Politics After Johnson

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Politics After Johnson

• 1868-1899

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The Politics . . .

• of strain
• of stalemate
• of paralysis
• of corruption
• of ineffectiveness

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Usually a medium of resolution, politics and
government had fallen victim to

• Private greed
• Middle-class indifference
• Political mediocrity
• Discontent of the poor
• Gulf between rich and poor
• Power of corporate systems
• Poverty of city dwellers and farmers
• Boom and bust economic cycles
• Unmet needs of African-Americans, women, Indians,
  and other immigrants

4

• In the years between 1877 and 1897 over 80
  percent of the eligible voters voted
• BUT
• most women could not vote
• most African-Americans were afraid to vote
• Indians could not vote
• new immigrants could not vote
• plus the 20 of those who could vote who
• did not participate

5
Neither Political Party Had Control

• President
• Republicans 12 yrs.
• Democrats 8 yrs.
• Senate
• Republican control
• House
• Democratic control
• States
• Republican 16 states
• Democrats 14 states
• Flexible 6 states (NY and Ohio most important)

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Parties Shared

• Support for business
• Condemned radicalism
• Offered no help for workers or farmers
• Used bloody shirt tactics

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Democrats

• States Rights
• Limited federal government
• Old South
• Urban political machines
• Working poor
• Often Catholic

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Republicans

• Federal power
• Industrial North
• Protestant
• Anti-immigrant
• Favored prohibition
• Supported English-only policies

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Political Issues of the Era

• Veterans benefits
• Pensions for veterans
• Benefits for widows and children
• Government appointments
• Growth of bureaucracy
• 1883 Pendleton Civil Service Act
• Tariffs
• North supported high tariffs
• South and West supported lower tariffs
• Money
• Before CW -- gold specie
• During CW need for quick money greenbacks
• After CW farmers wanted to introduce silver,
  bankers wanted to keep gold only
• Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890

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The Presidents

• Grant (1868-1876)
• Great soldier, poor politician
• Grantismcorruption in politics, cronyism,
  scandal
• state machines
• Gould, Fisk, brother-in-law contrived to control
  the gold market
• Credit Mobilizer stock bribery of Congress
• Sec of War accepted bribes from merchants trading
  with Indians on reservations
• Post Office kickbacks
• Personal secretary involved with bribery of tax
  collectors
• No evidence that Grant was ever personally
  involved BUT he had a poor choice of associates,
  appointees, and relatives
• Re-elected in 1872 on strength of Vicksburg and
  Appomattox

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Presidents cont.

• Rutherford B. Hayes (1876-1880)
• Standoff with Tilden
• Only way to win was to
• End Reconstruction
• Promised South economic support
• Pursue civil service reform

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Presidents cont.

• James A. Garfield (1880-1884)
• Beseiged by job seekers
• Assassinated by Charles Guiteau, a disgruntled
  job seeker
• Term finished by Chester A. Arthur
• Broke away from machine politics
• Worked to lower tariffs
• Supported Pendleton Act
• Began construction of modern navy

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Presidents cont.

• Grover Cleveland (1884-1888, 1892-1896)
• Bachelor Gov. of NY, fathered illegitimate child
  Ma, Ma, wheres my Pa? Gone to the White House,
  ha, ha, ha!
• First Democrat since James Buchanan in 1856
• Expanded Civil Service
• Devoted efforts to retain the gold standard
• Promoted growth of federal power
• Interstate Commerce Act of 1887
• Promoted agricultural research
• Promoted federal arbitration of labor disputes
• Vetoed 2/3 of bills presented to him

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Presidents cont.

• Benjamin Harrison (1888-1892)
• Cleveland won the popular votes but Harrison won
  the electoral
• Grandson of Wm. Henry Harrison
• Organized the inner workings of the White House
  and Presidential staff
• Sherman Silver Purchase Act
• Sherman Anti-Trust Act
• Most productive Congressional session since the
  pre-war era

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• People expected little from government. Even
  the newspapers did not even cover Washington
  politics but instead covered only state and local
  levels and issues.

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What Did States Do?

