Age of Mass Politics

• Political Machines and Their Critics

  • Political machine: a kind of organization which played a central role in society during the GIlded Age. It performed economic and welfare tasks

  • The machines helped new immigrants with urban life, and the immigrants would give the party their vote on election day

  • Most machines were Democratic and had Irish founders/history

  • When the machine had control of a city’s politics, party members would be promoted to positions of power. (Not skills or experience, but loyalty)

  • Bosses knew property values would rise when streets were being planned, so they bought them before infrastructure plans came out. They would be offered discounts for infrastructure projects and were also charging money for protection.

  • Known as “gift” – dishonorable way of making money, taking advantage of others. Bosses said they were pursuing honest graft

  • Criticism before the Civil War when they were capturing immigrant votes. Anti-immigrant sentiment as well

• Saloons and Politics

  • Saloons were economic and political institutions, some saloon bosses were even ward bosses. Saloonkeeper were more likely to be associated and serve in city government

  • These were usually associated with the Democratic party

  • Machine politicians worked with saloon keepers to capture votes, although it was expensive

• Election Campaigns and the Pageantry of Mass Politics

  • Parades and festivities introduced politics to many and got votes. A massive showing to a party meant more support than the competitor.

  • Marching clubs: parades to draw attention to a party

  • Political clubs: clubs near the beginning of election day, popular in swing states. Models of democracy where a founder elected a board and wrote a constitution. Set up presses for printing, etc, etc and supported the campaign

  • Presidential nominees stayed at home while representatives or followers hit the streets outside.

  • Women were brought to hear candidates because they could influence male relatives who could vote

• The Partisan Press

  • Press played a key role in election campaigning

  • Spread word

  • Editors catered to their readers’ preferences to boost circulation and sell ads. They referred to the opposition of enemies

  • Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World was the first to systematically cover national politics, although most daily newspaper covered nearby politics

  • Press was male dominated, although women became joining the occupation

• Electoral Mapmaking

  • Party affiliation of districts changed between elections as members moved around the country

  • Party in power redrew electoral map to maximize legislators

  • Gerrymandering: the partisan redrawing of district lines

  • Anti-gerrymandering rallies were popular

• The South and Biracial Politics

  • Black southerners in politics was still an open question

  • Republican Party most popular among black southerners, received schools, roads, and other improvements

  • Exodusters: relocated to Kansas in response to the defeat of Reconstruction

Women in Politics

• Campaigning for Suffrage

  • Advocates for women's suffrage held campaigns that mostly valid

  • Middle class women found other ways to participate and influence politics and government

• Temperance Crusaders and Clubwomen

  • Average number of children per family dropped, giving women more freetime

  • The Woman's Christian Temperance Union expanded to advocating for reform. Supported women’s suffrage. Women received political educations

  • Thought that male sphere of politics did injustice with the direct impact to the female home. Female purpose to make politics civilized and pure again

  • More open to poverty and disease

  • Formed national associations

• The Settlement Movement and Municipal Politics

  • During the settlement movement, more middle-class women joined politics

  • Learned about poor communities and how to improve them

  • Old mansions and houses were often turned into community centers by women

  • Immigrants joined these centers

  • Urban poor educated reformers on the realities of their life

National Politics

• Republic of Lobbyists

  • Congress becomes more chaotic

  • Started determining their votes ahead of time instead of changing their mind in discussion

  • Voted after meeting with lobbyists

  • Lobbyists became more professional and better funded. When Congress was in session, bribery would often occur in favor of the lobbyists

  • Businesses hired former congressmen with connections. They also hired female lobbyists under the belief that etiquette would dictate to listen to the woman.

