TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Gilded Age Economics and Politics
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Objectives
• Analyze how corruption affected national
politics in the 1870s and 1880s.
• Discuss civil service reform during the 1870s
and 1880s.
• Assess the importance of economic issues in
the politics of the Gilded Age.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Terms and People
•
spoils system – a system in which politicians
awarded government jobs to loyal party workers
with little regard for their qualifications
•
civil service – government departments and their
nonelected employees
•
Pendleton Civil Service Act – law that created a
civil service system for the federal government in
an attempt to hire employees on a merit system
rather than on a spoils system
•
gold standard – using gold as the basis of the
nation’s currency
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Why did the political structure change
during the Gilded Age?
Congress passed few laws between 1877 and
1900. It was an era marked by inaction and
political corruption.
The Gilded Age raised questions about whether
or not democracy could succeed in an era
dominated by powerful industrial corporations
and men of great wealth.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Between 1877
and 1897,
party loyalties
were evenly
divided.
• Neither political party
achieved control of
both the White House
and Congress for
more than two years
in a row.
• Presidents during the
Gilded Age were
elected only by slim
margins.
• This made it difficult
to pass new laws.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Corruption plagued
national politics as
many officials accepted
bribes.
Cartoonists such as
Thomas Nast worked
to expose corruption.
Nast cartoon of “Boss” Tweed
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
The spoils system was the glue of the
political parties.
The spoils system, in
which party supporters
received government
jobs regardless of
their qualifications,
shifted power to a few.
This system
made the
political parties
extremely
powerful.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
A movement arose to promote civil service
reform.
Ending the
spoils system
was difficult.
Change finally happened,
in part, because
President James Garfield
was assassinated by a
man who believed the
Republican Party owed
him a job.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Chester A. Arthur became President and
supported civil service reform.
In 1883, he signed into law the
Pendleton Civil Service Act,
which established a merit-based system for
government employment.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
Economic debates focused on tariffs and
monetary policy during the Gilded Age.
Republicans favored tariffs on imported goods.
Tariffs supported American industry, but
Democrats claimed that they increased
consumer prices and made it harder for
farmers to sell their products abroad.
Monetary policy disputes centered on whether
or not to maintain the gold standard, where
gold is the sole basis of the nation’s currency.
TEKS 8C: Calculate percent composition and empirical and molecular formulas.
The Coinage Act of 1873 reversed the policy of
having the government issue both gold and
silver coins.
Some people
wanted to
use only gold
as money.
Some wanted
to use both
gold and
silver.
Bankers were worried silver would impact trade and
undermine the economy. Farmers hoped it would
create inflation and raise their income.