Ch.

19 Outline
I. The Politics of the Status Quo, 1877-1893
A. The Washington Scene 1. five presidents from 1877 to 1893 a. Rutherford B. Hayes b. James A. Garfield c. Chester A. Arthur d. Grover Cleveland, democrat e. Benjamin Harrison 2. Presidents' primary goal was getting rid of patronage under the spoils system a. President Garfield was killed by Charles Guiteau, who was disappointed by the spoils system b. Pendleton Act (1883) created a Civil Service Commission that was in charge of giving examinations to fill federal jobs, although it only covered 10% of the jobs c. America did not have places like France's grand ecoles to train civil service pros 3. White House staff was moderate and did not consist of many civil service personnels 4. Even on Capitol Hill, where the budgetary matters resides, 56% of the 100,000 employees worked for the post office. 5. A major issue in 1880 was reducing the surplus money from the customs duties and excise taxes 6. The era of "congressional govt" a. Presidents gave up a lot of power to Congress b. Roscoe Conkling considered himself equal to the president and even argued w/ president Hayes - his faction was called the Stalwarts

c. James Garfield went up against Conkling on the issue of the New York Customs House d. James G. BLaine, the successor as Senate boss, who's faction was the HalfBreeds, also showed this arrogant power 7. Political party lines became blurred a. Rep. party and Dem. party fought within their parties rather than against each other b. fought about high tarrifs, which the reps supported -President Cleveland starts campaigning for the reduction of tariffs - Cleveland defeated and Republicans pushed the McKinley tariff which raised the tariffs to an all time record of 49.5% 1. Both parties resisted making bold stands on major issues because the two parties were so equal that anything that might upset the people would tip the scales in favor of the other party a. Dems opposed giving pensions to war veterans 2. Republicans held onto Reconstruction problems to solidate their party's future 3. Mudslinging rampant in 1884 election a. Grover Cleveland called out for fathering an illegitimate child b. James G. BLaine lost b/c a Rep clergyman insulted Catholic voters c. among all this the issues at hand were covered up 4. People believed that national affairs was not a big issue a. the less govt. the better- equivalent of lassez-faire 1. Edward Atkinson's speech embodied the ideal of individualism so prevalent in the age of enterprise 2. Many pieces of literature showed the popularity of individualism a. Horatio Alger's manuals Thoughts for the Young Men of America, or a Few Practical Words of Advice to Those Born in Poverty and Destined to be Reared in Orphanages

b. Carnegie's Triumphant Democracy 3. American Portestantism ministers' Russell H. Conwell and William Lawrence supported the acquisition of wealth 1.Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species and his idea of natural selection was applied to society 2. Herbert Spencer's idea of survival of the fittest became known as Social Darwinism a. William Graham Sumner, a social darwinist, supported this theory -according to him, the rich were the naturally selected ones b. social darwinists criticized those who tried to interfere with the progress of society

1. Judiciary branch assumed more and more power, primarily to stop govt.'s from abusing the rights of private property 2. Courts targeted states because of their residual powers, which gave them the authority over social and economic welfare and regulations a. court case In re Jacobs, New York Court of Appeals rejected a law that prohibited cigar manufacturing in housing tenements b. federal courts used the 14th amendment to protect coporations from the state govts. 3. Supreme Court ruled in 1895 that govt. had no power to regulate manufacturing and rejected a tax income law 4. Stephen J. Field made it his duty to protect people from the growing industrialism

1. American politics were deeply entrenched in its culture a. politics was the form of entertainment for the masses b. buttons, mugs, posters, even baseball cards w/ candidates tucked in Honest Long Cut tobacco cartons were prevalent

