chapter 16: politics and reform
DESCRIPTION
Chapter 16: Politics and Reform. American History. Disagreements in Washington. When Hayes took office, he attacked the practice of patronage , or the spoils system introduced by President Jackson, by appointing reformers and replaced officials who owed their jobs to party bosses - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Chapter 16: Politics and Reform
American History
Disagreements in Washington
When Hayes took office, he attacked the practice of patronage, or the spoils system introduced by President Jackson, by appointing reformers and replaced officials who owed their jobs to party bosses Party bosses were called “Stalwarts” by the papers
The Stalwarts were already angry with Hayes for abandoning Reconstruction because it allowed Democrats to regain control of the South Senator Roscoe Conkling, a party boss, labeled the
Republicans “Halfbreeds” and accused them of backing up reforms to create openings for their own supporters
Garfield and Arthur With Hayes not running again, the
Republicans nominated a halfbreed, James A. Garfield, and a stalwart, Chester A. Authur, for president won the election of 1880
A few months after being inaugurated, Garfield was assassinated further excited public opinion on the spoils
system Congress passed the Pendleton Act, which
allowed the president to decide which federal jobs would be filled based on rules laid down by the Civil Service Commission candidates took exams, and positions were
filled based on those who took the exams
Election of 1884 With the Democrats and Republicans holding equal
power and representation in the states and on Capital Hill, there was a political stalemate, where no reforms were being enacted
Democratic Governor Grover Cleveland of New York and Republican Representative James Blaine were the candidates for president Both were against corruption, which was the main focal
point of each campaign Because of Blaine’s lavish style of campaigning, many
Republicans turned and supported Cleveland “mugwumps”: more concerned with helping the nation
than a political party
Cleveland wins, with problems on his
shoulders Cleveland won the election of 1884,
but stepped into issues immediately Angered both supporters and
mugwumps by not giving supporters government jobs and not multiplying positions for mugwumps
Industrialization caused workers to organize into unions, which often became violent
Large corporations began issuing rebates, or partial refunds, which caused other consumers to pay higher rates
Interstate Commerce Commission
In 1886, the case of Wabash v. Illinois was ruled that Illinois could not restrict the rates that the Wabash Railroad charged for traffic between states because that was an interstate issue
Public pressure forced Congress to pass the Interstate Commerce Act that created the Interstate Commerce Commission regulated railroad rates, forbade rebates to high volume users,
and made it illegal to charge higher rates for shorter hauls Cleveland proposed to lower tariffs, since it raised prices on
manufactured goods, and Congress passed a tariff reduction bill, but the Senate vetoed it became an issue for the election of 1888
Harrison takes charge Republican Benjamin Harrison won
the election of 1888 With the Republicans in control of the
Senate and House, Harrison was able to pass major bills addressing key issues The McKinley Tariff: cut taxes in
tobacco and raw sugar, increased rates on other goods, lowered federal revenue, and turned surplus into deficit
Sherman Antitrust Act: made it illegal for companies to combine into trusts
Populism Populism was the movement to increase farmers’ political
power and to work for legislation in their interest A main concern for farmers during this time period was the
economy and the money supply New technology had increased the food supply, which
decreased the value of food Inflation, or a decrease in the value of money, occurred
when the government issued greenbacks, or paper currency, without being accompanied by the increase in goods for sale
Deflation, or an increase in the value of money, also occurred when prices of goods fell, greenbacks stopped being printed, and silver was no longer minted
Deflation hits farmers hard
Farmers had to borrow money for seeds and equipment, and because the money was in short supply, interest rates began to rise, which increased what the farmers owed
Farmers sold their crops for less, and were unable to expand their lands because of high mortgage rates
Farmers desired for the printing of greenbacks and the minting of silver coins
Without representation, farmers began to organize
The Grange Inspired by a visit to the rural South to check on farmers, Oliver
Kelley created the first farmers organization, the Patrons of Husbandry, or the Grange
To address the issue of the evolving recession, the Grange members did one of three things: Regulate railroad and warehouse rates Join the Independent National Party (Greenback Party) Pool resources and create cooperatives, or marketing
organizations that worked for the benefit of their members Held crops off the market to force prices up and eliminate extreme
