Chapter 19 "Drifting Toward Disunion" (1854-1861)
I. Powerful Books (Pen Mightier Than Sword)
A. Harriet Beecher Stowe
1. 1852 - Uncle Tom's Cabin
2. Influenced by Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
3. never been to Deep South (1 visit to KY)
4. "The Book that Made this Great War" (Lincoln)
5. saintly characters: Tom and angelic Eva
B. Hinton Rowan Helper
1. 1857 - Impending Crisis of the South
2. North Carolinian
3. hated both slavery and blacks
4. believed greatest evil of slavery on whites
5. call for economic diversification of South
II. Bleeding Kansas
A. Result of "popular sovereignty"
B. "Free Soilers" / Agitators
1. antislavery
2. "Beecher's Bibles" (breech-loaders)
3. sent 2000 people in to settle
C. "Border Ruffians" / Agitators
1. pro-slaveryites
2. Missourians
3. sack town of Lawrence-1856
D. John Brown
1. moved to KS from OH
2. crazy militant abolitionist
3. clashes with proslaveryites
4. "Osawatomie Brown"
5. brutal murders of 5 men-Pottawatomie Creek
E. Divided Government-1857
1. Lecompton-deceitful constitution (fraudulent)-pro-slavery
2. President Buchanan recognizes Lecompton
3. Sen. Douglas opposes as fraud
4. entire constitution resubmitted to voters
5. free soilers win
6. KS remains territory until 1861
III. Brooks-Sumner Affair-1856
A. Sen. Charles Sumner
1. hot speech "The Crime Against Kansas"
2. insulted SC and its Sen. Andrew Butler
B. Rep. Preston Brooks
1. cousin to Butler
2. canes Sumner on Senate Floor
3. lionized in the South (new canes gifts)
IV. Election of 1856
A. Democrats-James Buchanan
1. "Old Buck" of Pennsylvania
2. relatively enemy less
B. Republicans-James C. Fremont
1. "The Pathfinder of the West"
