Unit 3: Birth of Modern America

Chapter 11

Politics and Reform

I. Stalemate in Washington

A. A Campaign to Clean up Politics

1. The Problem: Americans concerned that machine politics and the spoils

system prevented gov’t from addressing issues and corrupted

those who worked in politics

a. Employees working for gov’t are said to be in “civil service”

b. Since 1820s, most civil service jobs appointed through patronage (or the spoils system)

* spoils system = the practice of giving gov’t jobs to

political supporters

c. Results of the Spoils System?

- incompetent office holders

- records kept of campaign contributions from office holders

- president’s loss of time dealing w/ office seekers

2. Stalwarts vs. Halfbreeds

a. Stalwarts = Republican that is supportive of political machines

& patronage

Halfbreed = Republican that favored reform

b. 1880 Election: Republicans choose James Garfield (a halfbreed) as

Presidential candidate & Chester Arthur (stalwart) for VP

OOPS!

President Garfield

3. Assassination of Pres. Garfield

a. Charles Guiteau assassinated Pres. Garfield – furious that he had

not been given gov’t job

b. Public outraged at the assassination – demanded reform of the spoils system

President James A. Garfield was shot by Charles

Guiteau on 2 July 1881.

Garfield suffered through a painful summer before succumbing.

4. The Pendleton Acta. also known as the Civil Service Act

of 1883

b. replaced the spoils system of appointing office-holders on a reward-for-political support basis, with a merit system based on examinations

c. Reduced the power of political machines, diminished

patronage-related corruption and created a more efficient federal bureaucracy

d. Provisions of the Pendleton Act

1) competitive exams

2) jobs awarded on merit

3) trial period before final job confirmation

4) no soliciting for political support

5) can’t be fired for political reasons

6) Presidential extension of civil service list

B. Two Parties Neck & Neck

1. The Republicans

(Grand Old Party = GOP):

a. Their supporters?

- military veterans

- patriotic Americans

- big biz

- Great Plains Farmers

- Protestants

b. Party of Morality

- defender of traditional American morals & values

Has anything changed?

2. The Democrats:

a. Their supporters?

- white southerners

- urban voters

- Catholics

- Immigrants

b. Party of Personal Liberty

- defender individual freedoms

Has anything changed?

Republican vs

Democrat

• In 1880 Thomas Nast, cartoonist for the Harper’s Weekly, created the donkey and elephant as cartoon symbols representing the Democratic and Republican parties. They continue to be used today as party symbols.

• Thomas Nast also created Uncle Sam.

3. Narrow margins decided most elections btwn 1876-1896

a. 1880 & 1888 election

- candidate lost popular vote, but still won the election – Thanks to electoral college system

What is the Electoral College?

"Your grades won't matter -- the Supreme Court will decide whether or not you graduate..."

• When you vote for the President of the US you are actually voting

for an ELECTOR to vote for you• Electors then actually cast the votes of who becomes President• Usually the electoral vote aligns with the popular vote but on four occasions it has not• Each state has a determined # of electors

A state’s number of electors is the total number of Senators and Representatives in the House (Census every 10 yrs determines # of reps/electors from each stateTexas

2 Senators36 Representatives

Total 38 electors Electors by state

Electoral College Map based on 2010 census

Origins of the System

• The electoral college was created by the founding fathers of the Constitution as part of a compromise between the election of a president by congress and election by a popular vote

• Many of the founders of the Constitution did not trust the people of the new country to make a sound and educated decision. (Fear of the Rabble)

There are a total of 538 electoral votes

(the District of Columbia is not a state but is given 3 electoral votes)

48 out of the 50 states have a “winner takes all” method

If you get the most votes in that state you get ALL of their electoral college votes

2 states are different and can divide up their votes based on congressional district - Nebraska and Maine

A candidate must have 270 electoral votes to win the Presidential election

If no single candidate gets the required 270 electoral votes then the House of Representatives votes to decide the President

It is possible to get more votes overall in the election from the entire country and NOT be elected President

Happened in 2000 with Gore vs Bush

Total Votes in 2000 Election:

Bush 50,461,092 total votes(47.9%)271 Electoral Votes

Gore 50,994,086 total votes(48.4%)266 Electoral Votes

Nader 2,882,728 total votes(2.7%)0 Electoral College Votes

2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Summary!

• The “ticket” with the most popular votes is not guaranteed the presidency.

• Candidates are not competing for the nation as a whole, but for individual states and their electoral votes.

Effect of the Electoral College

• Four times in our history, the candidate receiving the most popular votes has not won the election.

