Chapter 23

Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age

Think about Washington, Jackson, Clay, Lincoln….

Political Machines

• Political machines were organized groups of dishonest politicians who had two main goals:

▫  1. Get the group's own candidates elected to all of the top jobs in the city government.

▫  2. Once in control of the city government, use that power to make the leaders of the organization rich.

“Boss” Tweed •  The top man in a political

machine was called the city "Boss."

•  The most famous example was William M. Tweed. From around 1860 until 1872 Boss Tweed ran a political machine that controlled New York City's government.

How Political Machines Won Elections

•  To win elections, a political machine depended on the votes of the immigrants pouring into America's cities.

•  The organization would have its members active in all of the city's neighborhoods. These neighborhood leaders would meet new immigrants and give them help of various kinds, such as help finding a job or a place to live.

•  On election day, the neighborhood leader would make sure the immigrants knew who to vote for to return the favor.

Tweed Arrested and Imprisoned

•  Tweed was finally exposed for his crimes by New York Times.

•  Arrested in 1871, later convicted, and died in jail in 1878.

Benefits of Political Machines? •  Boss Tweed and his political machine (known as

Tammany Hall) did some good things for New York City. ▫  He pushed for improvements to the city's public

schools, hospitals, roads, and the city water system. ▫  Members of the organization made it a point to give

help to the immigrants and other poor people of the city. ▫  That help, no matter how small, would be remembered

for a long time. When Tweed died, thousands of New Yorkers attended his funeral.

Honest Graft?

Honest Graft vs. Dishonest Graft? Is there a difference?

Other Corrupt Politics of the Gilded Age

•  Jim Fisk and Jay Gould devised a plot to drastically raise the price of the gold market in 1869- “Black Friday” (Sept. 24) bought a large amount of gold, planning to sell it for a profit

•  In order to lower the high price of gold, the Treasury was forced to sell gold from its reserves

Credit Mobilier Scandal of 1872

  The Credit Mobilier scandal erupted in 1872 when Union Pacific Railroad insiders formed the Credit Mobilier construction company and then hired themselves at inflated prices to build the railroad line, earning high dividends (348%)

 When it was found out that govt officials were paid to stay quiet about the illicit business, some officials were reprimanded. (VP also took bribes from the company)

Compromise of 1877 • Background- ▫  Election of 1876 between Rutherford B. Hayes

( R ) and Samuel J. Tilden (D) ▫  Tilden won popular vote but was 1 vote shy in

Electoral College

• Compromise and the end of Reconstruction- ▫  Electoral Count Act passed by Congress in 1877 ▫  Established Electoral commission consisting of 15

men selected from the Senate, the HoR, and S.C.

Rutherford B. Hayes Samuel Tilden

Compromise Reached • Committee determined that the Republican

Party had won. • Democrats were furious- only agreed that Hayes

could take office if…. ▫  He withdrew the federal troops from Louisiana

and S. Carolina ▫  The Hayes-Tilden deal had the Republican Party

abandon their commitment to racial equality

Reconfiguration of southern agriculture: Sharecropping and Crop Lien System

•  As Reconstruction ended, white Democrats resumed their political power in the South ▫  Began exercising discrimination on blacks ▫  Blacks were forced into sharecropping and tenant farming ▫  “Crop-lien” system- small farmers who rented out land

from the plantation owners were kept in debt and forced to continue to work for the owners ▫  Lien- Law. the legal claim of one person upon the property

of another person to secure the payment of a debt or the satisfaction of an obligation.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz = Populism?

Jim Crow Laws •  State-level legal codes of segregation developed

in the 1890s •  Southern states also enacted literacy

requirements, voter-registration laws, and poll taxes to ensure full-scale disenfranchisement of blacks

•  Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) ▫  “separate but equal” facilities were constitutional

under the “equal protection” clause of the 14th Amendment