  • Lobbyists consumed higher standards of living (better restaurants, hotels, etc). Changed Washington DC landscape because of numerous complaints

  • Saying no to bribery redirected money to better candidates

• Veterans and the Foundations of the Welfare State

  • Congress was not productive because of lobbying, redirecting attention to commerce

  • However, Congress managed to build America’s first federal welfare system, expanding the Civil War pension system for veterans

  • Tariffs on imported goods covered the pension system, and as revenue increased, so did the the coverage of the program

• The Presidency and the Spoils System

  • During the Gilded Age, the presidential position was symbolic for reliability, optimism, and strength

  • However, the office was weak because of limitations of executive power. Only one major task left: to distribute 100K positions throughout government

  • Spoils system: where positions went to party supporters, giving part of their salary to the party treasury

  • However, industrialization brought concern with the scale of spoils

  • Politicians had the authority to fund and authorize construction and internal improvements. Transcontinental railroads paid lawmakers for more favorable legislation benefiting the companies

• Civil Service Reform and the Garfield Assassination

  • The Republican Party has a small movement to limit patronage and distance government from business.

  • The Republican party splits into two factions: Stalwarts support patronage while Reformists are against it. Reformists, also known as Half-Breeds, said to limit business influence on the government, a federal civil service should be established

  • When Stalwart Grant and Half-Breed Blaine of Maine went head to head at the party convention. However, it became more about winning and less about certain ideals.

  • Delegation votes failed multiple times with a deadlock. On the 34th vote, James Garfield won-a Half Breed. He chose a Stalwart, Chester Arthur, for VP

  • Democrats chose Winfield S Hancock . The Greenback-Labor Party nominated James B Weaver

  • Parties started personally attacking each other

  • Garfield of the Republican party wins, refuses to distribute posts for patronage Supported call for federal civil service. Refused to appoint senator’s preferred candidate to tariff collector, senator fights and loses

  • Stalwart Charles Guiteau shoots the president after unsuccessfully petitioning for an important position. He was convicted and hanged. Drew public sympathy to civil service reform and discredited the Stalwarts.

  • The Civil Service Act in 1883 pushed by Stalwart destroyed reputation. 10% of federal positions were subject to civil service rules (competitive examination, top performers appointed). President Arthur goes against Stalwart allies and signs the act

• Debating the Tariff

  • Between 1880 and 1896, electoral platforms were similar. Voters cast on party loyalty, not policy questions. Parties still differed on tariff on foreign products and the money supply

  • Democrats wanted a federal government with minimal role, and should therefore concern itself with only overseas trade, relations… not the regulation of American lives.

  • Republicans wanted an expansive, protectionist government that promoted economic development. They would enact tariffs above 50%, making imported goods more expensive and increasing demand for American products. Used this as a protective tariff.

• The Money Question

  • Several kinds of money were in circulation during the Gilded Age. Silver and gold were commonly converted into coins in the US mint. The money depended on the price of silver and gold.

  • However, greenbacks were a medium in exchange which was not supported by metals, buy government bonds. Fluctuating in value, greenbacks were viewed as unstable. Privately owned banks printed greenbacks, not the federal government

  • Money was worth more in silver and gold, rather than greenback.

  • Society recognized the need for reform, but there was no clear majority on how to do so. Homeowners with mortgages and farmers wanted cheaper greenbacks getting money into circulation (causing lower interest rates and easier loans). Bankers and creditors wanted the currency to withdraw.

  • The Republican government agreed and withdrew ⅕ of circulating greenbacks by 1875

  • Due to the rise of the value of silver, Congress voted to discontinue it and only permit gold. But later, in the West, silver was found and flooded the market, decreasing value. The demand for silver coinage came back

  • Gold standard: all greenbacks were redeemable in gold coins.

  • Two compromise solutions: Treasury purchases between $2-4 million of silver each year and mints $1 silver coins

  • Free silver: unlimited coinage of silver

• Democrats Return: The First One-Term Presidency of Grover Cleveland

  • Democrat defeat in the Civil War pushed Republicans to take office. Democrats wanted to return to power, so they nominated NY governor Grover Cleveland appealing to the north

  • Cleveland promoted himself as for the people against businesses. Spoke against taxes and government subsidization of corporations

  • James G. Blaine was the Republican opponent and thought that if he pressed for a moderate tariff, northern workers would support him because it would create more jobs

  • Race was close and bitter. However, rumors of Blain being corrupted hurt his reputation and lost.

