Chapter 23“Never touch your idols: the gilding will

stick to your fingers."

Mark Twain published The Gilded Age. He was disillusioned with the increasing corruption, poverty, and dishonesty around him. He used the novel to express these views. Eventually, the term Gilded Age came to define an era in which excessive extravagance and wealth concealed mounting social problems, government corruption, and poverty.

Overview• Aftermath of Civil War and Reconstruction led to:

– Waste– Extravagance– Speculation in money, land, etc.– Graft- the acquisition of money, gain, or advantage by dishonest,

unfair, or illegal means, especially through the abuse of one's position or influence in politics or business.

– Corruption– Political stalemate– Disillusionment

• Population increase of 27% in 10 years. Why?– War is over.– Immigration after war.

• The U.S. became the 3rd populated country just behind Russia and France.

The “Bloody Shirt” Elects Grant

• Meaning: Revive gory memories of the CW.– Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts waved a

bloodstained nightshirt of a Klan-flogged carpetbagger in front of the House of Representatives.

– Reminded voters of the treason of the Confederate Democrats.

• Often referred to for the election on 1868.• Idea that a good general would make a

good president. – Anyone other than Johnson– Grant’s status as a military hero did NOT

help him to become a more successful president who stood above partisan politics.

Republican Platforms• Republican platform was to continue Reconstruction through

the military.– Grant’s platform “Let us have peace.”

• This quote is even on his gravestone.

– Another slogan: “vote as you shot”- aimed at Union army veterans.

Democrat Platforms• Democrats denounced a continuation of

reconstruction, much less using military reconstruction.

• Democrats did not agree on much except this and that the federal war bonds should be paid back in gold and not greenbacks.

• Midwesterner Democrats ideas:– “Ohio Idea”- bring back value of greenbacks

to help debt-burdened farmers.• Hope to keep more $ in circulation• Keep interest rates low.

– Midwesterners did not have much of a delegate to partner with their platform ideas.

• New York Governor-Horatio Seymour

My neck beard is awesome

!

1868 Election Results• Grant, 214 electoral votes• Seymour, 80 electoral

votes• Grant only won by

300,000 in popular vote.• Ballots from MS, TX, and

VA (unreconstructed states) were not counted.

• 500,000 former slaves voted for Grant.

Who was Grant?• Full Name: Hiram Ulysses Grant. It is frequently said that Grant's

middle name was "Simpson." It was not. His middle name was "Ulysses" and he admitted that the "S" in his name stood for nothing. – Friends called him Sam.

• Born in Ohio where he developed a love for horses.– This led to his father suggesting he go to West Point Academy.

• Grant was a poor student who frequently got in trouble at West Point for refusing to attend required church services.

• Served in the Mexican-American War.• Claim to fame is General of Union during Civil War.

– Fort Donelson and Fort Henry– Battle of Vicksburg– Taking the Mississippi River and dividing the

Confederacy in to two– Accepting Robert E. Lee’s surrender.

Who was Grant?• Wife: Julia, whom he remained faithful to.

– Grant's parents disapproved of the match because Julia's parents were slaveholders; they subsequently refused to attend the wedding.

• 4 children that he admittedly spoiled with love and material possessions.

Who was Grant?• Grant tried to annex the Dominican Republic to the U.S. He wanted the

Dominican Republic in the Union for several reasons: as a military base, as a sanctuary for freed slaves, and as a market for U.S. goods. The treaty was approved by the Dominicans, but stalled in the Senate. Grant’s fight with Senator Charles Sumner divided the Republican party.

• Grant was a gifted writer. After leaving the presidency, Grant became ill and was financially destitute. His memoirs, written as he was dying from throat cancer, show a clear, concise style, and his autobiography is considered among the best, if not the best, written by a president.

• He was riding his racing horse one day in downtown Washington, D.C., when a police officer gave him a ticket for speeding. The officer didn't realize that he was a president and fined him $20.

• Grant ate a cucumber soaked in vinegar for breakfast each day.• Suffered from migraines.• The sight of blood made him sick.• Confederate General James Longstreet introduced him to his wife. They

remained good friends for the rest of their lives.

The Era of Good Stealings• Railroads took advantage of investors.• Stock-money manipulators.• Judges and legislators taking bribes.

The Era of Good Stealings• Jim “Jubilee” Fisk and Jay Gould

– They concocted a plan in 1869 to take advantage or “corner” the gold market.

• Corner: gain exclusive control of a commodity in order to fix its price.

– They worked together to con President Grant and his brother-in-law (took 25,000 bribe)

Crash Course: Gilded Age

• Tweed Ring• Tweed Boss = William Tweed. He used

bribery, graft, and fraudulent elections to gain as much as $200 million.– Displayed the lack of ethics by those in

charge in NYC.

• Thomas Nast- cartoonist who published humorous and damning depictions of the Tweed scandal. – This helped the illiterate know what was

going on.

