The Gilded Age and Progressive

Reforms

The Gilded Age, 1870s – 1890s

O The term “gilded” means covered with a thin layer of gold paint. It is generally, however, a pejorative term – suggesting that there is a falseness beneath the surface.

O During the “Gilded Age” American citizens suffered due to unfair business practices and corruption in government. And as a result, the glittering technological gains and accumulated wealth which characterized the lives of a handful of important businessmen were not shared by most citizens – most were quite poor.

Mark Twain Mark Twain coined the phrase “The Gilded Age” in a book which he co-authored with Charles Dudley Warner. But Twain was really more concerned with the real estate speculation and graft in Washington, D.C. than some of the topics we associate with the “Gilded Age” today.

The Major Concerns of the Gilded Age in the America:O Wealthy industrialists and major

business leaders were engaged in unfair business practices which allowed them to enrich themselves at the expense of the public – while running competitors out of business.

O Corruption and dishonesty in government were rampant – bribery and voter fraud characterized many elections, and government leaders were self-interested.

The Spoils System“To the Victor go the Spoils!” This was the ancient motto of all conquering armies, and President Andrew Jackson –who had commanded a few conquering armies – believed the idea applied to politics, too. He established and defended the “Spoils System” – the practice of rewarding loyal supporters of your political party with government jobs.

The Assassination of President James Garfield

President James Garfield was murdered in 1881 by a disappointed office seeker named Charles Guiteau. In response, the United States Congress passed the Pendleton Act, a law which encouraged Civil Service reform.

The Pendleton Act

The Pendleton Act created the Civil Service Commission, the duty of which was to hire for government jobs only the most qualified candidates. Merit, not political connections, would determine who should be hired for civil service jobs. From now on, only those individuals who scored highest on a series of civil service examinations would be employed. The previous system, pictured to the right, resulted in incompetent bureaucrats running the government – people who’s only qualification for the job was making a donation to the winning campaign.

Railroads and PoliticiansRailroad barons were

notorious for bribing politicians during the Gilded Age.

Stock in the railroad companies was frequently handed out to Senators and Congressional Representatives – with the hope that they would vote for measures which encouraged the value of that stock to go up!

Valuable real estate along side the railroad tracks could also be granted to politicians.

President Grover Cleveland & the Interstate Commerce ActThe Interstate Commerce Act was signed into law by President Grover Cleveland – an anti-trust and anti-monopoly leader – in 1887. The law forbid railroad companies from offering rebates to companies who shipped larger quantities – giving smaller businesses the ability to compete on equal terms with the greater industrial interests. Consider, for example, the rebates which were offered to Standard Oil Company, John Rockefeller’s juggernaut, which crushed smaller companies.

The Sherman Anti-Trust ActO The law was intended to prevent unfair

combinations of businesses – trusts or pools, for example – from using unfair methods to destroy their competitors.

O The act was meant to protect consumers.O Unfortunately, judges willfully

misinterpreted the law in several cases, claiming that the intention was to prevent labor unions from discouraging or disrupting free enterprise.

Political Bosses like William “Boss” Tweed bought votes. Because they controlled

all local contracts for sewage, garbage collection, road construction, and building, “Boss” Tweed and the Tammany hall circle controlled much of the public spending in New York.

By accepting bribes and kickbacks for these contracts, they could buy the votes of poor immigrant workers – who often sold their votes for a job, a meal, or a kindness during their time of need.

Kickbacks and Bribery

Politicians who accept money from competitors hoping to secure a government contract have obviously been bribed. Everyone can understand how this would hurt a city – contracts would go to people with the most money, not the most ability to complete the job cheaply.

“Kickbacks” occur when government officials offer a company a contract for a high bid – with the expectation that the company will return part of the money to the politicians themselves.

In both cases, the taxpayers lose out.

Thomas Nast, the political cartoonist: “Who Stole the People’s Money?”

William“Boss” Tweed made it to jail eventually, but he was never truly condemned by the people he had robbed…

“Fighting Bob” La Follette

As the Senator from the state of Wisconsin, Robert “Fightin’ Bob” La Follette was well known for his efforts to empower ordinary consumers and voters. He believed in economic justice – not the controlling interests of the railroads – and greater power for voters – more direct democracy, and less corruption from government officials on the local, state, and national level.

Progressive Voting Reforms

O The Primary System – Instead of allowing party leaders to pick their candidates, an election in which voters can choose their candidates is held.

O The Recall – a process by which people may vote to remove an elected official from office.

O The Initiative – a process that allows voters to put a bill before the state legislature – without sponsorship by any particular delegate or member.

O The Referendum – a way for the people to vote directly on a new law – or a tax increase.

The 16th AmendmentThe 16th Amendment created the graduated income tax, a method of collecting taxes based on the income of the individual citizen. When courts ruled this unconstitutional, the Congress passed an amendment allowing it. Since taxes are collected at different rates – the poor paying a lower rate of taxation, the wealthy pay higher rates – it distributes the tax burden to those who benefit the most in society.

The 17th AmendmentThe 17th Amendment to the Constitution was another voter reform amendment– providing for the direct election of Senators. Previously, Senators had been selected by State Legislatures, meaning that the party in power could select their own leaders according to party politics. In Wisconsin, the voters continued to choose Robert “Fightin’ Bob” La Follette, largely for his anti-trust and anti-monopoly stances. Voting reforms that empowered the people were characteristic of the Progressive Era.

MuckrakersO Theodore Roosevelt was trying to insult the

journalists who went around exposing corruption and malpractice in society when he coined the phrase “muckraker.” He found these journalists bothersome.

O Muckrakers kind of liked the sound of it, though! O Muckrakers were crusading journalists who

attempted to expose problems in society and then encourage the people – and the people’s government – to solve the problems.

O Poverty, crime, living conditions, consumer safety, child labor, lynching, education, and economic exploitation were all addressed by muckrakers.

Ida TarbellNot to be confused with another muckraking journalist – Ida B. Wells – Ida Tarbell was the author of the book A History of the Standard Oil Company. In her work, Tarbell describe the unscrupulous and illegal methods John D. Rockefeller had used in order to create his monopolistic control of the oil industry – The Standard Oil Trust was eventually destroyed by the courts.

“There is no man more dangerous, in a position of power, than he who refuses to accept as a working truth…

… the idea that all a man does should make for righteous and soundness – that even the fixing of a tariff rate must be moral…

Jacob RiisJacob Riis was a New York City photographer who was compelled by what he photographed to become a forceful advocate for the poor – and particularly for poor children. Riis was the author of How the Other Half Lives – a muckraking photo-essay exposing the poverty, crime, and desperation of immigrant families in New York’s poorest communiites.

“When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”

Upton SinclairThe novel The Jungle is really a story of immigration and the need to reform the working conditions in our nation’s urban centers – particularly in Chicago, where Jurgis is doomed to a life of low wages, injury, and alcoholism. But part of the novel which captured the public’s attention was the disgusting description of the goings on in the meatpacking plants in fictional “Packingtown.” As a result of his novel, the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Acts were passed in short order – approved by TR!

“I aimed for the public’s heart, and by accident, I hit it in the stomach.”- Upton Sinclair, Socialist,

Novelist, Activist.