Gilded Age
Gilded Age
Coined by Mark Twain in 1873
 Referred to the superficial glitter of the
new wealth
 Very little was accomplished politically

– Era of “forgettable presidents”
 None served more than 1 term
– The 2 major political parties avoided issues
Political stalemate

Due to
– Prevailing political ideology
 Limited government
– Laissez-faire economics
– Social Darwinism
– Campaign tactics of the 2 parties
 Caused by the closeness of elections
 Wanted to get out the vote w/o alienating voters
– Brass bands, buttons, flags, picnics, free beer, etc.
 Voter turnout was as high as 80%
Political Stalemate
 Republicans
– Waved the “bloody shirt” in every campaign
 Blamed Dems for the CW & Lincoln’s death
– Reformers, African-Americans, businessmen, middle-class
Anglo-Saxon Protestants
 Democrats
– Won every election in southern states
 Solid South
– In North, Dems had political machines & immigrant vote
in cities
 Catholics & Jews who objected to temperance
– Believed in states’ rights & limited federal powers
Political Stalemate
– Party patronage
 Neither party had a legislative agenda
 Goal was to get in office, stay in office, & provide
jobs to supporters
– Rep. Sen. Roscoe Conkling (NY)
 Powerful leader who gave lucrative jobs in the NY
Customs House
– Stalwarts
 Followers of Conkling
– Halfbreeds
 Rivals for Republican patronage
 Led by James Blaine
– Mugwumps
 Republicans who did not follow either side
 Mugs on one side of the fence, wumps on the other
1884 cartoon in Puck magazine ridicules Blaine as the
tattooed-man, with many indelible scandals.
Gilded Age Presidents

Rutherford B. Hayes
– Ended Reconstruction
– Attempted to
reestablish honest
government
– Stopped serving liquor
in the White House
 Temperance reformer
 Wife—”Lemonade
Lucy”
– Vetoed efforts to
restrict Chinese
immigration

Election of 1880
– Republicans nominated “Halfbreed” James
Garfield for pres. & “Stalwart” Chester A.
Arthur for vp
– Democrats nominated Winfield S. Hancock, a
former US Gen. wounded at Gettysburg

James Garfield
– Besieged by Republicans seeking jobs
– Filled most jobs with Halfbreeds
– Shot by disgruntled office seeker
 Charles Guiteau
President Garfield's assassination depicted in engraving
from 1881 newspaper
To General Sherman:
I have just shot the President. I
shot him several times as I
wished him to go as easily as
possible. His death was a political
necessity.
I am a lawyer, theologian, and
politician. I am a Stalwart of the
Stalwarts. I was with General
Grant and the rest of our men, in
New York during the canvass.
I am going to the Jail. Please
order out your troops, and take
possession of the jail at once.
Very respectfully,
Charles Guiteau.
President James Garfield lies in the sickroom at the White
House
in the days following his assassination.

Chester A. Arthur
– Better president than
people expected
– Distanced himself from
Stalwarts
– Supported a bill
reforming civil service
– Approved the
development of a
modern US navy
– Began to question high
protective tariff
– Was not renominated by
the Republicans
Election of 1884

Republicans nominated Sen. James Blaine
(ME)
– Responsible for reshaping the Republicans
from antislavery party to pro-business party
– Tainted by scandals

Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland
– Honest, conscientious, frugal,
uncompromising
– Mayor of Buffalo & governor of NY

Mugwumps campaigned & voted for
Cleveland
Election of 1884

Republicans exposed
Cleveland’s
illegitimate child &
labeled Democrats
the party of “Rum,
Romanism, &
Rebellion”
The mud-slinging began when a Buffalo newspaper
broke the story that Cleveland had an illegitimate son,
then ten years old, from an affair with a young widow
named Maria Halpin. Republicans crowed,
"Ma! Ma! Where's my Pa?" [Refer to the cartoon,
"Another vote for Cleveland."] But instead of issuing a
denial, Cleveland surprised both his allies and opponents
alike with a frank admission of responsibility. He
instructed his campaign advisers: "Tell the truth." Yes,
Cleveland (a bachelor) had been involved with Maria
Halpin (as had other men, apparently), and although he
could not be sure the child was his, nonetheless he did
"the honorable thing" and provided financial
support. This took much of the air out of the scandal.
Catholics were
offended by the
Republicans phrase &
many voted for
Cleveland
 Cleveland first
Democrat elected
president since
Buchanan in 1856

