Stanley K. Schultz, Professor of History
William P. Tishler, Producer
Lecture 04
The Gilded Age and the Politics of Corruption
The term "The Gilded Age" comes from a novel of the same name published in 1873 by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, which, though fictional, is a critical examination of politics and corruption in the United States during the nineteenth century. This lecture explores how rampant economic and political corruption colored American society and culture during the Gilded Age.
Some questions to keep in mind:
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How did the federal government transform the American economy during the Gilded Age?
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Why was corruption so rampant in American politics during this period? Was it worse than today? If so, why?
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Was there really any difference between the Republican and Democratic parties at this time? If so, what?
The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873)
A novel by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, which explores political
and economic corruption in the United States. The central characters,
Colonel Beriah Sellers and Senator Abner Dilworthy, are tied together in
a government railroad bribery scheme. Twain and Warner depict an American society that,
despite its appearance of promise and prosperity, is riddled with corruption and scandal.
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Mark Twain |
Two general themes caused tension during the Gilded Age:
- Laissez-faire "1: a doctrine opposing government interference in economic affairs beyond the minimum necessary for the maintenance of peace and property rights." Source: Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1990).
- Concentration of power in the hands of the government at all levels - local, state, and federal. Government during this period assumed more authority and power, especially expanding its bureaucratic control and authority. Major areas of expansion of government power included land policy, railroad subsidies, tax/tariff policy, immigration policy, and Indian policy.
The Homestead Act
The Homestead Act (May 20, 1862) set in motion a program of public land grants to small
farmers. Before the Civil War, southern states had regularly voted against homestead
legislation because they predicted correctly that the law would hasten the settlement of
western territory, ultimately adding to the number and political influence of the free
states.
This opposition to the homestead bill, as well as to other internal improvements that could hasten western settlement, exacerbated sectional conflicts. Indeed, during the 1850s, many northern politicians championed a vision of independent yeomen establishing homesteads on the prairies as a vivid contrast to the degradation of slave labor on southern plantations. A homestead bill passed the House in 1858 but was defeated by one vote in the Senate; the next year, a similar bill passed both houses but was vetoed by President James Buchanan. In 1860, the Republican platform included a plank advocating homestead legislation. After the southern states had seceded, homestead legislation was high on the Republican agenda. The Homestead Act of 1862 provided that any adult citizen (or person intending to become a citizen) who headed a family could qualify for a grant of 160 acres of public land by paying a small registration fee and living on the land continuously for five years. If the settler was willing to pay $1.25 an acre, he could obtain the land after only six months' residence.
By the end of the Civil War, fifteen thousand homestead claims had been
established, and more followed in the postwar years. But the law did not provide the new
beginning for urban slum dwellers that some had hoped; few such families had the resources
to start farming, even on free land. The grants did give new opportunities to many
impoverished farmers from the East and Midwest, but much of the land granted under the
Homestead Act fell quickly into the hands of speculators. Also, over time, the growing
mechanization of American agriculture led to the replacement of individual homesteads with
a smaller number of much larger farms.
Source: Houghton Mifflin Co, The Reader's Companion to American History
(1991).
| Transportation Revolution "...Railroads could reach interior areas, including places where an inadequate water supply or rough terrain made canals impossible. Unlike canals, which froze in winter or became impassable when water was low, railroads ran year round, and they could easily ascend and descend hills and mountains. Initially financed by municipal governments and enterprising businessmen in river, lake, and ocean towns and cities, the first railroads extended short distances into the interior to tap potential markets in the surrounding countryside. Extension and connection of short lines soon provided uninterrupted transportation over long distances. By 1840, the United States had almost three thousand miles of track; by 1860, a network of thirty thousand miles linked most of the nation's major cities and towns..." Source: George Rogers Taylor, The Transportation Revolution, 1815-1860 (1962). |
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Credit Mobilier
"The Bloody Shirt"
Mugwumps
The campaign contrasted Cleveland's spotless public career
with the uncertain record of James G. Blaine, the Republican candidate, and Cleveland
received enough Mugwump (independent Republican) support to win. As president, Cleveland
pushed civil service reform, opposed the pension grab and attacked the high tariff rates.
While in the White House, he married Frances Folsom in 1886. Renominated in 1888,
Cleveland was defeated by Benjamin Harrison, polling more popular but fewer electoral
votes. In 1892, he was elected over Harrison. When the Panic of 1893 burst upon the
country, Cleveland's attempts to solve it by sound-money measures alienated the
free-silver wing of the party, while his tariff policy alienated the protectionists. In
1894, he sent troops to break the Pullman strike. In foreign affairs, his firmness caused
Great Britain to back down in the Venezuelan border dispute.
In his last years Cleveland was an active and much-respected public figure. He died in
Princeton, N.J., on June 24, 1908.
Money may or may not be the root of all evil, but it certainly played a major role in the politics of the Gilded Age. Of course, this money did not appear out of thin air. Instead, the rise of the corporation drove Gilded Age prosperity. The rise of American corporations during the second half of the nineteenth century is an incredibly fascinating subject. So fascinating, in fact, that it is the focus of our next lecture: Lecture 05: Businessmen and "That Creature" the Corporation.
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