From Stalemate to Crisis
Chapter 19
The Tweed Ring
• The corruption of Tammany Hall and the
Tweed Ring was revealed in a series of
political cartoons drawn by Thomas Nast
(considered a “Muckraker”)
• In 1871,Nast published 50 cartoons in
Harper’s Weekly that sharply criticized Tweed
and Tammany Hall.
Politics of the Gilded Age
• In 1873, Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
published a satirical novel, The Gilded Age, that
examined the values of wealthy Americans and
the nature of national politics after the Civil War.
• They believed that politics was like the base
material that hides beneath the glittering gold
surface of a gilded object.
• Corruption and greed lurked below the polite and
prosperous luster of American society during the
late 1800s
• The era became known as the Gilded Age.
Electoral Stability
• From end of Reconstruction until the late 1890s
the electorate was divided almost evenly
between the Republicans and the Democrats
• 16 states were consistently Republican & 14
Democrat
• Only 5 states were usually in doubt
• In the 5 presidential election beginning in 1876,
the average popular‐vote margin separating
candidates was 1.5%
• Republicans controlled the Senate & the
Democrats controlled the House
Voter Turnout
• National politics in the late 19th century
included high voter turnout
• 1860‐1900 = 78% of eligible voters
• 2011 = 41% of eligible voters
Party Identification
• Regional differences, religion, and ethnicity
shaped party loyalty more than economic
issues
• Democrats included recent immigrants in
northern cities & a strong base in the South
• Republicans favored measures limiting
• Immigration & were popular among
“old‐stock” Americans
Limited Federal Involvement
• The Federal Government did little during this
period
• Exceptions included subsidies to railroads (fed
land grants), intervention in labor disputes
(Pullman strike in 1894)
• It also administered a massive system of
pensions to Civil War vets (some hoped to
expand it into permanent old‐age pensions)
Stalwarts & Half-Breeds
• The Presidency at this time tended to be
custodial. He “took care of” rather than took
charge.
• The President distributed government patronage
in the form of jobs for party supporters.
• The Republican Party split into two factions:
– Stalwarts were supporters of traditional machine
politics and patronage (Roscoe Conkling)
– The Half‐Breeds sought reform (James Blaine)
• In reality, both wanted a larger piece of
patronage pie.
Rutherford B. Hayes
(1877-1881)
• Sought to create an effective and honest civil
service system, but it attracted no support
from either party.
• He did not seek reelection
• In 1880, the Republicans agree on a ticket that
included a Stalwart and Half‐Breed
– James Garfield (Half‐Breed) President
– Chester A. Arthur (Stalwart) Vice President
Garfield is Assassinated
• Garfield tried to defy Stalwarts in his
appointments and showed support for civil
service reform
• On July 2, 1881, Garfield was assassinated by
a frustrated office‐seeker
Pendleton Act
• Chester A. Arthur (1881‐1884) had been a
Stalwart, but sought to pursue an
independent course upon taking office
• In 1883 at Arthur’s urging, Congress passed
the Pendleton Act, which required a
competitive written examination system for
some federal jobs.
Election of 1884
• The Republican candidate was Senator James
Blaine of Maine
– Liberal Republicans (mugwumps) left party to support
an honest Democrat
• The Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland, the
reform governor of New York
• The election was decided when Blaine failed to
quickly repudiate the words of a Protestant
minister who referred to the Democrats as the
party of “rum, Romanism, and rebellion”
Grover Cleveland
• Cleveland reflected the popular view that the
federal government should play a limited role
• He opposed protective tariffs, which he
believed encouraged Congress to pass
unnecessary legislation that would increase
the federal government’s size and scope.
• His efforts to reduce tariffs met significant
Republican opposition, making the tariff a
central issue in 1888 election.
Election of 1888
• Cleveland was defeated by Benjamin Harrison
(1889‐1893) of Indiana in one of the closest
elections in American history
• It was the first election since the Civil War in
which the Republicans and Democrats differed
significantly on economic issues.