• Samuel Tilden- NY attorney who prosecuted those involved.– This led to his fame and eventual

nomination for President.

WYNTK…• Boss Tweed’s widespread corruption was finally brought

to a halt by the journalistic exposes of the New York Times and cartoonist Thomas Nast.

A Carnival of Corruption• Credit Mobilier Scandal (1872)

– Construction company started by Union Pacific Railroad insiders.

– The insiders hired themselves to run/work for the construction company, but for inflated salaries.

– Congressman Oakes Ames tried to distribute shares of its stock to members of Congress so that Congress would not shut them down.

– Congress investigators and newspapers (The Sun) exposed the corruption.

– The VP (Schuyler Colfax) is censured, as well as two Congressmen.

• A motion of censure is a congressional procedure for reprimanding the President, a member of Congress, or a judge.

• When censured, the member must give up any committee chairs they hold, but he or she does not lose his or her elected position.

Credit Mobilier Scandal

WYNTK…• The Credit Mobilier scandal involved railroad

corporation fraud and the subsequent bribery of congressmen to cover it up.

More Scandals• Whiskey Ring

– Robbed the Treasury of millions of $ in tax revenues.– One of the culprits was Grant’s private secretary.– Grant wrote a letter of character to be read to the jury, which helped

exonerate him.

• Secretary of War, William Belknap resigned after it was discovered he accepted bribes from suppliers to the Indian reservations.

WYNTK…• The scandals of the Grant administration included bribes and

corrupt dealings reaching to the cabinet and the vice-president of the U.S.

• Grant’s greatest failing in the scandals that plagued his administration was his toleration of corruption and his loyalty to crooked friends.

The Liberal Republican Revolt of 1872

• The nation was becoming disgusted with the Grant administration’s corruption even before some of the scandals were exposed.

• Reform-minded citizens formed the Liberal Republican Party.– Nominated Horace Greeley

• Original founder of the Republican Party.• Editor of the NY Tribune.• Dogmatic, emotional, petulant, unsound in his political

judgments.

– Democrats also endorsed Greeley.– Republicans nominated Grant, again.

• Congress passes a general amnesty act in 1872, which removed political disabilities from former Confederate leaders.

• Congress also reduced tariffs left over from the Civil War.

My neck beard is better!

WYNTK…• The Liberal Republican movement was not able to

clean up the corruption of the Grant administration.• The movement favored an end to military

Reconstruction in the South and civil-service reform.

Panic of 1873• Overreaching promoters had:

– Laid more railroad tracks– Sunk more mines– Built more factories– Harvested more agriculture than the

existing markets could tolerate.

• Bankers made too many loans to finance all of the above.

• Profits failed to materialize, loans went unpaid.

• Nations worldwide suffered economic problems throughout 1873.– 15,000 businesses went bankrupt.

WYNTK…• The depression of the 1870s led to increasing demands for

inflation of the money supply by issuing more paper or silver currency.

• The severe economic downturn of the 1870s caused business failures, labor conflict, and battles over currency.

Pallid Politics• Pallid=lacking in vitality and interest.• The primary goal for which all factions in both political parties

contended was patronage.– Patronage= disbursing jobs by the bucketful in return for votes,

kickbacks, and party service. – Kickbacks= the return of a portion of the money received in a sale

or contract, often secretly or illegally, in exchange for favors.• The political system of this time is generally characterized by:

– Strong party loyalties– High voter turnout– Few disagreements on national issues.

Pallid Politics• Stalwarts- came out of the Republican Party.

– Led by Roscoe Conkling who was a Senator from New York.– Embraced the time-honored tradition of swapping civil-service jobs

for votes.• Civil Service= Regular employment by government according to a

standardized system of job descriptions, merit qualifications, pay, and promotion, as distinct from political appointees who receive positions based on affiliation and party loyalty.

Pallid Politics• Half-breeds- quarreled with the stalwarts over who should dish out the

jobs.– Led by James Blaine of Maine.

• Blaine and Conkling only succeeded in stalemating each other and deadlocking the party.

• The battles between the Stalwart and Half-breed factions of the Republican Party were mainly over who would get patronage and spoils.

Hayes and Tilden• Rutherford B. Hayes (The Great Unknown)

– Republican factions compromised on him.– He was from Ohio, where he served 3 terms as governor.

• Samuel Tilden (Democrat)– Famous for taking down Boss Tweed in New York.

• Contested states during election= LA, SC, FL.– Who decides the outcome? House (Democrat majority) or Senate

(Republican majority)?

• This will lead to a compromise between Dems and Repubs.

Rutherford B. Hayes• Who was he?

– President Hayes was the first president to use a telephone while in office. It was installed in the White House in 1879 by none other than Alexander Graham Bell.

– Hayes was one of five presidents who served in the Civil War, but he was the only one to be wounded in the war. He was wounded on four occasions and had four horses shot from under him.

