Rutherford B Hayes

1876-1881 19th President

VP: William Wheeler

Republican elected in 1877

Born: Fremont, Ohio in 1822

Died: at Spiegel Grove,

his home in

Fremont, Ohio, in 1893.

I. Political Issues (1877-1881)

The Gilded Age

ElEction of ’76/ compromisE of 1877

Stirrings of Reform

Labor Unrest

The Gilded Age

Samuel

Clemens

“Mark Twain”

Charles

Dudley

Warner

1.Gilding: coating a cheap substance

in a thin layer of gold.

2. The nickname “The Gilded Age” was

coined by Mark Twain and Charles

Dudley Warner in their fictional book

The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today

(1873). It referred to the period of time

in American history stretching from

roughly 1870 – 1900…

WHY?!?!?!?

(9)The Gilded Age- The American

society, despite its appearance of

promise and prosperity, was plagued

with corruption and scandal.

b. Two themes caused dissention:

i. (11) Laissez Faire – “hands off”-

the government didn’t force

companies to be fair

ii. Government gained new authority and power

at all levels- especially local level.

What made America Gilded?

http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture04.html

After the Civil War, neither

Republicans or Democrats were in

clear control… a. As city officials gained more power, they increased

taxes to pay for city up-keep. Competition among

groups for control of city government grew intense.

b. (10) Political machines: unofficial

city organizations (who want

control of all that tax $$$$$) try to

keep their political party or group

in power (arose due to clashing

interests among groups of politicians)

c. Most political machines were headed

by a powerful “boss” who may or may

not have actually held a public office.

d. Kickback: promising a job

contract to a company, hiking the

price of the job, and then receiving a

portion of the earnings, which would

be known as graft – funds illegally

acquired through dishonorable

behavior.

f. (10 cont)- William “Boss”

Tweed - NYC’s most

notoriously corrupt political

boss was

i. Led Tammany Hall in the

early 1870s (Democrats)

ii. Grew rich off kickbacks/graft

from the city’s construction

jobs, which were padded with

fake expenses (They kept the

extra money for themselves!)

iii. Tweed was arrested in 1873

and died in jail.

I don't care who does the

electing, so long as I get

to do the nominating.

-Boss Tweed

Political Machine Basics WHAT???

•Political parties that controlled local and state government in late 1800s

WHY??

•Cities were growing fast!

•City government disorganized with few reliable services (police, fire, welfare)

•Immigrants wanted protection, help

The Dwarf

and the Thief

by:

Thomas Nast

Can The Law Reach Him ?

B. (1) Election of 1876 1. Rutherford B. Hayes (OH)- Repub.

a. Promised “home rule” in the South and civil/

political rights for all (contradictory).

2. Samuel Tilden (NY)- Democrat

3. Tilden won popular vote & possibly 185

electoral votes

4. CHEATING from SC, FL, & LA

5. Each party thinks/claims they won the

election.

Election of 1876

(2) The Compromise of 1877 1. An electoral commission was set up to determine who

would be awarded the disputed votes; Congress must

also approve their decision.

2. Republicans and Democrats agreed that

if Hayes (the R) won the election he

would remove federal troops from the

South (ending Reconstruction) and

Democrats (aka: southern-white-racists)

would gain control of those Southern states

back. (so much for fighting the Civil War…)

What is Reconstruction? • At the end of the Civil War (1861-1865) the

South was forced to free the slaves… sooo,

Northern troops stayed in the South to make the South “become part of the Union again”-

(3) Hayes’ election meant the withdraw federal

troops from the South, where the army had protected the right of blacks to vote. Now that Hayes won, Reconstruction officially ended. For nearly a century afterward, Southern whites used violence to keep blacks from participating in elections.

The Kansas fever was in full bloom and migrants sought every opportunity to claim all or part of the 160-acre plots as defined in the 1862 Homestead Act.

(7) “exodusters”

the migrants were ex-slaves moving out of the South to Kansas to claim land hoping for freedom from the economic and social oppression that had always been a way of life in the south.

The full-fledged exodus out of the southeast

began in March 1879 and continued into

1881, transplanting 25,000 African-

Americans to Kansas.

3. As a result of the compromise, Democrats regained control of SC, LA, & FL and Reconstruction in the South officially ended on May 1, 1877.

4. A political cartoon

by Thomas Nast of Harper’s Weekly used a football analogy for the Compromise of 1877. (Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia had just established the

Intercollegiate Football Association. (Yale also participated in this assoc.)

*A brief FYI:

Nast created today’s

symbols of the

Republican (Elephant)

and Democrat

(Donkey) Parties

(Dec. 27, 1879).

