1. A.P. U.S. History “The Gilded Age”

2. POLITICS: 1877-1894 Problems of the underclass ignored
Instead, govt. had belief in laissez faire, and concentrated on only 3 issues:
(1) tariff (2) money supply (3) civil service reform
House changes majority 5 times
Previous President Grant’s presidency plagued with corruption & scandal (“Grantism”)
Spoils system popular in the time period
1873 stock market panic led to depression in which had an impact on the period

3. Major Parties Platforms and Bases of Support
Republicans
New England, Upper Midwest,
& Plains
small towns and rural areas
Protestants
Immigrants: British, Swedes, &
Norwegians
African Americans
Grand Army of the Republic
(veterans of the Civil War)
High tariffs
Temperance
English-only compulsory education
Democrats
South & Lower
Midwest
cities in the North
Catholics
Immigrants: Irish,
Germans, & New
Immigrants
Low tariffs
Anti-temperance
No English-only
education

4. Rutherford B. Hayes Republican 1877-1881
Won Election of 1876
Restores respectability to office of President
Attacked corrupt NYC customs house and fired Chester Arthur there
Sent in federal troops to end the B&O railroad strike
Munn v. Illinois (1877) ruling supported Granger laws
Greenback Party formed (1877) – supported expanded money supply, and benefits to farmers and industrial workers

5. During the Hayes administration the Republican Party was split into two factions:
Stalwarts
- conservative faction
opposed to Hayes' efforts
to reconcile with the South
opposed all forms of civil
service reform, preferring
spoils or patronage system
backed the protective tariff
supported by Radical
Republicans and party
bosses
Half-Breeds
moderate faction
backed Hayes'
lenient treatment
of the South
supported
moderate civil
service reform

6. James Garfield Republican 1881
Won Election of 1880
Half-Breed who won Republican nomination named Stalwart Chester Arthur as his running mate to keep party together
Garfield assassinated by an angry Stalwart who supported Garfield in hopes of gaining a govt. position in the spoils system
Arthur becomes President

7. Chester Arthur Republican 1881-1885
Became President when Garfield assassinated
Arthur has reputation for corruption from his days in NY political machine and the NYC custom house
Partly because Arthur was president the cause of civil service reform became a hot issue
Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883) – set up exams and standards for gaining federal govt. positions, and forbade workers from giving contributions to candidates

8. Grover Cleveland Democrat 1885-1889
Won Election of 1884 by gaining support of Mugwumps (republicans who switched sides as they felt that the Republican candidate Blaine was part of the corrupt spoils system)
Supporter of laissez faire
Wanted lower tariffs so federal budget surplus would drop, so Congress not tempted to add pork barrel projects to laws

9. Grover Cleveland Democrat 1885-1889
Wabash Railroad Strike (1885)
Haymarket Square Incident (1886)
vetoed a bill (1887) that gave pensions to all veterans even if their disability was unrelated to war
Wabash v. Illinois (1887) – ruling overturned Munn decision and prohibited states regulation of interstate RR trade
Interstate Commerce Act (1887) – overturned Wabash decision allowing federal govt. to regulate interstate transportation and trade

10. Benjamin Harrison Republican 1889-1893
gained $4 million “war chest” from industrialists upset with Cleveland’s low tariffs to win election in 1888
Increased Civil War pensions by 43%
McKinley Tariff (1890) – pushed them to all-time high
Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890) – first major attempt by federal govt. to regulate monopolies and trusts
Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890) – U.S. to buy nation’s output of silver

11. Benjamin Harrison Republican 1889-1893
Southern and Northwestern Alliances merged in 1889 and ran candidates in 1890 midterm elections
wanted govt. action on behalf of farmers and workers, such as tariff reduction, graduated income tax, public ownership of RRs, & unlimited coinage of silver
Party split over whether it could operate within the Democratic Party (which Southerners wanted)

12. Benjamin Harrison Republican 1889-1893
Democrats won back control of Congress in the 1890 midterm elections as people were upset about Republican ties to big industry
People’s Party or Populist Party (1892) – took alliances platform and added political reforms like direct election of US Senators, initiative, recall, and referendum, and called for govt. warehouses for crops so they could be stored until prices rose
Homestead Strike (1892)

13. Grover Cleveland Democrat 1893-1897
Won Election of 1892 due to these factors:
Populists hurt by lack of Southern support as they kept traditional loyalties to Democratic Party and because the Populists ran a former Union general James Weaver
Republicans hurt by public reaction to labor violence (Homestead Strike) and McKinley Tariff
Cleveland grew more conservative and won back support of businessmen by opposing populism and by supporting the gold standard

14. Grover Cleveland Democrat 1893-1897
Panic of 1893 – caused by agricultural stagnation, slumping RR growth which led to crisis in the iron and steel industries, depletion of the gold supply, and depletion of govt. surplus due to veterans’ pensions and pork barrel projects
banks and RRs failed and stock prices dropped
led to the depression from
Industrial unemployment 20-25%
Agricultural prices dropped 20%

15. Grover Cleveland Democrat 1893-1897
Sherman Silver Purchase Act repealed in (1893) to save the gold supply
Pullman Strike (1894)
In re Debs case (1895)
Bankers like J.P. Morgan loaned the govt. millions in exchange for discounted US bonds (which stopped the gold drain)

16. Lower classes perceived a govt
Lower classes perceived a govt. and money class alliance that they couldn’t break:
Morgan loan for huge profits
Inability to pass lower tariff by Congress
Cleveland’s using force to end Pullman Strike
End of Sherman Silver Purchase Act angered farmers as it meant money supply would not grow

17. Grover Cleveland Democrat 1893-1897
Republicans gained seats in 1894 midterm elections winning both houses
Immigrants battered by depression throughout Cleveland’s presidency left the Democratic Party
Progressive movement within the Republican Party emerges and takes votes from the Populists
Democratic Party split over gold standard and silver advocates take control of the party’s platform

18. William McKinley Republican 1897-1901
Won Election of 1896
William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” Speech made adding silver to the money standard the major issue for the Democrats
Populists joined the Democrats giving up many of their platform goals to try to gain free silver
Republican McKinley’s victory meant end to the Populist Party

19. William McKinley Republican 1897-1901
By stressing one issue in the 1896 election the Democrats couldn’t appeal to factory workers and the urban middle class
Protestant revivalist preacher Bryan turned off immigrants who were Jews & Catholics and against his temperance stance
Defeat of Populism led to Republican reign of power (with exception of Wilson’s two terms) that lasted until FDR in 1932

20. William McKinley Republican 1897-1901
Dingley Tariff (1897) – pushed rates to a new all-time high
Currency Act (1900) – officially committed the US to the gold standard
Populist movement ended, but a new reform movement called progressivism would emerge
Thorstein Veblen’s “Theory of the Leisure Class”
conspicuous consumption of the rich

21. Progressive Reforms in the Gilded Age
Only three major pieces of progressive legislation were passed during the period
Pendleton Civil Service Act
Interstate Commerce Act
Sherman Anti-Trust Act