Gilded AgeDo Now Gilded Age The Gilded Age

Gilded Age-Do Now Gilded Age The Gilded Age was a period in US history c 1869 -1889 that seemed alright on the outside but was politically corrupt internally. This period, although tainted by various political schemes, led to the development of many new industries. l To gild something, is to take a cheap metal, and paint it over with a shiny, expensive one like gold, silver, or platinum. l Based on the definition, what inferences can you make about the time period? l Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"?

Mark Twain l That's the difference between governments and individuals. Governments don't care, individuals do. . no country can be well governed unless its citizens as a body keep religiously before their minds that they are the guardians of the law and that the law officers are only the machinery for its execution, nothing more. The government of my country snubs honest simplicity, but fondles artistic villainy, and I think I might have developed into a very capable pickpocket if I had remained in the public service a year or two. Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"?

Gilded Age l Novel by Mark Twain (1873) "Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first. " "Honesty is the best policy - when there is money in it. " "Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper. " "Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. " "A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain. " "I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand lead him to a quiet place and kill him. " Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"?

“Progress and Poverty”- Henry George 1879 l "So long as all the increased wealth which modern progress brings goes but to build up great fortunes, to increase luxury and make sharper the contrast between the House of Have and the House of Want, progress is not real and cannot be permanent. " Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"?

Ed Bellamy- “Looking Backwards” (1888) l Utopian novel l Man asleep for 100 years wakes up to 20 th century socialism l “One can look back a thousand years easier than forward fifty”. Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"?

US Grant as President Election of 1868 l Grant (Rep. ) vs. Horatio Seymour (Dem) l “wave the bloody shirt”- what does this mean? l Always good to be a war hero!! l Grant wins 214 -80, but close pop. Vote l More whites voted for Seymour, and 3 states didn’t have their votes counted in the South Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"?

Grant Scandals l l “Era of Good Stealings” “Black Friday” (1869) l l l RR owners hired themselves as construction firm, and with government contracts, gave themselves high salaries, resold their stocks for profit, then paid off 30 Congressmen and Grant’s VP Schuyler Colfax, to cover up the scandal Whiskey distillers paid off tax collectors to prevent paying taxes Belknap l l RR construction scandal Whiskey Ring l l Bribes Grant’s brother in law Credit Mobilier l l l Jay Gould tries to corner gold market Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"? Sec. of War took bribes from suppliers to Indian Reservations. Also his wife got a govt post $6000 a year… she died and he still got $$ for couple years afterwards “Salary Grab” l l Congress gives itself a 50% pay raise, and added 2 years of back pay!! Why doesn’t Grant do anything about it? ? ? Veto it? ? He gets 100% pay raise!! Government efficiency at its best!!!! 27 th Amendment fixes the problem!!! l In 1992!!

Election of 1872 l l “Grantism” annoyed a faction of the Republican party They split to form the Liberal Republican Party l Horace Greeley is candidate Greeley was editor of NY Tribune newspaper “Go West Young Man” Considered unstable, but brilliant (Amazingly, Democratic party also made him their candidate, he had bashed the party for years!!) l l l Grant wins easily, despite his scandals Greeley decline- Nov. 1872!!! l Loses election l Lost all his $$ by a scam precious jewel ring l Lost his paper to his rival NY Herald l Wife dies l He goes insane l Dies in late November, well before election results official Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"?

The New Prophet? ? ?

Thomas Nast l Famous cartoonist for Harpers Weekly and NY Illustrated News- “Father of the American Cartoon” l Santa Claus l Republican Party symbol getting “nasty” l Offered $500, 000 to “study” art in Europe by Tweed’s representatives l Tweed and Greeley were his 2 main targets l Aim: How is Nast’s cartoons reflective of the "Gilded Age"?

Aim: How is Nast’s cartoons reflective of the "Gilded Age"?

Aim: How is Nast’s cartoons reflective of the "Gilded Age"?

Aim: How is Nast’s cartoons reflective of the "Gilded Age"?

Aim: How is Nast’s cartoons reflective of the "Gilded Age"?

Aim: How is Nast’s cartoons reflective of the "Gilded Age"?

