Key Terms and Characters for Gilded Age Politics.html

Unit 2:  Gilded age of politics

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Characters and Key Terms for Gilded Age Politics

Characters

Keep this list of major characters in mind in order to follow the action more easily.  Click on each person or Key Term to see his/her/its corresponding description and/or definition. You can also click the "Show All" button to expand all characters and descriptions at once.   Charles Guiteau, supposedly angered by not receiving a political appointment, shot President James Garfield in 1881; Garfield later died from complications from his wounds. The assassination was a catalyst for civil service reform. Chester Arthur became president in 1881 after James Garfield was assassinated. Despite having ties to the Stalwarts, he ushered in an era of civil service reform. Grover Cleveland was the only president to serve non-consecutive terms in American history, from 1885-1889 and 1893-1897. A Democrat, he supported civil service reform and lower tariffs. Benjamin Harrison, a Republican, served as president 1889-1893. He supported coinage of silver and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, but his policies were not very effective. He ran one of the first “front-porch” presidential campaigns in U.S. history. James Weaver of Iowa was the Populist Party presidential candidate in 1892. He carried four western states and 22 electoral votes.

Key Terms

Gilded Age is a phrase popularized by an 1873 book of the same title, co-authored by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner. The novel portrayed the era as a time of flashy excess, new wealth, personal and political corruption, and westward expansion. Election of 1876 pitted Republican Rutherford B. Hayes against Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, both of whom promised an end to both political corruption and Reconstruction. Democrats suppressed Republican turnout in the South through violence and intimidation. Tilden appeared to win the popular vote, but electoral votes in several southern states were disputed. Behind closed doors, politicians agreed to what became known as the Compromise of 1877, in which Republicans promised to remove all remaining U.S. troops from the South in return for Hayes’s victory. The resulting end of Reconstruction allowed state Democrats to return to power throughout the South. the corruption of the era led reformers to call for changes in the civil service. Instead of a spoils system, in which civil service appointments served as rewards to political supporters, reformers want a merit-based system. After a disgruntled would-be diplomat assassinated President James Garfield, Congress passed the Pendleton Act (1883), which established a nonpartisan Civil Service Commission to fill federal jobs by examinations. tactic used primarily by Republicans, to remind voters of the bloodshed and hardships of the recent Civil War. Red Shirts, like the Ku Klux Klan, a terrorist organization that used violence and intimidation to help the Democratic Party win elections in the Reconstruction-era South. The Election of 1876 turned on disputed electoral votes in several southern states. Behind closed doors, Republicans promised to remove all remaining U.S. troops from the South in return for Hayes’s victory. The resulting end of Reconstruction allowed state Democrats to return to power throughout the South. Spoils system is a practice whereby a victorious political party rewards its supporters with political patronage, including political offices and business contracts. The spoils system became very important in U.S. politics beginning with Andrew Jackson’s administration, 1829-1837. Stalwarts, led by Republican Senator Roscoe Conkling (NY), was a faction of the Republican Party that favored machine politics and the long-standing spoils system Half-Breeds, led by Republican Senator James Blaine (ME), was a faction of the Republican Party that sought limited civil service reform.Pendleton Civil Service Act, passed in the wake of Garfield’s assassination, created the Civil Service Commission, which oversaw civil service appointments based on examinations. Mugwumps was a Republican faction that wanted thorough civil service reform and ultimately supported the Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland in 1884.Passed in 1887 in response railroad policies that tended to favor big businesses over individuals and small farmers. This act created the Interstate Commerce Commission and required that railroads make their rates public, that rates must be “fair and just,” and that rebates be discontinued. It was an important first step, but the ICC lacked enforcement mechanisms.Sherman Anti-Trust Act was an early but largely ineffectual effort to check big business. It was vague and intended to restrain rather than break up big corporations. In its early days, the government more often used it against labor unions than corporations.Bimetallism was a monetary system that allowed free coinage of gold and silver and stood in contrast to the gold standard, in which the value of currency was defined by gold. Bimetallism tended to be inflationary, which would benefit farmers by increasing crop prices and making it easier for them to pay off their debts. The Grange, originally a social organization, became politicized, protesting farmers’ powerlessness in the face of railroads and big businesses. “Granger Laws” in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota established maximum railroad and grain elevator rates.Farmers’ Alliances, along with the Grange and Populism, were part of an agrarian rebellion in the late nineteenth century, a response to falling crop prices and rising debt. Farmers’ Alliances proposed a subtreasury plan, under which farmers could store their crops in public warehouses, borrow against them, and wait for the market to improve before selling. Populist (or People’s) Party formed in July 1892, marking the agrarian revolt’s move into formal politics. Their Omaha Platform was quite radical for its day and represented the first comprehensive vision for reform in American history. They called for a more direct democracy, including popular election of senators, direct primaries, and the secret ballot. They also endorsed a graduated income tax, the free and unlimited coinage of silver, and government ownership of railroads, telegraph, and telephone.Depression of 1893: caused by overbuilding and poor finances in railroads. A panic caused a series of bank failures. The depression became the primary political issue of the mid-1890s and precipitated a major realignment of the political parties.Coxey’s Army: as the Depression of 1893 dragged on into 1894, unemployment remained high. Jobless marchers, led by Jacob Coxey, arrived in Washington, D.C. to demand relief. Democratic President Grover Cleveland ignored their pleas and forcibly broke up the protest, hurting his already poor public image. Election of 1896: This election signaled a major realignment of the political parties. The Democrats turned left and nominated William Jennings Bryan who supported bimetallism; this move effectively killed the Populist Party. Republicans ran William McKinley, standing on high tariffs, hard money, and prosperity. McKinley won fairly easily, building a coalition of corporate capitalists and urban workers, who were not well served by bimetallism and inflation.