Andrew Jackson 1824

Samuel Tilden 1876

Grover Cleveland 1888

Al Gore 2000

Effect of the Electoral College

• The voting procedure of the Electoral College system has a chilling effect on 3rd party candidates.

• A 3rd party candidate can have appeal distributed across the nation, but without a plurality in any one of the states will not receive any electoral votes.

• In the 1992 presidential election, independent Ross Perot received 18.8% of the popular vote, but zero electoral votes.

William Jefferson ClintonVP: Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. Party: DEMOCRATICHome State: AR Electoral Votes: 370Popular Votes: 44,909,326 (43.0%)

George HW BushVP: James Danforth QuayleParty: REPUBLICANHome State: TX Electoral Votes: 168Popular Votes: 39,103,882 (37.4%)

Ross PerotVP: James StockdaleParty: REFORMHome State: TX Electoral Votes: 0Popular Votes: 19,741,657 (18.9%)

EXPLAINED

4. Republicans won 4/6 presidential elections btwn 1876-1896

a. but often Dems controlled H of R

b. local political bosses, not the Pres. still controlled the Party

c. The nearly even division of power often produced deadlock at the federal level

C. Democrats Reclaim the White House

1. 1884 Election

a. The candidates:

- Grover Cleveland (D)

- James G. Blaine (R)

b. The issues?

- gov’t corruption

- focused on the personal morals of candidate

c. The Mugwumps – Republican reformers who supported Cleveland (D)

- moral leaders who put nation above political party

2. Cleveland’s scandal

a. Child out of wedlock

b. How did he handle it?

- he took responsibility, told the truth and retained support of

the mugwumps!Anti-Grover Cleveland political cartoon of 1884 (cropped from the front page of "The Judge" magazine), captioned "Another voice for Cleveland“. Reference is to the story that Cleveland had had an illegitimate child (giving rise to the infamous campaign chant "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?" by Cleveland opponents, to which Cleveland supporters replied "Gone to the White House, Ha! Ha! Ha!").

3. Grover Cleveland wins 1884 election!

Oops!

President Grover Cleveland

D. A President Beseiged by Problems

1. Cleveland couldn’t make anybody happy!!!

a. Some supporters expected him to reward them w/ jobs

b. On the other hand, Mugwumps (Republicans who voted for

Cleveland, a Democrat) expected him to X the number of positions under merit system

c. Wound up angering both sides

2. The Interstate Commerce Commission is created in response to public concerns

a. Industrialization and growth of labor unions caused unrest in US - violent strikes

b. Power of big biz also caused concern, especially for small biz and farmers

- belief that RRs were gouging (ripping off) small biz & farmers by giving rebates

(partial refund to lower the rate of a good or commodity) and lower fares to big biz, high volume users

c. States respond by regulating RR rates

d. Wabash v. Illinois (1886)

- Supreme Court ruled that only the Federal gov’t (NOT states) could

regulate interstate (across state lines) commerce

e. Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) = 1st Fed. Law that regulated interstate commerce

1) limited RR rates to “reasonable & just” level

2) forbade rebates to high-volume users

3) illegal to charge higher rates for shorter haul

f. ICC ineffective b/c of reliance on courts to enforce it’s rulings

3. The problem with Tariffs (Tariff = tax on imported goods)

a. effect of tariffs? price of manufactured goods rose

b. unnecessary as US companies now capable of competing internationally

c. other nations retaliated with tariffs on US goods (especially ag goods) making it hard for US farmers to export their surpluses

- Democrats favored cutting tariffs

- Republicans favored keeping tariffs to protect US manufacturers from foreign competition

E. Republicans Regain Power – 1888 election

1. The Candidates

a. Benjamin Harrison (R)

b. Grover Cleveland (D)

2. Tariffs = big campaign issue

a. Republicans favored keeping tariffs and gained support of big biz since they benefited from tariff protection

b. Democrats campaigned against tariffs

3. Republicans win (close race! Cleveland actually won popular vote, but lost electoral vote!) – control House, Senate + White House!!