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
• Although Harrison was passive, he had to face
new issues.
• In July 1890, Congress passed the Sherman
Antitrust Act, a largely symbolic measure
forbidding “combinations in restraint of
trade”.
• It was only haphazardly enforced, until more
enforcement mechanism were added after
1900.
The McKinley Tariff
• Republicans also sought high protective tariffs
to benefit American businesses embodied by
the McKinley Tariff that was passed by
Congress in October 1890.
• This contributed to heavy Republican losses in
the midyear elections.
Election of 1892
• Harrison and Cleveland undertook a rematch of the
1888 campaign & were joined this time with a
third‐party candidate James B. Weaver of the People’s
Party
• Cleveland won a substantial victory.
• Democrats obtained a majority in both houses of
Congress for the first time since 1878.
– Cleveland took few major initiatives focusing primarily on
tariff reform.
– The Senate weakened his original proposal, resulting in the
compromise known as the Wilson‐Gorman tariff of 1894
Interstate Commerce Act
• In 1886, the Supreme Court overruled a series of state laws
regulating railroads, arguing that these new state laws were
an unconstitutional effort to control interstate commerce.
• In 1887, Congress responded with the Interstate Commerce
Act, which prohibited rate discrimination in short and long
hauls, required railroads to publish rate schedules, and
declared that rail rates must be “reasonable and just”.
• Loosely enforced for the next 20 years until Theodore
Roosevelt urged Congress to pass legislation extending the
federal government’s power to regulate railroad rates.
The Grange
• Farmers were mostly individualistic, but began to exhibit a tendency
to organize.
• The first major effort was the organization by Oliver H. Kelley in
1867 of the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry.
• In its early years it was a vehicle for social gatherings and education.
• The Depression of 1873 caused many of its members to form
marketing cooperatives to allow farmers to bypass middlemen and
raise profits
• In the 1870s, Grangers succeeded in controlling state legislation of
many mid-western states.
• The return of agricultural prosperity in late 1870s and overturning
of Granger laws by the Supreme Court caused the organization to
decline.
Farmers’ Alliances
• By mid‐1870s, farmers in both South and Midwest were
forming Farmers’ Alliances.
• In 1880, the Southern Alliance had 4 million members
– Concerned primarily with local problems, but somemembers sought
larger reforms that would replace competitive economy with
cooperative system.
• The alliances were notable for significant role of women
• Mary Ellen Lease known for her admonition to farmers to
“raise less corn and more hell!”
Birth of the People’s Party
(Populists)
• Alliance members competed successfully in the off‐year
election
• By 1892, the movement met in Omaha, Nebraska to nominate
James B. Weaver as the candidate of the People’s Party for
president of the U.S.
• Weaver gained 8.5 percent of the popular vote, while nearly
1,500 Populist candidates won seats in state.
Populist Constituency
• Populists sought to create a broad‐based political coalition,
but their appeal was mainly to farmers.
– Especially farmers who worked in areas threatened by the
mechanization and agricultural consolidation
• Many Populists were “culturally marginal”— out of the
mainstream of American life
• They generally failed in efforts to attract organized labor—less
true in Rocky Mountains.
Free Silver
• One of the main tenets of populism was demand for “free
silver”
• Urban workers in the east disliked expanding the currency
fearing inflation and rising costs of living and put off by the
Populists’ anti‐immigrant stance
• In the South, the controversy over whether to allow blacks in
the movement led to some southern conservatives attacking
the movement for undermining white supremacy.
• Interracial character faded and the possibility of widespread
movement against elite ended.
Populist Platform
• The Populist program was best expressed in Omaha
• Platform of 1892
– Called for creation of “subtreasuries,” or warehouses,
where farmers could store crops and use crops as collateral
until prices rose
– Populists wanted direct election of U.S. senators and
regulation, and later, ownership of railroads, telephones,
and telegraphs.
– Also demanded government‐owned postal savings banks, a
graduated income tax and currency inflation
Panic of 1893
• Worst depression in American history to that point that
resulted from the collapse of the Philadelphia and Reading
railroad.
