Politics In Gilded Age
The paper discusses politics in the Gilded
Age. Include major political
events and issues, and the roles of the "bloody
shirt," corruption,
patronage, and reform movements. The term Gilded Age was
named for a Mark Twain
book. It meant covered with gold, and was applied to
this period as a whole.
This was a period of corruption in sordid
politics. The Republicans and
Democrats didn’t really have strong
opposing beliefs during this period. The
Republicans supported high
tariffs and sound money. The Democrats supported
lower tariffs and expanded
currency. Both rural and urban classes supported each
party. They worked with
spoils and local issues. Both parties worked to please
everyone, and to
attract voters. Since both parties were so close in strength,
it caused the
elections to be fought harder. The Republicans used the waving of
the bloody
shirt tactic. This meant that they brought back the past in order to
avoid
the real issues. They portrayed the Democrats as rebel traitors.
The
Republicans were against alcohol. The Stalwarts were led by Senator
Conkling
from New York and were the hard core machine of elections. Senator
Blaine led
the Half-Breeds from Maine, and they wanted to be in control of it
all. The
mugwumps were a group that turned Democrat because of the corruption
of the
Republican presidential nominee, Senator Blaine. One president was
Grant during
this period. He was elected into office for his past war
experience. He had
little knowledge of politics, and depended on his fellow
politicians. These men,
in turn, involved in scandals to embezzle money from
the government. One was the
Great Mobilier scandal; it dealt with the
Union Pacific Railroad. The
Construction Company hired themselves at
inflated prices to build railroad
lines, and distributed shares of stock to
congressmen. A scandal during
Grant’s second term, was the Whisky Ring.
This scandal was uncovered in St.
Louis, and consisted of selling whiskey
without the excise tax. In return it
defrauded the government out of millions
of dollars. Belknap was selling goods
and trading with the Indians for lower
prices. During Grant’s administration
the monetary issues were inflation,
cheap money, and greenbacks. The debtors,
especially farmers, wanted cheap
money. However, Grant vetoed the bill to print
more money, and supported
withdrawing greenbacks from circulation. Hayes won the
disputed election.
Four states submitted irregular returns. It was disputed if
the Republican
president of the Senate or the Democratic Speaker of the House
should count
them. It was decided that an electoral commission made up of
fifteen men.
There were eight Republicans and seven Democrats, so the
Republicans won.
The Democrats would only accept this with conditions, one of
which was to
remove troops from the south. The next president was a political"unknown". His
name was James Garfield. A disturbed politician shot him in
the back at a
railroad. This demonstrated the corruption in the patronage system
and led to
reform. In the next presidential election the Republicans nominated
James
Blaine and the Democrats supported Grover Cleveland. Both parties were
the
same on issues and both agreed on tariff and corporate abuses, so it came
down
to personal issues. Cleveland won the election and was the first
Democratic
President since before the Civil War. His philosophy of
government was almost
entirely negative. He believed that the government
should not support people. He
wanted to reform tariff, but congress postponed
it. The Republicans described
Cleveland’s tariff reform as a free trade
policy that would ruin American
industries and put Americans out of work. The
Republicans regain the White House
with Benjamin Harrison. The payoffs for
industries were high tariffs. The
downside was increased government spending.
The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was
passed to help the silver minors and
economy. During President Cleveland’s
reelection, the Sherman Silver Purchase
Act drained the treasuries. Paper notes
were traded for gold, then reissued,
and the process would be repeated. The
worst depression of that century
occurred during Cleveland’s second term.
Cleveland tried to repeal the
Sherman Silver Purchase Act, but it was too late.
Gold was almost
depleted, so he borrowed $62 million in gold from J.P. Morgan.
The
Wilson-Gorman Act reduced tariff slightly, and had a provision that
the
Populist favored. It was a 2% income tax on incomes over $4000 a
year. In all
Cleveland was unable to deal with the economic crises in his
second term. There
was too much corruption during this period. Honest
politicians and businessmen
might have prevented the depression. The big
businesses were really in charge.
The quality of Presidents played a
major role in the ruin of this
period.