– Hayes’ wife Lucy banned dancing, smoking, alcohol and card playing from the White House. Lucy came to be known as “Lemonade Lucy” for her decision to not serve any alcohol.

– Hayes and his wife conducted the very first Easter egg roll on the White House lawn. It began a tradition that continues today on the Monday after Easter.

– Hayes was the first president to visit the West Coast while in office. He visited San Francisco on September 8, 1880.

– Hayes signed legislation that allowed women to plead cases before the Supreme Court.

– Attended Harvard Law.– Lucy was the first wife of a president to graduate from college.– They had eight children.– Hayes was the first president to have a typewriter in the White House.

Compromise of 1877• Congress passed the Electoral Count Act.

– It set up an electoral commission consisting of 15 men selected from the Senate, the H of R, and the Supreme Court.

• Republicans win.• Dems countered with their own wants.

– They will let Hayes win if federal troops from LA and SC withdrew. – Repubs promised the Dems patronage and support for a bill subsidizing the

Texas and Pacific Railroads.

• Repubs abandoned commitments to racial equality.• The Compromise of 1877 purchased political peace between North and

South by sacrificing southern blacks and removing federal troops in the South.

• The key tradeoff featured in the Compromise was that Repubs got the presidency in exchange for the removal of federal troops from the South.

Civil Rights Act of 1875• Last ditch effort of the radical Repubs in Congress.

– Supposedly guaranteed equal accommodations in public places.– Prohibited racial discrimination in jury selection.

• Changes that affected African Americans in the South AFTER federal troops were withdrawn in the Comp of 1877:– Literacy requirements for voting.– Poll taxes for voting.– Development of tenant farming and share-cropping systems.– Rise of mob lynching.

Sharecropping• “Redeemers” (white Democrats) used fraud and intimidation to resume

political power in the South.• Sharecropping- Former slaves still at the mercy of former masters as

landlords and creditors.– Lien= A legal claim by a lender or another party on a borrower’s property

as a guarantee against repayment, and prohibiting any sale of the property.– “Crop-lien” system- stores extend credit to small farmers for food and

supplies and in return took a lien on their harvests.

• The sharecropping and tenant farming systems forced many Southern blacks into permanent economic debt and dependency.

Jim Crow• Legal codes of segregation.

– Literacy requirements.– Poll taxes.– Violent intimidation of voters.

• Used to disenfranchise black voters.

Plessy v. FergusonThe Facts The Issue The Decision

• In 1890, LA passed a law allowing railroads to provide “separate but equal” facilities.•Homer Plessy, an African American, sat in the car reserved for whites.•He was arrested when he refused to move to the “colored” car.

• In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Plessy argued that the Separate Car Act violated the 14th amendment.

• A 7 to 1 majority declared that state laws requiring separate but equal accommodations for whites and blacks did not violate the 14th amendment.

Why It Matters:The majority of the Supreme Court reasoned that the Constitution was not intended to protect social equality of race. This interpretation allowed southern states to make laws requiring separate but equal facilities.

Plessy v. Ferguson• Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” facilities were

constitutional.• All public facilities:

– Schools– Railroad cars– Theaters– Restaurants– Restrooms

• Plessy video• The ruling upheld that “separate but equal” public facilities in effect

legalized the system of unequal segregation between the races.

Railroad Strikes• Railroad companies collectively decided to cut worker’s pay by

10%.• Workers striked.• This revealed the growing threat of class warfare in response to

the downturn of the economy during the 1870s.

Chinese Exclusion Act

• Chinese Exclusion Act video• The final result of the widespread anti-Chinese agitation in the

West was a congressional law to prohibit any further Chinese immigration.

• Western hostility to Chinese immigrants arose in part because the Chinese provided a source of cheap labor that competed with white workers.

Garfield and Arthur• James Garfield (Ohio)

– Running mate was Chester Arthur (New York)– Used the bloody shirt tactic and barely squeaked out a victory.

• President Garfield was assassinated by a mentally unstable disappointed office seeker.– Man used the insanity plea, found guilty and hanged.– Garfield died 11 weeks later of his wound.

• Pendleton Act- used to remove the spoils system and patronage.– Made compulsory campaign contributions from federal employees illegal.– Established the Civil Service Commission

• Appoints people to federal jobs on the basis of competitive exams rather than loyalty.

• Presidential candidates then turned to corporate money.– By reducing politicians’ use of patronage, the new civil-service system

inadvertently made them more dependent on big campaign contributors.

Misc.• The Populist Party advocated, among other things:

– Free silver– A graduated income tax– Government ownership of railroads, telegraphs, and telephones.

• Cleveland caused protests when, in response to the extreme financial crisis of the 1890s, he seized federal control of the railroad industry.

• The major campaign issue of the 1888 presidential election was tariff policy.

• Most of the presidents of the 1870s and 1880s were:– Civil War vets– Republican– Won by narrow victories