Brinkley, Chapter 19.1 Notes

Brinkley Chapter 19, Part 1 The Gilded Age Mark Twain called the late 19th century the "Gilded Age." The period was gliering on the surface but corrupt underneath. It was a time when a society of small farmers were transformed into an From Crisis to Empire urban society dominated by industrial corporations. The Party System The Presidents of the Gilded Age: From the end of Reconstruction until the Rutherford B. Hayes 1877 - 1881 end of the 19th century, Democrats and James A. Garfield March 1881 - September 1881 Republicans were almost always solidly Chester A. Arthur - 1881 - 1885 divided. Voters were almost always loyal to Grover Cleveland - 1885 - 1889 the same party at every election. Rarely, did Benjamin Harrison - 1889 - 1893 one party control both the legislative and Grover Cleveland - 1893 - 1897 executive branches. Oſten caused stalemate. The parties rarely took distinctive positions on important issues. Party loyalties reflected religion, race, and ethnic differences. One issue they did disagree was immigration. Republicans supported immigration restriction and favored temperance (to help discipline immigrants). Catholics and immigrants viewed such proposals as assaults on them and their cultures. They appealed to northern Protestants, nativists, and much of the middle-class. Therefore, Democrats aracted most of the Catholic voters, recent immigrants, and poor workers. Party identification was usually more of a reflection of cultural inclinations than economic interests.

Presidents and Patronage Presidents and Patronage The parties managed to avoid substantive issues because the federal gov't did relatively lile. Its primary Republicans won the presidency in 1880 because they had both a Half-Breed in James A. Garfield and a functions were to collect tariffs & taxes, conduct foreign policy, deliver the mail, & maintain the military. Stalwart with Chester A. Arthur. That leſt political parties and political machines as the 2 most powerful institutions in America. This Supporting Civil Service reform, Garfield entered a created an atmosphere of extreme political corruption. bier quarrel with the Stalwarts. 4 months into his presidency, while waiting at a railroad stop in DC he Other than Grover Cleveland, politicians of the era was assassinated by Charles Guiteau. "I am a oſten accepted bribes in exchange for appointments Stalwart and Arthur is president now!" and jobs. Political cartoonists criticized this "spoils system" in newspapers. Guiteau was angry with the Republican Party for not geing a government job he felt he deserved. A new president had to make almost 100,000 appointments. This made factional conflicts within a Upon becoming president, to the dismay of party unavoidable. During Hayes' presidency, the Stalwarts, Arthur kept most of Garfield's Republican Party was divided between the Stalwarts appointees in office and supported civil and the Half-Breeds. service reform. In 1883, Congress passed the Stalwarts were led by Roscoe Conkling Hayes favored reform and 1st national civil service measure. Pendleton Act - required that some federal jobs be of NY who favored machine politics. tried to create a civil service system but he received no filled by competitive wrien exams rather The Half-Breeds, led by James Blaine substantive support. than by patronage. favored political reform.

Cleveland, Harrison, and the Tariff New Public Issues Election 1884: Republicans nominated James Blaine, a symbol of patronage. Liberal Republicans Harrison had few visible convictions and made lile aempt ("mugwumps") announced they would leave the party to support the Democrat candidate - Grover to influence Congress. At the same time public opinion was Cleveland. Cleveland won narrowly because of Catholic voters who believed Blaine was slandering the shaping to force the government to conont the corporate Catholic Church and the mugwumps. trusts. Cleveland was respected for his opposition to Although many states forbid incorporation, many politicians, pressure groups, and Tammany Hall. corporations found safe havens in NJ and DE. Reformers believed a federal law was needed to stop this. July 1890 both houses of Congress passed Did not want high tariffs. Believed the existing the Sherman Antitrust Act. high tariffs were responsible for the surplus in federal funds which tempted Congress to pass 1st measure passed by the U.S. Congress to reckless legislation. 1887 he asked Congress to prohibit trusts. reduce tariffs but Republicans in the House passed a bill that raised rates in defiance. The Authority derived om the constitutional tariff became an issue in the 1888 election. power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce. Republicans endorsed Benjamin Harrison and Democrats re-nominated Cleveland. Harrison lost the For over a decade aſter its passing it was popular vote but won the electoral vote. It was the 1st election since the Civil War to involve a clear weakened by the courts, inconsistently question of economic differences between the parties. enforced, and used against labor rather than for labor.

