Chapter 11: Politics and Reform

Chapter 11: Politics and Reform

Chapter 11, Section 1: Stalemate in Washington

Inactive Government

¨ Cleveland feels govt. should not support the people

¨ Interstate Commerce Act – regulated prices that railroads charged to move freight between states; set up ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission)

Business of Politics

¨ Most Americans accepted this laissez-faire when it benefited them

¨ Business giants supported friendly politicians with money

¨ Spoils system – elected officials appoint friends into govt. jobs regardless of qualifications

Opposing Political Parties

Republicans – industrialists, bankers, and Great Plains farmers (North and upper Midwest)

1. tight money supply backed by gold

2. generous pensions for Union soldiers

3. govt. aid to railroads

4. strict limits on immigration

5. high tariffs to protect American business

6. enforcement, or blue laws, regulations that prohibited certain private activities (i.e. drinking alcohol on Sundays)

7. Party of Morality

8. Protestant

Democrats – less privileged in society; Northern urban immigrants, laborers, southern planters, and western farmers

1. increased money supply backed by silver

2. lower tariffs on imported goods

3. higher farm prices

4. less government aid to big business

5. fewer blue laws

6. Party of Personal Liberty

7. Roman Catholic

¨ Hayes fights the spoils system by electing qualified political independents to hold Cabinet posts; fired employees that were not needed

¨ Weakened the Republican party; split into 3 groups

1. Stalwarts – defended spoils system

2. Half-Breeds – wanted to reform spoils system

3. Independents – opposed spoils system

¨ James A. Garfield (half-breed) wins election of 1880

¨ Garfield assassinated 1881 by a mentally unstable lawyer named Charles Guiteau, a stalwart who wanted a government job

¨ V.P. Chester Arthur becomes president and ends spoils system

¨ Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883 – created a Civil Service Commission, which classified govt. jobs and tested applicants for them; also stated that federal employees could not be required to contribute to campaign funds and could not be fired for political reasons.

¨ Democrats take power in election of 1884

¨ Cleveland is first Democrat to be president since 1856

Regulating Railroads

¨ Munn V. Illinois gives states power to regulate certain businesses within their borders

¨ Wabash vs. Illinois case says only fed govt. has power to regulate interstate commerce

¨ Interstate Commerce Act – regulate practices of and rates set by railroads, set up Interstate Commerce Commission

Chapter 11, section 2: Populism

Populism

¨ Farmers complain about power of big business, competition, and decline in crop prices

¨ Federal policy to raise tariffs

¨ Tariffs protected farmers from foreign competition but raised prices of manufactured goods and reduced international market

Money Issue

¨ Inflation v. Deflation

¨ Silverites v. Gold Bugs

¨ Bland-Allison Act – required federal government to purchase and coin more silver, increasing the money supply

Organizing Farmer Protest

¨ The Grange a.k.a. Patrons of Husbandry

¨ Farmers Alliances – emphasize federal regulation of railroads, more money in circulation, and creation of state departments of agriculture

¨ Women gain more political rights

¨ Colored Farmer’s Alliance forms in Lovelady, TX

The Populists

¨ New political party consisting of farmers alliances

1. called for an increased circulation of money

2. urged the unlimited minting of silver

3. supported progressive income tax

4. called for govt. ownership of the country’s communication and transportation systems

5. endorsed 8-hour workday

¨ James B. Weaver lost election of 1892

¨ William Jennings Bryan loses election of 1896

¨ Populism lives on in Progressivism

Chapter 11, Section 3: The Rise of Segregation

The Rise of Segregation

¨ Post-Reconstruction Discrimination

¨ Voting Restrictions – poll tax, grandfather clauses, literacy tests

¨ Jim Crow Laws (named after a minstrel song and dance routine) – legal segregation laws, separating

¨ Plessy v. Ferguson – “separate but equal” – court holds that segregation is legal as long as facilities are equal

¨ Violence – lynching – illegal seizure of execution of a person

¨ Conditions in North decline as whites fear racial equality

African Americans Resist Discrimination

¨ Niagara Movement – led by W.E. B. Du Bois

¨ NAACP – National Association for the Advancement of Colored

¨ By 1914, 50 branches and 6,000 members

¨ Young Men’s and Young Women’s Christian Association – open separate facilities for African American

Booker T. Washington – establishes the National Negro Business League

Booker T. Washington

¨ Born into slavery

¨ Graduate of Hampton Institute

¨ Encouraged African Americans to put aside fight for political equality and instead focus on education

¨ Invited to White House by Theodore Roosevelt

¨ Consulted by whites about race relations

W.E.B. Du Bois

¨ 1st African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard

¨ Led the Niagara Movement – called for full civil liberties, end to racial discrimination, recognition of human brotherhood

¨ Member of the NAACP