7.3 Gilded Age Politics

Political Machines

• Large cities were run by political machines with corrupt “bosses” making decisions– Their neighborhood captains would bribe

people (especially immigrants) for their votes and support

– “Bosses” would get very wealthy but also used their power to help develop their community

Political Machines• Boss Tweed’s Democratic

machine in NYC was the most famous– Thomas Nast drew

political cartoons mocking him

– Caught (several times) for massive corruption and graft

Civil Service Reform• Traditionally, people gained govt. jobs by

knowing the guy who was elected (patronage)– Q: What effect would that have on govt. workers?

• Civil service reform suggested giving govt. jobs who scored the highest on a test– Let the best job-candidate win!

Civil Service Reform• Rutherford B Hayes (1877, Repub.) pushed

civil service reform to clear out corruption• James A Garfield (1881, Repub) tried to

balance those wanting reform with those wanting patronage– He was assassinated 3 months into office, his VP

(Chester A. Arthur) became Pres.

Civil Service Reform

• Arthur continued to push for reform, signed Congress’s Pendleton Civil Service Act in 1883– To get a govt. job, you needed to score high on the

Civil Service test.

Civil Service Reform• What people would

have been crushed by civil service reforms?– “stalwarts”:

Republicans who wanted to keep the patronage system of government jobs

• What civil service reform law do you need to know by name?– The Pendleton Act

Big Business & the Govt.• Remember, this is a time of big businesses and

the govt. being very close– Businesses would fund political campaigns,

politicians allowed business owners to do what they wanted

– Businesses’ biggest concern was keeping tariffs (taxes on imports) high• High tariffs meant foreign goods would be expensive (so

“Buy American!”)

Big Business & the Govt.• 1885 Grover Cleveland (Democ.) became president,

wanted to lower the tariff• 1889 Benjamin Harrison (Repub.) beat Cleveland in a

close election– Harrison agreed to raise tariffs even higher (McKinley Tariff

Act)

• 1892 Cleveland wins again!– 1896 ____________ wins and tariffs increase again.