US.4 Analyze the causes and consequences of Gilded Age politics and economics, including the rise of political machines, major scandals, civil service reform, and the economic difference between farmers, wage earners, and industrial capitalists, including the following: (E, H, P), Boss Tweed, Thomas Nast, Credit Mobilier, Whiskey Ring, Garfield’s assassination, Pendleton Act, Interstate Commerce Act.
US.8 Evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media as in the political cartoons of Thomas Nast and others during the Gilded Age. (C, P)
3. (US.4,8) The Gilded Age
a. The Rise of Political Machines
b. Boss Tweed & Tammany Hall
c. Economic Differences in the Gilded Age
d. Major Scandals of the Gilded Age
e. Garfield’s Assassination
f. Civil Service Reform & the Pendleton Act
g. Interstate Commerce Act
h. Thomas Nast & Political Cartoons
Tammany Hall was a political organization in New York City. It started small in 1789 but was later recognized as a political “machine," mostly associated with Democrats. As the nation industrialized, machine politics grew in urban areas. Networks of local leaders called "bosses" helped their communities get things they needed, and the people responded with money and votes. In New York City, Tammany Hall became quite powerful because the machine catered to immigrants, who were coming to the city in large numbers.
William “Boss” Tweed created a huge network on behalf of Tammany Hall in the 1860s. Tweed created offices and companies and charged the city millions extra for his companies' services and kept much of the profit. Tweed's ring was exposed in 1871 and he was sent to jail after defrauding the city of millions.
Cities swelled with people searching for better work than could be found on the farm. As the United States changed from an agricultural to an industrial economy, machines replaced many farm workers across the country. These workers moved to cities to find jobs in factories, meat-packing houses, and other sources of employment.
But, since there were so many workers, and only a limited number of businesses, the businesses could pay workers very little. If a worker didn't want to work for little pay, that worker could quit, but another worker would take his place. Immigrants who were desperate came to America with very little and were often willing to work for less money than a person native to America. This empowered big businesses to pay workers as little as possible.
While workers were barely making ends meet, big business owners were getting rich and powerful. These economic differences led to a very large gap between rich and poor. In the late 1800's, you were either rich or poor, the middle class had not been invented yet in America.
In 1880, American voters narrowly elected Republican James Garfield to the presidency. In President Garfield's short term, he tried to get laws passed to eliminate "Patronage" or the "Spoils System." Patronage was a system of appointing political supporters to government jobs.
On July 2, 1881, Charles Guiteau, a disgruntled office seeker who did not get a patronage appointment, shot the President. The result of the gunshot wound was a severe infection that killed Garfield 80 days later. The nation mourned President Garfield because many saw him as a regular man who worked his way from poverty to the House of Representatives, and then on to the presidency.
Chester A. Arthur became president after Garfield died. He was part of the spoils system, and unlike Garfield, he did not want to get rid of patronage. The spoils system and patronage awarded civil service, or government, jobs to political allies who may or may not have been qualified for that position. Even though President Arthur benefited from the system, he knew that the nation did not approve of it, and civil service reform began.
In 1883 the Pendleton Act became law. The Pendleton Act established a Civil Service Commission, which created a required examination for federal jobs. The act did not apply to local and state jobs, but over time fewer jobs were handed out as political favors.
The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 was a United States federal law that was designed to regulate the railroad industry, particularly its monopolistic practices.
The Act required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just," and it also required that railroads publicize shipping rates and prohibited fare discrimination, a form of price discrimination against smaller markets, particularly farmers in Western or Southern Territory compared to the big cities in the Eastern states. The Act created a federal regulatory agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), its purpose was to ensure that the railroad companies complied with the new regulations.
The Act was the first federal law to regulate private industry in the United States. It was later amended to regulate other modes of transportation and commerce.