History

Grant and scandals

The Election of 1876

Democrat: Samuel J. Tilden, Governor of New York, instrumental in bringing down the Tweed Ring.

Republican: Rutherford B. Hayes, Governor of Ohio, Civil War general

Results: Tilden, 184: 4,300,000 185 to win

Hayes: 165: 4,036,000

FL: 4, LA: 8, SC: 7, OR: 1 = 20

David Davis and a special commission of 15 members

The Compromise of 1877

1. Reconstruction would end.

2. One Southerner on the cabinet

3. Patronage for Southerners

4. Internal improvements in the South

5. Aid for the Texas and Pacific Railroad

The Hayes Administration

Ruterfraud B. Hayes, Your Fraudulency, Lemonade Lucy

Republican Party Tensions:

Roscoe Conkling led the Stalwarts: machine politics

James G. Blaine led the Half-Breeds: civil service reform

Hayes favored civil service reform, but could do little about it.

Finally he removed Chester A. Arthur and Alonzo Cornell from the New York Customs House.

Conkling then blocked Hayes’s appointments.

Hayes won in the end, but at great political cost.

The Election of 1880

Democrat: Winfield Scott Hancock: Civil War Hero (no Bloody Shirt here!)

James A. Garfield: Civil War Hero and member of the US House

Garfield was a Half-Breed, to keep the Stalwarts happy, Chester A. Arthur was selected to run for vice-president.

“From the tow path to the White House”

Hancock: 155, 4,444,260

Garfield: 214, 4,446,158

A difference of 1,598 in the popular vote

The Assassination of Garfield

July 2, 1881, Charles Guiteau shot Garfield at a train station in Washington.

“I am a Stalwart and Arthur is president now.”

Garfield lived for nearly three months, dying on September 19, 1881.

The Arthur Administration

Few positive expectations for the former Conklinite spoilsman. Even his birthplace was in question.

Arthur, however, arose to the occasion and dismayed party bosses.

The Pendleton Act of 1883 placed a limited number of federal jobs under Civil Service protection and filled the jobs through competitive exams.

The Civil Service Commission was formed but only 14,000 out of over 100,000 federal jobs were classified.

The modernization of the US Navy

The Election of 1884

Democrat: Grover Cleveland: Governor of New York and former sheriff of Buffalo, NY

Republican: James G. Blaine: US Senator (leader of the Half-Breeds) and hard-liner on Reconstruction

Cleveland paid a substitute during the Civil War. It was then learned that he had (probably) fathered an illegitimate child with Maria Halpin.

“Ma, Ma, where’s my pa?” A draft-dodging womanizer could not possibly be elected president!

Blaine had his problems. The Mulligan Letters surfaced, showing evidence of illegal activities while Blaine was Speaker of the House.

Mugwumps were Republicans who supported Cleveland.

In New York City a supporter of Blain, The Reverend Buchard, gave a speech in which he attacked Irish Americans indirectly by referring to the Democratic party as a party of “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion.”

New York made the difference with Cleveland polling 563,154 to Blaine’s 562,005, a difference of 1,149!

Cleveland: 219. 4,875,000

Blaine: 182, 4,852,000

The Cleveland Administration

In a word: conservative!

Vetoed a $10,000 measure for drought relief for stricken farmers! “The lesson must never be forgotten. [that] though the people support the government, the government should not support the people.”

He expanded Civil Service protection to an additional 12,000 jobs.

Two-thirds of all incumbents were replaced (after all he was the first Democrat since Buchanan).

He vetoed a harbor and rivers bill.

He had no special favors; he attacked railroad, lumber, and cattle interests.

Problem: the federal government had a large SURPLUS! Cleveland wanted to lower the tariff.

Cleveland’s marriage

The Election of 1888 ---------

This one had an issue: the tariff

Democrat: Grover Cleveland: running for a second term

Republican: Benjamin Harrison: Civil War general, US Senator from Indiana

Cleveland: 168, 5,540,000

Harrison: 233, 5,440,000

Cleveland won the popular vote, but lost in the Electoral College. On March 4, 1889, Cleveland held the umbrella for Harrison while he gave his inaugural address.

“A sound and a fury signifying nothing.”

The Congress was deadlocked, the presidency was seen as an honor, and the real issues were neglected.

Civil Rights

Regulation of commerce and industry

Indian affairs

Complacency was the order of the day in politics.

Two: Capital and Industry -----

Abraham Lincoln is remembered for the Civil War, but he wanted to be remembered for something else. The Civil War was unexpected; the Transcontinental Railroad and the Homestead Act were passed during Lincoln’s administration and he had big economic dreams.

The Civil War produced different economic dreams, which served to expand industry and commerce in the North. The economic boom continued through the nineteenth century with a few bumps in the road and no little controversy.

Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner wrote The Gilded Age which was an indictment of government and business practices of the nineteenth century.

The average wage for workingmen in the period was $300 to $400 per year.

Rise of the Railroad

Railroads in 1865: 35,000 miles

Railroads in 1900: 200,000 miles

The Transcontinental Railroad was the biggest government-financed project in the nineteenth century.

