1. Restoring Honest Government

2.  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

3.  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

4.  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

5.  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

6.  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

7.  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

8.  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

9.  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

10.  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

11.  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

12.  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

13.  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