1. 7.3 Gilded Age Politics

2. Political Machines Large cities were run by political machines with corrupt “bosses” making decisions – Their neighborhood captains would bribe people (especially immigrants) for their votes and support – “Bosses” would get very wealthy but also used their power to help develop their community

3. Political Machines Boss Tweed’s Democratic machine in NYC was the most famous – Thomas Nast drew political cartoons mocking him – Caught (several times) for massive corruption and graft

4. Civil Service Reform Traditionally, people gained govt. jobs by knowing the guy who was elected (patronage) – Q: What effect would that have on govt. workers? Civil service reform suggested giving govt. jobs who scored the highest on a test – Let the best job-candidate win!

5. Civil Service Reform Rutherford B Hayes (1877, Repub.) pushed civil service reform to clear out corruption James A Garfield (1881, Repub) tried to balance those wanting reform with those wanting patronage – He was assassinated 3 months into office, his VP (Chester A. Arthur) became Pres.

6. Civil Service Reform Arthur continued to push for reform, signed Congress’s Pendleton Civil Service Act in 1883 – To get a govt. job, you needed to score high on the Civil Service test.

7. Civil Service Reform What people would have been crushed by civil service reforms? – “stalwarts”: Republicans who wanted to keep the patronage system of government jobs What civil service reform law do you need to know by name? – The Pendleton Act

8. Big Business & the Govt. Remember, this is a time of big businesses and the govt. being very close – Businesses would fund political campaigns, politicians allowed business owners to do what they wanted – Businesses’ biggest concern was keeping tariffs (taxes on imports) high High tariffs meant foreign goods would be expensive (so “Buy American!”)

9. Big Business & the Govt. 1885 Grover Cleveland (Democ.) became president, wanted to lower the tariff 1889 Benjamin Harrison (Repub.) beat Cleveland in a close election – Harrison agreed to raise tariffs even higher (McKinley Tariff Act) 1892 Cleveland wins again! – 1896 ____________ wins and tariffs increase again.