Grover Cleveland
Believed in limited government
(Jeffersonian)
 Implemented new civil service system
 Vetoed 100s of private pension bills for
false CW veteran claims
 Signed Interstate Commerce Act
 Signed Dawes Act

1870s & 1880s Issues:
civil service, currency, & tariffs
Civil service


Demand for reform after Garfield’s assassination
Pendleton Act (1881) set up the Civil Service
Commission & created a system in which
persons applying for classified federal jobs would
be hired based on their scores on a competitive
exam
– Law applied to 10% of federal jobs but has expanded
– Politicians became less dependent on party workers &
more on the rich
Currency

Debate over whether or not to expand the
money supply
– Easy or soft-money advocates
 Debtors, farmers, & new businesses wanted more
money in circulation so they could
– Borrow money at lower interest rates
– Pay off their loans easier with inflated dollars
 Many blamed the gold standard for causing the
Panic of 1873
 Campaigned for more paper money (greenbacks)
& for unlimited minting of silver coins
– Sound or hard money
advocates
 Bankers, creditors,
investors, & established
businesses wanted
currency backed by
gold
 Backed currency would
hold value against
inflation
Greenback party

Civil War had been financed by issuing
greenbacks (un-backed paper money)
– Northern farmers associated greenbacks with
prosperity
– Creditors & investors attacked it as violation of natural
law
Specie Resumption Act (1875) withdrew the last
of the greenbacks from circulation
 Supporters of paper money formed the
Greenback party

Crime of 1873
1873 Coinage Act stopped the coining of silver
 Critics called it the Crime of 1873
 Bland-Allison Act (1878)

– Allowed a limited coinage of silver each mo. @ the
standard silver to gold ratio of 16 to 1
– Passed as a compromise bill after new silver
discoveries in Nevada revived demands to increase
money supply
– Law passed over President Hayes’ veto.
Tariff issue





Western farmers opposed to high, protective
tariff
Eastern capitalists favored high, protective tariff
Republican Congress passed protective tariff
during CW
After CW, southern Democrats objected to high
tariffs
Other nations retaliated by taxing US products—
farmers were especially hurt losing overseas
markets
Election of 1888


President Cleveland proposed that Congress
lower the tariff because there was a surplus
Cleveland’s proposal became the first issue
between Dems & Reps in years
Democrats campaigned for Cleveland & a
lower tariff
 Republicans for Benjamin Harrison
(grandson of William Henry Harrison) & a
high tariff

– Played on fears of big business & labor to
gain support
– Also attacked Cleveland’s vetoes of pensions
to gain veterans’ votes

Close election
– Harrison won electoral votes; Cleveland had
majority of popular vote
Billion Dollar Congress
Republican president & Reps controlled both
houses of Congress
 Passed first billion-dollar budget in US history &
enacted:

– McKinley Tariff (1890) raised tax on foreign products
over 48%
– Increases in monthly pensions to CW veterans,
widows, & children
– Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) outlawed combinations
in restraint of trade
– Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890) increased
coinage of silver (not enough for farmers & miners)
1890s

Congressional elections of 1890 many
Republicans were replaced by Democrats
– Reaction against unpopular measures passed
 Prohibition of alcohol
 Sunday closing laws
– Midwestern non-Anglo & non-protestant
voters

Growing agrarian discontent
– Farmers’ Alliances elected congressmen,
governors, state reps

