The wealthy lived extravagant lifestylesextravagant lifestyles and considered themselves elitists.

The common people resented their snobbish attitudes and wealth. There was a de facto caste caste

systemsystem in the U.S.

1861---------3 millionaires----------1900--------3,800 1900, 90% of wealth, controlled by 10% of

population.

Political MachinePolitical Machine• Organized group that

controls a city’s political party

• Give services to voters, businesses for political, financial support

• After Civil War, machines gain control of major cities

• Machine organization: precinct captains, ward bosses, city boss

The Emergence of The Emergence of Political MachinesPolitical Machines

The Role of the Political Boss•May serve as mayor, he:

•controls city jobs, business licenses•influences courts, municipal agencies•arranges building projects, community services

•Bosses paid by businesses, get voters’ loyalty, extend influence

Immigrants and the Machine•Many captains, bosses 1st or 2nd generation Americans•Machines help immigrants with naturalization, jobs, housing

Election Fraud and Graft•Machines use electoral fraud to win elections•GraftGraft—illegal use of political influence for personal gain•Machines take kickbacks, bribes to allow legal, illegal activities

•Corrupt political leader put New York City in debt

Political bossPolitical boss

•1851 elected to city council

•1852 served in Congress

•Kept Democratic Party in power in NYC called Tammany Hall

•Formed the Tweed Ring

•Bought votes, encouraged corruption, controlled NYC politics

Received large fees for interests

(*kickbackskickbacks) from the Erie Railroad

Tweed Ring milked the city with false

leases, padded bills, false vouchers,

unnecessary repairs and over-priced goods

*Return of a portion of the money received in a sale or contract often illegal and corrupt in return for

special favors.

Exposed for his corruption by cartoonist and

editor, Thomas Nast

Tweed Ring fell and 1873 Tweed

convicted of embezzlement

Later Tweed was arrested on a civil

charge and jailed in NYC, later died

there

Credit MobilierCredit Mobilier•Phony construction company

owned by stockholders of Union Pacific Railroad.

•Hired Credit Mobilier to build the transcontinental railroad

•Charged the U.S. government nearly twice the actual cost of the project.

•Bribed Congress to stop the investigation. •Largest scandal in U.S. history, and led to

greater public awareness of government corruption.

Whiskey RingWhiskey Ring•A group of President Grant’s officials

imported whiskey

•Used their offices to avoid paying taxes

•Cheated US treasury of millions.Salary GrabSalary Grab

•Congress gave itself a raise, $5,000 to $7,500 annually.

•Congressmen received a retroactive check for $5,000, plus their raise……

•Became a political issue….Later repealed.

Election of 1872• Liberal Republicans and Democrats both nominate

Horace Greeley for president to oppose Grant.• Two people who were qualified in their own fields,

but unqualified to be politicians• Republicans realize they have to get things in order.

– Amnesty act for most Confederate leaders– Reduction of high Civil War tariffs– Mild civil-service reform

Economic problems under Grant• Panic of 1873

– Overreaching in railroads, mining, factories, grain production– more than markets can bear

– Bankers had made too many loans, and they couldn’t be paid off when the profits don’t come for companies

• Inflation or Deflation?– Debtors want more money- prices rise, debts easier to

pay, currency devalued—inflation– Creditors want deflation so their debts aren’t be paid off

in depreciated currency

Economic problems under Grant• Silver vs. Gold

– Silver used as another try to inflate currency values

• Greenbacks– Congress reduces the amount of paper money in

circulation, and combined with using only gold in the treasury, CONTRACTION occurs

• Deflation occurs and the money per person drops 5 cents between 1870 and 1880.

• Restores the government’s credit, and brings the greenbacks up to face value by 1879

369369 total electoral votes, need 185185 to win.

164

1876 Election

•Tilden did not receive enough electoral votes.

•Special Commission

gives votes to Hayes.

•Hayes wins the election

•Democrats refuse to recognize Hayes as President

1876 Election

•Tilden did not receive enough electoral votes.

•Special Commission

gives votes to Hayes.

•Hayes wins the election

•Democrats refuse to recognize Hayes as President

*

*Disputed Electoral

votes

Agreement between

Democrats and Republicans

•Hayes pulls the troops out of the

South.

