ULYSSES S. GRANT
Republican
1869-1877
RUTHERFORD B. HAYES
Republican
1877-1881
JAMES A. GARFIELD
Republican
1881- assassinated
“I have made is a rule of my life to trust a
man long after other people gave him up,
but I don’t see how I can ever trust any
human being again.”
1. 14th Amendment –passed under
Johnson, left to Grant to enforce,
July 1868, grants citizenship to
anyone born in the U.S. AND
guarantees equal protection under
the law
2. Credit Mobilier Scandal –
construction company formed by
RR owners with purpose of
receiving government contracts to
build railroad at highly inflated
prices and profits
3. Civil Rights Act Passed – equal use
of public accommodations, forbid
exclusion of African-Americans
from jury duty
4. Women’s Suffrage Advocates
Arrested – Susan B. Anthony and
others arrested for attempting to
vote in Rochester, NY
“It is the desire of the good people of the
whole country that sectionalism as a
factor in our politics should disappear.”
“The civil service can never be placed on a
satisfactory basis until it is regulated by
law.”
1. Compromise of 1877 – resolved
the election dispute, completed
southern return to whites-only
Democratic dominated electoral
politics
2. Reconstruction Ends – withdrew
last federal troops from the former
Confederate states which officially
ended Reconstruction in the South
3. Great Railroad Strike – 10% wage
cut for workers resulted in a
widespread labor strike and
exposed the weaknesses of the
growing labor movement
1. Known as the Compromise
Candidate, served only 4 months
due to Charles Guiteau, a
disgruntled office-seeker, shooting
him
CHESTER A. ARTHUR
Republican
1881-1884
“Men may die, but the fabrics of free
institutions remain unshaken.”
1. Pendleton Act – Magna Carta
of Civil Service reform, opened
federal jobs to competitive
exam rather than political
connections in an attempt to
end the spoils system and
corruption
2. Chinese Exclusion Act – passed
by Congress, would exclude all
Chinese immigrants from
entering the U.S.
GROVER CLEVELAND
Democrat
1885-1888
BENJAMIN HARRISON
Republican
1889-1892
Sensible and responsible women do not
want to vote.”
1. Interstate Commerce Act –
required railroads to charge
them from offering rate
reductions to preferred
customers
2. Dawes Severalty Act –
subdivides Indian reservations
into individual plots of land of
160-320 acres; surplus lands
sold to white settlers
3. Laissez-Faire Democrat – does
little for reform
“We Americans have no commission from
God to police the world.”
1. Pushed for higher tariffs to
protect industry
2. Sherman Silver Purchase Act –
increased amount of silver
government was required to
purchase every month;
supported by farmers with
large debts that could not be
paid off due to deflation
caused by overproduction; act
would boost economy and
cause inflation, allowing
farmers to pay debt with
cheaper dollars
3. Homestead Strike –
steelworkers at Andrew
Carnegies’ Steel Plan in
Pittsburgh angry over pay cuts;
ended in armed battle between
strikers and federal troops
POPULISTS PARTY
1891-1908
GROVER CLEVELAND ROUND 2
Democrat
1893-1896
WILLIAM McKINLEY
Republican
1897-1901 - assassinated
“The people are demoralized; most of the
states have been compelled to isolate the
voters at the polling places to prevent
universal intimidation and bribery.”
“Silver, which has been accepted as coin since
the dawn of history, has been demonetized to
add to the purchasing power of gold by
decreasing the value of all forms of property
as well as human labor, and the supply of
currency is purposely abridged to fatten
usurers, bankrupt enterprise, and enslave
industry.”
1. Pullman Strike – strike against
railcar company after wages
depleted by 1/3, but town rent
was not lowered; Federal troops
brought in under the guise that
Federal mail was being disrupted
2. Panic of 1893 – most devastating
economic downturn of the
century; overbuilding, overspeculation, labor disorders and
cultural depression all contributed
3. Sherman Silver Purchase Act
Repealed – gold draining from the
treasury necessitated the repeal,
little positive effect. President
forced to seek help from J.P.
Morgan to put U.S. economy back
on solid ground, loan from
Morgan for $60 million
4. Plessy v. Ferguson – Supreme
Court rules separate but equal
facilities OK legal segregation
“War should never be entered upon until every
agency of peace has failed.”
1. Party Platform 1892 –
“Corruption dominates the ballotbox, the Legislatures, the
Congress, and touches even the
ermine of the bench.”
2. James B. Weaver – Third-Party
candidate, won several states of
electoral votes, thus establishing
the importance of the Third-Party
candidates from here forward
3. Wanted to bring together the
aggrieved workers from across the
nation, but majority of their
support came from the west
4. Gained support from the
increased wave of labor unrest,
resulting in nationwide strikes in
many industries
1. Gold Standard Act – stabilized the
value of the dollar to one ounce of
gold; killed the Populists’ dream
of free silver
2. Victory represented a win for
urban middle-class Americans
over agrarian interests in the west
and south; largest campaign fund
invested for a presidential
candidate - $15 million!