REFORM AND THE
POPULIST PARTY
1892-1896
Journal Entry
“Unless you can get the ear of a Senator…and
persuade him to use his ‘influence’ in your
behalf, you cannot get an employment of the
most trivial nature in Washington. Mere merit,
fitness and capability, are useless baggage to
you without ‘influence’…It would be an odd
circumstance to see a girl get
employment…merely because she was worthy
and a competent , and a good citizen of a free
country that ‘treats all persons alike.” from the Gilded Age
by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
1. According to the authors, what was the best way to get a government job?
2. How is the last sentence in the quotation sarcastic?
Series of Poor Presidents
Rutheford B. Hayes
James A. Garfield
Chester A. Arthur
Grover Cleveland
Benjamin Harrison
William McKinley
BEGINNINGS OF REFORM
• Rutherford B Hayes
(1876) starts Civil
Service Reform
– Used Merit System to
hire employees
– Fired clerks with nothing to do
Election of 1880
• Split in Republican Party—Reformers
(Mugwumps and Half-breeds) and
Stalwarts (opposed reform)
• Garfield (reformer) and Arthur (Stalwart) were
placed on the ticket.
• When Garfield became president he gave
Reformers most of the patronage jobs
• Garfield had turned down Charles Guiteau ( a
Stalwart) for a job
• Guiteau wanted Chester Arthur to be president
• Shot Garfield--July 2, 1881--died in Sept of 1881*
Charles Guiteau
Pendleton Act
1883
• Appoint a 3 member bi-partisan Civil
Service Commission
• Open competitive examination for
classified jobs
Results of the Pendleton Act
• Qualified, honest, more efficient
government
• Politicians lost patronage, had to find
other sources for campaign funds
Farmers and the Populist
Movement
• Prices received
for goods fell
• Cost of manufactured
goods remained high
• Had to pay high prices for shipping
• Many lost farms to mortgage foreclosure
GRANGE
• Try to solve social and political problems
• Fix maximum rates for storage and
regulate freight rates
• Interstate Commerce Act
– Rates must be reasonable, no rebates, no
long hauls cheaper than short hauls
Money Solutions
• Greenbacks
– Farmers wanted an increase in the money
supply
– Cheaper money makes it easier to pay debts
• Unlimited Coinage of Silver
– Dollar defined as one ounce of gold or 16
ounces of silver
– Also called bi-metalism favored by the “free
silverites”
Financial Reform
• Currency inflation
• Graduated federal income tax
• Federal loan program
Transportation Reforms
• Government ownership and operation of
railroads
• Government ownership and operation of
telephone
Government Reforms
• Direct Election of Senators
• Single term for President and VicePresident
• Australian ballot (secret ballot)
Other Reforms
• 8 hour work day
• Restrictions on immigration
• Oppose subsidies to private corporations
Election of 1896
• William Jennings Bryan
(Democratic Party) gives
Cross of Gold Speech
• Lost election and party
faded from political scene
• Many proposals adopted by other parties
and enacted into law
“Cross of Gold” speech
• "You shall not
press down upon
the brow of labor
this crown of
thorns, you shall
not crucify
mankind upon a
cross of gold."
July 9, 1896, at the Democratic National Convention, Chicago
1. The Pendleton Act helped
correct the evils of:
•
•
•
•
a. the short ballot,
b. the spoil’s system (patronage),
c. low wages in factories,
d. high railroad rates.
2. Agrarian (farmers) discontent
eventually led to:
•
•
•
•
a. reforms in the Republican Party,
b. a strong farmer's lobby in Washington,
c. the formation of the Populist Party,
d. support from Eastern businessmen.
3. Most members of the Populist
Party were:
•
•
•
•
a. farmers,
b. industrial leaders,
c. labor leaders and feminists,
d. middle-class white collar workers.
4. The Populist platform did not
include:
• a. an income tax equal for the rich and
the poor,
• b. a deflated currency,
• c. election of senators by popular vote,
• d. the secret Australian ballot.
5. A Populist reform idea that
became a constitutional
amendment was:
•
•
•
•
a. referendum,
b. secret ballot,
c. initiative,
d. graduated income tax.
6. Bryan's Cross of Gold speech
emphasized:
•
•
•
•
a. importance of cities,
b. dependency of farmers on businessmen,
c. influence of the gold standard on farmers,
d. independence of farmers.
7. Which of the following was
prompted by President Garfield's
assassination?
•
•
•
•
a. the Haymarket affair,
b. civil service reform,
c. the formation of the Secret Service,
d. the appointment of Frances Perkins as
Secretary of Labor.
8. Which is true of "free silverites"?
•
•
•
•
a. they favored bimetallism,
b. they opposed the use of gold as money,
c. they opposed the use of paper money,
d. they preferred a stable currency to
cheap money.
9. Who started Civil Service
Reform?
•
•
•
•
A.
B.
C.
D.
Ulysses S. Grant
William Jennings Bryan
Rutherford B. Hayes
William McKinley
10. Which of the following were not
part of the Republican party in
1880?
•
•
•
•
A.
B.
C.
D.
Mugwumps
Half-Breeds
Populists
Stalwarts
11. Why was Garfield
assassinated?
• A. Guiteau was mad that he didn’t get a
job.
• B. Arthur was a Mug-wump.
• C. Hayes had fired Arthur.
• D. Civil servants were tired of the work.
12. What were the results of the
Pendleton Act?
• A. Gov’t officials were more qualified and
honest.
• B. Politicians lost their patronage.
• C. Gov’t was more efficient
• D. All of the above
13. How did farmers want to
increase the money supply?
•
•
•
•
A.
B.
C.
D.
By printing greenbacks
By producing more crops
By encouraging the unions
By limiting the amount of crops
14. When did the Populist Party
die off?
•
•
•
•
A.
B.
C.
D.
After the election of 1896.
Before the Cross of Gold Speech.
When Garfield died.
After the Pendleton Act was passed.
15. What was the Grange?
A. Bimetalism
B. A group trying to solve the social and
political problems of the farmers.
C. A member of the Stalwarts Party
D. Another type of cattle