Chapter 23
Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age
Facts…
 1870
population of 39 million
 Major contributing factor:
immigration
 1868 and 1872 Ulysses S. Grant
(Republican) elected President
of the U.S.
Bloody Shirt
 “Waving
the bloody shirt”-used
by Republicans to win support
in the 1868 election.
 To keep memories of the civil
war fresh in peoples minds.
“Grantism”
 “Grantism”
term used to refer to
the greed, corruption and
incompetence that characterized
Grant’s two terms in office.
Scandals
 Black
Friday- gold speculation
financial crisis, Sept.1869. Jay
Gould and James Fisk tried to
corner the gold market and
tricked Grant into preventing his
Sec. of Treasury from stopping
the fraud
Scandals
 William
Marcy “Boss” Tweedcontrolled the Tweed Ring
(Tammany Hall) and the
Democratic Party in New York
City- Controlled the finances of
the city
 Thomas Nast- prominent
political cartoonist who
exposed Tweed to the public.
Scandals
Credit Mobilier
 Several congressman and other
influential stockholders of the Union
Pacific Railroad organized the Credit
Mobilier construction company.
 Made contracts with themselves,
process depleted generous
congressional grants to the Union
Pacific leaving it in debt.
 Sold or gave shares of the stock to
some members of Congress.
Scandals
Whiskey Ring
 1875 over $3million dollars in
taxes stolen from federal
government with aid of top
officials. Private Secretary of
Pres. Grant was indicted. Grant
pardoned him.
Scandals
Belknap Scandal
 Secretary of War William
Belknap took bribes in exchange
for the sale of Native American
trading post.
 Grant accepted his resignation.
Scandals
Sanborn Incident
 Involved Grant’s Secretary of
the Treasury (Richardson) who
hired a private citizen to collect
back taxes. Agreed to let
Sanborn keep half of what he
collected, other kicked back to
Richardson
Panic of 1873
 Banks
had loaned too much
money
 Construction of more factories,
railroad tracks and planted more
crops than existing markets
could bear
Panic of 1873
 Solution
to panic suggested by
debtors- inflationary policies
 Result of Republican “hard
money” policies
 Greenback Labor Party-1878
The Gilded Age
 Mark
Twain and Charles Dudley
Warren, 1873 The Gilded Age: A
Tale of Today
 Refers to the 30 years following
the Civil War
Voter Turnout
 Reason
for high voter turnout of
the 1870’s and 1880’s: sharp
ethnic and cultural differences
in the membership of the two
parties
“Hard Money”
Ways “hard money” policies
reflected during Gilded Age:
 Resumption Act of 1875
 The Crime of’73
 Contraction
 “gold bugs”
Terms
 Political
patronage-handing out
jobs in exchange for votes
(Jackson-spoils system)
 Civil
service-government
administration should go to the
most qualified people regardless
of political views
Terms
 Stalwarts-
they opposed
changes in the spoils system.
Led by Roscoe ConklingRepublican boss of New York
 Half-Breeds-
favored mild reform
of civil service. Led by James G.
Blaine
Election of 1876
Samuel Tilden (Democrat) the end
of reconstruction in the south, end
of land grants to RR’s and
restriction of oriental immigration
 Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican)
continued control of the south, civil
service reform.

◦ Investigation of the effects of oriental
immigration
Election of 1876
 Disputed
electoral votes
 Congressional Committee- 8
Republicans, 7 Democrats. They
decided to award all disputed
votes to Hayes in return for the
Compromise of 1877.
Compromise of 1877
 Ended
reconstruction
 All federal troops withdrawn
from the south
Voting Barriers




Used in South to keep African
Americans from voting:
Literacy test- only people who passed
a test proving they could read were
allowed to vote
Poll Tax- had to pay a fee to vote
Grandfather Clause- any man could
vote if his father or grandfather had
been eligible to vote prior to January
1, 1867
Jim Crow Laws

Jim Crow Laws- segregation lawsused in South to separate the races
Plessy v Ferguson
 1896
Supreme Court case
 Ruled that separation of races in
public accommodations was
legal and did not violate the 14th
amendment – “separate but
equal”
Chinese Exclusion Act
1882
 Banned
entry of all Chinese to
US except students, teachers,
merchants, tourists, government
officials. In effect until 1943.
1880 Election
 James
Garfield (Republican)
(VP candidate Chester A. Arthur)
 Winfield Scott Hancock
(Democrat)
 Garfield won. Assassinated 4
months after taking office by a
disappointed office seeker and a
Stalwart
Pendleton Act
 Classifies
certain jobs, removed
them from the patronage ranks
and set up a Civil Service
Commission to administer a
system based on merit rather
than political connections.
 Requires a competitive
examination.
Election of 1884
 James
G. Blaine - Republican
 Grover Cleveland - Democratic
 Bitter campaign – focused on
negative aspects of the
candidates character.
 Cleveland won
Mugwumps
 Mugwumps-
people often
portrayed as “fence-sitters”
(part of body on the side of the
Democrats and part on the
Republican side)
Cleveland’s First Term
 Replaced
100’s of Republicans
who held unclassified
jobs/replaced with Democrats
 Vetoed bill to distribute seed
grain to drought-stricken
farmers in Texas
 Vetoed many private pension
bills to Civil War veterans
Cleveland’s First Term
 Angered
railroads by ordering
investigation of western lands
they held by grants and forced
the return of millions of acres
 Signed the Interstate Commerce
Act-1st law attempting to
regulate the railroads
 1887-he called upon Congress
to reduce the tariff
1888 Election
 Cleveland
lost election to
Benjamin Harrison, a Republican
Harrison
Harrison’s Presidency

McKinley Tariff Act of 1890
◦ Raised tariffs to the highest level they
had been to protect American
corporations
Passage of the Sherman Silver
Purchase Act of 1890 requiring that
silver be used in federal coinage
 Advocated conservation of forest
reserves

Harrison’s Presidency
Foreign policy include US
expansion into the Pacific and
Central America
 Sherman Antitrust Act-1890- in an
effort to control/outlaw monopolies
 1st “Billion Dollar Congress”
passed Dependant Pension Act that
increased number of people
receiving pensions and increased
spending

People’s Party/Populists Party
 Formed
by Southern Alliance and
Northwestern Alliance of farmers
 1892
drafted the Omaha Platform
Omaha Platform
 Government
ownership of
railroads
 Free and unlimited coinage of
silver
 Direct election of US senators
 The secret ballot
 A graduated income tax
 8 hour work day
Omaha Platform
 Limits
on immigration
 Government storage of crops
and advances to farmers on the
price of crops until farm prices
improved
1892 Election
 Populist
candidate in 1892James B. Weaver
 1892
Grover Cleveland won the
election.
Depression of 1893
 Cleveland’s
2nd term was
dominated by the Depression of
1893.
 Hundreds of banks and
businesses failed, stock market
plunged, European investors
pulled funds from US.
 Became a worldwide
depression.
Depression of 1893
Sherman Silver Purchase Act and
McKinley Tariff were blamed for the
panic.
 Cleveland asked congress to repeal
Sherman Silver Purchase Act.
Congress agreed. Populists were
furious. Cleveland lost more support
as a result of his involvement with J.P.
Morgan.
 The depression brought about an
increase in business consolidations.

Wilson-Gorman Tariff (1894)
 During
campaign Democratic
Party promised a reduction in
the tariff.
 This tariff did little to reduce the
rate and included an income tax.
 Became law without Cleveland’s
signature.