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| Gilded Age | (Term first used by Mark Twain in 1873 as the title of a book) Referred to the superficial glitter of the new wealth that was showed off in the last part of the 19th century= The politics of the era were often criticized as "mostly show with little substance"= It was an era of forgettable presidents (no of whom served 2 consecutive terms) and of politicians who largely ignored problems arising from the growth of industry and cities |
| What caused the political stalemates in the Gilded Age? | The prevailing political ideology of the time, compaign tactics of the 2 parties, and party patronage |
| Who supported a limited government and what were the results? | Laissez-Faire economists and Social Darwinists supported the idea of a "do-little" government= This caused the federal courts to narrowly interpret the government's powers to regulate business which thus limited the impact of the few regulatory laws that Congress did pass |
| What were the results of the elections between 1876 and 1892? | Because the elections were so close, the Republicans and Democrats avoided taking strong positions on issues= Because elections were so evenly matched, the objective was to get out the vote and not alienate voters on the issues |
| What were election campaigns/political parties like between 1876 and 1892 and were the results? | Brass bands, flags, campaign buttons, picnics, free beer, and crowd-pleasing oratory= Both parties had strong organization (Republicans on the state level and the Democrats in the cities)= The issue-free campaigns brought out 80% of the eligible voters for presidential elections (the hgih turnout was due to a strong party identification and loyalty which was connected with the voters' regional, religious, and ethnic ties) |
| Describe the Republican party during the Gilded Age | Politicians kept memories of the Civil War alive by waving the "bloody shirt" in every campaign and reminding the many veterans of the Union army that their wounds had been caused by (southern) Democrats and that Abraham Lincoln had been murdered by a Democrat= The party, due to its antislavery past, kept the votes of reformers and African Americans= The core of Republican strength came from men in business and from middle-class, Anglo-Saxon Protestants= They remained rooted in their Whig past by supporting an economic program of high protective tariffs for business |
| Describe the Democratic party during the Gilded Age | After 1877, Democrats couldn't count on winning every election in the former states of the Confederacy (the solid South was solidly Democratic until mid-20th century)= In the North, their strength came from big-city political machines and the immigrant vote= They were often Catholics, Lutherans, and Jews who objected to temperance and prohibition crusades conducted by Protestant (and Republican) groups= They continued to believe in states' rights an limited powers for the federal government |
| What were politics like during the Gilded age and why? | It was to gain office, hold office, and provide government jobs to the party faithful |
| Stalwarts | Name given to the New York Republican Senator Roscoe Conkling (and his followers), who became a powerful leader of his party by dictating who in the Republican ranks would be appointed to jobs in the New York Customs House |
| Halfbreeds | Rivals of the Stalwarts for patronage led by James G. Blaine |
| Mugwumps | Nickname given to the Republicans who did not play the Patronage Game (=fighting for patronage jobs within the party) for sitting on the fence (with their "mugs" on one side of the fence and "wumps" on the other) |
| Rutherford B. Hayes | Was declared the winner of the disputed election of 1876= Most significant act was to end Reconstruction by withdrawing the last federal troops from the South= He also attempted to reestablish honest government after the corrupt Grant administration= Because he was a temperance reformer, he cut off the flow of liquor in the White House= He also vetoed efforts to restrict Chinese immigration |
| James Garfield | Was nominated by the Republicans (who were happy with the 1876 election compromise where Hayes would only serve 1 term)= Was a Halfbreed= After taking office, he was swarmed by many Republicans, who were seeking federal jobs, and chose mainly Halfbreeds for most of the offices (which angered Senator Conkling and this Stalwarts)= Was later assassinated by a Stalwart |
| Chester A. Arthur | Became president after Garfield was assassinated= He distanced himself from the Stalwarts, supported a bill reforming the civil service, and approved the development of a modern American navy (he also questioned the high protective tariff) |
| What was Congress like during the Gilded Age (and the weak presidents)? | Lawmakers had long but non-important carers |