2. Party politics was a very important matter to people a. Republicans hated Dems and vice versa 3. Most northern Dems were Catholic foreigners and Repbs were native Protestants a. Protestants attributed the more pietistic person to Republican 4. Education became a central argument between ethnic and religious groups a. St. Louis banned teaching German to students b. Catholics fought to keep funding up for parochial schools, which was prohibited by 23 states by 1900 5. Blue laws that restricted activity on Sundays also caused many controversies a. State of Nebraska banned baseball on Sundays, which outraged German and Irish Catholics and seeing it as a violation of their rights 6. Ethnocultural conflicts came into view as Christians wanted to restrict liquor 7. These issues played a major role in party affiliation a. Methodists Republicans Democrats

b. Irish and German Catholics

1. Party politics became highly organized a. the precinct or ward was wehre all the party meetings were held, open to all members b. conventions delegated party platforms, rules, c. delegated district men to get a designated amount of people to vote d. These parties were governed by political machines which were ruled by a single "boss" 1. Clash between political machines and political reformers 2. Liberal Republicans led by Carl Schurz and CHarles Francis Adams Jr. left Republican party because of all the corruption a. became known as the Mugwumps, mainly from NY and MA, who supported Grover Cleveland

3. Mugwumps were known more for their ability to shape public opinion a. released journals and newspapers targeted for the middle class that denounced political machines etc. b. northern states imposed literacy tests to limit voting rights 4. Secret ballot, from Australia, helped ease the voting procedure 1. Theodore Roosevelt called Mugwumps man-milliners 2. National American Woman Suffrage Association reunited in 1890, focusing on state conventions a. only won suffrage for tax votes and school issues 3. Woman's Christian Temperance Union came from the Woman's Crusade movement that began in Hillsboro, Ohio 1. Frances Willard, president of WCTU, had a motto "Home Protection" that centered on pleas for voting rather than the clamor of Anthony or Stone a. WCTU allowed women to experience the issues at hand such as public health, labor conditions, etc., through the Do-Everything program and also allowed women leaders to gain experience b. focused on third-party politics 2. WCTU join the Prohibition Party to stop the selling of liquor 1. Blacks still received discrimination and secregation in jobs, courts, social services 2. The first public accomodation to be secregated were the railroads 3. Gerrymandering kept blacks out of political control 1. Southern Democrats wanted "home rule" a. called themselves the Redeemers to bring back the Democratic party to the south 2. Class struggle became evident a. farmers and planters broke w/ the Democratic party b/c their problems were not heard, and they became the Readjusters b. Readjusters later allied w/ farmers and created the Populist Party

3. Lower class whites, although racist and thought they were superior, identified their problems w/ the blacks 4. Colored Farmers' Alliance gave blacks a voice in the meetings of the Populists 5. Populists in N.C. and Tennesee fused w/ the Republican party 6. Third Party populists had to gain support of the blacks

1. Mississippi's literacy tests stopped blacks from voting a. even Populists like Frank Burkitt supported it, under the pretense that it kept frauds out of office 2. Defeated Populists turned on the blacks and supported the literacy tests a. Louisiana's grandfather clause exempted people from the test for those who were able to vote starting from the 1st day of 1867 3. Tom Watson became a voice of antiblack 4. "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman, a Democrat, used the image of white manhood to gain 1. Jim Crow laws segregated almost every public accomodation in the South by 1890s a. Plessy v. Ferguson declared segregation legal because it did not violate the 14th amendment on the basis of "separate but equal" b. Williams v. Mississippi also legalized the disfranchinsing methods of south 1. located in east Texas, African Americans made up half the population a. the Populist party in the region also disregarded the Democrats taunts of "black rule" b. Populist-Republican swept county elections of 1896 and 1898 2. The White Man's Union forcibly stopped blacks and Populists from voting and terrorized them a. officially formed as the White Man's Party, this Democratic Party ruled Grimes County 3. Ida Wells-Barnett was the foremost crusader in anti-lynching