1863: Nast, along with Samuel

Clemens created our traditional

image of Santa Claus. Santa first

appeared in the upper left-hand

corner of a drawing depicting a

family separated from their father

(who was fighting in the Civil

War) on Christmas Eve.

St. Nicholas

“Merry Old Santa Claus” 1881

D. The Hayes White House 1. Hayes’ main achievement in

office was to restore respect to

the presidency after previous

years of scandal.

2. Hayes was known for bringing

“dignity and decorum” to the

White House.

3. The woman behind the man,

Lucy Hayes (aka “Lemonade

Lucy”), was an intelligent and

moral woman who insisted her

family participate in devotionals

each night after dinner.

Stirrings of Reform… (change)

1. Hayes helped stir government reform. Hayes did not

approve of the Spoils system.

2. Those Political bosses are making Americans mad

with (12) The illegal use of public offices

to reward friends for political party

work is known as the "Spoils System." An

official would get elected then appoint friends to office,

whether they were qualified or not.

3. Hayes’s presidency marked the beginning of

Civil Service Reform: government jobs held by non-elected workers.

G. (13) BAD Labor Conditions

1. People worked 10 to 14 hour

days, seven days a week.

2. Working conditions were

dangerous and abusive. a. Miners breathed coal dust all day.

b. Factory workers breathed sawdust, stone

dust, cotton dust, or toxic fumes.

c. Heavy machinery caused high injury rates.

3. Wages were low.

a. Most industrial workers earned

between $400-$500 a year ($600 was

the minimum annual income needed to

maintain a decent standard of living).

4. Children were working.

a. Some as young as six!

b. ~90,000 children were employed in the

latter part of the nineteenth century.

Most children worked replacing bobbins

in textiles plants

Labor Unrest (unhappiness)

(14) Labor Unions a. In retaliation of working conditions

and for protection and reform, some

workers joined and formed these labor

unions.

b. Unions used strikes to improve

conditions that they felt were demeaning

to the working class. These strikes were

often peaceful, but sometimes they

turned violent.

c. Labor Unions had difficulty organizing

because:

- workers moved from job to job.

- there was an influx of immigrants with

differences in language, religion, and

customs hard to unite!

- labor leaders had different goals.

- there was a lack of employer support:

a. Employers used blacklists- records of troublemakers- and would fire workers involved in union activity

b. Lockouts- employers would shut down the factories, fire the workers,

and replace them with scabs- replacement workers.

c. Yellow-dog contracts- workers were forced to agree not to take part in any labor action (i.e. strike)

d. Two major unions of the time:

i. Knights of Labor

(formed in 1869)

ii. American Federation of

Labor (1886) (discussed

later)

(15) The Knights of Labor- (goes from private to public in 1879)

• Terrence Powderly becomes the head of

the Labor Organization in 1869 and makes it

public in 1877.

• Men and women, skilled and non-

skilled were allowed into this union

• This labor union demands better treatment for

workers

• They fought to end Child Labor and

promoted 8-hour work day

(16) Railroad Strike of 1877

i. Ignited by a 10% wage reduction

(they didn’t cut the hours- just the pay!!! Some nerve)

ii. The strike spread to New York, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, and San Francisco.

iii. Pittsburgh: Rioters torched Union Depot and Pennsylvania Railroad roundhouse

iv. It took two weeks for Hayes to call out troops to

stop the strike.

v. By that point, 100 people had died, and two-

thirds of the railroads were idle.

Do you

recognize

this

picture?

From the

Bellringer?

Railroad Strike of 1877

II. Economic Issues

(1877-1881)

A. The Money Issue

B. Railroads

C. The Industrial Revolution

D. Development of the West

A. The Money Issue

1. Formed in the 1870s, the Greenback

Party pushed for measures to benefit

farmers in the West and South.

2. Although the party began to fade, the

money debate did not.

3. In 1878, farmers and silver miners found

temporary victory through the (4) Bland-

Allison Act that required the US treasury to buy $2- $4 million in silver each month and print money (instead of backing $ with gold)

4. It won’t work very well…

• (17) This means the US has 2 forms of money- Known as Bimettalism Gold and Silver-

A complete disaster… wouldn’t you rather have the gold money? Who wants the cheap stuff?

B. The Industrial Revolution 1871-1912

1. The Rise of Industry

a. There were several causes of the

rise of industry in the late 19th century:

(1st) Abundant coal deposits (cheap,

affordable energy)

(2nd) Rapid spread of technological innovation

a. (6) Thomas Edison’s invention of the Light bulb allowed for electricity , but also for a 24 hour workday that big-business would force on workers

iii. Pressure to cut costs & prices (eliminating competition & building monopolies)

iv. Government Continued the attitude of Laissez Faire toward businesses.