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The Tariff Issue Interstate Commerce Act Republicans were more interested in the issue of the tariff than the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

Representatives William McKinley and Nelson Aldrich (RI) draſted the Public pressure for other reform was growing. Reformers believed the federal highest protective tariff ever proposed to Congress - the McKinley Tariff government was needed to reign in the power of the RR trusts. which became law in October 1890. It was wildly unpopular among the voters. Voters saw the tariff as a way to help corporations and hurt consumers. As a Congress responded to public pressure in 1887 with the Interstate Commerce Act result, Republicans saw a major defeat in the 1890 mid-term elections. which banned discrimination in rates between long and short hauls, required that RRs publish their rate schedules and file them with the government, and Democrats then controlled both houses. Harrison lost to Grover Cleveland in declared that all interstate rail rates must be "reasonable and just." the 1892 election as well. In 1894, Democratic Senators William Wilson (WV) and Arthur Gorman (MD) passed the Wilson-Gorman Tariff A 5-person agency, the ICC was to administer the act. But it had to rely on Dropped the McKinley tariff to zero on iron ore, coal, lumber and wool, angering American producers. Congress to enforce its rulings. It was Protectionists in the Senate added over 600 amendments that effectively reversed all reforms in the bill. haphazardly enforced, narrowly interpreted To offset lost revenue om high tariffs the bill also imposed a 2% income tax. (Fewer by the courts and had lile practical effect - than 2% of families had to pay it.) much like the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. President Cleveland who campaigned on lowering the tariff, was devastated at the weakened bill. He allowed the bill to pass, believing it was beer than nothing.

The Grangers The Grangers Depression of 1873 caused a sharp decline in farm There were many obstacles preventing farmers om being successful: prices, membership spiked which changed the direction of the organization.

Low prices for crops No political influence Granges in the Midwest began to organize marketing cooperatives and promoted political High costs for transportation action to curb monopolistic practices by RRs and The 1st aempt to organize politically warehouses. was the National Grange of the Patrons Debts increased. Took out many loans to pay for their of Husbandry, 1867. (The Grange) At their peak, Grange supporters controlled the farms. legislatures in most of the midwestern states. The result Organized by Oliver H. Kelley in 1867 was the Granger Laws of the early 1870s, by which many Suppliers charged higher Composed of local networks of organizations. Had states imposed strict regulations on RR rates and than normal prices for approximately 1 million members. The goals were to: practices. farmers' supplies. But the destruction of the new regulations by the courts, combined with the political inexperience of 1. Provide education on new farming techniques many Grange leaders and the return of prosperity in the late 1870s, produced a dramatic decline in RRs were inconsistent in rate fees 2. Called for the regulation of railroad rates the power of the association. Grangers were responsible for pushing the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to regulate interstate trade.