The Federal Government gave, yes gave, the railroad companies 131 million acres!

The states coughed up another 49 million acres.

In addition to the land, the Federal Government paid $16,000 per twenty miles of level track.

$32,000 per MILE in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and $48,000 per MILE in extreme terrain.

$48,000.00 is $1.5 million today.

It is estimated that the Union Pacific cost $60 million and the Central Pacific cost $36 million.

400 rails per mile, 10 spikes per rail, 3 sledge hammer strikes per rail!

The Union Pacific began in Omaha and utilized Paddies.

The Central Pacific began in Sacramento and utilized Chinese laborers.

May, 10, 1869, Promontory Point, UT

Effects

Nov. 18, 1883: Time zones (Indiana had 23 local time zones)

Standard gage: 4 feet 8 ½ inches. (1860s Charleston to Philadelphia required 8 railcar changes.)

There was a fundamental shift from producing products to creating stock value.

The Great Railroad Barons

1. Jay Gould: objective was to achieve a monopoly

2. James J. Hill of the Great Northern

3. Leland Stanford of the Central Pacific

4. Cornelius Vanderbilt of the New York Central

Railroad Business Methods

1. Pooling (price fixing)

2. Rebates (secret kickbacks)

3. Rate cutting (forcing out existing lines by temporarily lowering rates)

4. Stock watering (faking the value of property)

5. Railroad passes

The Interstate Commerce Act was passed in 1887 (Cleveland)

The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the railroads in 15 out of 16 cases! The Fourteenth Amendment was a handy tool!

The states would be called upon to regulate commerce, but that proved impossible.

The railroads owned congressmen and sometimes entire state legislatures!

The Robber Barons

J. P. Morgan 1837 - 1913

* Born to wealth

* Educated in Germany

* Finance was his game.

* Salvaged railroads

* 1893 loaned $65 million in gold to the US Treasury!

Business Method: Interlocking Directorate (corporate directors serving on multiple boards)

Andrew Carnegie 1835 – 1919

· Poor immigrant from Scotland

· Worked as a child laborer

· Worked as a telegraph clerk

· Through insider trading became a millionaire at the age of twenty-eight.

· Pioneered the steel industry

· By 1900 his income was $25 million per year

· Sold out to J. P. Morgan for $480 million.

· Known for his philanthropy

Business Method: Vertical Integration (owning every step of the production and distribution process)

John D. Rockefeller 1839 – 1937

· Little formal education

· Devout Baptist

· The Oil Industry

· Later attacked by Ida Tarbell

Business Method: Horizontal Integration (owning every point of distribution)

The Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 was another attempt to regulate commerce: it was used to curb labor unions!

In 1886 the Wabash Case ruled that states had no right to regulate interstate commerce.

In United States v. Knight1895, the court ruled that manufacturing was not commerce in the legal sense.

Consumerism

Horatio Alger wrote 119 rags to riches novels, Raged Dick being the most famous.

New methods of manufacture: Whitney and Colt

Montgomery Ward and Sears

Department stores

Uniform machine tools: standard screw

Typewriter (Sholes) 1867

Telephone (Bell) 1876

Impact on women in the workplace

Thomas Edison

1. Electric light bulb

2. Storage battery

3. Phonograph

4. Menlo Park, NJ

1850: 2,000 patents per year

1890: 21,000 patents per year

Frederick W. Taylor: Efficiency expert

Social Theory

The Gospel of Wealth: The wealthy should take responsibility for their community by using their “wisdom”, experience and wealth as stewards for the poor.

“The millionaire acted as a mere trustee and agent for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience, and ability to administer, doing for them better than they could or would do for themselves.” Carnegie, p. 467

In 1892 there were 4,047 millionaires.

Social Darwinism: Survival of the Fittest; applying Darwin’s theory of natural selection to humans.

Herbert Spencer

Results:

1. Laissez faire capitalism

2. Appealed to businessmen, intellectuals, and clergymen

3. Justification for poverty and slums

Who inspired and led America in the late nineteenth century?

Politicians?

1. High voter turn-out and interest in politics

2. Nearly even split in party numbers

3. What legislation was passed to good effect?

Transcontinental Railroad Act put into effect (including much corruption)

The Compromise of 1877: Ended Reconstruction

Pendleton Act of 1883: 14% of federal workers in civil service

Interstate Commerce Act of 1887: an attempt to control trusts

The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the railroads in 15 out of 16 cases citing the Fourteenth Amendment.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act, 1890

Robber Barons?

1. Produced much wealth which translated into better lives for many

2. Many were philanthropists who helped many (Gospel of Wealth)

3. Inspired many (Horatio Alger novels) to work hard to get rich

4. Social Darwinism was the order of the day: laissez faire capitalism

Better manufacturing techniques and more jobs (10 to 12 hour days and poor conditions)

More creative business methods, which ruined many

Consumer goods and retail stores

A small elite group of millionaires who inspired and improved lives, while relegating millions to poverty. Influence on the government