| Election of 1884 | Republicans nominated Blaine for president but suspicions about his honesty caused the reform-minded Mugwumps to suport the Democratic nominee Grover Cleveland (who was honest, business-minded, conscientious, and uncompromising)= Republicans questioned Cleveland's private life (because he fathered an illegitimate child)= Democrats, during the election, were labeled the party of "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion" (this upset Catholic voters who then voted Democrat) |
| President Grover Cleveland | Democratic president who believed in frugal and limited governemnt in the tradition of Jefferson= He implemented the new civil service system and vetoed hundreds of private pension bills for those falsely claiming to have served or been injured in the Civil War= He signed the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 (which was the federal government's 1st effort to regulate business) and the Dawes Act (which reformers hoped would benefit Native Americans)= He also took back a lot of land from cattle ranchers and the railroads |
| Describe Congresses in Washington between 1870 and 1880 | Were chiefly concerned with issues of patronage, the money supply, and the tariff issue= They thus left the states and local governments to deal with the growing problems of the cities and industrialization |
| Pendleton Act of 1881 | (Made due to the outrage over the assassination of Garfield which pushed Congress to remove certain government jobs from the control of party patronage) Set up the Civil Service Commission and created a system by which applicants for classified federal jobs would be selected on the basis of their scores on a competitive examination= It also prohibited civil servants from making political contributions= It initially applied to only 10% of federal employees but later expanded until most federal jobs were classified (i.e. taken out of the hands of politicians)= Politicians adapted to the reform by depending less on their armies of party workers and more on the rich to fund their campaigns |
| What was highly debated during the Gilded Age? | Whether or not to expand the money supply= This question reflected the growing tension during the industrial age between the "haves" and the "have-nots" |
| Who wanted more money in circulation during the Gilded Age and why? | Debtors, farmers, and start-up businesses to enable them to borrow money at lower interest rates and pay off their loans more easily with inflated dollars |
| Why was the Panic of 1873 important in terms of the Gilded Age's money question? | After the Panic of 1873, many Americans blamed the gold standard for restricting the money supply and causing the depression= To expand the supply of U.S. currency, the Easy-money/Soft-money advocates campaigned 1st for more paper money (greenbacks) and then for the unlimited minting of silver coins |
| Who didn't want more money in circulation during the Gilded Age and why? | Bankers, creditors, investors, and established businesses wanted Hard Money (=currency backed by gold stored in government vaults) because, for one, dollars backed by gold would more likely hold their value against inflation= The big holders of money understood that as the U.S. economy and population grew, a limited number of gold-backed dollars would gain in value (which it did by 300% between 1865 and 1895) |
| When was paper money, not backed by gold or silver, used and why was it taken out of circulation? | Was issued as an emergency measure for financing the Civil War= Northern farmers, who received high prices during the war, associated the greenbacks with prosperity while creditors and investors attacked the use of paper money not backed by specie as a violation of natural law= Congress passed, in 1875, the Specie Resumption Act (=withdrew the last of the greenbacks from circulation) |
| Greenback Party | (Supporters of paper money) Were elected to Congress in 1878 but after the hard times of the 1870s ended, so did the party (but not the party's goal of increasing the amount of money in circulation) |
| Crime of 1873 | When Congress stopped the coining of silver |
| What revived the coinage of silver? | Silver discoveries in Nevada |
| Bland-Allison Act | (was passed over Hayes' veto in 1878) It allowed only a limited coinage of between 2-4 million dollars in silver each month at the standard silver-to gold ration of 16-1= Farmers, debtors, and western miners (who were not satisfied with the law, continued to press of unlimited coinage of silver) |
| Why were tariff rates a problem during the Gilded Age? | During the Civil War, Republican Congress enacted high tariff to protect U.S. industry and also fund the Union government= After the war, southern Democrats (and some northern Democrats) objected to high tariffs because these taxes raised the prices on consumer goods= The tariffs also caused other nations to retaliate by placing taxes of their own on U.S. farm products (which caused American farmers to loose a share of the overseas market, creating surpluses of corn and wheat and resulting in lower farm prices and profits)= Thus, farmers though industry was growing rich at the expense of rural America |
