Politics and Reform
1877 – 1896
Chapter 11
Politics and Reform – Learning Targets
• Students will be able to trace the reforms made to the American
government in response to demands for change in the late 1800’s
• Students will be able to explain what populism was and how it
impacted American society
 Is there a populist trend today?
• Students will be able to analyze the rise of segregation: what were
the reasons behind it and what were the responses to it
 Are there any traces of segregation left today?
 What current government policies are in place today due to the history of
segregation?
Politics and Reform
• Traditionally, when a president
won the election, he would
place his supporters in
government jobs. This is called
patronage, or the Spoils System
• President Hayes 1877 –
attempted to end practice
 Angered Republican political
machine called Stalwarts led by
Sen. Conkling
 Conkling labeled Republican
reformers Halfbreeds
Politics and Reform
• 1880 – President Garfield
assassinated by insane officeseeker, Charles Guiteau
• 1883 Pendleton Act – civil
service jobs filled using exams;
government workers could not
be fired for political reasons
• Act signed by President Chester
Arthur – himself a one-time
political appointee
Politics and Reform
• Party Politics
 Political parties did not take a stand on issues b/c they did not
want to make enemies and they did not know how to fix the
problems anyway
 Republicans dominated the Northeast and upper mid-West
 Democrats owned the South
 Former Union soldiers, farmers, reformers, and businessmen
supported the Republicans
Politics and Reform
 Republicans were mostly Protestant
 Democrats were supported by immigrants especially Catholic Irish
 Between 1877 – 1896 Democrats dominated the House and
Republicans dominated the Senate
 Presidential elections were fought in just four states: NY, OH, IN
and IL
 Between 1868 – 1900 all the presidents came from those four
states
Politics and Reform
• Election of 1884
 Democrats saw chance of winning
White House by nominating
reformer Grover Cleveland
 Campaign was known for mudslinging
 Mugwumps - Republicans who
broke from the party to vote for
Cleveland
 Cleveland won the election
Politics and Reform
• Growing industrialization = growing
labor unrest = more strikes
• Strikes were often violent
• Many railroads negotiated lower
rates for big customers
(corporations) called rebates but
small business/individuals paid
higher rates
• Public clamored for government
intervention
• SCOTUS case Wabash v. Illinois
gave authority to federal
government to regulate
Politics and Reform
• 1887 Interstate Commerce
Commission (ICC) created
• Commission acted to regulate
railroad rates, forbid rebates
• Democrats wanted lower tariffs
but Republican senate blocked
law
Politics and Reform
• Republicans gained presidency
with election of Benjamin
Harrison
• Republican Congress passed
McKinley Tariff
• Tariff lowered federal revenue so
budget went into deficit
• Congress also passed pensions
for Civil War veterans which
made deficit worse
Politics and Reform
• The Sherman Anti-Trust Act
 Congress pressured by public to
act against trusts
 The law had no teeth – did not
have any real effect on trusts
 People felt betrayed by both
parties, especially farmers
Populism
• Populism – movement to
increase political power of
farmers
• Crop prices dropping but prices
of manufactured good rising due
to tariffs
• Farmers felt victimized by banks
• Farmers felt railroad shipping
rates too high – favored big
corporations
Populism
• Greenback controversy – US
government printed paper money
that could not be exchanged for
gold/silver – caused inflation (decline
in the value of money and rise in
prices)
• US stopped printing greenbacks but
also stopped making silver coins –
caused drop in money supply
• Crime of ‘73 – decision to stop minting
silver coins
• Deflation – value of money increases
along with decrease in prices
Populism
• Deflation hit farmers hard
• Farmers had to borrow money
for seed and equipment –
interest rates rose causing rise in
farmers’ debt
• Banks wanted their money but
prices for crops falling
• Farmers demanded the minting
of silver coins to increase money
supply
Populism
• Farmers needed a more powerful
political voice
• The Grange (Patrons of Husbandry) –
founded by Oliver Kelly, national farm
organization
• Grangers pressured government to
regulate railroad rates, wanted the
printing of more greenbacks
• Grangers formed cooperatives –
marketing organizations that
benefitted the farmer members
 Pooled crops and kept them out of
market to regulate prices
 Could negotiate better shipping, seed,