Farmers’ Alliances led to new party—
Populist or the People’s party
– Delegates met in Omaha, NE in 1892
– Omaha Platform
 Restoration of government to the people
– Direct election of senators
– Initiatives & referendums in states
 Unlimited coinage of silver
 Graduated income tax
 govt ownership of railroads
 Govt ownership of telegraph & telephone systems
 Loans & federal warehouses for farmers to stabilize
crop prices
 8-hour workday for industrial workers
Election of 1892

Democrat Grover Cleveland
– Won both popular & electoral votes
– Only former president to return to White House
Republican Benjamin Harrison
 Populist James Blaine

– Won more than 1 million votes
– Won 22 electoral votes (significant for a 3rd party)
– Populists did not do well in the South
 Southerners feared the uniting of poor whites & blacks
– Blacks were kept from voting
– Failed to attract northern urban workers
Panic of 1893

Stock market crash
– Overspeculation & dozens of railroads went
bankrupt due to overbuilding
Depression lasted 4 years
 Many farm foreclosures
 20% unemployment
 Cleveland took conservative approach

– Championed the gold standard
– Adopted hands-off policy to economy
Gold reserve crisis
Decline in silver price caused investors to switch
to gold
 Gold reserve fell dangerously low
 President Cleveland repealed the Sherman Silver
Purchase Act

– It did not stop the drain on gold

Cleveland turned to J.P. Morgan & borrowed $65
million gold
– Many Americans saw this as proof that the
government was a tool of the rich

Pullman strike
– Workers were further disenchanted with Cleveland
when he used federal troops to crush the Pullman
strike
Wilson-Gorman Tariff, 1894
Moderately reduced
tariff rates
 Included a 2%
income tax on
incomes over $2000

– Supreme Court
declared income tax
unconstitutional within
a year
Cleveland's humiliation by Gorman and the sugar
trust; cartoon by W. A. Rogers
Coxey’s Army





1894 thousands of unemployed marched on
Washington
Led by Populist Jacob A. Coxey of Ohio
They demanded that the federal government
spend $500 million on public works programs to
create jobs
Coxey & other leaders were arrested & the
“army” went home
The march worried conservatives who believe
the depression was resulting in war between
capitalists & labor
Coxey’s Army
Election of 1896
 Democrats divided
 “gold” Democrats
loyal to Cleveland vs.
Prosilver Democrats
 1896 Democratic
convention
 William Jennings
Bryan
 Cross of Gold speech
 Won nomination by
prosilver Dems
Election of 1896
 Democratic platform
 Favored unlimited
coinage of silver at 16
to 1 ratio to gold
 This was the main
issue for Populists who
decided to nominate
Bryan also & run a
duel campaign
 “Gold” Democrats
defected the party
William Jennings Bryan
Election of 1896
 Republicans nominated William McKinley
of Ohio
 Favored high protective tariffs
 & considered a friend of labor
 Republican platform
 Blamed Democrats for Panic of 1893
 High tariff to protect industry
 Gold standard
Election of 1896
 Marcus Hanna
 Rich businessman who secured McKinley’s
nomination
 Ran McKinley’s campaign by raising millions
of dollars & selling McKinley through the
mass media
 Businessmen contributed fearing the silver
movement
 McKinley stayed home & conducted a frontporch campaign
Election of 1896
 Bryan campaigned nationwide by train
 18,000 miles & over 600 speeches
 Appealed to farmers & debtors
 Bryan was hurt by
 A rise in wheat prices
 Employers scaring workers that factories would
close if Bryan was elected
 McKinley won the popular & electoral vote
Significance of 1896
election
 Marked end to the stalemate &
stagnation of politics in the Gilded Age
 Beginning of Republican dominance of
the presidency (7/9) & both houses of
Congress (17/20)
 Republicans were now the party of
business, industry, & strong national govt
Significance of 1896
election
 Populist party declined after 1896
 1896 was a victory for big business,
urban centers, conservative economics,
& moderate middle-class values
 William McKinley was first modern
president
 Mark Hanna created a new model for
running political campaigns