•Southerners take over their state

governments called “REDEEMERS”

•Successes FreedmenFreedmen would be lost because

Southerners would take over their state

governments.

•Jim CrowJim Crow laws kept Blacks from voting

and becoming equal citizens.

Agreement between

Democrats and Republicans

•Hayes pulls the troops out of the

South.

•Southerners take over their state

governments called “REDEEMERS”

•Successes FreedmenFreedmen would be lost because

Southerners would take over their state

governments.

•Jim CrowJim Crow laws kept Blacks from voting

and becoming equal citizens.

Cartoon of Hayes: end of Reconst

social reality

After Reconstruction, 1865 to 1876, there were several ways that Southern

states kept Blacks from voting and segregated, or separating people by

the color of their skin in public facilities..

Jim Crow laws, laws at the local and state level which segregated whites

from blacks and kept African Americans as 2nd class citizens and

from voting.poll taxesliteracy tests grandfather clause

social reality

The systematic practice of discriminating against

and segregating Black people, especially as

practiced in the American South from the end of

Reconstruction to the mid-20th century

Derogatory name for a Black person, ultimately from the title of a 19th-century minstrel song.

Goal: Take away political and constitutional

rights guaranteed by Constitution: Voting and

equality of all citizens under the law.

JC laws

Jim Crow Laws:Jim Crow Laws: segregated Whites and Blacks in

public facilities became the law after Reconstruction:

Jim Crow Laws:Jim Crow Laws: segregated Whites and Blacks in

public facilities became the law after Reconstruction:

•Used at the Used at the local, state local, state levels and levels and

eventually the eventually the national to national to

separate the separate the races inraces in

•kept Blacks, minorities and poor

whites from voting and as 2nd class citizen

status

•kept Blacks, minorities and poor

whites from voting and as 2nd class citizen

status

schools, schools, parks, parks,

transportationtransportation, restaurants, , restaurants,

etc….etc….

Poll Taxes:Poll Taxes: Before you could vote, you had to pay taxes to vote. Most poor Blacks could not pay the tax so they

didn’t vote.

Literacy Test:Literacy Test: You had to prove you could read and write before you could vote…. Once again, most poor Blacks

were not literate.

Grandfather clause:Grandfather clause: If your grandfather voted in the 1860 election than you could vote…..Most Blacks did

not vote in 1860, so you couldn’t vote….

Social equality vs. legal equality

Which way would the scale tip?Which way would the scale tip?

social reality

Supreme Court decision Supreme Court decision which legalized segregation which legalized segregation

throughout the nation.throughout the nation.•““Separate but Equal”Separate but Equal” as as

long as public facilities were long as public facilities were equalequal

•Problem:Problem: Black facilities Black facilities would never be equal to would never be equal to

White facilitiesWhite facilities

•Our nation would be Our nation would be segregated until the 1960’s.segregated until the 1960’s.

Hayes Presidency• Railroad strikes in 1877

– Hayes calls in federal troops to stop the strikes, and the strikers gain working-class support

• Labor movement weak because of racial and ethnic divisions among workers

• Example of California– By 1880, 9% of California’s population was Chinese– The Irish resented having to compete with the cheap labor the Chinese

provided (Kearneyites)– Chinese Exclusion Act passed by Congress in 1882- lasted until 1943– U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)- Citizenship guaranteed to all persons born

in the United States• Jus soli vs. jus sanguinis (right of the soil vs. right of blood-tie)

1880 1880 Presidential Presidential

ElectionElection

1880 1880 Presidential Presidential

ElectionElection

President President Rutherford HayesRutherford Hayes

Elected in 1877 Reformed the civil service,

appointing qualified political independents

instead of giving positions to supporters.

No Congressional support or from the Republican

Party. Hayes did not seek a

second term.

President James A. President James A. GarfieldGarfield

1880 election, Republicans were split into 3 factions.

Stalwarts defended the spoils system—Senator Roscoe Conkling

Half-Breeds reform but still supported it– Senator James Blaine

Independents opposed the spoils system.

Garfield wanted reforms. His running-mate was Chester

Arthur, a Stalwart. July 2, 1881 Garfield was assassinated by a Stalwart who

wanted Arthur as president.

Under the Spoils System (patronagepatronage), candidates for political office would offer potential jobs in exchange for votes.– gave supporters access to money and political favors.