The Farmers' Alliances People's Party Established Farmers in parts of the south were banding together in Farmers' Alliances. By 1880, the Southern Alliance had more than 4 million members. Alliance leaders discussed plans for a 3rd A Northwestern Alliance was taking root in the Plains states & the Midwest, replacing the Grange. party at meetings in 1891 and 1892. In July of Alliances formed cooperatives, established stores, banks, processing plants, and other facilities to ee their members 1892, 1,300 delegates poured into Omaha, om dependence on the hated "furnishing merchants" who kept so many farmers in debt. Nebraska to proclaim the creation of the People's Party (Populists). Some Alliance leaders saw the movement in larger terms: an effort to build a society in which economic competition might give way to cooperation. Alliance lecturers traveled throughout rural areas They approved a party platform and criticizing the concentrated power of monopolies. nominated candidates for president. The Alliances were more widespread than the Granges, but suffered om election of 1892 demonstrated the potential similar problems. Their cooperatives did not always work well, partly power of the new movement. because of mismanagement and partly because of the strength of opposing market forces. These economic ustrations helped push the movement into a new phase of organization: a political party. In The Populist candidate, James B. Weaver earned more than 1 million votes. Nearly 1,500 Populist 1889, the Southern and Northwestern Alliances agreed to a loose merger. In 1890, they met in Ocala, Florida candidates won election to seats in state legislatures. The party elected 3 governors, 5 senators, and 10 and issued the "Ocala Demands", which were, a party platform. congressmen. They also had the support of both the Republican and Democrat Parties. In the 1890 mid-term elections, candidates of the Alliances won partial or complete control in 12 states; 6 governorships, 3 US Senate Seats, and 50 US House of Representative seats. Many of the successful Alliance candidates were Democrats who benefited om Alliance endorsements. Drew enough encouragement om the results to contemplate further political action.

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Populist Ideas Populist Constituency

Proposed a system of "subtreasuries," a network of Immediately, there were signs of Populist weakness. government-owned warehouses where farmers could Populism had great appeal to farmers. Its leaders deposit their crops, allow them to borrow money om made energetic efforts to include labor by courting the government at low interest until the price of their the Knights of Labor but economic interests of goods went up. farmers and industrial laborers were oſten at odds.

Called for abolition of national banks, the end of In the South, white Populists struggled to accept absentee ownership of land, and the direct election of Aican-Americans into the party. There was an US senators. important black component to the movement - a network of "Colored Alliances" that by 1890 Wanted the regulation and government ownership of numbered over 1.25 million members. But most white railroads, telegraphs, and telephones. Populists accepted the assistance of Aican Americans as long as it was clear that whites would remain indisputably in control. Demanded a system of government-operated postal savings banks, a graduated income tax, the inflation of currency, and the remonetization of silver. When southern conservatives aacked Populists for undermining white supremacy, the interracial character of the movement quickly faded.

Depression of 1893 Coxey's Army

The Panic of 1893 sparked the most severe depression the nation Within 6 months, more than 8,000 businesses, 156 railroads, and 400 banks failed. Already low had yet experienced. It began in March 1893, when the agricultural prices tumbled further. Up to 1 million workers, 20% of the labor force, lost their jobs. Philadelphia and Reading RR, unable to meet payments on loans, declared bankruptcy. The depression was unprecedented not only in its severity but also in its persistence. Although conditions improved slightly beginning in 1895, prosperity did not fully return until 1901. 2 months later, the National Cordage Company failed as well. Together, the 2 corporate failures triggered a stock market Depression produced widespread social unrest, especially collapse. among unemployed workers. In 1894, Jacob S. Coxey advocated a massive public works program to create jobs Since many of the major NY banks were heavy investors in the market, a wave of bank failures soon for the unemployed. When it became clear that Congress began. That caused a contraction of credit, which meant that many of the new, aggressive, and loan- was ignoring his proposals, Coxey organized a march of dependent businesses soon went bankrupt. the unemployed ("Coxey's Army") to Washington to present his demands to Congress. Coxey was arrested for The depression reflected the degree to which all parts of the American economy were walking on the grass and his army dispersed peacefully. interconnected. And it showed how dependent the economy was on the health of the railroads, Critics portrayed Populists as "Hayseed Socialists" whose which remained the nation's most powerful corporate and financial institutions. When the election would endanger property rights. railroads suffered, everything suffered.

