Hey there and welcome back to Heimler’s History. We’ve been going through Unit 6 of the AP U.S. History curriculum and behold, we have come to the last video of the Unit. And I can’t imagine a saucier way to end this unit then by talking about politics in the Gilded Age, so if you’re ready to get them brain cows milked Tammany Hall style, then let’s get to it. Now in an earlier video I compared the Gilded Age to a golden covered turd, and in some of the topics we talked about there was more gold, and in others, more turd. Well when it came to politics in the Gilded Age, most of the gold had worn off that turd, and all they were left with was, well, you know, a turd. So you’ll recall that in the Gilded Age, politics was largely hands off thanks to the laissez faire attitude toward government intervention. And as such, it stunk powerfully of corruption. The major parties during this era were the Democrats and the Republicans whose beliefs essentially corresponded to the lingering divisions of the Civil War. Democrats were mainly Southerners, though not exclusively, who championed states rights and racial segregation, and they could usually count on the votes from big city political machines and the growing population of immigrants, on which more in a moment. Republicans on the other hand were the northern, more industrial party, who could count on votes from black people, middle class businessmen, and Protestants. Now the thing about both parties during this period is that if you asked them what their deeply held beliefs were, if you asked them what they deeply desired to get done, if you asked them what makes your heart beat fast and gets you out of bed in the morning, they would have responded, “MMMMMM…. Yeah I got nothing.” Neither party had a very strong legislative agenda to speak of. And so politics really just became a game of winning elections and awarding federal jobs to faithful party supporters, a practice which was known as patronage. However, there were a few contentious issues between the parties, nonetheless, and so let me tell you about them briefly. First, there was the issue of civil service, which is to say, getting jobs in the federal government. The way patronage worked is that when a candidate won the presidency, for example, he would sit at his desk for months hearing from thousands of callers who lined up out the door looking for federally appointed jobs because they had been a supporter of the candidate. You might remember Andrew Jackson being a big proponent of this when it came to the Spoils System. And that was just the way things went. However, this practice came under fire after the assassination of president James Garfield. After winning the election, Garfield sat in his office hearing from thousands of men seeking jobs, and as it turns out one of the guys he decided to pass on got a little cranky about the snub and went ahead and assassinated Garfield at a train station a few months later. And I suppose the lesson we learned is this: always hire the guy with the twitchy eye, because if you don’t, he’ll shoot you. Who says history isn’t useful? Anyway, in order to correct this patronage system of civil service, Congress passed the Pendleton Act of 1881. Basically it replaced the patronage system with a competitive examination. If you wanted a federal job, you had to compete for scores with all the others on this exam, and the highest scores got the job. And this seemed to be a win for democracy, but it kind of petered out because of a shift in philosophy in how parties were funded. Prior to this, candidates were funded by the party faithful, which is why they felt they were owed jobs. Now they shifted to receiving funding from a handful of wealthy individuals, and so the debt-based patronage system wasn’t nearly as binding as it was previously. So the parties fought about civil service during this period. But they also fought about money. At this point, the United States’ money supply was reckoned according to the gold standard, which means that the federal government would only print the amount of paper currency that could be backed by the value of the gold in their vaults. And the reason they wanted this is because on the gold standard, currency held its value against inflation, which just means the rising of prices. And when prices rise, that means currency isn’t as valuable, it can’t buy as much. But farmers and entrepreneurs argued that the money supply should be expanded to include more paper money in circulation beyond the gold standard, and eventually they would also argue for the unlimited coinage of silver as well. They wanted this because more currency would allow them to borrow more money at a lower interest rate, and bonus, they could pay their debts with inflated dollars. So to them, inflation wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Also under this heading was the fight between the parties over tariffs. Tariffs were taxes on imported goods, and they were a much bigger deal back then because much of the federal government’s budget was funded by tariff revenue. In the 1890s, for example, tariffs provided over half of all federal revenue. Now, during the Civil War, Congress had put protective tariffs in place to protect American Industry and raise funds for the war. But now that the war was over, Congress wasn’t exactly eager to throw away their money pot, and so the protective tariffs remained in force. Now a protective tariff protects American businesses because when taxes are high on imported goods, people are more likely to buy the cheaper, American-made goods. And this situation was great for American industrialists, but for the vast majority of consumers, and more specifically farmers, the protective tariffs were a financial burden. Protective tariffs chapped the farmers’ thighs because other nations enacted retaliatory tariffs on American goods which meant lower international sales for their crops. For consumers, they were annoyed by the tariffs because they couldn’t readily afford higher prices for the imported goods they needed and desired. So those were some of the fights that animated party animosities during the Gilded Age, but honestly, they were pretty lethargic about actually acting on them. They were like a sluggish and lethargic man who is so lazy that when he puts his hand in his bowl of Doritos, can’t even muster the effort to bring them back to his mouth. However, the rise of a new political party slapped them in the face and got them moving. And here’s where I introduce you to the Populist Party. Now the world populism means having to do with the people, and the Populist Party sought to work for the people and correct the gross concentration of economic power held by elite banks and trusts. They published their beliefs in what was called the Omaha Platform which was replete with political and economic reforms. On the Political front, they advocated for the direct election of senators and the use of initiatives and referendums which allowed the people to propose and vote on legislation. On the economic side, they argued for the unlimited coinage of silver, a graduated income tax (which means that the more you made, the more you were taxed), and an eight hour work day. Now there was much more to this platform, but those are the major points. Now, no Populist candidate ever won a presidential election, but what they did gain a lot of attention and that made the Democrats and Republicans get their hand out of the Dorito bowl and pay attention. By the election of 1896, the Democratic Party took up some of the main themes of the populist platform, most notably the unlimited coinage of silver, and thus secured many Populist voters. Now I’ve talked mainly about national politics in this video, but we need to zoom in this final section so I can tell you about politics in urban centers. So during the Gilded Age, urban political parties came under the domination and control of corrupt political machines, which were basically groups of folks who knew how to secure votes for their parties. At the top of these political machines were bosses who doled out the orders, and if the members were faithful to the boss, they were rewarded with jobs. Probably the most famous of these political machines was Tammany Hall in New York City, which was run by the infamous Boss Tweed. And you might be surprised to learn, after I called them corrupt, what the Tammany Hall machine actually did. Well, they actually organized the needs of businesses, immigrants, and the poor so that everyone in the community flourished. [And that’s bad, why?] Well, Tammany Hall didn’t do these things because their hearts beat fast for social justice. They did it because their actions effectively put the communities they helped in debt to them and therefore, the community owed the mahine their votes. It was a power game. Additionally, Tweed and his cronies stole millions of dollars from tax payers through schemes of deceit and fraud. Even so, despite the corruption, there was kind of a mutually beneficial relationship between the machines and their patrons. So, you know, it’s complicated. Okay that’s what you need to know about Unit 6 topic 13 of the AP U.S. History curriculum. If you want help getting an A in your class and a five on your exam in May, videos like a boss, then go ahead and let me know that by subscribing. Heimler out.