During the Gilded Age, the Republicans and Democrats had roughly the same number of supporters. – To keep party members loyal, candidates rewarded

supporters and tried to avoid controversial issues.

The Republicans appealed to the

industrialists, bankers, and eastern farmers.

They favored the gold standard (sound moneysound money)

and high tariffsBlue laws, regulations that prohibited certain

activities people considered immoral.

The Democratsattracted the less privileged groups.

such as northern urban immigrants, laborers, southern planters, and

western farmers.Supported soft money

and silver coinage.

•Assassinated by an upset

Spoilsman.

•Led to VP Chester Arthur

becoming president

•Supported a change to the corrupt spoils

system.

•Signed into the law the Pendleton ActPendleton Act also called the the Civil Service ActCivil Service Act.

•Required candidates applying for government positions to a test to determine their qualifications.

1881: Garfield Assassinated!1881: Garfield Assassinated!1881: Garfield Assassinated!1881: Garfield Assassinated!

Charles Guiteau:I Am a Stalwart, Arthur is now President of the United States!

Pendleton Act (1883)Pendleton Act (1883)Pendleton Act (1883)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.

Election of 1884• James G. Blaine (R) vs. Grover Cleveland (D)• Mugwumps- Reform Republicans that voted

Democrat in the 1884 election• Scandal for both candidates turns the campaign to

mud-slinging• Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion kills Blaine’s

campaign in New York• Cleveland wins the election

An economic belief supported by the U.S. that opposes the government regulating

business.

“Though the people support the government, the government should not support the people”

- Grover Cleveland

In the late 1800’s businesses operated without much government regulation. This is known as

laissez-fairelaissez-faire economics.

Laissez-faire means ‘allow to be’ in French or the government stays out of you business.

Laissez faire supports our economic system of capitalismcapitalism

Laissez Faire Federal Govt.Laissez Faire Federal Govt.Laissez Faire Federal Govt.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.

Economic system characterized by private

property ownershipIndividuals and companies compete for

their own economic gain (ProfitProfit)

Capitalists determine the prices of goods and services.

Production and distribution are privately or corporately owned.

Reinvestment of profits

Supports laissez faire

Economic system based on cooperation rather than competition

Believes in government ownershipgovernment ownership of business and capital

Government controls production and distribution of goods.

Opposite of laissez fairelaissez faire and capitalismcapitalism

The Issue of the Tariff

• By 1881, the Treasury was running an annual surplus of $145 million due to high tariffs

• To reduce the tariff, you can spend it on pensions and pork projects or lower the tariff

• The tariff becomes THE issue in the Election of 1888

The Billion Dollar Congress• New Speaker of the House, Thomas B. Reed of Maine• Reed was an imposing figure who bent the House to his will• First time in U.S. History that Congress would appropriate

over 1 billion dollars• Pensions for Civil War Soldiers and buying more silver

increased spending• To increase revenue, the McKinley Tariff is passed in 1890 to

increase the level to 48.4%, the highest peacetime level ever• Republicans get destroyed in 1890 midterm elections. 235-88

for the Democrats in the House

Rise of the Populists• Origins in the discontent of farmers• Created in 1892, the Populists adopted their first platform in Omaha,

Nebraska– Free and unlimited coinage of silver at 16 oz. of silver to 1 oz. of gold– Graduated income tax– Government ownership of railroads, telegraph, and telephone– Direct election of U.S. Senators– One-term limit on the presidency– Initiative and referendum to give citizens more power– Shorter workday– Restrictions on immigration

1892 Election1892 Election1892 Election1892 Election

Panic of 1893 Began 10 days after Cleveland took office.

1. Several major corps. went bankrupt.

o Over 16,000 businesses disappeared.

o Triggered a stock market crash.

o Over-extended investments.

2. Bank failures followed causing a contractionof 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!!

How bad does it get?

• In 1894, the gold reserve sinks to $41 million

• The government borrows $65 million in gold from J.P. Morgan and other Wall Street bankers– Get a $7 million commission for their loan

Backlash against Cleveland and the Democrats

• Deal with Morgan looks bad to much of the countries

• Wilson-Gorman Tariff in 1894 lowers the tariff rate only slightly– Also contained a 2 percent tax on incomes above

$4,000• Struck down by the Supreme Court in 1895

• Republicans regain a huge majority, 244-105, in the House