Gilded AgeGilded AgeMajor Themes

1860’s-1900

Major Themes

• Why was it called the Gilded Age?

• What does this term imply?• How does Mark Twain

relate to this?

• gild 1  (g ld)

• tr.v. gild·ed or gilt (g lt), gild·ing, gilds

• 1. To cover with or as if with a thin layer of gold.

• 2. To give an often deceptively attractive or improved appearance to.

• 3. Archaic To smear with blood.

Gilded Age

• Outside Factors• End of Civil War• Industrial Boom• Material Progress• America beginning to

enter the world stage• Millionaires and

Philanthropy

• Inside factors• Rampant Corruption• Discrimination• Weak and Ineffective

presidents• Labor exploited• Farmer Problems• Business Cycle

Political Seesaw

• 80-90% voter turnout

• Presidential Election close – (10,000-40,000 popular votes)

• House of Reps changes 5 times

Forgettable Presidents

• Grant (R) 1868 and ’72• Hayes (R) 1876• Garfield (R) 1880 and Arthur V.P• Cleveland (D) 1884• Harrison (R) 1888• Cleveland (D) 1892

Laissez-faire Govt.• Govt. tried not to intervene in people’s

lives and the economy

• When it did, it usually sided with wealthy and conservative factions in the Gilded Age

Recurrent Issues…Parties saw eye to eye and tried to avoid

• Tariff– High Tariff vs. Low

Tariff– Industry vs. Farmer

• Monetary Policy– Hard money vs. Soft/

Cheap – Creditors vs. Debtors– East vs. West– Industrialist vs.

Farmer– Deflation vs. Inflation

• Civil ServicePol. machines, Patronage and Spoils System vs. Reform

Political PartiesStrong, competitive, commanded loyalty and produced high

voter turnout

• Democrats– Solid South and

Northern industrial immigrant cities

– Lutherans and Catholics

– Resisted govt. efforts to impose morality

• Republicans– Midwest and rural/ small

town Northeast– Big Business– Puritan base– Codes of personal

morality– Govt. to have role in

regulating the economy– Support of Grand Army of

the Republic (GAR) and Freedmen

Legacies of the Civil War

• Elections– Waving the “Bloody Shirt”

• Industry

• Reconstruction

• Race Relations

The Political MachineA Case Study of Gilded Age

Politics

Local politics were controlled by bosses and political machines within

the party.

Elected Official

Party Boss

VotersCorporations/Business

Boss Tweed

- William Tweed

- Tammany Hall

- Political Machine

- Thomas Nast

- New York Times

Ric Burns NY Clip on Tweed• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YildL_il

QFY

Major Themes Recap

• Gilded Age: Mark Twain – Outside versus Inside

• Political Seesaw• Forgettable Presidents• Laissez-faire Government• Recurrent Issues

– Tariff, Civil Service, Monetary Policy

• Political parties– Democrats and Republicans

• Civil War Legacies