| What did President Cleveland challenge the high protective tariff with? | He proposed that Congress set lower tariff rates, since there was a growing surplus in the federal treasury and the government did not need the added tax revenue |
| Election of 1888 | Democrats campaigned for Cleveland and a lower tariff while Republicans campaigned for Benjamin Harrison and a high tariff= The Republicans argued that a lower tariff would wreck business prosperity (used this fear to raise campaign funds from big business and to rally workers in the North whose jobs depended on the success of U.S. industry)= Republicans attacked Cleveland's vetoes of pension bills to bring out the veteran vote= Harrison won because of attracting North support (Republicans dominated government) |
| Billion-Dollar Congress | Was when the Republicans controlled the Presidency and both houses of Congress= Passe the first billion-dollar budget in U.S. history= Passed the McKinley Tariff of 1890 (=raised the tax on foreign products to a peacetime high of over 48%), Increases in the monthly pensions (to Civil War veterans, widows, and children), the Sherman Antitrust Act (=outlawed combinations in restraint of trade), the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 (=increase the coinage of silver but in amounts too small to satisfy farmers and miners), and a bill to protect the voting rights of African Americans (passed by the House but defeated in the Senate) |
| How and why did the Democratic party regain power in government in 1890? | Voters, especially in the Midwest, replaced many Republicans in reaction to unpopular measures passed by Republican state legislatures (EX: prohibition of alcohol and Sunday closing laws)= Voters who were neither Anglo-Saxon nor Protestant rushed back to the Democrats because they had not tried to legislate public morality |
| How did agrarian discontent in the South and West hurt the Republicans governmental domination in 1890? | Members of the Farmers' Alliances elected U.S. senators and representatives (governors of several states) and majorities in 4 state legislatures in the West |
| Populist Party | (a.k.a. People's Party) was founded due to the Alliance movement= They were determined to do something about the concentration of economic power in the hands of trusts and bankers |
| Omaha Platform | People's Party's platform that called for both political and economic reforms |
| Politically, what did the Omaha Platform call for? | It demanded the restoration of government to the people by means of direct popular election of U.S. senators (instead of indirect election by state legislatures) and enacting of state laws by voters themselves through initiatives and referendums placed on the ballot |
| Economically, what did the Omaha Platform call for? | Populists called for unlimited coinage of silver to increase the money supply, a graduated income tax (the greater a person's income, the greater the tax), public ownership of railroads by the U.S. government, telegraph and telephone systems owned and operated by the government, loans and federal warehouses for farmers to enable them to stabilize prices for their crops, and an 8 hour day for industrial workers |
| Why did the Populist movement seem revolutionary? | Because of its attack on laissez-faire capitalism and because of its attempt to form a political alliance between poor whites and poor blacks |
| Thomas Watson | Appealed to poor white and black farmers to unite on their common economic grievances by joining the People's party |
| Panic of 1893 | The stock market crashed in 1893 as a result of over-speculation and many railroads went into bankruptcy as a result of overbuilding= The depression went on for 4 years= Farm foreclosures were the highest ever and the unemployed reached 20% of the workforce= Many people ended up relying on soup kitchens and riding the rails as hoboes |
| How did President Cleveland deal with the Panic of 1893? | He took a more conservative approach by championing the gold standard and otherwise adopting a hands-off policy toward the economy |
| Why did president Cleveland repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 and what was the result? | He repealed the act because a decline in silver prices encouraged investors to trade their silver dollars for gold dollars (which caused the gold reserve to become dangerously low)= The repeal failed to stop the gold drain |
| How did President Cleveland deal with the gold drain after his repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act failed to work? What was the result? | He turned to the Wall Street banker J. P. Morgan to borrow $65 million in gold to support the dollar and the gold standard= This deal convinced many Americans that the government in Washington was only a tool of rich eastern bankers |
| Wilson-Gormon Tariff | (1894) Was enacted by Democrats to deal with the Panic of 1893 (was fairly popular)= It provided a moderate reduction in tariff rates and included a 2% income tax on incomes of more than $2,000 (because the average American income was less than $1,000, only those with higher incomes would be subject to the income tax)= The Supreme Court later declared the income tax unconstitutional |
