Politics and Reform
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Transcript Politics and Reform
Politics and Reform
1877 – 1896
Chapter 11
Politics and Reform – Learning Targets
• Students will be able to trace the reforms made to the American
government in response to demands for change in the late 1800’s
• Students will be able to explain what populism was and how it
impacted American society
Is there a populist trend today?
• Students will be able to analyze the rise of segregation: what were
the reasons behind it and what were the responses to it
Are there any traces of segregation left today?
What current government policies are in place today due to the history of
segregation?
Politics and Reform
• Traditionally, when a president
won the election, he would
place his supporters in
government jobs. This is called
patronage, or the Spoils System
• President Hayes 1877 –
attempted to end practice
Angered Republican political
machine called Stalwarts led by
Sen. Conkling
Conkling labeled Republican
reformers Halfbreeds
Politics and Reform
• 1880 – President Garfield
assassinated by insane officeseeker, Charles Guiteau
• 1883 Pendleton Act – civil
service jobs filled using exams;
government workers could not
be fired for political reasons
• Act signed by President Chester
Arthur – himself a one-time
political appointee
Politics and Reform
• Party Politics
Political parties did not take a stand on issues b/c they did not
want to make enemies and they did not know how to fix the
problems anyway
Republicans dominated the Northeast and upper mid-West
Democrats owned the South
Former Union soldiers, farmers, reformers, and businessmen
supported the Republicans
Politics and Reform
Republicans were mostly Protestant
Democrats were supported by immigrants especially Catholic Irish
Between 1877 – 1896 Democrats dominated the House and
Republicans dominated the Senate
Presidential elections were fought in just four states: NY, OH, IN
and IL
Between 1868 – 1900 all the presidents came from those four
states
Politics and Reform
• Election of 1884
Democrats saw chance of winning
White House by nominating
reformer Grover Cleveland
Campaign was known for mudslinging
Mugwumps - Republicans who
broke from the party to vote for
Cleveland
Cleveland won the election
Politics and Reform
• Growing industrialization = growing
labor unrest = more strikes
• Strikes were often violent
• Many railroads negotiated lower
rates for big customers
(corporations) called rebates but
small business/individuals paid
higher rates
• Public clamored for government
intervention
• SCOTUS case Wabash v. Illinois
gave authority to federal
government to regulate
Politics and Reform
• 1887 Interstate Commerce
Commission (ICC) created
• Commission acted to regulate
railroad rates, forbid rebates
• Democrats wanted lower tariffs
but Republican senate blocked
law
Politics and Reform
• Republicans gained presidency
with election of Benjamin
Harrison
• Republican Congress passed
McKinley Tariff
• Tariff lowered federal revenue so
budget went into deficit
• Congress also passed pensions
for Civil War veterans which
made deficit worse
Politics and Reform
• The Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Congress pressured by public to
act against trusts
The law had no teeth – did not
have any real effect on trusts
People felt betrayed by both
parties, especially farmers
Populism
• Populism – movement to
increase political power of
farmers
• Crop prices dropping but prices
of manufactured good rising due
to tariffs
• Farmers felt victimized by banks
• Farmers felt railroad shipping
rates too high – favored big
corporations
Populism
• Greenback controversy – US
government printed paper money
that could not be exchanged for
gold/silver – caused inflation (decline
in the value of money and rise in
prices)
• US stopped printing greenbacks but
also stopped making silver coins –
caused drop in money supply
• Crime of ‘73 – decision to stop minting
silver coins
• Deflation – value of money increases
along with decrease in prices
Populism
• Deflation hit farmers hard
• Farmers had to borrow money
for seed and equipment –
interest rates rose causing rise in
farmers’ debt
• Banks wanted their money but
prices for crops falling
• Farmers demanded the minting
of silver coins to increase money
supply
Populism
• Farmers needed a more powerful
political voice
• The Grange (Patrons of Husbandry) –
founded by Oliver Kelly, national farm
organization
• Grangers pressured government to
regulate railroad rates, wanted the
printing of more greenbacks
• Grangers formed cooperatives –
marketing organizations that
benefitted the farmer members