Boss Tweed l l Tammany Hall Eventually becomes NYC Democratic Headquarters Existed from 1790 -1964 “bossism” l Basically runs NYC government l Relationship with Irish immigrants l Fixes elections l Boss Tweed is most famous and corrupt of the bosses l Congressmen, state senator, “volunteer fireman” (Big 6”) l "Stop them damned pictures. I don't care so much what the papers say about me. My constituents don't know how to read, but they can't help seeing them damned pictures!" l $13 million to build NYC Courthouse (double the Alaska Purchase), carpenter got $360, 751 for a months work ($5 mil), plasterer got $133, 187($2 mil) for 2 days work l Estimated theft of NYC by Tweed- $2 -8 billion in today’s $$ l Jailed, release after 1 year, jailed again, escaped fled to Spain, l captured there because policeman recognized him from Nast’s cartoons, thought to be a child molester, kidnapper!! Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"?

Aim: How is Nast’s cartoons reflective of the "Gilded Age"?

“The Brains” Aim: How is Nast’s cartoons reflective of the "Gilded Age"?

Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"?

Aim: How is Nast’s cartoons reflective of the "Gilded Age"?

Aim: How is Nast’s cartoons reflective of the "Gilded Age"?

Aim: How is Nast’s cartoons reflective of the "Gilded Age"?

Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"?

“The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things” Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"?

“The Ignorant Vote” Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"?

Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"?

Aim: How is Nast’s cartoons reflective of the "Gilded Age"?

Politics in the Gilded Age • Republicans & Democrats • Party differences blur during this period with loyalties determined by region, religious, and ethnic differences. • Voter turnout for presidential elections averaged over 78 percent of eligible voters; 60 to 80 percent in non-presidential years. • Both parties were pro-business. • Both parties were opposed to any type of economic radicalism or reform. • Both parties advocated a "sound currency“(stable dollar) and supported the status quo in the existing financial system. • Federal government and, to some extent, state governments tended to do very little. ---- __________ • Republicans dominate the Senate; Democrats dominate the House of Representatives. • Republican Party splinter groups during this period: Stalwarts, Aim: Why was the late 1800's Halfbreeds, Mugwumps. known as the "Gilded Age"?

Republican split • Stalwarts- Conkling (NY)championed spoils system, “jobs for votes” • Half-Breeds- Blaine (Maine)-middle of the road, some spoils • Mugwumps- when Blaine gets Rep. party nomination, they left for Democratic party • Helps ensure 1 st Democratic party elected President (Grover Cleveland 1884) since James Buchanan (1856) Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the

l “There is, and always has been, a widespread belief among the more comfortable classes that the poverty and suffering of the masses are due to their lack of industry, frugality, and intelligence. This belief, which at once soothes the sense of responsibility and flatters by its suggestion of superiority, is probably even more prevalent in countries like the United States, where all men are politically equal, and where, owing to the newness of society, the differentiation into classes has been of individuals rather than of families, than it is in older countries, where the lines of separation have been longer, and are more sharply, drawn. ” Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"?

l "Take now. . . some hard-headed business man, who has no theories, but knows how to make money. Say to him: "Here is a little village; in ten years it will be a great city-in ten years the railroad will have taken the place of the stage coach, the electric light of the candle; it will abound with all the machinery and improvements that so enormously multiply the effective power of labor. Will in ten years, interest be any higher? " He will tell you, "No!" Will the wages of the common labor be any higher. . . ? " He will tell you, "No the wages of common labor will not be any higher. . . " "What, then, will be higher? " "Rent, the value of land. Go, get yourself a piece of ground, and hold possession. " And if, under such circumstances, you take his advice, you need do nothing more. You may sit down and smoke your pipe; you may lie around like the lazzaroni of Naples or the leperos of Mexico; you may go up in a balloon or down a hole in the ground; and without doing one stroke of work, without adding one iota of wealth to the community, in ten years you will be rich! In the new city you may have a luxurious mansion, but among its public buildings will be an almshouse. " Aim: Why was the late 1800's known as the "Gilded Age"?