Gilded Age Flashcards
Gilding
a practice of putting a thin layer of gold over unsightly material ; basically covering up how ugly/bad it is
Who came up with the term “gilded” for the time period?
mark twain
What was the gilded age?
time frame: late 1860s to 1890; third party system, democrats v. republiscans (had different platforms and repblican was dominant); machine politics; MASSIVE corruption; socio economic disparities
Why was there so much corruption in the grant administration?
he trusted the wrong people
Political Machine
a party organization that operates on behalf of an established political party that uses its influence to solicit votes from wealthy individuals or entire groups of people through bribery, patronage, or other less than legal means; NOT part of gov. privately owned; usually run by a civilian political boss
The Credit Mobilier Scandal *****
construction company created BY Union Pacific; real purpose was to embezzle federal loans and use some for bribery; they asked for 94 mil and only needed 50; pocketed 44 mil and used 9 mil to bribe 9 politicians (one being the VP) (became stock holders)
Who was the leader of Tammany Hall? ****
William “Boss” Tweed; former congressman and used jobs and favors to solicit votes for the democratic party
What was Tweed’s primary tactic?
solicit support from Irish Americans; they become the largest democratic support
Southern Democrats had near total control of the White vote for these reasons…
anti reconstruction,anti black , anti catholic, paternalistic
Rutherford B Hayes **
so corrupt he only ran 1 term *; Bargain of 1877 ended reconstruction;
Patronage
“spoils system”; a form of nepotism (unqualified promotion); supporters of patronage believed two factors should determine who gets promoted to executive branch: party loyalty and the “right connections”; not concerned if they are qualified or not
Stalwarts
support patronage; lead by Sen Roscoe Conkling; radical republicans (grantists); made careers by supporting R. Republicans; “waving the blood shirt” tied their actions to the deaths of union soldiers in war; favored spoils system; believed devotion to republican ideals entitled officials to higher positions in fed gov
Half -Breeds
oppose patronage; sen. James Blaime; moderate republicans; more like lincoln and say stalwarts as more motivated by nepotism than ideology; accuse the stalwars of simply “waving the blood shirt” solely for justification for their own ends; supports civil service reform; believed that all high ranking positions in fed gov should only go to the most qualified
James Garfield
half breed; primary goal as president was to oppose senatorial courtesy; he wanted to do more than the stalwarts to hel black people; against spoils system
Assasination of James Garfield *****
done by Charles Guiteau Jr. ***; he was a normal citizen; he promoted various candidates and one was garfield he felt that garfield “owed”him; he was delusional