| Jacob A. Coxey | Populist who led Coxey's Army (=a march of many unemployed workers to Washington in 1894 as a result of the Panic)= Army demanded that the federal government spend $500 million on public works programs to create jobs= Coxey and other protest leaders were arrested for trespassing and many went home (did nothing) |
| William H. Harvey | Wrote "Coin's Financial School" in 1894 that presented lessons in economics and seemed to offer easy answers for ending the depression= The book was illustrated with cartoons and taught many of discontented Americans that their troubles were caused by a conspiracy of rich bankers, and that prosperity would return if only the government coined silver in unlimited quantities |
| Describe the Democratic party in 1896 | They were divided between Gold Democrats (=loyal to Cleveland) and Prosilver Democrats (=looking for a leader)= Prosilver forces dominated the party's national convention in Chicago (in 1896) |
| William Jennings Bryan | Spoke at the Democratic convention in 1896 and delivered his "Cross of Gold" speech (got him nominated for president) |
| What did the Democratic platform favor in 1896? | It favored the unlimited coinage of silver at the traditional (but inflationary) ratio of 16 ounces of silver to one ounce of gold (was, then, about 32 to 1)= Thus addressed the leading issue of the Populist platform (who then elected Bryan and joined the Democrats in a fused campaign for free silver) |
| What was the result of the Democratic platform? | Those unhappy with Bryan and free silver (the conservative group of Gold Bug Democrats, including Cleveland) either formed the separate national Democratic party or voted Republican |
| William McKinley | Was nominated by the Republicans (for the 1896 election)= He supported a high protective tariff but also supported labor |
| Marcus Hanna | Wealthy businessman who was the financial power behind McKinley's nomination as well as his campaign for president |
| What was the Republican party's platform in the Election of 1896? | After blaming the Democrats for the Panic of 1893, they offered Americans the promise of a strong and prosperous industrial nation= They proposed a high tariff to protect industry and upheld the gold standard against unlimited coinage of silver |
| How did Bryan campaign during the Election of 1896? | He turned the Democratic-Populist campaign into a nationwide crusade= He traveled over the whole country and gave many speeches (his positive attitude, energy, and good speeches convinced many farmers and debtors that the unlimited coinage of silver was their salvation) |
| How did McKinley campaign during the Election of 1896? | He stayed home and conducted a safe, front-porch campaign (while mark Hanna raised a lot of money for the Republican ticket from business leaders who feared that "silver lunacy" would lead to runaway inflation= He "sold" McKinley in the media, etc.) |
| How was Bryan's campaign hurt during the Election of 1896? | A raise in wheat prices (which made farmers less desperate) and employers telling their workers that factories would shut down if Bryan was elected |
| Why did the economy begin to revive when McKinley took office? | He was lucky because of Gold discoveries in Alaska (in 1897) which increased the money supply under the gold standard which resulted in the inflation that the silverites had wanted= Farm prices rose, factory production increased, and the stock market climbed |
| What did the Republicans do when the economy began to heal? | They honored their platform by enacting the Dingley Tariff of 1897 (=a higher tariff) and making gold the official standard of the U.S. currency |
| Why was the Election of 1896 so important? | It marked the end of the stalemate and stagnation that had characterized politics in the Gilded Age= The defeat of Bryan and the Populist free-silver movement initiated an era of Republican dominance of the presidency and of both houses of Congress= The Republicans (once the party of "free soil, free labor, and free men," were now the party of business, industry, and a strong national government |
| Why did the Populist party cease to be a national party and what was the result? | The party declined after 1896= Thomas Watson (in the South) and other Populist leaders gave up trying to unite poor whites and blacks after finding that racism was stronger than common economic interests= After the party declined, much of its agenda (EX: graduated income tax and popular election of senators) was adopted by both Democrats and Republicans during the Progressive era |
| Describe the Election of 1896 in terms of "Business-America" and "Rural-America" | The election was a victory for big business, urban centers, conservative economics, and moderate/middle-class values= The election was the last hope of rural America to reclaim its former dominance in American politics (triumph of modern industrial values and urban America over the rural ideals of the America of Jefferson and Jackson) |
