POLITICAL PARALYSIS IN THE GILDED AGE

Chapter 23

Emily, John, Sam, Garrett

Mark Twain wrote, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today in 1873

PRELUDE TO THE GILDED AGE

The Civil War• Aftermath

Abraham Lincoln promised a new birth of freedom, unfortunately…

Grant, great soldier, atrocious politician

BLOODY SHIRT ELECTS GRANT

Nominated by Republicans in 1868• Republicans “bloody shirt”• “Vote as you Shot”

Democrats elect Horatio Seymour

Electoral Votes: Grant 214 to Seymour 80• Popular Vote 3 Million to 2.7 Million• Slaves votes• MS, TX, VA votes not counted

DEPR ESSIO N, DEFLATIO N, AN D INFL ATIO N

Panic of 1873• Railroads, mines, factories, grainfields• Freedmen’s Bureau crash

Debtors favor Greenbacks

Creditors favor hard money• Resumption Act of 1875

• Causes: Democratic House of Reps in 1874• And Greenback Labor Party in 1878

PALLID POLITICS

Political Seesaw• Change of party in House 6 times in 11 Sessions

Dems and Repubs see eye to eye

Republicans- Trace lineage to Puritanism• Strict Morality

Democrats- Lineage to Lutheran and Roman Catholics

• Tolerance for differences

HAYES TILDEN STANDOFF

Rutherford B. Hayes- unknown Republican

Samuel J. Tilden- campaigned against Republican scandal

Election ended in tie and led to the Compromise of 1887

COMPROMISE OF 1887

Electoral deadlock in Florida, Louisiana, and S. Carolina

The deadlock was broken with the Electoral Count Act

The Democrats let Hayes have the presidency if the troops in the South were removed and a subsidy to construct a Tex-Pacific rail line.

JIM CROW LAWS

Freedmen found themselves working for former slave owners

The South made Jim Crow laws that supported segragation

• Plessy v. Furgeson (1896)

IRISH V. CHINESE

Denis Kearney led a fight against the Chinese

GARFIELD & ARTHUR

Republicans Repute Hayes for reelection, an replace him with James A. Garfield

Charles J. Guiteau shot Garfield

Pendleton Act of 1883

THE CHINESE

19th century burgeoning industries • Chinese answered the call

First Chinese • China’s government collapses• Chinese society in America

1868 Treaty with China

Immigrant Clubs

Anti-Chinese agitation • Chinese Exclusion Act. Removal Burlingame Treaty of 1880

BLAIN E CLEVEL AN D MU DSLIN GER S OF 1884

James G. Blaine, Republican nominee• Mulligan’s letters

Democrats choose Grover Cleveland

Campaign of 1884

Cleveland elected

OLD GROVER TAKES OVER

Supported laissez-faire

Narrowed North-South Chasm

Favored democrats

Military pensions

Battles for a Lower Tarriff• Risked political neck• 1881 treasury surplus

Election of 1888 Harrison vs. Cleveland

BILLION DOLLAR CONGRESS

Republicans regain control• Control of the house

• Thomas B. Preed• Tactics

Congress spends billions of dollars• Higher tarrifs• Bad for farmers

DRUMBEAT OF DISCONTENT

New party (populists)• Wanted free silver

Strikes• Violent supression

Showing in 1892 election (electoral votes)

Couldn’t carry both because of race • Tightened voting restriction on blacks

CLEVELAND AND DEPRESSION

Elected again in 1892

Depression of 1893 over building and speculation

Repeals Sherman Sewer Purchase Act • William Jennings Bryan

Turns to JP Morgan for loans

BACKLASH

People view sellout of government

Wilson-carman tariff

Cleveland, Party blamed

Election of 1896