The Gilded AgeChapter 20

What does “The Gilded Age” Mean? Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner

The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1893)

King John by William Shakespeare (1595 "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily... is wasteful and ridiculous excess.“

A poor copy of the real thing: a thin layer of gold over metal or wood

Widespread corruption in public life: some live well and others pay for it

“The Bosses of the Senate,” 1889

Politics is Personal Political party affiliations went back generations

Both major parties had similar platforms so they relied on personal attacks on candidates

Cities often more powerful than state governments due to party machines

Patronage Republicans: Protestant, British, Scottish descent, African Americans

Dominated national politics

Democrats: Everybody else, the South

Local and state governments were main taxing authority and spending authority Patronage

Rutherford B. Hayes & Civil Service Reform

Attempted to abolish “spoils system” Republican Party conflicts

Stalwarts & Half Breeds

Roscoe Conkling Elect Grant for 3rd term

James Blaine Reform candidate for Republican nominee

Election of 1880 Republican Ticket

James Garfield (Half-Breed)

Chester A. Arthur (Stalwart)

Democratic Ticket Winfield Scott Hancock

William English

de Thulstrup, Thur. “Miss Columbia (to General H_____).” Harper's Weekly July 24, 1880, 465

Woolf, Michael Angelo. “Exultant Tammanyite.” Harper’s Weekly October 30, 1880, 695.

de Thulstrup, Thur. “The Friend of the Freedmen.” Harper's Weekly October 23, 1880, 685.

Keppler, Joseph. “Just the Difference.” "Puck." July 28, 1880, 43.

Nast, Thomas, “The Plumed Knight.” Harper's Weekly. June 5, 1880, 353.

Keppler, Joseph. “A Merry Christmas to All.” “Puck." December 22, 1880, 45.

Political Party Presidential Nom. VP Nom. # % # %

Republican James A. Garfield

Chester A. Arthur

214 58.04,453,61

1 48.3

Democratic Winfield S. Hancock

William English

155 42.04,445,25

6 48.2

July 2, 1881 President Garfield assassinated by Charles Julius Guiteau at the Baltimore

and Potomac Rail Station in Washington D.C.

President James Garfield

Charles Julius Guiteau

Diagram of the Train Stationhttp://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/guiteau/diagram.JPG

To General Sherman: I have just shot the President. I shot him several times as I wished him to go as easily as possible. His death was a political necessity.

I am a lawyer, theologian, and politician. I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts. I was with General Grant and the rest of our men, in New York during the canvass.

I am going to the Jail. Please order out your troops, and take possession of the jail at once. Very respectfully, Charles Guiteau.

Answer note by General Sherman addressed from "Headquarters of the Army, Washington, DC. July 2, 1881, "in which he states that "I don't know the writer. Never heard of or saw him to my knowledge..."

Guiteau’s Brain , The College of Physicians of Philadelphia https://www.google.com/search?q=Charles+Guiteau's+brain&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=4PUwUu6NL8fh4AO9koHwAw&ved=0CDIQsAQ&biw=1523&bih=815&dpr=1#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=OBN7Grl4nrllyM%3A%3B9zYWpq5r7POiCM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fsphotos-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net%252Fhphotos-ash3%252Fp480x480%252F1240429_10151852732879134_1581301207_n.jpg%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.facebook.com%252Fcollegeofphysicians%3B480%3B480

Chester A. Arthur Passed the Pendleton Civil Service Act

1884 election Republicans dumped Arthur & nominated James Blaine

Election of 1884 Republican Ticket: James Blaine

Mugwumps: published embarrassing letters showing Blaine in the pocket of Railroad barons

Democratic Ticket: Grover Cleveland Cleveland had an illegitimate child

Media Frenzy

Nast, Thomas. “Death Before Dishonor.” Harper’s Weekly.” June 21, 1884, 396-397.

Gillam, Bernhard. “Love’s Labor Lost.” Puck May 7, 1884, 160

“Ma! Ma! Where’s My Pa?”

Beard, Frank. “Another VoiceFor Cleveland.” Judge, September 27, 1884, xii.

“Gone to the White House. Ha! Ha! Ha!”

Nast, Thomas. “What It Means.” Harper’s Weekly, November 15,1884, 747.

Political Party Presidential Nom. VP Nom. # % # %

Democratic Grover Cleveland

Thomas Hendricks

219 54.6 4,915,586 48.9

Republican James G. BlaneJohn Logan

182 45.4 4,852,916 48.2

Grover Cleveland

The Tariff Primary revenue source for Federal government.