C. Development of the West

(3rd) Railroads greatly opened the West

to development/ settlement, offering:

a. transportation to new home

b. new jobs (construction/maintenance of

RR)

c. improvements on old jobs (farming/

ranching)

(4th) Mining – Many people rushed westward

during the 2nd half of the 19th century, hoping

to strike it rich! (Most were unsuccessful, as

were many mining towns that had been

established.)

(5th) Farming – Many of the settlers

moving West turned to farming to make a

living.

(6th) Ranching – A “cattle boom”

occurred in America during the late

1800’s, which drew many new “cowboys”

westward.

- Sheep ranching

also gained

popularity.

D. Further issues with Railroads…

1. Railroads were the first

monopoly in America. Just like

the silver issue, this concerned farmers!!!

2. States developed railroad commissions to

look into complaints that RRs were:

a. charging more for short hauls and less for

long hauls

b. offering Rebates (partial funds) to

favored customers

Difficulty building through the

rocky mountains…

3. ( 18) Munn v. Illinois (1877) a. This was essentially a case of the

farmers vs the RRs!

b. Courts ruled that states legislatures

have the right to regulate RR rates. A

maximum rate for the storage of grain

was established.

c. ooohhh, controlling a monopoly! First

time the government tries this!!!

d. (This decision was reversed in 1887 -

more on that later)

III. Social Issues

(1877-1881)

Minority Issues

Social Theories

Social Life

A. Minority Issues: Three groups of people faced minority

issues during the late 19th century:

1. Native Americans- racism

2. African Americans-racism

3. Women-sexism

1. Native Americans: U.S. gov’t interaction with the Native Americans mainly focused on

getting them onto the reservations and (19) assimilating them into the American culture- forcing native americans to be more “American” (assimilation) This caused many clashes between the two groups (ex: Nez Perce)

Native American Issues Chief Joseph led his tribe on a

long trek toward Canada and away

from the US army and

reservations…

The Nez Perce Indian tribe was

divided and the members of the

tribe that were captured were

placed on reservations.

(5) Chief Joseph becomes

one of the most politically

outspoken and respected of

all Native American Chiefs.

Ghost

Dance

(8) A traditional religious

movement where Natives dance in

a circle asking their gods to return

plains life to the traditional ways…

Perhaps the best known facet of the

Ghost Dance movement is the role it

reportedly played Scared the US

army to be more aggressive

in placing Natives on

reservations because of the fear

it caused among settlers-they

thought it was a war dance

2. African Americans- a. States used segregation to ensure

that African Americans were treated

as second-class citizens.

i. The separation was a result of customs

which means it was de facto

(conditions that exist in fact,

but not actually in law).

b. (21) Jim Crow Laws:

Segregation required by statutes

in the South. (poll taxes,

grandfather clause, literacy tests) a. Name came from a minstrel show

routine called “Jump Jim Crow”

c. De facto segregation was occurring in the

North, too, with segregation and

discrimination occurring in schools,

housing, and employment.

3. The Voice of Women-

a. The common belief among Americans was

that careers and married life did not mix.

b. Most women who worked were single

(This will change by the turn of the century,

and many married women will be working).

c. Most single female workers were between

the ages of 16 and 24.

d. Women were paid $3-$5 less a

week than men.

e. Many were nurses, teachers, clerical

workers, or telephone operators.

f. Women also struggled to gain a voice in the

democratic processes of America.

g. Susan B. Anthony

spent most of 40 years

appearing before Congress

pushing women’s suffrage.

“Organize, agitate, educate, must

be our war cry”. I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the

protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and

there I take my stand. - Susan B. Anthony

i. Suffrage: the right to a voice in

government

ii. 1878: Amendment proposal “The right of

citizens of the United States to vote shall not

be denied or abridged by the United States or

by any state on account of sex. (It stalled for

the 2nd time and did not reappear until 1913.)

B. Social Theories 1. (20)Social Darwinism: derived from

Darwin’s “Survival of the fittest” in society; suggests that society (government) should have little to do with business (again- laissez faire)

2. Henry George wrote

Progress

and

Poverty

(1879)-

describing the

paradox in society

1. Upper-class Americans lived lavishly and

got richer.

2. Middle-class Americans moved to

comfortable suburbs and commuted on

trains to work.

3. Lower-class Americans lived in city

apartments and old neighborhoods that

were dilapidated and overcrowded.

C. Social Life

4. Some urban workers

moved into towns

with housing built

specifically for them

(company towns)

5. Others found

apartments and

tenements (low-cost

apartments that were

overcrowded)

6. A glance at life in the city:

a. Hundreds of people were packed into

places intended only for a few families.

b. Due to poverty, overcrowding, and

neglect, city neighborhoods began to

decline.

c. Trees and grass disappeared.

d. Soot filled the air creating dark and foul

conditions in the light of day.