Chapter 17: Politics in the Gilded
Age
Section One: Political Machines
I. The Rise of the Political Machines
A. Challenges of city government
1. Public services- fire, police, and sanitation departments
2. Bridges, parks, schools, streets, sewer, utility
B. Political Bosses
1.
2.
3.
4.
well- organized political parties- political machines
Dictated positions and made deals- pocketed money
Precinct captains and voters
Offered jobs, political favors, and services
C. Public Services
1. Alexander Shephard- D.C.
2. Jobs to supporters
II. Immigrants and Political Machines
A.
B.
C.
D.
Immigrants supporters
As soon as they arrived
Tammany Hall- New York City
Jobs for votes
III. Graft and Corruption
A. Election Fraud- vote early and often
B. Graft
1. Acquisition of money or political power through
illegal or dishonest methods
2. Bribes, payoffs, kickbacks
3. George Washington Pluckitt- Tammany Hall- pg 522
C. Tweed Ring- 1860s
1. $200 million in graft
2. Thomas Nast- cartoonist
Section Two
Restoring Honest Government
I. Scandal in the White House
A. Grant’s first term
1.
Scandals
a.
b.
Jay Gould- Gold Scandal- 1869
V.P. Schulyer Colfax- Credit Mobilier Scandal- 1872
B. The election of 1872
1.
2.
Civil Service Reform
Easily re-elected
C. Grant’s second term
1.
More corruption
a. 1874- taxation of whiskey
D. Politics of the Gilded Age
1.
2.
1873- Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner- The Gilded Age
Money lust- politicians take advantage
II. The Struggle for Reform
A. Election of 1876- Dem. Tilden vs. Rep. Hayes
B. Republican split
1. Hayes order prohibits federal employers from
participating in campaigns
2. Stalwarts- opposed civil service reforms
3. Half-Breeds- supported civil service reforms
4. Election 1880- Hayes does not run
a. James A. Garfield- Half-Breed for pres.
b. Chester A. Arthur- Stalwart- for V.P.
II. Struggle for Reform cont.
C. Garfield’s assassination
1. July 2, 1881- four months shot by Charles
Guiteau
D. Reforms and reactions
1. Pendleton Civil Service Act- competitive
exams
2. 1884 Election- Grover Cleveland
III. Advances and Setbacks
A. Advances
1. Double # of federal jobs requiring civil service
exams
B. Setbacks
1. Election 1888- Cleveland beat by Benjamin
Harrison
2. Rep. fill every job not on the civil service exam
list
Section Three
The Populist Movement
I. The Farmers’ Plight
A. Tumbling prices
B. Overproduction
C. Financial trouble
II. Farmers Organize
A. The Grange Movement
1. National Grange- Oliver Hudson Kelley- 1867
a.
b.
c.
Social organization
Cooperatives- pool resources to buy and sell
“Granger laws”- railroad regulation
B. The Alliance movement
1. Farmers’ Alliance- Mary Elizabeth Lease
a. cooperatives, lobbyist, graduated income tax
C. African American Farmers
1. Separate Alliance
2. Organized strike
III. The Money Question
A. 1873- Gold Standard- money in circulation
was limited to the amount of gold in U.S.
Treasury
B. Bland-Allison Act 1878 and Sherman Silver
Act in 1890
1. Allowed the gov. to mint silver coins
IV. A Decade of Populist Politics
A. Populist Party- Feb. 1892
1. Alliance members, farmers, labor leaders, and
reformers
2. Graduated income tax, bank regulation, government
ownership of railroad and telegraph, coinage of
silver, immigrant restrictions, shorter work day, and
voting reforms
B. Economic depression
1. Panic of 1893
2. 3 million unemployed
3. Cleveland stops silver coinage
V. Election of 1896
A. William Jennings Bryan vs. William McKinley
1. Gold standard vs. free silver- populism
B. The end of populism
1. Bryan lost
2. Improvements in economy