The Silver Question Crime of '73 The financial panic weakened the government's monetary system. President Cleveland believed the 2 groups of Americans were especially determined to undo the Crime of '73. instability of the currency was the primary cause of the depression. The debate centered on what would form the basis of the dollar, what would lie behind it and give it value. Silver-mine owners wanted the Discontented farmers wanted an increase in government to take their surplus of the quantity of money (inflation) as a The US recognized 2 metals - gold and silver - as a basis for the silver and pay them much more than means of raising the prices of farm products dollar, a system known as bimetallism. The official ratio of the value the market price. and easing payment of the farmers' debts. of silver (for coinage) to gold was 16:1. But the actual commercial value of silver was much higher. The inflationists demanded that the government return at Owners of silver could get more by selling it for manufacture into once to the "ee and unlimited coinage of silver" at the old jewelry and other objects than they could by taking it to the mint for ratio of 16:1. Congress responded weakly to these demands conversion to coins. So they stopped taking it to the mint, and the with the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, which mint stopped coining silver. required the government to purchase (but not coin) silver and pay for it in gold. At the same time, the nation's gold In 1873, Congress passed a law that discontinued silver coinage. Few objected at the time but in the late reserves were steadily dropping. 1870s, the market value of silver fell well below the official mint ratio of 16 to 1. Silver was suddenly available for coinage again, and it soon became clear that Congress foreclosed a potential method of President Cleveland believed that the chief cause of the expanding the currency. weakening gold reserves was the Sherman Silver Purchase Before long, many Americans concluded that a conspiracy of big bankers had been responsible for Act. Congress responded to his request and repealed the the "demonetization" of silver and referred to the law as the "Crime of '73" Sherman Act.

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"A Cross of Gold" "Fusion" Republicans in 1896 nominated William McKinley for president and Democrats nominated William The choice of Bryan and the Democratic platform created a problem for Populists. They had Jennings Bryan. Republicans believed the the tariff would be the key issue of the campaign. But they expected both major parties to adopt conservative programs and nominate conservative candidates, also opposed the ee coinage of silver. leaving the Populists to represent the growing forces of protest. The Democratic Convention of 1896 was tumultuous. But now the Democrats stole much of their thunder. The Populists Southern and western faced the choice of naming their own candidate and spliing the delegates, eager for a way to protest vote or endorsing Bryan and losing their identity as a party. compete with the Populists, wanted to seize control of Many Populists argued that "fusion" with the Democrats would the party om conservative destroy the party. But the majority concluded that there was no easterners, incorporate Defenders of the gold standard seemed to viable alternative and they supported Bryan. some Populist demands - dominate the debate, until William Jennings ee silver - into the Bryan mounted the platform to address the Democratic platform, and convention. "You shall not press mankind nominate a pro-silver upon a cross of gold." Aſter Bryan's speech, candidate. the convention voted to adopt a silver platform.

The Conservative Victory McKinley and Recovery Big business feared a Bryan victory would destroy their successes & contributed lavishly to McKinley's campaign. From his home, McKinley conducted a Bryan, on the other hand was the first candidate ever The administration of William McKinley saw a return to relative calm. One reason was the exhaustion traditional "Front-porch" campaign. People om to criss-cross the nation and give stump speeches. He of dissent. The other was a gradual easing of the economic crisis, a development that undercut many across the nation came to see McKinley. traveled 18,000 miles and addressed an estimated 5 of those who were agitating for change. million people. McKinley was commied to only one issue: the need for higher tariff rates. Within weeks of his McKinley polled 271 - 176 electoral inauguration his administration won the approval of the Dingley Tariff, raising duties to the votes. McKinley earned 51.1% - highest point in American history. 47.7% of the popular vote. Bryan won the South and West where The administration dealt more gingerly with the explosive silver question. He sent a commission to struggling farmers predominated. Europe to explore the possibility of a silver agreement with Britain and France and they came to no Bryan's emphasis on currency agreement. reform was not appealing to industrial workers. The Republicans then enacted the Gold Standard Act of 1900 which confirmed the nation's The Democratic platform was too narrow to commitment to the gold standard. Prosperity began to return in 1898. Foreign crop failures drove win a national election. For the populists and farm prices up and American business entered another cycle of expansion. their allies, the election results were a disaster. Within months of the election, the People's Prosperity and the gold standard, it seemed, were closely allied. Party began to dissolve. Those who voted Populist returned to the Democratic Party.

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