By: Ms. Susan M. Pojer
Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY
with Additional Slides by Bob Daugherty
Gilded Age
• The term Gilded Age comes
from Mark Twain as the title
of one of his books
• On the outside the wealth
might have looked like gold
but in reality was only a
thin layer of gild
• Politics of time is of little
substance
• Forgettable presidents who
rarely serve two terms
• Politicians and parties
avoided taking stances
• Problems were largely
ignored
1. A Two-Party Stalemate
Two-Party “Balance”
2. Intense
Voter Loyalty
to the
Two Major
Political Parties
(brass bands, flags,
campaign buttons,
picnics, free beer!)
80% of voters turned
out!
3. Well-Defined Voting Blocs
Democratic
Bloc
Republican
Bloc
 White southerners
(preservation of
white supremacy)
 Northern whites
(pro-business and
pro-tariff)
 “Solid South”
 African Americans
 Catholics
 Northern
Protestants
 Recent immigrants
(esp. Jews)
 Urban working
poor (pro-labor)
 Most farmers
 Old WASPs (support
for anti-immigrant
laws)
 Most of the middle
class
4. Very Laissez Faire Federal Govt.
 From 1870-1900  Govt. did very
little domestically.
 Supreme Court opposed efforts to regulate
business
 Main duties of the federal govt.:
 Deliver the mail.
 Maintain a national military.
 Collect taxes & tariffs.
 Conduct a foreign policy.
 administer the annual Civil War veterans’
pension.
Last Civil War Widow (and Pensioner)
Alberta Martin
She married a Confederate
veteran in 1927 when she was 21
years old.
He was 81.
He died four years later.
They had a son!
She died in 2004 at age 97 (and
was still collecting her pension).
5. The Presidency as a Symbolic Office
 Party bosses Blaine
and Conkling ruled.
 Presidential
candidates should
avoid offending any
factions within their
own party.
 The President just
doled out federal
jobs.
Blaine of the
“Halfbreeds”
Conkling of the
“Stalwarts”
6. Patronage
 Politics meant getting
elected, holding office
and rewarding party
faithful with government
jobs
 1865  53,000 people
worked for the federal govt.
 1890  166,000
 Conkling controlled New
York Customs House jobs
Senator Roscoe
Conkling
Leader of the
Stalwart Republicans
1880 Presidential Election: Republicans
Half Breeds
Stalwarts
Sen. James G. Blaine
(Maine)
compromise
James A. Garfield
Sen. Roscoe Conkling
(New York)
Chester A. Arthur (VP)
1880 Presidential Election: Democrats
Inspecting the Democratic Curiosity Shop
1880 Presidential Election
Garfield won by a mere 10,000 votes!
1881: Garfield Assassinated!
Shot by disappointed (really
insane) office seeker named
Charles Guiteau
Garfield lived for eleven
weeks
Doctor's unsanitary
practices contributed to his
death
Charles Guiteau:
“I Am a Stalwart, and Arthur is
President now!”
Chester A. Arthur:
The Fox in the Chicken Coop?
Chester A. Arthur: “A Pleasant Surprise”
Most expected very little from Arthur
Distanced himself from Conkling and
the Stalwarts by refusing to hire
Garfield's picks
He began building the US Navy that
would win the Spanish-American War
Redecorated the White House (by Louis
Tiffany)
Supported Civil Service Reform (“Only
Nixon could go to China syndrome”)
Did not get nominated for own term as
president as a result
Died of Bright's Disease shortly after
term
Pendleton Act (1883)
 One good thing that comes
out of Garfield’s
assassination
 Civil Service Act.
 The “Magna Carta” of
civil service reform.
 1883  14,000 out of
117,000 federal govt.
jobs required civil
service exams
 1900  100,000 out of
200,000 civil service
federal govt. jobs required
them
Civil Service employees could not make political campaign donations
Politicians would depend on the rich and party workers to get elected
Republican “Mugwumps”
 Reformers who wouldn’t re-nominate
Chester A. Arthur.
 Reform to them  create a disinterested,
impartial govt. run by an educated elite like
themselves.
 Social Darwinists (the reason that some succeed
and others fail is due to their character)
 Laissez faire government to them:
 Favoritism & the spoils system seen as
govt. intervention in society.
 Their target was political corruption,
not social or economic reform!
The
Mugwumps
“Men may come
and men may go,
but the work of
reform shall go
on forever.”
 Will support
Cleveland in the
1884 election.
1884 Presidential Election
Grover Cleveland
* (DEM)
James Blaine
(REP)
A Dirty Campaign
Cleveland had
possibly fathered a
child out while single
Could have been one
of several other men
but he accepted
responsibility and
helped take care of the
child financially
Republicans: “Ma, Ma…where’s my pa?”
Democrats: ”Gone to the White House, ha… ha…
ha…!”
Little Lost Mugwump
Blaine in 1884
Bravo, Señor Clevelando!
“Rum, Romanism & Rebellion!”
 Led a delegation of
ministers to Blaine in NYC.
 He made this remark in
reference to the
Democratic Party.
 Deeply offended NY
Democrats
 Blaine was slow to
repudiate the remark.
 Cost Blaine the election
Dr. Samuel Burchard
[Cleveland won NY
by only 1149 votes!].
1884 Presidential Election
Cleveland’s First Term
 The “Veto Governor” from New York.
 First Democratic elected since 1856!
 Motto: “A public office is a public trust!”
 Did pass
a. Interstate Commerce Act (1887), the first
attempt to regulate business
b. Dawes Act (broke up reservations and can plots
of lands to individual lands)
 His laissez-faire presidency:
 Opposed bills to assist the poor as well as the
rich.
 Vetoed over 200 special pension bills for Civil
The Tariff Issue
 After the Civil War, Congress raised
tariffs to protect new US industries.
 Big business wanted to continue this;
consumers did not.
 1885  tariffs earned the US $100 mil.
in surplus!
 Mugwumps opposed it
 Tariffs became a major issue in the 1888
presidential election.
“Filing the Rough Edges”
Tariff of 1888
1888 Presidential Election
Grover Cleveland
(DEM)
Benjamin Harrison
* (REP)
Coming Out for Harrison
The Smallest Specimen Yet
1888 Presidential Election
Disposing the Surplus
First “ billion-dollar” Congress. Did so by:
1.
Extra Civil War pensions
2.
Increased purchases of silver
McKINLEY TARIFF (1890)
1. Based on the theory that
prosperity
flowed directly from
protectionism.
2. Increased already high
rates another 4%!
3. Hurt farmers since they
had to but protected high
prices American goods but
had to sell crops in
competitive unprotected
internat’l mkts.
Changing Public Opinion
 Americans began to want the federal govt. to deal
with growing soc. & eco. problems & to curb
the power of the trusts:
 Interstate Commerce Act – 1887
 Sherman Antitrust Act – 1890
 Rep. Party suffered big losses in 1890 (even
McKinley lost his House seat!) due to anger
over tariff
1892 Presidential Election
Grover Cleveland
again! * (DEM)
Benjamin Harrison
(REP)
1892 Presidential Election
Cleveland Loses Support Fast!
 The only President to serve two nonconsecutive terms.
 Blamed for the 1893 Panic.
 Defended the gold standard.
 Used federal troops in the 1894
Pullman strike.
 Refused to sign the Wilson-Gorman
Tariff of 1894.
 Repealed the Sherman Silver
Purchase Act.