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The Gilded Age: Politics and Populism
High levels of corruption during the gilded age.
Woodrow Wilson said that modern politcis had no leaders
Roosevelt, critic of Wilson says that "when role called in senate,
senators don't know whether to say present or not guilty."
Barons/special interests bought favors, priveleges, lobbying.
Common desires to repair the system.
Fed. gov't very small at time (mostly postal), so politics was primarily
local/regional. 20th century saw its growth.
Party loyalty (both for issues and for networking) was very important.
Rings
- Organizational groups that controlled cities
- Bosses (like William Tweed) controlled
- Used "machines" to support and manage specific action in gov't
- Gave out contracts in a favour system
- Patronage ("Spoils") System for supporters
- Feudal hierarchy. Senator -> Clerk/post -> support
- Managed within schemes of party loyalty
- Brought structure, stability
- Often plundering government
- Expected *appointed* officials to be loyal to bosses
- Acted as judge system
- Civil Service Reformers attacked this system (preferring merit)
Very high voter turnout with uncontroversial platforms
- Dems for small gov, white supremacy
- Northern Irish-Catholic Germans
- White supremacist southerners
- Disagreed with "party of morality"
- Prohibition to hurt specific group
- Reps against tarriffs but okay with it if it benefits const.
- Popular in Protestant {NE,midwest}
- Relied on votes by African-Americans
- Veterans
- Third party (greenback, populist, prohibition)
- Specific issues
- NAWSA gained women voting rights in 1890s four states.
Grover Cleveland
- Narrow view of presidency (laissez-faire, administrative)
- Vetoed 2/3 of all bills
- Highly conservative, "Grover the Good"
The Dawes Act
- To break up and assimilate American Indians
- Distributed reservation land as plots among families
- Gave remaining land to white settlers
- Old policy: confine Amerindians to reservations and teach individual
property
- Made Amerindians subject to federal law as individual
- Amerindians had to "prove" they could farm competently over 25 years
- After, they could try to obtain citizenship if success
- If fail, they have to pay taxes
- Land could not yield sustainable crop
Major Issues?
- Civil Service Reform
Conservative (anti-women's suffrage)
James Garfield murdered by Republican office-seeker
Charles Guitea expected return for working to elect him
Stalks the president because he believes he's destined for
greatness.
"Mordered by the Spoils System"
Pres Chester Arthur keeps promises to avoid spoils politics
Pendleton Act (1883)
Created Civil Service Commission.
Prohibited federal employees from solicit or recv political
contrtibutions from federal workers.
Prohibited political firings
Gov't was growing, so sorely needed.
- Tariffs
- McKinley (ROhio) Tariff appeased businesses and competitors
- Businesses raised prices
- Republicans losing support from this
!!Populist party (farmworkers, wage laborers)
- Currency
- Currency disappearing, so it deflates
Principles:
- Amount of money in circulation determines its value
- Unbacked (by gold or silver) currency loses value rapidly
- Monetary policy hurt farmers because crop value decreased
- "Deflationary spiral" made it hard to repay debts -> continued
deflation
- In 1873, US went bimetallic standard -> gold standard
- Eliminated silver dollar
- Farmers, miners supported return to 16:1 bimetallic standard
- Inflation to help pay debt, "unlimited coinage"
- Congress authorized gov to buy silver in 1890
Sherman Silver Purchasing Act
Increased nation's money supply, inflating economy
Panic of 1893
- Soon after inauguration for Grover Cleveland's second term
- Farmers worried about droughts, crop prices, foreclosures, railroad
price discrimination
- Stock market crash and successive bank run in May
- Gets worse by 1894
- Businesses, banks shuttering
- Lasts until 1898
- Cleveland restricts credit
- Jacob Coxey's Army
- Wants $5M to build more railroads and employ men
- Civil War vet, farmer, business-owner
- Marched on Congress for bimetallic standard to reverse
deflationary spiral
- Coxey arrested and sent to jail for 20 days
Pullman Strike
- Protesting wage cuts and layoffs from pullman railcar workers
- Pay rent to company; wages reduced without reduction in rent
- 10 days after coxey's army
- Cleveland sends in armed forces on basis of interference with mail
delivery
- Chicago
- Court issued injunction against union
- Violent confrontation between illegal union and police
- 26 men died
- Army occupied railroad yards to "restore order"
Populism
- Want better farm profits, less debt to farmers
- For bimetallic standard (unlimited coinage), regulation of
railroads/utilities (rail price discrimination)
- Also direct election of senators
- Political Platform
- James Weaver (populist nominee) loses with 1M votes in 1892
- 1896 Election: "Battle of the Standards"
- Democrat division
- Bourbon democrats: Democrat establishment support gold
- Back Grover Cleveland
- Destroyed by economy, Cleveland loses
- Silver democrats: farmers, miners favouring bimetallic
- Silverites
- Silver signified support of rural, downtrodden, shift away from NE
- McKinley (R) supports big biz.
- Rallies around property owners and conservative on change
- Gives speech from portch
- Silverites (dems+pop) nominate Williamns Jennings Bryan (D-NE)
- Cross of Gold speech: ``you shall not crucify mankind upon
a cross of gold'' (or press upon the working man crown of
thorns)
- Appeals to populist platform
- Repubs call him "leader of malcontents"
- Took campaign directly to voters (visit 18K mile, 27 state)
becuase Eastern newspapers wouldn't support him
- "Merchandising" campaign
- Cleanse nation of corruption and inequality, pro-rural,
pro-religious
- Despite legendary campaign, 4% lead in favor of McKinley
because Bryan failed to reach urban-industrial NErs
- Followed by 36 years of Republican dom except Woodrow
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