1893 was caused by over speculation, depressed agriculture,
and weak US credit here and abroad. Most of those affected were farmers and
the urban unemployed poor.
 The Pullman Strike (1894) in Chicago was marked by use of federal troops to
end the strike.
 Dawes Severalty Act (1887) carved up Native American tribal lands and gave
each family an allotment to be held in trust. IT also granted citizenship to all
Native Americans.
 Interstate Commerce Act (1887) created an Interstate Commerce
Commission which was to regulate all trade and business conducted across
state lines.
 Coxey’s Army (1894) included unemployed men, among them veterans for
the Civil War, who came to Washington to demand economic relief for
conditions caused by the Depression of 1893.
Benjamin Harrison—1888-92; Republican
 Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) banned big business monopolies but was used
to prosecute labor unions. Later it was used by Theodore Roosevelt to break
up the Standard Oil Company.
 McKinley Tariff (1890) set one of the highest tariffs in American history
when it taxed foreign goods at 50 percent of the face value of an item.
William McKinley—1896-1901; Republican
 Wilson-Gorman Tariff (1894) was intended to reduce the high tariffs placed
on imported goods by the McKinley Tariff. Hundreds of amendments were
added, which effectively gutted the bill. The law also added a 2 percent
income tax, which was later struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme
Court.
 Annexation of Hawaii (1897) was completed during McKinley’s first term in
office. Annexation had been proposed earlier but was challenged by sugar
interests who did not want to relinquish the control they had over the
islands.
 During the Spanish-American War (1898) the United States attacked Spanish
possessions in the Caribbean and Pacific in response to Spanish actions
against dissidents. Spurred on by the press, Congress sent an American army,
most of whom were volunteers, and the American navy against far
outnumbered Spanish forces.