– It Triggered a stock market collapse, leading to failure of banks that
they were heavily invested in the market
– The panic showed how interdependent the American economy was. A
failure in one area triggered failures in other areas.
– Prosperity did not return until 1901
Coxey’s Army
• The Depression led to protest movements most notably the
march from Ohio to Washington led by Jacob Coxey
• Advocated currency inflation and public works to stimulate
the economy
• Coxey’s Army only numbered about 500 and had little
concrete impact on changing public policy
• It did show the desperation that Americans felt
Silver Question
• The Panic of 1893 precipitated a deep debate over the basis
of currency of the U.S.
• The Government had traditionally recognized both gold and
silver as circulating mediums (bimetallism)
• In 1873, the government stopped coining silver because the
market value of silver was higher than the government 16:1
ratio (16 oz. of silver equaled 1 oz. of gold)
• In 1870s, new discoveries of silver meant the market value fell
below 16:1 meaning holders of silver would benefit from
coinage ratio
• Silver‐mine owners and farmers seeking currency inflation
sought to overturn the “Crime of 73”.
Currency Question
• Cleveland believed the nation’s declining gold reserves were
the result of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, which
required the government to purchase silver and pay for it in
gold.
• In 1893, Congress repealed the act, which split the
Democratic Party.
• The currency issue came to be of great symbolic significance.
William McKinley
• Populists paid little attention to silver issue, only embracing
it as the party became more national.
• In 1896, Republicans nominated William McKinley of Ohio as
its presidential candidate.
• They adopted a conservative platform that opposed free
coinage of silver except by agreement with leading
commercial nations of the world.
“A Cross of Gold”
• Democrats appeared ready to adopt the gold standard until
William Jennings Bryan’s famous “Cross of Gold” speech at
the end of their convention.
• Bryan was nominated as the youngest candidate ever by a
major party while representing the interests of rural,
Protestant, middle‐class Americans.
“A Cross of Gold”
“If they (the Republicans) dare to come out in the open field and
defend the gold standard as a good thing, we will fight them to
the uttermost. Having behind us the producing masses of this
nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests,
the laboring interests, and the toilers everywhere, we will
answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: You
shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of
thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”
- William Jennings Bryan
“Fusion”
• The Democrat’s adoption of a free‐silver platform created a
dilemma for Populists.
• They feared losing their identity as a party if they undertook
“fusion” with the major party.
• However, the Populists nominated Bryan and Georgian Tom
Watson as their candidates for President and Vice President.
Modern Campaigning
• In 1896, business and financial communities rallied behind
McKinley fearing the consequences of a Democratic victory.
• McKinley conducted a “front porch” campaign from his home
in Canton, Ohio
• Bryan took the country’s first campaign national traveling
systematically to visit all sections of the country.
• This helped to form the modern system of presidential
politics.
• Bryan antagonized many voters (urban immigrants who feared
Bryan’s Protestant morality).
End of the People’s Party
• A major result of election was collapse of the Populist Party.
• The movement represented widespread protest against the
excesses of industrialism—its failure meant that most
Americans accepted industrial consolidation & sought to
counterbalance rather than eliminate big business
• Farmers abandoned efforts at reform & became part of
interest‐group system that arose in early 20th century
(Progressives)
Currency Act
• McKinley presided over a period of domestic calm and
stability
• He focused on raising tariffs (Dingley Tariff of 1897 raised
duties to highest point in American history)
• The administration was more cautious with the silver issue
• Republicans enacted the Currency or Gold Standard Act of
1900, which confirmed the nation’s commitment to the gold
standard.
• New debates over foreign affairs dominated attention.
Growth of Gold
• Free‐silver failed, but raised important questions
about the nature of the American economy.
• The growth of money supply had not kept pace
with economic progress
• Only through the growth of gold available (new
extraction techniques and discoveries) were
Populist warnings of financial disaster avoided.
• The nation’s commitment to gold standard
remained until Great Depression in 1930s.