Restoring Honest Government
1869 Ulysses S. Grant began his presidency Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to corner, or gain a monopoly on, the gold market They wanted to drive the price of gold up Gould and gold broker Abel Rathbone Corbin (Grant’s brother-in-law) tried to convince the president not to sell gold from the U.S. treasury to keep the supply of gold low and the price high Grant refused but Gould and Corbin spread rumors that he agreed
The rumors caused widespread speculation, or buying and selling, in the gold market When Grant learned of the rumors, he ordered his secretary of treasury to sell $4 million of the government’s gold On Black Friday-Sept. 24, 1869-the price of gold fell sharply Many Wall Street investors and speculators were ruined financially
This time, Grant’s vice president, Schuyler Colfax, was involved Five years earlier, directors of the Union Pacific Railroad had formed a construction company called Credit Mobilier of America The directors then gave the company contracts to build a section of the transcontinental railroad The owners of Union Pacific Railroad gave or sold shares of stock in Credit Mobilier to congressmembers responsible for awarding federal land grants to the railroads
In return, Congress issued federal subsidies for the cost of the railroad construction Credit Mobilier was able to overcharge Union Pacific by more than $20 million The excess profits went straight into the pockets of Credit Mobilier’s stockholders This included members of Congress such as Schuyler Colfax, who was then the Speaker of the House This tarnished Grant’s presidency
Many wanted to challenge Grant’s presidency Corruption in Grant’s administration was seen as a by-product of the spoils system (people getting jobs as rewards instead of earning them) Civil service reform was the battle cry of Grant’s opponents However, Grant played on his image as a war hero and easily won re-election
1874-scandal over taxation of whiskey Some officials at the Treasury Department that received their jobs due to the spoils system were charged with accepting bribes from distillers and distributors of whiskey In return, taxes were reduced on the distributors Whiskey Ring
Many voters distrusted politicians 1873 Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner published a satirical novel called The Gilded Ages In politics, corruption and greed lurked below the polite and prosperous luster of American society during the late 1800s
Reforming the spoils system was a major issue in the 1876 election Rutherford B. Hayes won the election 1877 Hayes issued an executive order prohibiting federal employees from participating in political campaigns New York senator, Roscoe Conkling, defied Hayes’ orders and led to a split in the Republican Party Patronage with government jobs was at issue
Led by Conkling, Stalwarts strongly opposed civil service reform Hayes believed federal jobs should be awarded based on an examinations rather than patronage Another group emerged as a result, the Half- Breeds, who strongly supported civil service reform and others who did not completely oppose patronage jobs
Hayes chose not to run for re-election, noting the political conflict between the Stalwarts and the Half-Breeds The Half-Breeds won the battle to control the party ticket and named James A. Garfield as president and Chester A. Arthur as the vice president nominee Garfield won the election
July 2, 1881-less than four months after his inauguration Garfield was assassinated Charles Guiteau (guh-TOH) was his assassin Mentally unstable and was unsuccessful at getting a government job Garfield refused to tighten security days before his assassination Guiteau felt that by killing Garfield he would help the Stalwarts
Pendleton Civil Service Act-President Arthur passed this bill to establish a Civil Service Commission to administer competitive examinations to those people seeking government jobs Many Stalwarts refused to support Arthur’s reform efforts and didn’t support his bid for the 1884 election Mugwumps supported Grover Cleveland Cleveland won the election