The post Civil War era was full of corruption and scandal by the courts as well as politicians in the White House. Many other problems existed in the U.S., such as a depression, panic, civil rights, and racism. Presidential elections also came very close.
Important Facts
1. Grant (Republican) becomes president in 1868 as well as in 1872. In 1868 he defeated Seymour, and in 1872, he defeated Greeley (Democrat). During the campaign, citizens created the Liberal Republican party. They urged purification of the Washington administration and an end to military Reconstruction.
2. Panic of 1873. More than 15 thousand businesses went bankrupt. The amount of money per capita in circulation decreased between 1870 and 1880, from $19.42 to $19.37. The Resumption Act of 1875 was made; it pledged the government to the further withdrawal of greenbacks from circulation and to the redemption of all paper currency in gold at face value, beginning in 1879.
3. The election of 1876 was extremely close between Hayes (Republican) and Tilden (Democrat). The Democrats allowed Hayes to receive the rest of the disputed returns. The Compromise of 1877 was their reason for this. The Democrats agreed that Hayes could take office if he withdrew federal troops from Louisiana and South Carolina. The Republicans assured the Democrats a place at the presidential patronage trough and support for a bill subsidizing the Texas and Pacific Railroads construction of a southern transcontinental line. Put an end to Reconstruction.
4. Civil Right Act of 1875 supposedly guaranteed equal accommodations in public places and prohibited racial discrimination in jury selection. The Supreme Court declared that the Fourteenth Amendment prohibited only government violations of civil rights, not the denial of civil rights by individuals (in the Civil Rights Cases in 1883).
5. The Supreme Court validated the Souths segregationist social order in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896). It ruled that separate but equal facilities were constitutional under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. However, African American life was unequal to that of whites. They were segregated and assaulted daily by reminders of their second-class citizenship.
6. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, prohibiting all further immigration from China. It lasted until 1943. The Supreme Court ruled in U.S. vs. Wong Kim Ark in 1898 that the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed citizenship to all persons born in the United States.
7. Garfield was assassinated by Charles J. Guiteau, and Arthur took over the presidency. His assassination started the beginnings of civil-service reform, which made politics more dependent on big business.
8. Cleveland made a lower tariff the first real issue in national politics for some time. He was the first Democratic president since the Civil War.
9. The Depression of 1893 overshadowed Clevelands reform efforts. The depression deepened the suffering of farmers and workers against a government and economic system that seemed biased toward big business and the wealthy.
10. In 1895, Cleveland got J.P. Morgan, the head of a Wall Street syndicate, to lend the U.S. government $65 million in gold.
I find it amazing how a president can ask someone for gold to help out the nation. I find it funny actually.But these facts are very important to know because after the Civil War there was a change in technology and that led to everything changing as well.
Do you know who forced that Chinese act down Congress' throat? My President, Arthur!! The most boring Pres. to lean about!!!And yes I guess it is kinda ironic that one single person could lend the government money, but my question is what did the government do for Morgan?
10. In 1895, Cleveland got J.P. Morgan, the head of a Wall Street syndicate, to lend the U.S. government $65 million in gold.
OK since when did the U.S Government need $65 million in gold. I thought that we were the "most powerful country" qoute on qoute... what happend that we were in need of so much money???
The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 and the Mckinley Tariff were partially to blame for the Depression of Panic of 1893. Politically the democrats and preisdent cleveland were to blame for it. Something interesting.. The hard times and the utopian dreams that basically summed up the era were brought to life in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Do you know who forced that Chinese act down Congress' throat? My President, Arthur!! The most boring Pres. to lean about!!!And yes I guess it is kinda ironic that one single person could lend the government money, but my question is what did the government do for Morgan?
lmao, haha it was only obvious that you would get Arthur to look up ;) ... anyway, the book says that the bankers charged, I guess an interest, that totaled $7 million, so when the U.S. bounced back, the bankers got more money back than they lended.
10. In 1895, Cleveland got J.P. Morgan, the head of a Wall Street syndicate, to lend the U.S. government $65 million in gold.
OK since when did the U.S Government need $65 million in gold. I thought that we were the "most powerful country" qoute on qoute... what happend that we were in need of so much money???
This was the time of the depression of 1893...the U.S. Treasury's gold reserve kept dropping. The U.S. was in danger of going off the gold standard, which would make the United State's currency unstable and unreliable as a measure of value, which would cripple America's international trade. This is why they needed all that money, so they could stay, as you said, the "most powerful country."
How did Garfield's assassination lead to the beginning of civil-service reform?
His death shocked politicians into reforming the spoils system, when the government hires it's 'friends' to work for them. The Civil Service Commission was established to make appointments to federal jobs on the basis of competitive examinations rather than "pull."
"8. Cleveland made a lower tariff the first real issue in national politics for some time. He was the first Democratic president since the Civil War."
what tariff? why was it important? how did he make it important?
Umm, I think it was just a tariff in general, because the book doesn't mention any specific one. It was important because it would lower prices for consumers and lessen protection for monopolies. It would also end the Treasury's surplus of money. He made it important by taking the issue to Congress in 1887.
what caused the panic of 1873? I understand it made businesses bankrupt and stuff... but how and why?
Promoters had "laid more railroad track, sunk more mines, erected more factories, and sowed more grainfields than existing markets could bear." Bankers had loaned the money to make those productions possible, however, when profits failed to happen, the loans weren't paid, and many people went into debt. Umm, that's all I could really find on the causes, sorry.
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