President James A. Garfield

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President James A. Garfield

• 20th President
• Republican
• 1881
• Born Nov 19, 1831, Ohio
• VP Chester Arthur
• Died Sept 19, 1881, NJ

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I. Politics under Garfield
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A. Political Parties of the Gilded Age
DemocraticBloc
RepublicanBloc

• Northern whites(pro-business)
• African Americans
• Northern Protestants
• Old WASPs (supportfor anti-immigrant laws)
• Most of the middleclass

• White southerners(preservation ofwhite
  supremacy)
• Catholics
• Recent immigrants(esp. Jews)
• Urban working poor (pro-labor)
• Most farmers

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B. Problems within the Republican Party

• Quick review from last class
• Civil Service public service jobs that are
  appointed instead of elected
• Remember Because of the Spoils System, some
  people involved in public service/politics were
  not qualified for their jobs During the late
  1800s, many sought to reform this process.

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• (1) Election of 1880 Facts
• 1. Because of differences over civil service
  reform, the Republican party split into two
  factions
• a. Stalwarts(Arthur) conservative Republicans
  who opposed Civil Service Reform
• b. Half-breeds(Garfield) moderate faction of
  Republicans who supported Civil Service Reform
  (which began under Rutherford B. Hayes)
• 2. This split caused confusion over who to
  choose as the presidential candidate in 1880!

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D. Republicans and the 1880 Election
Half Breeds
Stalwarts
Conflict!
Sen. James G. Blaine Sen. Roscoe
Conkling (Maine)
(New York)
Compromise!
James A. Garfield Chester A. Arthur (VP)
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C. Presidential Election of 1880

• 1. Incumbent (current holder of office)
  president Rutherford B. Hayes planned to retire
  at the end of one term, which opened wide the
  door of opportunity!
• Candidates for the Election of 1880
• (1 cont)
• a. Democrat Winfield S. Hanfield (P)
• William English (VP)
• VS.
• b. Republican James Garfield (P)
• Chester A. Aurthur (VP)

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E. Issues of the Election of 1880

• 1. Only the tariff question divided the parties
• Tariff tax on imported goods, used
  primarily to protect young American industries
• a. Democrats
• Supported tariff for revenue only
• (what would pay for the cost of govt)
• b. Republicans
• Supported a high tariff to help protect
• industry in the North (make Americans
• buy American products!!!)

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Election Results
Solid South term which describes the voting bloc
of the South from 1876 to 1960
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Excerpt from Inaugural Address of 1881

• The elevation of the negro race from slavery to
  the full rights of citizenship is the most
  important political change we have known since
  the adoption of the Constitution of 1787 It has
  freed us from the perpetual danger of war and
  dissolution. It has added immensely to the moral
  and industrial forces of our people. It has
  liberated the master as well as the slave from a
  relation which wronged and enfeebled both It has
  given new inspiration to the power of self-help
  in both races by making labor more honorable to
  the one and more necessary to the other. The
  influence of this force will grow greater and
  bear richer fruit with the coming years.

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• What does that excerpt from Garfields first
  speech as President tell us about him???

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II. Economics under Garfield
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• A. (2) Several different economic theories began
  circulating the nation
• 1. Capitalism an economic system based on
  private ownership of the means of production and
  distribution.
• encourages private investment and business in
  contrast to a government-controlled economy.
• 2. Communism No private ownership! Property
  and the production of goods are owned
  collectively by the community.

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• 3. Social Darwinism
• a. Applying Darwins theory of evolution,
  Social Darwinists claimed that business
  competition was natural and would weed out the
  unfit businesses/businessmen.
• (The strong businesses would survive and the
  weak would fail.)
• b. In their viewpoint, the poor should not be
  helped nature should take its course.

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Compare Literature

• Wealth
• v.
• Social Darwinsim

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• B. (3) Big business started getting out of
  control!!!
• 1. Corporation a type of business
  organization that raises money by selling shares
  of stock in the company. (Stockholders receive
  part of the profit of the company in return for
  their investment.)
• 2. Trust the combination of several
  corporations under the management of a common
  board of trustees.
• 3. Monopoly the exclusive possession or
  control of an industry by one business/trust/owner
  .

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(No Transcript)
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III. Social aspects of Garfields presidency
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A. Social Gospel (4)

1. During the late 1800s and on into the 20th
   century, people began protesting the way of life
   forced upon the financially misfortunate
   Americans.
2. One result of this was a new movement known as
   (4) Social Gospel, which urged people to apply
   Christian principles (remember, America was
   predominantly Christian at this point) to the
   countrys social problems.
3. Many churches began providing social services
   such as job training and education.

