V. Politics and Reform (1877 1900) A.Spoils System (or Patronage) Govt jobs went to supporters of the winning party in an election. To the victor go the spoils! Republican President Garfield (a halfbreed for supporting reforms) was assassinated a couple months after winning election in James Garfield, 20 th US President, Second president to be assassinated. From 1877 to 1896, Dems and Reps were so evenly matched that only a few reforms were possible at the national level. B.Pendleton Act 1883, Congress set up a civil service system (take exam for jobs). The Pendleton Act put most Federal employees on the Merit system and ended political patronage. George Pendleton, Democrat from Ohio, later became the first Civil Service Commissioner. Theodore Roosevelt was the most famous Commissioner from , and later the 26 th U.S. President from C.Election of 1884 Grover Cleveland (D), NY Governor, opposed political machines. Both Dems & Reps were evenly matched in numbers, so came down to the candidates personal morals (Mugwumps were Republicans that voted for Cleveland, a Democrat, and helped him win in Cleveland was a bachelor, but fathered a child 10 years earlier; saved his reputation by telling the truth. Cleveland won NY (the deciding state) by 1,000 votes out of over 1 million cast. In this 1899 cartoon from Puck, all of New York City politics revolves around boss Richard Croker. Grover Cleveland (1837 1908), the 22 & 24 President of the U.S., was the only President to serve non-consecutive terms (18851889 and 18931897). He was the only Democrat elected to the Presidency in the era of Republican political domination between 1860 and 1912, after the American Civil War. His admirers praise him for his bedrock honesty, independence, integrity, and commitment to the principles of classical liberalism. As a leader of the Democrats, he opposed imperialism, taxes, corruption, patronage, subsidies and inflationary policies election poster "Officeholders are the agents of the people, not their masters." -- Grover Cleveland Cleveland lost the 1888 presidential election, in part due to fraud. He actually led in the popular vote over Benjamin Harrison (48.6% to 47.8%), but lost the Electoral College by a margin, losing Cleveland's home state of New York by less than 1%. Cleveland thus became one of only four men to clearly win the popular vote but lose the presidency; there would not be another such election until Al Gore's narrow loss to George W. Bush in Grover Cleveland, 1888. D.Interstate Commerce Act (1887) Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission (I.C.C.), 1 st federal law to regulate interstate commerce (railroads). 1.Ended RR monopolies. The ICC's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later trucking) to ensure fair rates and to eliminate rate discrimination (ended RR monopolies). Signed into law by President Grover Cleveland. The agency was abolished in 1995, and the agency's remaining functions were transferred to the Surface Transportation Board. The Sherman Anti-trust Act (Sherman Act), July 2, 1890, was the first U.S. government action to limit cartels and monopolies. It is the oldest of all federal U.S. antitrust laws. In common law legal systems, a trust is an arrangement whereby money or property is owned and managed by one person (or persons, or organizations) for the benefit of another. A trust is created by a settlor, who entrusts some or all of his or her property to people of his choice (the trustees). The trustees are the legal owners of the trust property, but they are obliged to hold the property for the benefit of one or more individuals or organizations. John Sherman The Sherman Act provides: Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy (Monopoly), in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal. Inflation is the decline in the value of money. To finance the Civil War, the Union issued millions of dollars in greenbacks which could not be exchanged for gold or silver coins; the rapid increase in money supply w/out accompanying increase in goods for sale caused the inflation. As paper money lost value, the prices of goods soared (Inflation). The opposite is Deflation increase in value of money and decrease in price of goods (hurt farmers hard). Because of the economic depression, Dems didnt re-nominate Cleveland, lost the White House to Republican William McKinley of Niles, Ohio (1897). William McKinley, Jr (18431901) was the 25 th U.S. President, and the last veteran of the Civil War elected. The 1896 Broadway melodrama The War of Wealth was inspired by the Panic of The Panic of 1893 was a serious decline in the economy of the U.S. and was caused in part by a run on the gold supply. The Panic was the worst economic crisis to hit the nation to that point. The Pullman Strike occurred when 4,000 Pullman Palace Car Company workers reacted to a 28% wage cut by going on a wildcat strike in Illinois on May 11, 1894, bringing traffic west of Chicago to a halt. Pullman Strike began on May 11, 1894. McKinley campaigns on gold coin (gold standard) with support from soldiers, businessmen, farmers and professions, claiming to restore prosperity at home and victory abroad (1900). McKinley presided over a return to prosperity after the Panic of 1893 and was reelected in As president, he fought the Spanish-American War. He annexed Hawaii, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and set up a protectorate over Cuba. He was assassinated by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, and succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt. A sketch of Czolgosz shooting McKinley (1901). Police mug shot of Leon Czolgosz. He was executed by the electric chair. E.Poll Tax 1890, Miss. required all citizens registering to vote pay $2 (many African Americans cant pay). The 15th Amendment prohibits states from denying citizens the right to vote on the basis of race, creed, or previous condition of servitude. The Constitution does not bar requirements to be literate or own property in order to vote (loophole). 1.Literacy test read & understand the state constitution (few African- Americans could read). Even those who could read often failed the literacy test because local officials deliberately picked difficult passages. Miss. was first; Other Southern states adopted similar restrictions. Only a few thousand African-Americans were registered to vote in several states. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 suspended the use of literacy tests in all states. In a series of cases, the Supreme Court upheld the legislation and restricted the use of literacy tests for non-English-speaking citizens. Since the passage of the civil rights legislation of the 1960s, black registration in the South has increased dramatically. 2.Grandfather Clause Any man can vote if their ancestor was on voting rolls. Some states gave poor white voters a break due to low turn-out (restrictions). F.Segregation separated the races. 1.Jim Crow Laws laws enforcing segregation. 1883, Supreme Court overturned the 1875 Civil Rights Act, said the 14th Amendment only allowed no state could deny equal protection, and allowed private organizations and businesses to segregate. 2.Plessy vs. Furguson (1896) Supreme Court upheld a LA. law that endorsed separate but equal facilities for African Americans. Homer Plessy challenged a Louisiana law that forced him to ride in a separate RR car from whites as unconstitutional. Ruling established legal basis for discrimination in the South for over 50 years!! Separate, but far from equal. "Separate but equal" remained standard doctrine in U.S. law until overturned in the later Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Blacks and whites drank from separate water fountains and coolers, as in this Oklahoma City streetcar station in 1939. Between 1890 and 1899, violent mobs carried out approx 187 lynchings (executions w/out court proceedings) each year. 80% of lynchings occurred in the South; 70% of the victims were African Americans. G.African American Response. 1.Ida B. Wells 1892, she launched a fearless crusade against lynchings. Journalist and former slave, she refused to move to the trains smoking car for African Americans. Ida B. Wells ( ) Anti-Lynching Journalist & Women's Rights Advocate. 2.W.E.B. Du Bois Worked to get African Americans the right to vote. The Souls of Black Folk, Color discrimination is barbarism. -- W.E.B. DuBois ACTIVITY Discriminatory law or decision. What region(s) affected? Who were the targets? How did it affect peoples lives?