1. Democrats gain control of the House of Representatives 2. Democrats would have reigned supreme had depression not set in a. unemployment soars to 20% 1. Farmers' Alliance of the Northwest a. located mostly in the Midwest states 2. National (Southern) Farmer's Alliance a. traveling lectures encouraged working together and resisting corruptions and monopolies b. Texas Exchange- marketed crops of farmers and gave them cheap loans - failed w/ the falling of cotton prices in 1891 - subtreasury system created 3. Third party People's Party led by James B. Weaver captured 1,000,000 votes 1. Single producer class a. platforms supported unions, farmer alliances, strikes 2. American Federation of Labor Samuel Gompers lost to Henry Demarest Lloyd and his vision of farmer-labor movements 3. Omaha convention a. Populists wanted railroads and communications to be nationalized and their lands to be protected from monopolies 1. Henry Demarest Lloyd argued against free silver a. believed the acquisition of free silver would alienate wage earners and obscure the Populist Parties party issues and its identity 1. Pre-Civil War: banks supplied banknotes that were not necessarily backed by hard currency 2. U.S. Banking Act of 1863 prohibited state banks from loaning bank notes that were not backed a. essentially put the U.S. Treasury in charge of source for easy money

3. The interests of the "sound money" people won when Washington stopped circulating greenbacks as legal money and only continued to limit currency to amount of specie 4. Bland-Allison Act of 1878 forced govt. to buy at least$2 mill of silver every month 5. Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 a. 4.5 million ounces of silver bullions sold to U.S. each month 1. Cleveland lost the support of many laborers a. arrested Jacob S. Coxey when Coxey's "army" marched to Capitol Hill to demand federal relief b. allowed Wilson-Gorman Tariff of 1894 to pass w/o his sig 1. Stalwart "sound money" man a. economic pressure forced him to stop using silver as currency b. Repealed Sherman Silver Purchase Act and dealt w/ J.P. Morgan to restock the treasury's gold supply

1. The Democrats supported William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska, a supporter of freesilver a. Silver Democrats sided w/ Bryan and gold Dems supported Rep party 2. Prohibition Party was split on this issue, and Populists accepted Bryan as their candidate, even though they nominated Tom Watson for V.P. 3. Rep leader Mark Hanna nominated William McKinley 4. McKinley won the election, and Republicans broke the party deadlock
Chapter 19 Definition

Book by James Bryce that emphasized the politics of post-Civil War America The American Commonwealth (1888)

Created a Civil Service Commision that administered tests for govt. jobs Pendleton Act (1883)

The period when the executive branch took a back seat and Congress took initiative Congressional Government

Raised tariffs to an all time 49.5% McKinley Tariff

Less govt. is better Laissez-Faire

Herbert Spencer's idea that the rich millionaires were the naturally selected in society Social Darwinism

Powers not explicitly stated in Constitution were given to the states, like economic and social welfare Residual Powers

New York court repeals a law that forbids manufacturing of cigars on private tenements In re Jacobs (1885)

Laws that restricted activity on the Sabbath Blue Laws

Liberal Republicans that supported an elitist type movement. Imposed literacy tests The Mugwumps

Tests designed to keep black and immigrants from voting Literacy Tests

Imported from Australia to reduce unfair coercion to vote Secret Ballot

Reunited in 1890 to fight for suffrage through state campaigns National American Woman Suffrage Association

Idea that men and women both had separate roles in society, with women's sphere being in the home Separate Spheres

Guided by Frances Willard and became the foremost women's organization Women s Christian Temperance Union

Suffragist that fought for rights through pleas Frances Willard

Gerrymandered

Unfair politics designed to keep blacks out of control of politics

Southern democrats intent on bringing back home rule to the south Redeemers

Laws that segregated black accomodations from white Jim Crow Laws

Court case that declared Jim Crow laws legal Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Legalized the methods used to to stop blacks from voting in the south Williams v. Mississippi (1898)

County in east Texas that was captured by white supremist White Man's Union Grimes County

A cooperative that sold the crops of farmers in exchange for cheap loans The Texas Exchange

The People s Party

A new party that emerged that threatened to break the two-party system by nominating James B. Weaver and capturing 1 million votes

Mary Elizabeth Lease

Famous Populist woman that gave fiery oratories

Issue that gripped America for much of the late 1800s. Split over whether to use silver as a currency Free Silver

Required U.S. to buy 2-4 million worth of silver each month Bland-Allison Act of 1878

The Democrat elected candidate that supported free silver William Jennings Bryan

Symbolized the crusade to initiate silver as a monetary currency. Cross of Gold