Politics Flashcards
Election of 1868
Republicans- Grant
War Hero, vowed to continue congressional reconstruction on the 5 military towns down in the south.
Election of 1868
Democrats- Horatio Seymour (NY)
Democrats are split over currency. East elites, some of who are democrats, want to get rid of the greenbacks and use gold. Debtors want soft money to keep money in circulation to pay off their loans.
Election of 1868
Grant wins
Argue Grant was waving the “Bloody Shirt”, saying “remember the war? The democrats where on the side that fought against us.”
Corruption
Tweed Ring (NYC)
Boss tweed (William Tweed), was a party machine, in charge of Tammany Hall. Was in control of The city government, using money, illegal, and unfair strategies like bribery, fraudulent elections for his benefit.
Corruption under Grant
Credit Mobilier Scandal 1872
Union pacific railroads hire their own construction company, and then pay the Credit Mobilier in checks. They then turn around and buy their own stocks at higher prices. They tried to bribe congress to keep them quiet, and press will blame the republican party. Personal secretary accused of stealing. Secretary of war accused of corruption and selling the rights to native lands.
Election of 1872
Republican Split
Liberal republicans want to get corruption out of the party and want to end reconstruction. They nominate Horace Greely, while the other part of the Republican party nominates Grant again. Grant wins again by waving the bloody shirt.
Depression
Panic of 1873
Led to currency issues, caused by the over production of goods and speculation bursts from overspeculation in stock, watering stock, and the stock exchange. Creditors want to use hard currency to make the currency based of of gold to decrease the prices
Depression
Creditors win/Republicans lose- Resumption act of 1875
This reduces the supply of greenbacks until all the money will be based on gold by 1879
Depression
Creditors win/Republicans lose- Brand Allison Act 1878
Coins 2-4 million dollars worth of silver a month, while they only do the bare minimum. It wasn’t doing as much as the debtors would have wanted
Depression
Creditors win/Republicans lose- Republican Resistance
Greenback Labor party tries to unify the farmers and laborers, drawing many of it’s members from former republican farmers. This makes republicans lose a lot of positions in congress and government over the split with the Greenback Labor party
Election of 1880
James A. Garfield Vs. Chester A. Arthur
Republicans are still split between half-breeds/reformers, and stalwarts/spoilssystem/pro-business republicans. Garfield is assassinated, so Arthur Takes over the elction of 1880
Election of 1880
Pendleton Act 1883
Requires government jobs to be awarded to individuals based on merit and not political affiliation. Shifts the source of corruption to the businesses who will pay for a specific person to take and prepare for these tests.
Election of 1884
Grover Cleveland (D) Wins
He wants reform and mor morality. Democrats finally win for the first time since 1856, because the Republicans alienated the Irish vote in NY by saying the Democratic party was the party of Rum, Romanism, and rebellion.
Cleveland’s Presidency
Reform
Supported civil service reform, to get rid of the corruption, spoils system, and handing out jobs.
Cleveland’s Presidency
Pension Bill
Votes against a pension Bill for the Grant Army of the Republic twice. Veterans are looking for a pension for the lost wages while they were at war
Cleveland’s Presidency
Reduce the Tariff
Because there is a surplus of taxes, the more the government can spend. Feels like it’s wrong to keep the tariff so he reduces it
Interstate Commerce act of 1887
addressed the problem of railroad monopolies by setting guidelines for how the railroads could do business.
Election of 1888
Benjamin Harrison Wins the electon
Congress spends 1 billion dollars out of their surplus fund. Introduce the pension act of 1890, paying the GAR, and gains their vote
Sherman Silver purchase act 1890
Supporting Farmers, Debtors, mine owners
Raises the government purchase to 4.5 million ounces per money coining and putting it into circulation. Causes inflation and makes it easier to get a hold of currency. Says that the government debts will be paid in gold and silver.
Sherman Silver purchase act 1890
Supporting Creditors, businesses
McKinley Tariff Bill 1890 spends the surplus of money and keeps the tariff, raises the tariff to 48.4%, allowing US companies to raise their prices up to that line. This hurts the republicans and farmers. Cleveland will win the next election because of this
Depression of 1893-1897
Caused by
Overspeculation of investment, no regulation of sales and stock. There is an over production in the railroads, labor strikes, which causes agricultural depression, and devaluates US currency, frightening foreign investors to tap out.
Depression of 1893-1897
JP Morgan
Government goes and asks him to help out to government loaning 65 million in gold as a temporary measure to save the union.
Election of 1896
Democrats- William Jennings Bryan
Gives a speech that the cross of Christ is sacred, but that we shouldn’t made gold as sacred to their nation.
Election of 1896
Populists (People’s party)
Wins some western states, but it’s party suicide when the democratic party takes on some of their issues, so they vote for the democrats instead.
Election of 1896
Republicans- McKinley
McKinley is pro-tariff, and blames the depression on Cleveland. Attacks bi-metalism, saying that gold and silver will never be practical on a world scale. He scares the labor vote on a fixed income and wage, and wins the north and the election.