  • Cleveland strengthened the office of president and helped enact the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887

  • His acts sometimes hurt who he was trying to help. The Texas seed controversy occurred when Cleveland shot down Congress’s plan to give farmers $10K worth of free seed after a severe drought in Texas, claiming it made people dependent on government

  • Americans may not want federal aid to big businesses, but they wanted government to help communities in time of need

  • Cleveland announced to Congress for a lower tariff, hurting his Northern reputation

  • Second election was between Cleveland and Harrison. Election was close. Cleveland won the popular vote and lost the electoral college

  • Republicans controlled both houses and the presidency

Tides of Political Discontent

• The Anti-Monopoly Movement

  • Concern about power of big business grows

  • Ability to set prices while consumers have to pay those prices

  • Wanted monopolies to end

  • Bankers and industrialists neither elected nor accountable was a threat to democracy

  • Wanted legislation to break up monopoly trusts

  • States had limited control over corporations

  • Major parties realized major distrust and included these factors in electoral platforms

  • Sherman Antitrust Act passed by Congress in 1890 made it an offense to monopolize any part of trade or commerce

  • Law provided no means of enforcement

  • Federal courts enforced Sherman Antitrust Act against workers (unions conspiring to build a monopoly over workers)

• Workers and the Producers’ Republic

  • Secret society of tailors in Philadelphia called “The Knights of Labor was the largest national workers’ organization in the 1880s.

  • Wanted to end child and convict labor

  • Graduated income tax, women’s rights… wanted solidarity in productive labor without discrimination

  • Rejected that wage labor system was permanent

  • Knights excluded those who didn’t produce (bankers, lawyers, gamblers, etc)

  • Anarchists in |NY claimed that workers did not enjoy natural right to life and liberty

• Industrial Conflict and The New Nativism

  • Some strikes (agricultural and industrial) broke out.

  • Some spontaneous, some planned in advance.

  • Forceful way to express work demands, exhilarating and empowering

  • Strikes peaked in Great Upheaval during a depression

  • New nativist movement to restrict immigration also emerges

• “Brains, Push, and Enterprise”” Farmers and Rural Modernization

  • All-white southern farmer’s alliance established in Texas in 1870, Colored Farmers Alliance established in 1886

  • Alliances welcomed producers and barred nonproducers.

  • Hope that they could survive financial and physical hardships of rural life

  • Texas Exchange gave farmers direct access to agricultural markets

  • Education spread more

  • Alliances called upon legislators in the national conference in Ocala, called the Ocala Demands. Condemned the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and demanded sub treasuries to store crops

  • Some demands seen in electoral platforms, but rarely followed through

The Collapse of Gilded Age Politics

• The Populist Challenge and The Election of 1892

  • Farmers wanted to establish independent political party

  • Nominated James B Weaver for presidency and James G Field as his running mate

  • Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland

  • Democrats swept Congress and White House

• Democrats and Depression

  • Worst depression of nineteenth century after Grover Cleveland’s second inauguration

  • Northeastern bankers and opponents of silver backed money were to blame. Moved money out of US to economies that used the gold standard

  • Cleveland calls emergency session of Congress

  • Discontinued silver-backed money. Stabilized system, but did not end the depression

  • Cleveland insists that revival of investment was the only thing that could help stop the depression

  • President worked to sell Treasury bonds overseas. Succeeded financially, but politically damaged him because he worked with John Morgan who was one of the best known “robber barons” (bankers) of the day

• Strikers and Marchers

  • Large scale protests organized by workers and the unemployed

  • Strikes and boycotts were called against Pullman cars, but the federal court ordered an end to the Pullman strike. The Union leader was imprisoned and federal troops got trains to run again.’

  • Empathetic coverage escalated to new criticism as the strike got worse

  • Living petition bore nothing but white flags

  • Populist support surges while Democratic Party suffered heavy losses

• Jim Crow and the New Racial Order

  • Democrats sacrifice AA rights to win over white Populists

  • Jim Crow Laws were a series of laws encouraging racial segregation

  • Federal government did nothing, House tries to pass a law but fails

  • Lynching also becomes more common, especially in the deep south

• Remaking the American Political System

  • Election of 1896 sees segregation depression, Populism, and industrial conflict combine

  • Republicans win the election but lost heavily in the South

  • Populists collapsed. Big businesses paid journalists and parties to attack Populist ideas