4. The McKinley Tariff of 1890

a. It’s provisions

1) cut tobacco taxes & sugar tariffs

2) increased tariffs on other goods such as textiles – to discourage people from

buying those imports

b. It’s effects

1) lowered federal revenue (income)

2) changed budget surplus to a budget deficit

What else added to the federal deficit? • Increased veterans’ pensions • increased # of vets eligible to receive

them

5. The Sherman Anti-trust Act of 1890

a. Passed to combat the power of trusts

b. Made trusts in any form illegal

c. Like the ICC, this was also ineffective because enforcement of it was the

responsibility of the courts – so number of trusts continued to grow

6. Midterm election 1890

a. Americans, especially farmers, concluded that the 2-party system was incapable of solving the nations problems

b. Calls for new political parties begin

II. Populism

A. Unrest in Rural America

1. Populism: the movement to increase farmers’ political power and to work for legislation in their interest

2. Problems facing farmers

a. overproduction = lower prices

- new technology led to production increases (more crops) which

led to increased supply (surplus) which led to lower prices (remember, when supply is greater than demand, prices fall!)

b. high tariffs = higher prices for manufactured goods + harder for farmers to sell their surplus overseas (why? Because in response to US tariffs on manufactured goods from Europe, Europe retaliated with tariffs on US goods – agricultural goods!!)

c. Victimized by banks and RRs

- faraway banks set loan rates

- RRs set shipping rates

3. Additional concerns

a. The Money Supply

1) to help finance the Civil War, gov’t issued greenbacks (paper currency that could be exchanged for gold or silver)

2) rapid increase in money supply w/o rapid increase in goods for sale

caused inflation (a decline in the value of $ which causes an increase in prices)

3) to control inflation, gov’t stopped printing greenbacks and paid off bonds,

stopped making silver coins…result? Not enough money supply to meet the needs of a growing economy

4) Decreased money supply = Deflation (an increase in the value of $$ which

causes a decrease in prices)

b. Deflation Hurts Farmers

1) farmers had to borrow $ to plant crops - short supply of $ caused a rise in

interest rates

- rising interest rates increased amt that farms owed – made mortgages & other

loans more expensive & when farm prices dropped, they still had to pay mortgages & other loans at those high rates

2) falling prices meant farmers sold their crops for less

3) some farmers thought Eastern bankers had pressured Congress into reducing

$ supply

4) some farmers wanted more greenbacks to expand $ supply – others wanted gov’t to mint silver coins

4. The Grange Takes Action

a. The Grange: a national farm organization formed for social & educational purposes – 1st national farm org.

1) pressured state legislatures to regulate RR & warehouse rates which they

thought were too high

2) some joined “Greenback Party” – wanted more greenbacks to increase

$ supply

3) put their $ together & created cooperatives (store where farmers bought products from each other; an enterprise owned and operated by those who use its services)

- pooled members’ crops & held them off market to force price

increase

- negotiated shipping rates from RRs

b. The Grange fails

1) unable to improve economic conditions for farmers

2) co-ops fail

- too small to have any effect on prices

- Eastern biz considered them to be similar to unions so refused to do biz with them

3) by late 1870s, many farmers left the Grange & joined other orgs

that helped to solve their problems

B. The Farmers Alliance

1. formed in 1877 – most members from South or Great Plains

2. organized large co-ops called exchanges for the purpose of forcing farm prices up &

making loans to farmers at low interest rates

a. Co-ops fail

1) loaned too much $ at low interest rates (loans not repaid)

2) wholesalers, manufacturers & RRs & bankers discriminated against them

3) too small to dramatically affect world prices for farm products

b. Members of the Kansas Alliance formed the People’s Party, or Populist

Party to push for political reforms that would help farms solve their problems

C. The Rise of Populism

1. Farmers met in Ocala, FL & made a list of demands intended to guide farms in

choosing whom to vote for in the 1890 midterm elections

a. adopt subtreasury plan ( an attempt to help farmers by holding their crops off the market long enough to force prices up)

b. free coinage of silverc. end to protective tariffs & nat’l banks

d. tighter regulation of RRs

e. direct election of senators by voters instead of state legislatures

2. Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 passed

a. Republicans pushed this through in an attempt to keep farmers from

voting for Populists

b. authorized US treasury to purchase silver

- put more $ in circulation

- did little to help farmers though

3. 1892 Election

a. Populist Party held 1st nat’l convention - Nominated James B Weaver as

their presidential candidate

b. The People’s Party (Populist Party) Platform

1) unlimited coinage of silver @ 16:1

- wanted this to increase the $ supply making it easier for farmers to repay their loans