• Regulated industry
• Reduced railroad rates
• Closed businesses on Sunday
• Prohibited or limited sale of alcohol
• Separated themselves from municipal governments
• Separate elections
• Limited contracts to utilities
• Set up structure (mayors, etc.)
• Promoted English-only policies
• Forgot farmers
• Depressions drive prices down
• Surplus crops were wasted
• Heavy mortgages remained to be paid off
• Overcome by poverty
• Plagued by high, or inconsistent railroad rates
• Robbed by expensive middlemen (brokers)

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The Agrarian Revolt--Populists

• Farmers made up ½ of population
• Movement started in Texas, moved east thru the
  Old South, then across the plains
• Needed to unify and create power
• Granges
• Oliver Hudson Kelly 1867 Patrons of Husbandry
• Social and educational groups
• Pooled resources to eliminate brokers
• By 1875 800,000 members in 20,000 Granges
• Promoted Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887

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Populists cont.

• Groups blended to form the Alliance Movement
• Granges
• Southern Alliance
• Colored Farmers National Alliance and Coop Union
• Midwest and Great Plains Alliance
• Northern Alliance (Kansas and Dakotas)

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Alliance Power was in their leadership and
organization skills.

• Dr. Charles W. Macune began the alliance movement
  in order to foster political power
• Mary Elizabeth Lease
• Patrick Henry in Petticoats
• Kansas Pythoness
• Kansas should raise less corn and more hell.
• Delivered over 160 speeches in the summer of 1890

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Populist Party PlatformOscala Convention

• Reduce tariffs
• Abolish state/local banks for national treasury
• Regulate railroad rates
• Free coinage of silver
• Graduated federal income tax
• Popular election of Senators
• Macunes subtreasury system
• Government furnish warehouses for harvested crops
  and to store surpluses until prices rose
• Government furnish low-interest loans until crops
  could be sold

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Election of 1890

• Working within the Democratic Party, the
  Populists were able to elect
• 4 governors
• 8 state legislatures (control at state level)
• 44 members of House of Representatives
• 3 Senators

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Populist Party

• Established February 1892
• Held a convention in Omaha
• Included laborers, feminists, reformers, blacks,
  plus the farmers who began it
• Added to platform
• Government ownership of railroads, telegraph, and
  telephone (gave a radical reputation)
• 8-hr. workdays
• Restricted immigration (to protect jobs)
• Ban on use of Pinkertons in labor disputes

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Depression of 1893-1897

• After Chicago Exposition
• 200,000 unemployed in Chicago
• 1893
• National unemployment rose to over 1 million
• 1894
• National unemployment was at 3 million at
  beginning of year
• By end of year, 1 of every 5 people were out of
  work
• Jacob CoxeyPopulist March on Washington

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Election of 1896Battle of the Standards

• Republicans selected Gov. Wm. McKinley of Ohio
  and sponsored the gold standard
• Democrats selected William Jennings Bryan and
  sponsored the gold and silver standard
• Democrats supported low tariffs
• Coinage of silver
• And the Populist platform
• Bryan delivers No Cross of Gold speech at the
  convention

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Populists Had a ProblemWhat Should They Do?

• Expected Democrats to nominate Cleveland, sending
  the silverites to them
• They knew if they combined with the Democrats,
  they would lose their identity
• If they did not combine, they would divide the
  silverite support and get the gold-standard
  candidate elected

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• The Populists nominated the Democratic
  candidate, William Jennings Bryan, with a
  different Vice-Presidential candidate, Tom
  Watson.
• This did more harm than good. It labeled Bryan
  as a Populist and a radical. THEY LOST.

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McKinley Wins

• McKinley 7.1 million votes Bryan 6.5 million
  votes
• This is the first popular majority since Grant
• Democrats continued to control the South
• Populists vanished
• New Trends in Politics
• Dwindling loyalties for party system
• Low voter turnouts
• Stronger presidents
• Republican rule
• Controlled White House for 16 yrs
• Controlled White House for all but 8 of the next
  36 years
• Foreshadowed modern presidents
• National agenda
• Personal charm
• Cultivated media
• Curbed power of old-time state bosses