Politics 1876-1892
• *Hayes * Garfield * Arthur
• Cleveland * Harrison *
•
* Cleveland
Comparison of Parties of the late
1800’s
Republicans
Democrats
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Civil War Veterans
Big business
Strongly patriotic
Great plains farmers
“party of morality”
Refomers
New England and
upper mid-west
• Mostly protestant
Former states rightist
Unions support
Immigrants
“party of personal
liberty “
• Held voting edge in
southern states
• Strong Catholic
support
1876 Election
• Republican—Rutherford B. Hayes
• Democrat—Samuel Tilden
• Corruption—3 states turned in 2 separate
results for the election
• A “committee” decided who would be
President
Compromise of 1877
• Democrats agreed that if the Republicans
would remove troops from the south and
spend money in the south they would give
the Presidency to Hayes
• Hayes was horrified at the agreement—
said he would never run for public office
again
Hayes Administration
• Did not get much done
• Made appointments based on merit—
upset his own party when he fired Rep.
Chester A. Arthur for skimming money
from the customs office. That was
considered by some to be “acceptable”
graft.
• During his administration questions of the
“Spoils system” came up
Spoils System
• When a party got into office they used
their political authority to make
appointments to friends and supporters
who could keep them in office.
• Few offices were filled by capable people
who were doing a good job.
• Also called “Patronage”
Stalwarts
• Led by Roscoe Conklin
• Wanted to stand by the practice of
patronage
• Beginning of a split in the Republican party
Half-Breeds
• Derogatory term given by the Stalwarts to
those who wanted to reform the spoils
system and appoint people who were
qualified for jobs
• Stalwarts claimed they were just trying to
change the system to politically benefit
themselves
Election of 1880
• Republican Presidential Candidate—
James Garfield
• Republican V.P. Candidate—Chester A.
Arthur
• Democratic Presidential Candidate—
Winfield Scot
Garfield/Arthur Administration
• 3 months after being elected James A. Garfield
is shot and killed by Charles Guiteau—a crazed
job seeker.
• Chester A. Arthur shocks everyone and supports
Civil Service Reform
• Pendleton Civil Service Act—placed a few
federal jobs under a Civil Service Commission—
requiring that before someone can get that job
they have to pass a test showing qualifications
Election of 1884
• Republican Presidential Candidate—James G.
Blaine
• Democrat Presidential Candidate—Grover
Cleveland
• Republican party split—some reform minded
Republicans felt they could not support Blaine
and voted instead for Cleveland. They were
called “mugwumps”
• Very dirty campaign
• Cleveland won
Cleveland Administration
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Much labor unrest
Interstate Commerce Commission
Attempted to lower tariffs
Attempted to control government spending
Election of 1888
Issues---Tariffs—Vetrans Pensions—Labor
issues
Candidates—Republican—Bennjamin
Harrison---Democratic—Grover Cleveland
Big Business pulls support from Cleveland
because he wants to lower tariffs. Vetrans
want more pensions. Harrison wins
Harrison Administration
• McKinnley Tarrif—raises tarrifs
dramatically—slows down economy
• Increase in Vetrans pensions—decreased
nations surplus
• Sherman Anti-trust Act—feeble attempt to
control monopolies—vaguely worded—
difficult to enforce
Election of 1892
• Economic issues take the forefront---Panic
of 1892
• Farmers create the Populist party to try to
get their issues in the forefront.
• Republican—Harrison
• Democrat—Cleveland
• Populist—James B. Weaver
• Socialist—Eugene Debs