competition The Grange’s plans did not work because of legislation, the
Greenback Party failed to gain support, and cooperatives failed to gained support because people saw them as unions
The Farmer’s Alliance and the People’s Party
As the Grange fell, The Farmer’s Alliance began to form began to gain support in the West and South organized cooperatives called exchanges
The exchanges the Alliance organized began to fail for several reasons: many loaned too much money that was never repaid still too small to effect the world prices of products
The failure of the Alliance caused others to break away from the organization and create a new party, the People’s Party, or Populist Party called for a subtreasury plan, where subtreasuries, or warehouse,
were built, where farmers could store crops and receive low interest rates
Attempts to topple Populism
The Farmer’s Alliance met and issued the Ocala Demands, which called for: adoption of subtreasuries, free coinage of silver, an end to
protective tariffs and national banks, tighter regulation of railroads, and direct election of senators
To prevent farmers from voting Populist, Senator John Sherman pushed through the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 authorized Treasury to purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver per
month to put more money into use and reduce deflation Many still voted for Democratic candidates who agreed to the
Ocala Demands in the South and West, but many did not keep their promises forced farmers to join People’s Party
A Populist for President
The People’s Party held its first convention and nominated James Weaver for president denounced the coining of
silver, federal ownership of railroads, and a graduated income tax, which taxed higher earnings more heavily
The People’s Party could not gain popular support, and many still sided with the Democrats, who voted for Grover Cleveland to return to the presidency in 1890
The Panic of 1893 After Cleveland was inaugurated, the
country plummeted into the worst economic crisis it had seen began when the Pennsylvania and Reading
Railroads declared bankruptcy due to inability to pay off loans
investors began to cash out their bonds for gold, depleting the U.S. gold deposits
Cleveland called Congress to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchas Act Opinions split into two factions:
Goldbugs: believed currency should be based only on gold
Silverites: coining silver would solve economic crisis
Election of 1896 Candidates made the coining silver issue the focus of their
campaigns Democrats and Populists nominated William Jennings Bryan
Supported coining silver Republicans nominated William McKinley, responsible for
the McKinley tariff conducted “front porch campaigns” when delegates came to
visit him Supported plans to provide workers with a “full dinner pail”
McKinley ended up winning the election, and with the depression over and gold discoveries in Canada and Alaska, the value of money increased, and the Populist Party decline
Repression in the South
After Reconstruction, most African Americans were sharecroppers, or farmers who handed their crops to landowners to cover the cost of rent and supplies
The conditions for African Americans in the South were not entirely better than slavery Many migrated to Kansas: Exodusters Those who stayed in the South formed
the Colored Farmers’ National Alliance, which helped its members economically by setting up cooperative
Restrictions towards African Americans
The government used a loophole in the Fifteenth Amendment, which restricted illiterate people from voting, and incorporated that to illiterate African Americans, which was a large majority
The South began to demand that voters pay a poll tax, or a tax on voting, of $2, which was beyond the means of most African Americans
Literacy exams were also given to all voters For those who were white and illiterate, they were
granted the grandfather clause and allowed to vote if they had an ancestor registered to vote in 1867
Segregation legalized Segregation, or separation of the races, was enforced
by the Jim Crow laws The Supreme Court overturned the Civil Rights Act of
1875, which banned people from keeping other off their property based on racial discrimination
In 1892, Homer Plessy challenged segregation by riding in a railroad car reserved for whites Plessy v. Ferguson: upheld Louisiana law and expressed
a new doctrine endorsing “separate but equal” facilities for African Americans
Violence escalated in the South, resulting in many African Americans being lynched, or hung without court proceedings, by unruly mobs
African American Response
Many African American spoke out and protested, in their own way, against segregation Ida B. Wells: spoke out against lynching; wrote
newspaper articles denouncing lynching Booker T. Washington: proposed that African
Americans focus on economic goals rather than political and legal; proposed the Atlanta Compromise, which urged African Americans to postpone the urge to fight for civil rights and instead preparing themselves in education and vocation
W.E.B. Du Bois: proposed that in order for African Americans to achieve educationally and vocationally, they have to press for their rights