Gilded Age Politics (Chapter 23)

• List of Presidents in this Era
  • Grant (1869-1877)
  • Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881)
  • James A Garfield (1881-18881)
  • Chester A. Arther (1881-1885)
  • Grover Cleveland (1881-1889)
  • Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893)
  • Grover Cleveland (1893-1897) This was the first and last time this occurrence would appear.
  • William McKinley (1897-1901) Was assassinated from the curse of Tenskwatawa
  • Teddy Roosevelt (1901-1909)
• Background Info
  • "Age of forgettable presidents" or "Age of Whiggish Presidents"
    • The presidents, starting with Hayes in 1877 and ending with Teddy, are all part of this age of unforgettable presidents.
    • Called Whiggish because they didn't have much experience, and they didn't take a stand on any important issues.
  • Characteristics
    • What kind of people went into politics? Losers, or people who couldn't eke out a living through business or industry.
    • People didn't trust politicians because they were thought of as losers.
    • Personalities of the presidents were more important than actual policies to the people.
    • Mudslinging and spreading rumors were popular through the newspapers. Some scandals became really big, and lots of newspapers made money stretching the truth.
    • Local issues also got people all into a lather and made people interested in politics.
      • Parochial Schools were very controversial. Should private catholic schools receive state funding.
      • Blue Laws were laws about what you couldn't do on a Sunday. We still have at least one blue law today! In Greensboro, you are not allowed to buy alcohol until 12pm.
  • Greedy Materialsim
    • Starting during the Civil War, profiteering became popular, which means that people would dishonestly make millions off the war.
    • This attitude spread. There was not much idealism, and a lot materialism.
    • This attitude was reflected in our literature. Realism and naturalism became popular during this time, replacing Romanticism.
    • Poor and rich alike sought comfort in economics, not reform.
• The Grant Administration (1869-1877)
  • Election
    • The Republican Candidates were Grant and Colfax. Grant won because Colfax was accused of corruption.
    • The Democratic Candidates were Seymour and Blair
      • The "Ohio Idea" by George H. Pendleton
        • Wants ex-confederate amnesty
        • States to provide black suffrage, and not the federal government. Aka no amendment.
        • Criticized Railroads towards the south
    • Grant ended up winning the election 214 to 80
      • Why?
        • former slaves voted in huge numbers- 15th amendment
        • He was a war hero
        • Seymour, his democratic component, was not really crazy about greenbacks (paper money)
        • Republicans waved the "Bloody Shirts" (blamed democrats for Civil War)
  • Ulysses S. Grant
    • Background
      • During his second term he suffers from throat cancer
      • no one would publish his memoirs until Twain, who lost a lot of money with this endeavor
      • Grant was not a smart man and very naïve; he had too much trust!
      • a very scandalous president
    • The Alabama Claims
      • Secretary of State Hamilton Fish
      • Britain made ships for the South (During the Civil War)
      • Most famous was the CSS Alabama
      • Settled the dispute with the Treaty of Washington (1871)
        • Paid for damages done by the ships sold to the south $15.5 million
• "The Era of Good Stealings" - Grant Scandals
  • Credit Mobilier Scandal
  • Fisk- Gould
    • John Sherman and Grant are trying to pay back the war debt
    • Fisk and Gould try and corner the Gold market
    • Bribes Grant's brother-in-law to smooth talk Grant into paying the debt with gold and not put the gold on the private market.
    • Price for gold skyrockets.
    • Grunt realized he was tricked so they take $4 million of government gold on the private market
    • Fisk and Gould were ruined September 24, 1869, which is called Black Friday. The gold market collapses.
    • Triggers the depression of 1873.
  • Whiskey ring
    • Secretary of Treasury B. Bristio
    • In exchange for a bribe by the whiskey manufactures, the tax collectors would purposefully miscount the number of barrels a manufacturer had.
  • The Belknap Scandal "Indian ring"
    • The Secretary of War was in charge of the reservations
    • To sell items you had to bribe secretary of war
    • Got away with it until grants second term
  • Salary graft
    • Congress gave themselves pay raises
    • Gave themselves a 50% pay increase but also they gave themselves a two year back pay
  • Sanborn contracts
    • John D. Sandborn was contractor to collect overdue taxes
    • Paid him a percent of what he collected instead of a salary
    • Collected higher taxes so they can get more money
  • The Tweed Ring
    • Tammany Hall
    • "Boss" William Tweed and "Honest" John Kelly
    • Owned the mayor of New York and the fire department (made of Irish immigrants)
    • Five years after they became citizens they would vote for Tweed
• Moves against Graft and Corruption
  • Thomas Nast- Political Cartoonist (mainly through Harper's Weekly)
    • knew the Europeans immigrants were being taken advantage of, so he decided to educate them.
    • mostly attacked Boss Tweed but many others as well
    • Since Nast used pen and ink to draw his cartoons, he used hatching and cross hatching lines to shade.
    • The Republican elephant, the Democratic donkey, Uncle Sam, and the story of the American Santa Claus were all contributions of Thomas Nast.
      • Coke's advertisement using Father Christmas helped make the American Santa Claus world wide.
  • Orange Riot in NCY in 1871
    • The Protestants asked to have a parade in NYC, and when the parade went through five points (also known as hell's kitchen, which is the Irish part of town).
    • The Protestants and the Irish got into a fight, and 60 people had died. This shows that Tweed was loosing some of his authority in the city.
  • Civil Service Commission (1871 to 1875)
    • Grant made a move to limit civil corruption since the spoils system was getting so out of control. This attempt was very unsuccessful because there was no public outcry against government corruption yet.
  • Assemblyman Samuel J Tilden of NY vs. Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall and the Canal Ring in New York State.
  • Governor Grover Cleveland vs. John Kelly of Tammany Hall. Kelley was taken out of power by 1882
  • Mugwumps- Liberal Reformers tried to establish the merit system, in which people in office are competent and have experience.
    • George Curtis, editor of Harper's Weekly
    • Godkin, editor of the Nation
  • Liberal Republicans- Splinter group of the Republican Party led by General Carl Shurz (first German American US Senator)
    • A current example of a splinter group is the Tea Party, which is a split off of the Republican Party.
• Election of 1872
  • Grant was running for a second term.
  • Horace "Go West, young man" Greeley was running against Grant.
    • Greeley's strategy was to unite liberal reformists from both the Republican and Democratic.
  • Grant absolutely destroyed Greeley because he was
    • still a war hero
    • worst scandals were yet to come, for example the Belknap and Whiskey Ring
    • the "Bloody Shirt" -again!
      • this means the Civil war was blamed on the Democratic Party
    • Many Republicans refuse to "jump ship" to the Democrats
• The Final Collapse 1873-1877
  • Five Cabinet officers were forced to resign including Belknap and Bristow (no jail)
  • The Panic of 1873 (the third worst depression in US History)
    • Causes, "The Perfect Storm"
      • Chicago Fire in 1871
        • supposedly Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern
      • Franco Prussian War
        • The fact that France and Germany were at war caused Britain to save their money at home incase they got involved.
      • Fisk-Gould "Black Friday" mess
      • "Crime of '73"
        • in 1873 the government stopped making silver coins (finish tomorrow!)