Issue: Did Tariff create the big Trusts (Monopolies)? Less competition = higher prices for big business

Cleveland argued that the tariffs were too high and must be lowered

Election of 1888 Grover Cleveland vs. Benjamin Harrison

Democrats favored lowering the tariff

Republicans favored keeping the tariff

Republicans raised the most cash Cleveland won the popular vote

Harrison won the Electoral vote

Democratic Grover Cleveland Allen Thurman 168 41.9 5,539,11848.6

Republican Benjamin Harrison Levi Morton 233 58.1 5,449,825 47.8

Harrison Presidency Secretary of State: James Blaine former Republican Candidate for President

Sherman Anti-Trust Act Forbade contracts, combinations or conspiracies in restraint of trade to create

monopolies

Vague wording and difficult to enforce

What Form of Currency Should be Accepted?

Specie: money made out of a precious metal Gold

Silver: opposed by many because it would add more money to the supply and make the money in circulation worth less

Mint Act of 1792 mandate: weight of one silver dollar = weight of a gold dollar 1837 money based on a silver standard

1873: silver coinage dropped

Currency supply failed to keep up with population growth

Agrarian Protest Movements Farmers debts rose as crop prices dropped

domestic overproduction

increasing international competition

Tariff paid double taxes on domestic produce shipped overseas

Congress failed to act

I Feed You All

Granger Movement & Farmers’ Alliances

The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry (The Grange) 1886 first attempt by farmers to form a political alliance

Farmers’ Alliances Collectives & cooperatives: community stores, warehouses and debt repayment

Avoid middlement

Farm Politics and Populist Party Farmers political action: local

South: Democratic voting blocks of farmers won elections at state and national congressional level

1892 Association of farmers, labor and reform groups formed the People’s Party aka Populist Party

1892 Populist Party Candidate for President: James B. Weaver

Republican Nominee: Benjamin Harrison

Democratic Nominee: Grover Cleveland

Cleveland won both electoral and popular vote

Grover Cleveland Adlai E. Stevenson 277 62.4 5,554,61746.0

Benjamin Harrison Whitelaw Reid 145 32.7 5,186,79343.0James Weaver James Field 22 5.0 1,029,357 8.5

Depression of 1893 Philadelphia & Reading RR declared bankruptcy just before Cleveland was

sworn into office

Overextended banks and smaller RR companies

Economic panic lasted 4 years

Unemployment rate: 20%

New York Stock Exchange on Friday, May 5, 1893

International Economic Crisis Great Britain still global financial center

Failure of Large British Bank caused British investors to sell holdings in U.S. for gold

This drained U.S. gold supply making shortage of currency greater

Silver interests claimed coinage of silver would end the panic

1896 Election William McKinley, R

William Jennings Bryan, D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeTkT5-w5RA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeTkT5-w5RA

Election of 1896

Race Relations Wilmington, North Carolina

African American majority

1894 & 1896 African Americans joined with Republicans and Populists to choose a slate of elected officials

November 10, 1898 2,000 white men and boys rampaged through town destroying African American

businesses and killing at least 100 African Americans

Forced newly elected officials out of office replacing them with Democrats

Wilmington On Fire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbE0R2-kzD4

Ida B. Wells

IDA B. WELLS

Booker T. Washington

W.E. B. Du Bois

Bibliography I de Thulstrup, Thur. “The Friend of the Freedmen.” Harper's Weekly October 23, 1880, 685.

de Thulstrup, Thur. “Miss Columbia (to General H_____).” Harper's Weekly July 24, 1880, 465.

Gillam, Bernhard. “Love’s Labor Lost.” Puck May 7, 1884, 160

Keppler, Joseph. “Just the Difference.” "Puck." July 28, 1880, 43.

Keppler, Joseph. “A Merry Christmas to All.” “Puck." December 22, 1880, 45.

Nast, Thomas, “The Plumed Knight.” Harper's Weekly. June 5, 1880, 353.

Nast, Thomas. “Death Before Dishonor.” Harper’s Weekly.” June 21, 1884, 396-397.

Nast, Thomas. “Death Before Dishonor.” Harper’s Weekly.” June 21, 1884, 396-397.

Nast, Thomas. “What It Means.” Harper’s Weekly, November 15, 1884, 747.

Woolf, Michael Angelo. “Exultant Tammanyite.” Harper’s Weekly October 30, 1880, 695.

Bell, Charles Milton. “Chester A. Arthur.” 1882. Library of Congress (Public Domain).

Bibliography II

Unknown. Ida B. Wells,

Wells, Ida B. Southern Horrors, Lynch Law in All its Phases. New York Age Print, 1892

Unknown. Booker T. Washington Library of Congress (Public Domain)

Purdy, J.E. W.E.B. DuBois. (1904) Library of Congress, (Public Domain).

Unknown. “The Vampire that Hovers Over North Carolina.” Raleigh News and Observer, September 27, 1898 (Public Domain)

Cronenberg, Henry. “Armed Rioters in Front of Press Building,” November 10, 1898 (Public Domain)