From Stalemate to Crisis Politics in the Glided Age

Politics of Equilibrium Period of remarkable political stability YET, pretty high voter turnout Almost 80% of voters participated in Pres. Elections from Party loyalty shaped primarily by: Regional diff., ethnicity, religion Dems: recent immigrants in North, strong Southern base Reps.: tended to favor limiting immigration; strong with “old stock” Americans

Political Inaction Gov’t did relatively little during this period Exceptions: Subsidies to RRs (esp. land grants) Intervention in several labor disputes 1894 Pullman Strike Massive pension system for Civil War vets Some attempt to convert this to old age pensions, but never really panned out Lots of corruption & party patronage

1. A Two-Party Stalemate

Two-Party “Balance”

2. Intense Voter Loyalty to the Two Major Political Parties

3. Well-Defined Voting Blocs Democratic Bloc Republican Bloc  White southerners (preservation of white supremacy)  Catholics  Recent immigrants (esp. Jews)  Urban working poor (pro-labor)  Most farmers  Northern whites (pro-business)  African Americans  Northern Protestants  Old WASPs (support for anti-immigrant laws)  Most of the middle class

4. Very Laissez Faire Federal Govt.  From  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.

5. The Presidency as a Symbolic Office  Party bosses ruled.  Presidents should avoid offending any factions within their own party.  The President just doled out federal jobs.  1865  53,000 people worked for the federal govt.  1890  166,000 “ “ “ “ “ “ Senator Roscoe Conkling

The Presidency & Party Politics Presidency at this time really about giving out gov’t patronage for party supporters Republicans split into 2 factions STALWARTS: supporters of traditional machine politics HALF-BREEDS: reformers (but really wanted a larger part of the patronage “pie” Civil Service Hayes tried to create a more honest & capable civil service Garfield assassinated by a frustrated office seeker (July 1881) Arthur: Had been a Stalwart, but became a more independent president 1883: pushed through the Pendleton Act Required competitive written exam system for some key federal jobs

1880 Presidential Election: Republicans Half BreedsStalwarts Sen. James G. Blaine Sen. Roscoe Conkling (Maine) (New York) James A. Garfield Chester A. Arthur (VP) compromise

1880 Presidential Election: Democrats

Inspecting the Democratic Curiosity Shop

1880 Presidential Election

1881: Garfield Assassinated! Charles Guiteau: I Am a Stalwart, and Arthur is President now!

Chester A. Arthur: The Fox in the Chicken Coop?

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.

Republican “Mugwumps”  Reformers who wouldn’t re-nominate Chester A. Arthur.  Reform to them  create a disinterested, impartial govt. run by an educated elite like themselves.  Social Darwinists.  Laissez faire government to them:  Favoritism & the spoils system seen as govt. intervention in society.  Their target was political corruption, not social or economic reform!

The Mugwump s Men may come and men may go, but the work of reform shall go on forever.  Will support Cleveland in the 1884 election.

Ugly Campaigns, Few Issues 1884: Cleveland vs. Blaine Lots of slurs thrown around Protestant minister (Blaine supporter) calls Dems party of “rum, Romanism, and rebellion” Cleveland: gov’t should play a limited role Opposed protective tariffs (caused size of gov’t to grow unnecessarily) 1888; Tariffs play a key role in campaign Cleveland loses to Harrison One of closest election in US history 1 st time since CW that Reps and Dems differed significantly on economic issues

1884 Presidential Election Grover Cleveland James Blaine * (DEM) (REP)

A Dirty Campaign Ma, Ma…where’s my pa? He’s going to the White House, ha… ha… ha…!

Little Lost Mugwump Blaine in 1884

Rum, Romanism & Rebellion!  Led a delegation of ministers to Blaine in NYC.  Reference to the Democratic Party.  Blaine was slow to repudiate the remark.  Narrow victory for Cleveland [he wins NY by only 1149 votes!]. Dr. Samuel Burchard

1884 Presidential Election

Cleveland’s First Term  The “Veto Governor” from New York.  First Democratic elected since  A public office is a public trust!  His laissez-faire presidency:  Opposed bills to assist the poor as well as the rich.  Vetoed over 200 special pension bills for Civil War veterans!

Bravo, Señor Clevelando!

The Tariff Issue  After the Civil War, Congress raised tariffs to protect new US industries.  Big business wanted to continue this; consumers did not.  1885  tariffs earned the US $100 mil. in surplus!  Mugwumps opposed it  WHY???  President Cleveland’s view on tariffs????  Tariffs became a major issue in the 1888 presidential election.

Filing the Rough Edges Tariff of 1888

1888 Presidential Election Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison (DEM) * (REP)

Coming Out for Harrison

The Smallest Specimen Yet

1888 Presidential Election

Disposing the Surplus

Changing Public Opinion  Americans wanted the federal govt. to deal with growing soc. & eco. problems & to curb the power of the trusts:  Interstate Commerce Act – 1887  Sherman Antitrust Act – 1890  McKinley Tariff – 1890  Based on the theory that prosperity flowed directly from protectionism.  Increased already high rates another 4%!  Rep. Party suffered big losses in 1890 (even McKinley lost his House seat!).

Things start to heat up again Harrison: Pretty passive overall BUT… July 1890: Sherman Anti-trust Act Forbids “combinations in restraint of trade” Largely ineffective until new enforcement mechanisms were added in 1900s October 1890: McKinley Tariff High protective tariffs Resulted in big midterm losses in Nov : Cleveland vs. Harrison AGAIN Cleveland wins, and Dems get both houses Focused mostly on tariff reform Senate weakened his proposal into the Wilson-Gorman tariff of 1894

Some Increasing Public Support for Reform 1886: Wabash case SC overturns laws regulating RRs as an unconstitutional attempt to control interstate commerce 1887: Interstate Commerce Act Reaction to court rulings Very loosely enforced until Teddy Roosevelt

Agrarian Revolt Individualistic yet frequently organized National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry (the Grange) 1867 Started as social and educational organization, but changed in Depression of 1873 Formed marketing cooperatives 1870s: Grange politicians took hold of several Midwestern legislatures But lost power when economic prosperity returned & SC overturned some Granger laws

Agrarian Revolt Mid-1870s: Farmers’ Alliances Mostly regional but some move to more action Mary Ellen Lease “raise less corn & more hell!” 1889: Ocala demands Sets stage for more organized demands Competed well in off year elections 1892: create the People’s Party Weaver gets 8.5 percent in the 1892 Pres. Election

Populism Appealed mostly to farmers May have felt “culturally marginal” Failed to attract industrial labor “Free silver” Some dispute over allowing Blacks in the South into the mvmt. Omaha Platform (1892) Create “subtreasuries” where farmer’s could store grain until prices rose Direct election of Senators Regulation & gov’t ownership of RRs, telephones & telegraphs Graduated income tax Currency inflation A challenge to the laissez-faire orthodoxy of the time

Crisis of the 1890s Worst depression in US history (so far) Failure of Philadelphia & Reading RR Triggers stock mkt collapse Panic of 1893 Shows interdependence of Am. Economy Protests Coxey’s Army Precipitates debate over currency in US