Republican
Republican
Republican
Democrat
Republican
Republican Democrat
Republican
Notate 3 significant observations about the presidents of the Gilded Age.
In cartoon 1, what is Rockefeller holding in his hand? What does this infer about the national government during the Gilded Age?
Cartoon 2 deals with who has the most power in the national government. Based on the image, who does the cartoonist believe controls the national government? Notate 3 images or texts from the cartoon that justify that position.
In the Gilded Age, presidents were seen as less powerful than
monopolists like Carnegie, JP Morgan,
and Rockefeller
Republican
Republican
Republican
Democrat
Republican
Republican Democrat
Republican
The “Forgettable Presidents”
Republican dominated Congress “rowdy”, “inefficient” and corrupt
Very little accomplished Senate known as “rich man’s club”
because often paid for, literally! President did not challenge Congress Lots of corruption everywhere
Harrison later discovered that his support had been bought by the machine: “I could not name my own cabinet. They had sold out every position in the cabinet to pay the expenses.” PATRONAGE
Big Issues of the day: tariff & money
Credit Mobilier - A construction company that Union Pacific Railroad hired to build the transcontinental railroad Really Credit Mobilier was being run by
executives of Union Pacific (T. Durant) Credit Mobilier overcharged Union Pacific
for its work 348% profits!
Gave stock to Congressmen & VP Schuyler Colfax to keep it quiet
Uncovered by newspaper 72 million given for a 53 million railroad
Whisky Ring Black Friday Nepotism – 40 family
members!
1876 election: Hayes Versus Tilden20 electoral votes in dispute because of
widespread fraud reports Compromise 1877 Hayes gets the
office!Agreed to end reconstruction in the South
Garfield: shot by a distraught patronage seeker!
Chester Arthur, the reformed crook, becomes president. Pendleton Civil Service Act – qualifying
exam to get a job in the national government Supposed to end spoils system Enforcement questionable!
Tariff: tax on imports (stuff from other countries) Big Business wants high tariffs Average Americans want low tariffs
Tariffs during Gilded Age VERY high – Cleveland proposed lower tariff but shot down! Make sense based on what we have said so far??
Currency: value of America’s money Big business/banks wanted “hard money”/less in
circulation & backed by gold so value stays stable Farmers wanted “soft money”/more in circulation so
value decreases Greenback Party/Populist Party/William Jennings Bryan
Why would these be THE issues of the era?
Give 5 VARIED reasons