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4. In that same spirit, we have the foundation
of the Salvation Army (5)

• a. Started in Great
• Britain by William
• Booth - came to the
• US in 1881.
• b. This organization
• inspired many much-
• needed services, in this
• GILDED country
• including women's social
• work, the first food
• depot, the first day nursery, and the
• first Army missionary hospital.

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B. Govt vs. Native Americans

1. The government continued their policy of rounding
   up the Native Americans and sending them to
   reservations.
2. While most of the nations citizens agreed with
   the governments treatment of the Native
   Americans, there were some who spoke out against
   this practice.

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• (6) Helen Hunt Jackson was one of the first
  authors to draw attention to the mistreatment of
  the Indians through her book A Century of
  Dishonor.
• a. Far-reaching
• in its influence, the
• book created quite
• a stir amongst the
• American public. Many were outraged
• by her stance of criticizing the government!

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• b. Her book outlined the U.S.
• government's habit of violating treaties and
  disregarding the rights of various Indian tribes
  across the United States.

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Helen Hunt Jackson Reading
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III. The 2nd Presidential Assassination
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• (7) At July 2, 1881, 930 a.m., in a Washington
  D.C. train station,
• -Charles J. Guiteau shot President Garfield
• 1. Guiteau stalked the president for
• weeks and had backed down three
• previous times.
• 2. Fired a .44 British Bulldog at the
• back of the president in the waiting
• room of the railway station.
• 2 shots one grazed the arm, one
• entered his back

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Random info

• Alexander Graham Bell
• invented a metal-detecting
• device he thought would find
• the bullet in Garfields body.
• The results of the experiment
• were inconclusive as there was
• a humming sound no matter
• where the wand was placed on
• the presidents body. Bell was
• unaware that the White House
• bed had a coil spring mattress
• (a new invention). If Bell had
• moved Garfield off the bed,
• the apparatus would have
• detected where the bullet was
• and, knowing this, the surgeons
• may have saved Garfields life.

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B. Garfields Death

• The bullet didnt kill him- the doctors did!!!
  (Doctors stuck their un-sanitized fingers and
  un-sterilized instruments into the open wound.)
• 2. In the end, the doctors had taken a
  three-inch wound and turned it into a twenty-inch
  gouge that was massively infected. On September
  15, 1881, symptoms of blood poisoning appeared.
  On September 19, 1881 after a few hours of
  unconsciousness, he died.

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• 3. At the autopsy, examiners determined that the
  bullet had lodged itself some four inches from
  the spine in a protective cyst.  Their
  conclusion? 
• Garfield would have survived if the
• doctors had left him alone!!! 
• (At his trial, Guiteau argued that he did not
  kill the President the doctors did.  That
  argument might get you off today but not in the
  1880's.)
• 4. Guiteau was hanged a year later.

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Why did Guiteau shoot the President?

• His death was a political necessity.
• It will unite the Republican party.
• Guiteau written on the morning of the
  assassination
• WHY?? Guiteau wanted civil service reform to end!
  (he like the old fashioned Spoils System- friends
  get you jobs whether you are qualified or not!)
• He will be classified as a
• disappointed office seeker
• yep, he was crazy!

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D. How does history see Garfield?

• He was only in office 4 months, but
• 1. Garfield did have time to appoint his
  cabinet, and in
• doing so, he refused to cave in to party
  politics.
• Historians speculate that had Garfield served
  his
• term, he would have continued toward civil
  service
• reform, carrying on in the honorable legacy of
  Hayes.
• 2. He was also determined to fight for the
  civil rights
• of black Southerners, as he made clear in his
  1881
• Inaugural address- STILL 16 years after the
  end of
• the Civil War- 4 years after the end of
• Reconstruction.

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SATP Practice

• Speaker a I want to live in a country where
  property and the means of production are under
  government control and the community provides
  for my needs without regard to social rank. The
  ownership of private property only causes
  problems.
• Speaker b It is best here in America to run
  under an economic system where private
  businesses run most industries. Competition is
  important and should determine how much goods
  cost and wages.
• Speaker c Society and business should
  progress through natural competition. Unfit
  businesses should fail as the most efficient
  people, companies and countries should rise to
  positions of wealth and power.
• Speaker d I am glad the government lets us do
  as we choose and keeps their hands off of our
  business. It is right that the government
  allows business to run without interference. It
  allows monopolies to grow, but, so what?
• __________________________________________________
  ______________________
• Which speaker from above is referring to
  communism?
• a. Speaker A b. Speaker B c. Speaker C d.
  Speaker D
• Which speaker from above is referring to
  capitalism?
• a. Speaker A b. Speaker B c. Speaker C d.
  Speaker D
• Which speaker from above is referring to Social
  Darwinism?
• a. Speaker A b. Speaker B c. Speaker C d.
  Speaker D
• Which speaker from above is referring to free
  enterprise laissez-faire?
• a. Speaker A b. Speaker B c. Speaker C d.
  Speaker D