Transcript Gilded Age Politics in America

1. A Two-Party Stalemate
Two-Party “Balance”
2. Intense
Voter Loyalty
to the
Two Major
Political Parties
3. Well-Defined Voting Blocs
Democratic
Bloc
 White southerners
(preservation of
white supremacy)
 Catholics
 Recent immigrants
(esp. Jews)
 Urban working
poor (pro-labor)
 Most farmers
Republican
Bloc
 Northern whites
(pro-business)
 African Americans
 Northern
Protestants
 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.
 Main duties of the federal govt.:
 Deliver the mail.
 Maintain a national military.
 Collect taxes & tariffs.
 Conduct a foreign policy.
 Exception  administer the annual
Civil War veterans’ pension.
5. The Presidency and the Spoils System
 Party bosses ruled.
 Presidents should
avoid offending any
factions within their
own party.
 The President just
doled out federal jobs.
Senator Roscoe Conkling
 1865  53,000 people worked for the federal govt.
 1890  166,000
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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
1880 Presidential Election
1881: Garfield Assassinated!
Charles Guiteau:
I Am a Stalwart, and Arthur is
President now!
Chester A. Arthur:
The Fox in the Chicken Coop?
Pendleton Act (1883)
 Civil Service Act.
 The “Magna Carta” of
civil service reform.
 1883  14,000 out of
117,000 federal govt.
jobs became civil
service exam positions.
 1900  100,000 out of
200,000 civil service
federal govt. jobs.
 Forbade campaign
contribution by government
employees. Who will be the
source of campaign finance
now?
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.
 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!
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
Ma, Ma…where’s my pa?
He’s going to the White House, ha… ha… ha…!
Little Lost Mugwump
Blaine in 1884
Rum, Romanism & Rebellion!
 Led a delegation of
ministers to Blaine in
NYC.
 Reference to the
Democratic Party.
 Blaine was slow to
repudiate the remark.
Dr. Samuel Burchard
 Narrow victory for
Cleveland [he wins NY
by only 1149 votes!].
1884 Presidential Election
Cleveland’s First Term
 First Democratic elected since 1856.
 A public office is a public trust!
 His laissez-faire presidency:
 Opposed bills to assist the poor as
well as the rich.
 Vetoed over 200 special pension bills
for Civil War veterans!
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  WHY???
 President Cleveland’s view on tariffs????
 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
Changing Public Opinion & the off year
election
 Americans wanted 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
 McKinley Tariff – 1890
 Based on the theory that prosperity
flowed directly from protectionism.
 Increased already high rates another 4%!
 Rep. Party suffered big losses in 1890 (even
McKinley lost his House seat!).
1892 Presidential Election
Grover Cleveland
again! * (DEM)
Benjamin Harrison
(REP)
The Populist (Peoples’) Party
 Founded by James B. Weaver
and Tom Watson.
 Omaha, NE Convention in July,
1892.
 Got almost 1 million popular
votes.
 Several Congressional seats
won.
James B. Weaver,
Presidential Candidate
&
James G. Field, VP
Omaha Platform of 1892
1.
System of “sub-treasuries.”
2.
Abolition of the National Bank.
3.
Direct election of Senators.
4.
Govt. ownership of RRs, telephone &
telegraph companies.
5.
Government-operated postal savings banks.
6.
Restriction of undesirable immigration.
7.
8-hour work day for government employees.
8.
Abolition of the Pinkerton detective agency.
9.
Australian secret ballot.
10. Re-monitization of silver.
11. A single term for President & Vice President.
1892 Presidential Election
Result of Election Returns
 Populist vote
increased by
40% in the
bi-election year,
1894.
 Democratic
party losses in
the West were
catastrophic!
 But, Republicans
won control of
the House.
Panic of 1893
 Begun 10 days after Cleveland took office.
1. Several major corps. went bankrupt.
 Over 16,000 businesses disappeared.
 Triggered a stock market crash.
 Over-extended investments.
2. Bank failures followed causing a contraction
of credit [nearly 500 banks closed].
3. By 1895, unemployment reached 3 million.
 Americans cried out for relief, but the Govt.
continued its laissez faire policies!!
Coxey’s Army, 1894
 Jacob Coxey & his “Army of
the Commonweal of Christ.”
 March on Washington  “hayseed socialists!”
The Silver Issue
 “Crime of ’73”  demonetization of
silver (govt. stopped coining silver).
 Bland-Allison Act (1878)  limited
silver coinage to $2-$4 mil. per mo.
(based on the 16:1 ratio of silver to
gold).
 Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890)
 The US Treasury must purchase
$4.5 mil. oz. of silver a month.
 Govt. deposited most silver in the
US Treasury rather than circulation.
Here Lies Prosperity
Through the Eyes of a Farmer…
When the banker says he's broke
And the merchant’s up in smoke,
They forget that it's the farmer
who feeds them all.
It would put them to the test
If the farmer took a rest;
Then they'd know that it's the farmer
feeds them all.
Gold / Silver Bug
Campaign Pins
William Jennings Bryan
(1860-1925)
The “Great Commoner”
William Jennings Bryan
 Revivalist style of oratory.
Prairie avenger,
mountain lion,
Bryan, Bryan, Bryan,
Bryan,
Gigantic troubadour,
speaking like a siege
gun,
Smashing Plymouth Rock
with his boulders
from the West.
Bryant’s
“Cross of Gold” Speech
Go to moodle and
read the excerpts
of the speech and
write a reflection
on how the
speech reflects
the times and the
Populist movement
Bryan: The Farmers Friend
(The Mint Ratio)
18,000 miles of campaign “whistle stops.”
Democratic Party
Taken Over by the
Agrarian Left
Platform  tariff reductions; income tax; stricter
control of the trusts (esp. RRs); free
silver.
Mark Hanna:
The “Front-Porch” Campaign
William McKinley (1843-1901)
The Seasoned
Politician
vs.
The “Young”
Newcomer
Joshua A. Levering: Prohibition
Party
Into Which Box
Will the Voter
of ’96 Place His
Ballot?
1896 Election Results
Why Did Bryan Lose?
 His focus on silver undermined
efforts to build bridges to urban
voters.
 He did not form alliances with
other groups.
 McKinley’s campaign was well-
organized and highly funded.
Gold Triumphs Over Silver
 1900  Gold
Standard Act
 confirmed the
nation’s
commitment to
the gold standard.
 A victory for the
forces of
conservatism.
The Wizard
of Oz
by L. Frank
Baum
1964: Henry Littlefield’s “Thesis”
“Parable of the Populists”?
Dorothy  American
People





Toto  Prohibition
Party

Silver Slippers 
Bimetallism - silver on
gold

Emerald City 
Washington DC

Oz  Almighty oz gold

The Wizard  Pres.
McKinley

Munchkins  Eastern
workers who vote for
McKinley

Wicked Witch of the
Kansas  Great Plains
Wicked Witch of the
East  Banking &
Industry
Tin Woodsman 
Eastern workers
Scarecrow  Western
farmers
Heyday of Western Populism
Why Did Populism Decline?
1. The economy experienced rapid change.
2. The era of small producers and
farmers was fading away.
3. Race divided the Populist Party,
especially in the South.
4. The Populists were not able to break
existing party loyalties.
5. Most of their agenda was co-opted by
the Democratic Party.
But, Populism Still Lives!
Al Gore (Dem) in 2000
But, Populism Still Lives!
John Edwards (Dem) in 2008