Alternative transcript:

general amnesty act Beginning of the end of Reconstruction ● Depression, Deflation, and Inflation O Too much capitalist expansion led to too many loans Freedman's Savings and Trust Company went bankrupt and loans were unpaid Black economic development was delayed and went downhill Grant got the thief exonerated after his secretary was involved ■ New interest in greenback currency Debtors (people who owe $) supported, wanted inflation Creditors (people who lends $) opposed, wanted deflation Grant sided with creditors ● O Resumption Act of 1875 reduced amount of greenbacks in circulation Demand for coinage of silver to promote inflation 1 Treasury continued policy of contraction - decreasing amount of money in circulation O Republican hard-money policy helped elect Democratic House of Representatives Pallid Politics in the Gilded Age Political seesaw extremely balanced and competitive High voter turnout Republican voters adhered to Puritan values (strict) Democrats adhered to Lutheran and Roman Catholic values (less stern) Democrats were strong in the South and in northern industrial cities Republicans were strong in the Midwest and rural Northeast and with freedmen + war veterans Stalwart faction (supported patronage) vs. Half-Breeds (opposed patronage) ● Patronage: the practice of a political party giving federal jobs to its party supporters O O O O O O O The Hayes-Tilden Standoff, 1876 O Grant was prevented from running for a third term O Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes O Democrats nominated Samuel J. Tilden O The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction Compromise of 1877 O O O ■ ■ (Hayes-Tilden Compromise/Deal) Republicans quietly abandoned its commitment to racial equality ■ End of government efforts toward Reconstruction Civil Rights Cases (1883): 14th amendment said government cannot discriminate but individuals can The Birth of Jim Crow in the Post-Reconstruction South Reconstruction had ended O Campaigned against Republican scandal Four states were doubtful and they needed to submit their electoral returns ■ Who would count it and not be biased? O O Electoral Count Act would break the deadlock, set up a 15-man electoral commission ■ Democrats agreed for Hayes to make office if he withdrew military troops in the South O Black and poor whites were forced into sharecropping and tenant farming Merchants manipulated the system so farmers remained in debt ■ Discrimination against blacks grew Jim Crow laws > Class Conflicts and Ethnic Clashes ● Disenfranchisement of blacks in the South Poll taxes and literacy tests Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) validated the segregationist laws ● 1877 - railroad employee wages were cut by 10% ■ Work stoppages spread, federal troops tried to quell the unrest Ethnic divisions fractured the unity in labor movement Chinese immigrants struggled 2 O O Garfield and Arthur O Republicans nominated James A. Garfield for presidency and Chester A. Arthur for VP in 1880 Garfield won over Winfield Scott Hancock Garfield was shot, Arthur became President O ■ Resulted in reforming the spoils system Pendleton Act of 1883: compulsory campaign from federal employees illegal + established Civil Service Commission O Politicians turned to money from lobbyists O The Blaine-Cleveland Mudslingers of 1884 James G. Blaine for Republican nominee, Grover Cleveland for Democratic O Personalities affected reputation O "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion" said by a Republican to insult Democrats ■ Blaine didn't address this, Irish turned to vote for Democrats O o "Old Grover" Takes Over O Supported laissez-faire: government using hands-off policy on big businesses O Believed the people support the government, but the government does not support the people Split between demands of Democrats and Mugwumps Caved into the Democrats ● ● ■ O Irish resented competing with them for labor Chinese Exclusion Act passed by Congress in 1882 O Prohibited all further immigration from China U.S. vs. Wong Kim Ark (1898) reinforced 14th amendment, doctrine of birthright citizenship O Cleveland Battles for a Lower Tariff O Treasury already had a surplus $145 million from high tariff O Cleveland brought his appeal for a lower tariff into Congress O 1888: Cleveland vs. Benjamin Harrison (Republican) Vetoed bad military pension bills The Billion-Dollar Congress O New Republican Speaker of the House: Thomas B. Reed Bent the House to his will, called "Czar" Reed McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 boosted rates high and favored big business ■ Hurt farmers ■ 1890 Congress Republicans lined up "repeaters" and "floaters" to purchase votes ■ ■ The Drumbeat of Discontent Republicans lost majority, Democrats gained Included 9 members of Farmers' Alliance O Newly formed People's Party or Populists Demanded inflation through coinage of silver Called for a graduated income tax Nominated General James B. Weaver 3 O O The South didn't support the Populists because of race White Southerners aggressively used literacy tests and poll taxes to deny blacks the ballot Grandfather clause: exempted voters from poll taxes and literacy tests if grandfather voted in 1860 O ■ Cleveland and Depression O Grover Cleveland took office again in 1893 Economic depression loomed Deepening deficit in Treasury gold Repealed Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1860 Bankers lent $65 million in gold to the government Restored confidence in national finance O ■ ■ Populist party became very racist too Cleveland Breeds a Backlash O Cleveland with JP Morgan was condemned Wilson-Gorman Tariff in 1894 Contained income tax ■ ■ ● Removed by Supreme Court in 1895 Democrats were set back, Republicans revitalized Cleveland failed to cope with economic crisis 4