Pooled crops and kept them out of
market to regulate prices
Could negotiate better shipping, seed,
and equipment prices
Populism
• The Granges failed to improve
farmers’ conditions: people too
suspicious of paper money,
banks and railroads equated
granges with unions
• Framers also saw drop in respect
as more people began living in
towns / cities
• Use of derogatory terms like
redneck and hayseed for farmers
increased
Populism
• The Farmer’s Alliance
Established in Lampasas County,
TX, 1877
Organized farmers in West, MidWest, and South
Organized large cooperatives
called exchanges – did better than
the Grange
Populism
• The People’s Party
Alliance exchanges eventually failed
Alliance members formed the People’s Party aka the Populists
Alliance leaders shied away from third party – wanted Democrats
to take on Alliance platform (so South would remain Democratic)
Developed Subtreasury Plan – farmers would put crops in
warehouses and use them to secure low-interest loans and keep
prices up
Populism
• Rise of Populism
Ocala Demands – Farmers Alliance
meeting in Florida came up with
list of political demands
Subtreasury Plan
Free coinage of silver
End to protective tariffs and national
banks
Tighter regulation of railroads
Direct election of senators
Populism
• Sherman Silver Purchase Act
1890 – authorized US treasury to
buy 4.5 million ounces of silver
per month – done to pull
farmers Republican
• Populists did well in election –
many pro-Alliance officials
elected
• After Democrats broke promises
to farmers, Alliance now ready
to push for third party
Populism
• Populist Party
Nominated James Weaver for
president 1892
Wanted silver/gold ratio 16-1
Federal ownership of railroads
Graduated income tax
8-hour workday
Immigration restriction
Proposed laws to appeal to urban
laborers
Had ties to Knights of Labor
Populism
• Panic of 1893
Worst economic crisis up to Great
Depression of 1930’s
Sparked by bankruptcy of several
railroads
Stock market crashed and banks closed
doors
Caused widespread unemployment and
labor strikes
Drainage of government gold caused
Cleveland to repeal Sherman Silver
Purchase Act
Action split Democrats in two: Goldbugs
believed US currency should be based on
gold, Silverites believed silver should be
coined in unlimited amounts
Populism
• Election of 1896
Republican nominee – William
McKinley
Democrat and Populist nominee –
William Jennings Bryan
Republicans backed gold / Democrats
supported silver
Bryan waged energetic campaign,
made 600 speeches in 14 weeks
McKinley had the “Front Porch”
campaign
Republicans blamed Democrats for
crisis of ’93
McKinley had backing of businesses –
won the election
Rise of Segregation
• After slavery, most blacks in
South were sharecroppers –
landless farmers who paid
large portions of crops for rent,
food, seed, tools, etc.
• 1879 – Benjamin Singleton led
migration of blacks from South
to Kansas to escape nearslavery conditions
• Migrants called Exodusters
Rise of Segregation
• Many blacks who remained in
South joined the Farmer’s Alliance
• Blacks formed The Colored Farmers
National Alliance – hoped to
challenge Democratic Party’s
power in South
• Democrats feared poor whites
would join with blacks
• Democrats used racism to keep
whites in line
• Democrats kept many blacks from
voting
Rise of Segregation
• Voting for blacks was guaranteed
by the 15th Amendment
• States used qualifications like
property requirements, literacy
tests, and the poll tax to keep
blacks from voting
• Voting numbers dropped drastically
• Poor whites were also
disenfranchised as they often
supported Populist Party
• Other poor whites could vote due
to grandfather clause
Rise of Segregation
• Segregation in many parts of US
but legal in South
• Laws enforcing segregation called
Jim Crow laws
• SCOTUS overturned Civil Rights Act
of 1875 – encouraged Southern
states to pass laws making
segregation even more repressive
• Plessy v. Ferguson – case endorsed
legal doctrine of “Separate but
Equal”
Rise of Segregation
• Violence against blacks continued
into the twentieth century
• Lynching – hanging of people
without trial by mobs
• 80% of lynchings occurred in
South; 70% of victims were black
• Outraged black woman, Ida B.
Wells, led crusade against lynching.
Due to her and others’ efforts
lynching much in early 1900’s
Rise of Segregation
• Booker T. Washington – argued
blacks better off if they spent their
energy making themselves better
rather than fighting racism
• Atlanta Compromise – address by
Washington asked blacks to
postpone fight for civil rights and
pull themselves up
• W. E. B. DuBois – rejected
accommodation of Washington;
urged blacks to demand their
rights; helped found NAACP