and equipment prices
Populism
• The Granges failed to improve
farmers’ conditions: people too
suspicious of paper money,
banks and railroads equated
granges with unions
• Framers also saw drop in respect
as more people began living in
towns / cities
• Use of derogatory terms like
redneck and hayseed for farmers
increased
Populism
• The Farmer’s Alliance
 Established in Lampasas County,
TX, 1877
 Organized farmers in West, MidWest, and South
 Organized large cooperatives
called exchanges – did better than
the Grange
Populism
• The People’s Party
 Alliance exchanges eventually failed
 Alliance members formed the People’s Party aka the Populists
 Alliance leaders shied away from third party – wanted Democrats
to take on Alliance platform (so South would remain Democratic)
 Developed Subtreasury Plan – farmers would put crops in
warehouses and use them to secure low-interest loans and keep
prices up
Populism
• Rise of Populism
 Ocala Demands – Farmers Alliance
meeting in Florida came up with
list of political demands
 Subtreasury Plan
 Free coinage of silver
 End to protective tariffs and national
banks
 Tighter regulation of railroads
 Direct election of senators
Populism
• Sherman Silver Purchase Act
1890 – authorized US treasury to
buy 4.5 million ounces of silver
per month – done to pull
farmers Republican
• Populists did well in election –
many pro-Alliance officials
elected
• After Democrats broke promises
to farmers, Alliance now ready
to push for third party
Populism
• Populist Party
 Nominated James Weaver for
president 1892
 Wanted silver/gold ratio 16-1
 Federal ownership of railroads
 Graduated income tax
 8-hour workday
 Immigration restriction
 Proposed laws to appeal to urban
laborers
 Had ties to Knights of Labor
Populism
• Panic of 1893
 Worst economic crisis up to Great
Depression of 1930’s
 Sparked by bankruptcy of several
railroads
 Stock market crashed and banks closed
doors
 Caused widespread unemployment and
labor strikes
 Drainage of government gold caused
Cleveland to repeal Sherman Silver
Purchase Act
 Action split Democrats in two: Goldbugs
believed US currency should be based on
gold, Silverites believed silver should be
coined in unlimited amounts
Populism
• Election of 1896
 Republican nominee – William
McKinley
 Democrat and Populist nominee –
William Jennings Bryan
 Republicans backed gold / Democrats
supported silver
 Bryan waged energetic campaign,
made 600 speeches in 14 weeks
 McKinley had the “Front Porch”
campaign
 Republicans blamed Democrats for
crisis of ’93
 McKinley had backing of businesses –
won the election
Rise of Segregation
• After slavery, most blacks in
South were sharecroppers –
landless farmers who paid
large portions of crops for rent,
food, seed, tools, etc.
• 1879 – Benjamin Singleton led
migration of blacks from South
to Kansas to escape nearslavery conditions
• Migrants called Exodusters
Rise of Segregation
• Many blacks who remained in
South joined the Farmer’s Alliance
• Blacks formed The Colored Farmers
National Alliance – hoped to
challenge Democratic Party’s
power in South
• Democrats feared poor whites
would join with blacks
• Democrats used racism to keep
whites in line
• Democrats kept many blacks from
voting
Rise of Segregation
• Voting for blacks was guaranteed
by the 15th Amendment
• States used qualifications like
property requirements, literacy
tests, and the poll tax to keep
blacks from voting
• Voting numbers dropped drastically
• Poor whites were also
disenfranchised as they often
supported Populist Party
• Other poor whites could vote due
to grandfather clause
Rise of Segregation
• Segregation in many parts of US
but legal in South
• Laws enforcing segregation called
Jim Crow laws
• SCOTUS overturned Civil Rights Act
of 1875 – encouraged Southern
states to pass laws making
segregation even more repressive
• Plessy v. Ferguson – case endorsed
legal doctrine of “Separate but
Equal”
Rise of Segregation
• Violence against blacks continued
into the twentieth century
• Lynching – hanging of people
without trial by mobs
• 80% of lynchings occurred in
South; 70% of victims were black
• Outraged black woman, Ida B.
Wells, led crusade against lynching.
Due to her and others’ efforts
lynching much in early 1900’s
Rise of Segregation
• Booker T. Washington – argued
blacks better off if they spent their
energy making themselves better
rather than fighting racism
• Atlanta Compromise – address by
Washington asked blacks to
postpone fight for civil rights and
pull themselves up
• W. E. B. DuBois – rejected
accommodation of Washington;
urged blacks to demand their
rights; helped found NAACP