2) federal ownership of RRs

3) graduated income tax: tax higher earnings more heavily

4) labor positions: 8 hr workday, less immigration, denounce

strikebreaking

c. Grover Cleveland (D) wins 1892 election

Results of 1892

Presidential Election

4. The Panic of 1893

a. begins after Reading & Philadelphia RRs declare bankruptcy

b. worst economic crisis to that date – depression! 18% unemployment, stock market crash, bank failures

c. Crisis with nat’l gold reserves. Why? People began cashing in their bonds for gold

d. Cleveland repeals Sherman Silver Purchase Act. Why? b/c gold was being lost every time people exchanged silver for gold under that Act

e. Democratic Party divided

1) goldbugs: favored US currency based on gold

2) silverites: favored unlimited coinage of silver

D. Election of 18961. The Candidates

a. William Jennings Bryan (D)

- supported unlimited coinage of silver

- supported by Populists (farmers)

b. William McKinley (R)

- “front porch” campaign - promised full dinner pail

- supported by urban workers & immigrants

Results of 1896 Presidential Election

2. Depression over in late 1890s + new gold strikes = less opposition to gold-based

currency

a. Led to increased money supply w/o turning to silver

b. 1900: US officially adopted a gold-based standard with the Gold Standard Act

3. Populist party declines

a. Failures:

1) economic hardships of farmers not eased

2) more regulations on big biz not achieved

b. Success: several of the Populist’s proposed reforms become law later in history (such as graduated income tax and some gov’t regulation of the economy)

III. Rise of SegregationA. Resistance and Repression

1. Life for Black Americans

a. Technically free, but extremely poor

b. Many are landless sharecroppers (farmer who works land for an owner who provides equipment and seed and receives a share of the crop)

c. Many left to find jobs in towns & cities or headed west to claim homesteads

- Exoduster = black American who participated in a mass migration from the rural South to Kansas & other Plains areas

2. The Colored Farmers’ National Alliance

a. Aim to help members economically by establishing cooperatives

b. Supported the Populist Party hoping it would unite poor whites & poor blacks to challenge Democratic Party power in the South

3. Democratic Party challenged

a. Feared losing South if poor whites left Dem party to join black Populists

b. To win back the poor white vote, Dems appealed to racism – claimed Populist support would return the South to

Republican rule as it was during Reconstruction

B. Black Americans are disenfranchised

disenfranchise: deny the right to vote

** Southern States restricted voting rights of black Americans

1. Poll Tax: (a tax of a fixed amount per person that had to be paid before the person could vote) – Kept black Americans from voting b/c many were extremely poor

2. Literacy Tests – kept black Americans from voting b/c over 50% were illiterate in this era. Even those who could read often failed b/c local officials picked complicated reading passages that few could understand

3. Grandfather Clause

a. Grandfather Clause (a clause that allowed individuals who did not pass the literacy test to vote if their fathers or grandfathers had voted before Reconstruction began

b. The effect? In LA, made nearly all formerly enslaved LA citizens ineligible to vote

There were also

provisions in some

states that required

property ownership

as a pre-requisite to

voting

C. Legalizing Segregation 1. Segregation (separation or isolation of a race, class or group)

2. Segregation North vs South

a. North = defacto segregation (segregation by custom and tradition)

b. South = dejure segregation (segregation by law)

Jim Crow Laws (statutes or laws created to enforce segregation)

3. 1883: Supreme Court overturns Civil Rights Act of 1875 setting the stage for legalized segregation

4. 14th Amendment

a. Says that no State could deny equal protection under the law based on race

b. But private organizations and businesses, were still free to practice segregation

c. As a result, Southern states passed a series of laws that enforced segregation in virtually ALL public places: restaurants, RRs, hotels, pools, etc

5. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

a. Background: 1892, Homer Plessy rode in the whites only RR car and was arrested – case went to Supreme Court

b. Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” facilities for the races was legal

c. Established the legal basis for discrimination in the South for 50 yrs +

d. Facilities always separate, but almost never equal.

6. Racial Violence

a. Mob violence in the South

b. Lynchings (executions w/o lawful approval)

1) 80% in the South

2) 70% of the victims were black Americans

D. African American Response1. Ida Wells led campaign against lynching

a. Said greed, not just racial prejudice was behind lynching

- reported in the Memphis Free Speech that 3 blacks were lynched in Memphis simply because the competed successfully against white grocers

b. b/c of her activism, lynchings decreased significantly in the 1900s

2. Booker T Washington

a. His solution to discrimination? Black Americans should concentrate on achieving economic goals (through education) instead of legal/political ones

b. In what is known as the Atlanta Compromise, he said black Americans

should focus on education in an effort to achieve full equality

3. W.E.B. Du Bois

a. Disagreed with Booker T Washington

- said blacks still stripped of civil rights even with improvements in education and

vocational training

b. His solution to discrimination? Protection of voting rights