Goal 5.04: Describe the changing role of government in economic and political affairs.
I.Late 19th Century Philosophy
- Social Darwinism
- Based on Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest”
- Human society evolves and improves due to competition
- Emphasis on ______– no matter how humble your origins, you can rise as high as your talents and commitment will take you
- Capitalists used this idea to support their belief in ______economics (which allowed unrestricted competition)
- The ______
- Andrew Carnegie bought into the idea of Social Darwinism, but also believed that those who profit from society have a responsibility to improve society in return
- Endorsed philanthropy, gave millions of dollars to build schools, libraries, hospitals, orphanages, etc.
- The ______Age
- Period of 1877 – 1900
- Term coined by ______, who described the period as one with a thin layer of prosperity masking the poverty and corruption underneath
II.The Presidency of Ulysses S. ______(1869 – 1877)
- Administration was marred by dozens of scandals involving several members of his cabinet, mainly involving bribery
- The ______
- Scandal involving several members of Grant’s administration, including his personal secretary, where federal employees accepted bribes from whiskey distillers to help them avoid paying federal taxes on alcohol production
- The ______Scandal
- Several investors in the Union Pacific Railroad, including Congressman Oakes Ames, formed a construction company, then used their positions on the railroad’s board to hire their company to do construction work at exaggerated prices
- The Union Pacific received their funding from federal grants; when grant money ran out, Ames gave other members of Congress shares in the Union Pacific to bribe them into approving more federal grant money
- Political Machines
- Informal political group designed to gain and keep power
- Growth of cities had outpaced the ability of city governments to meet the needs of citizens
- Run by party “bosses”
- Party bosses helped ______find jobs, housing, food, heat and protection; in return they told immigrants who to vote for in elections
- ______: acquiring money through dishonest or questionable means
- William “Boss” Tweed (1823 – 1878)
- Ran ______(The Democratic Party’s political machine in NYC) from 1858 – 1871
- Arrested in 1871 and convicted of defrauding the city government of about $200 million
- Thomas Nast (1840 – 1902)
- Worked for ______as political cartoonist from 1859 to 1886
- Targeted Boss Tweed and political machines; was so effective that Tweed offered him a $500,000 bribe to go study art in Europe – Nast turned it down.
- Creator of modern images of ______, ______, and the ______& ______symbols for Democratic and Republican Parties
III.The Presidency of Rutherford B. ______(1877-1881)
- Political reformer who replaced federal officials who had been appointed by party bosses
- His reform policies split the Republican Party
- ______:Republicans who supported the political machines and spoils system
- ______:Republicans who supported civil service reform and an end to the political machines and spoils system
IV.The Presidency of James ______(1881)
- Elected despite being implicated in the Credit Mobilier Scandal
- A “Half-breed,” he was ______after only 200 days in office by a disgruntled office seeker who felt he had been cheated out of a good government job
V.The Presidency of Chester ______(1881-1885)
- A “Stalwart,” he was so affected by Garfield’s assassination that he switched to being a “Half-breed” and championed civil service reform
- Did not receive nomination in election of 1884 due to terminal kidney condition
- The ______Act of 1883
- Ended the spoils system by creating the US Civil Service Commission
- Federal employees would get jobs based on skills and merit, not political favoritism
VI.The FIRST Presidency of Grover ______(1885-1889)
- Fought for political reforms, but at the same time was willing to use military force to limit labor unions (Pullman Strike)
- ______
- Democrat Cleveland even won support from reform-minded Republicans
- These Republicans were called “mugwumps,” an Algonquin Indian word meaning “important person”
- The term “mugwump” would mean someone who switches political party for generations following
- ______v. ______(1886): Supreme Court ruled that states can not regulate railroad companies because railroads are engaged in interstate commerce which can only be regulated by the federal government
- ______- Act of 1887
- Reaction to Wabash v. Illinois decision
- Created the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate railroads by restricting rates and ensuring that no discriminatory practices were used
VII.The Presidency of Benjamin ______(1889-1893)
- Had the first “billion dollar government”
- Ran on campaign of supporting high tariffs
- The ______Tariff of 1890
- Raised the tariff on imported goods to nearly 50%
- Passed Congress as part of a political deal: Republicans got the tariff, Democrats & Populists got the ______Act
- Tariff would severely hurt farmers, but greatly help industrialists
- The ______Act of 1890
- First federal law limiting trusts, monopolies, and cartels, but not really enforced until Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency
- Designed to protect competition among businesses and to protect consumers from the dangers of monopolies
- ______v. ______(1895)
- First test of the Sherman Antitrust Act
- EC Knight Co. was a sugar refinery that had a monopoly on sugar in US
- Court ruled that Sherman Antitrust Act could limit monopolies only in distribution (interstate commerce), not in manufacture of goods
VIII.The SECOND Presidency of Grover Cleveland (1893-1897)
- 1892: Cleveland was nominated by Democrats again and defeated both the Republican candidate Harrison and the new______Party’s candidate James B. Weaver
- Shortly after taking office, US experienced the ______(financial crisis)
- It was also during this term that Cleveland used US Army to end the ______
IX.The Presidency of William ______(1897-1901)
- Defeated William Jennings Bryan in 1896 election, and won re-election in 1900, but was assassinated in 1901 by an ______
- More important for his foreign policies than his domestic ones (See Goal 6)
X.Political Reforms of the Era
- ______: individual’s votes would be kept secret, not published
- ______: allows citizens to vote directly on important issues rather than leave the issues in the hands of elected officials
- ______: allows voters to remove an elected official from office before their term is up
- ______: allows voters to force elected officials to vote on a certain issue