2. no political experience
C. American Party (Know-Nothings)-Millard Fillmore
1. nativists
2. antiforeign & anti-Catholic
D. Mudslinging
E. Old Buck wins
F. New GOP does very well though
V. Dred Scott Decision -1857
A. Background of Dred Scott (IL & WI)
B. Chief Justice Roger Taney of MD
C. 5 of 9 justices Southerners
D. threw out case b/c Scott is black ergo not a citizen
E. lashed out at [repealed] Missouri Comp.
F. Southerners delighted
VI. Crash of 1857
A. In pouring CA Gold-inflated currency (drove up value)
B. Hardest Hit: grain-growers of North
C. South doing well: cotton, tobacco, etc.
D. Gave rise to demands for free Western lands (homesteads)
E. Created a clamor for higher tariff rates
VII. Emergence of Lincoln
A. Humble Origins
B. Brief 1 term in HR (Spotty Lincoln)
C. KA-NE Act "lighted fires" within him
D. Lincoln-Douglas Debates
1. Aug to Oct 1858
2. for senate race
3. put screws to Douglas at Freeport IL
4. Douglas answer: "Freeport Doctrine" (cost him later)
VIII. John Brown Strikes Again
A. Harper's Ferry VA (now WV)-1859
B. Hair brain scheme
C. Captured by Col. Robt E. Lee
D. Tried for treason-hanged
E. Martyrdom in North (Emerson analogy: Christ figure)
F. "John Brown's Body" ditty
IX. Breaking Up is Hard to Do (Except this Time)
A. Democrats split 3 Ways
1. Douglas-No. Democrat
2. South hate Douglas for stance on Lecompton & Supreme Ct.
3. delegates walk-Charleston
4. Baltimore Convention-So. Dems nominate John C. Breckinridge
5. Breckinridge=moderate from KY (extension of slavery + Cuba)
6. Constitutional Union Dems-John Bell of TN
7. above former Whigs & Know-Nothings
B. Republicans
1. William H. Seward-too many enemies
2. "Higher Law" and "Irrepressible Conflict"
3. Lincoln nominated on third ballot
4. non-extension of slavery (free soilers)
5. protective tariff (northern manufacturers)
6. internal improvements
7. free homesteads
C. SC threatens secession if "Baboon" Lincoln wins
D. Lincoln Victory
1. 40% of popular vote ("minority president")
2. 180 e.v. to Breck's 72 to Doug's 12 to Bell's 39
E. December 20, 1860-SC Ordinance of Secession
1. passed in Charleston
2. Unionist James Pettigru quote
F. February 1861-7 states form CSA
1. Montgomery AL capital
2. inaugurate Jefferson Davis of MI
G. Lame Duck Period
1. President Buck does nothing
2. 7 states walk out
3. federal properties seized
4. Lincoln inaugurated March 4, 1861
H. Last-Ditch Effort at Compromise
1. Sen. James Crittenden
2. idea: revive old 36-30 line (extend to CA)
3. Lincoln rejects
I. Southern Viewpoint
1. "All we ask is to be left alone" (Davis)
2. revolutionary spirit of 1776 (Declaration of I.)
3. principle of self-determination
J. Lincoln Viewpoint
1. no constitutional right of secession
2. Union is perpetual and binding
3. southerners in state of rebellion
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Chapter 20 "Girding for War: The North and the South" (1861-1865)
I. The Disunited States of America
A. Lincoln's 1st Inauguration: March 4. 1861
1. 7 southern states departed
2. 8 more states teetering
3. conciliatory yet firm Address
B. Fort Sumter: April 12, 1861
1. 1 of 2 remaining Union forts in South
2. badly needed supplies
3. Lincoln decides to provision (not reinforce)
4. South fired first shots of war
5. Charlestonians cheer
6. Galvanized Northern public opinion
C. Call for Volunteers
1. Lincoln: 75,000
2. Davis: 100,000
3. Lincoln orders blockade of South
D. Upper South Secedes
1. 4 more states join CSA (VA, AR, TN, NC)
2. capital moves to Richmond
E. Importance of Border States
1. slaves states within Union (MO, KY, MD, DE)
2. population + manufacturing abilities
3. Lincoln Quote: "I hope God..."
4. Lincoln plays hardball (martial law-MD)
F. Lincoln's Delicate Position
1. had to declare war NOT for freeing slaves
2. antislavery war unpopular
3. "Butternut Region" (southern OH, IN, IL)
G. War in the West
1. 5 Civilized Tribes go over to CSA
2. some slave owning Indians (Cherokees)
3. few loyal Indians (most of Plains Indians)
H. Brother's War
1. many Union volunteers from Southern states
2. "mountain men" (50,000)
3. loyal slave states (300,000)
4. famous families split (Todd Family of KY)
II. Advantages / Disadvantages of USA and CSA
A. CSA Pluses
1. defensive war
2. no need for absolute victory
3. most talented officers
4. horsemanship/marksmanship/guns
5. esprit de corps ("rebel yell")
B. CSA Minuses
1. scarcity of factories
2. grave shortages of war materiel
3. economy=greatest weakness
4. IRONY: states rights quarrels within
5. Imperious President Davis (inadequate to task)
C. Yankee Pluses
1. economy=greatest strength
2. 75% of nation's wealth
3. 75% of nation's railroads
4. controlled the sea (BLOCKADE)
5. more manpower (No pop. 22 M vs. So. 9 M) [3.5 of 9=slaves]
6. immigrants-raw recruits
7. long-established govt (prestige)
8. "Old Abe" grew/got better
9. Lincoln: patient, humble
D. Yankee Minuses
1. less used to soldiering (at first)
2. ineffective commanders
3. incompetent political officers
III. Who De King Now?
A. South Counting on Foreign Intervention
1. never gonna get it
2. masses of workers in England: pro-Union
3. other sources of cotton (Egypt & India)
4. England had backlog of cotton
B. King Corn and King Wheat
1. bountiful crops (good weather years)
2. British suffer bad harvests
3. America: cheapest & most abundant source
4. granary precious to Britain
C. Some British Pussyfooting with CSA
1. Trent Affair-1861
2. Alabama (sank 64 Union ships)
3. Laird rams selling-revoked
4. Northern retaliation versus Canada (Irish "armies")
D. IR Developments
1. Dominion of Canada-1867
2. French install Maximilian-Mexico-1863-1865 (shot)
IV. Lincoln: Strong Wartime Executive
A. Proclaimed blockade (Congress not in session)
B. Increased size of federal army
C. Directed Chase to advance 2 MILL to private suppliers
D. Suspension of Writ of Habeas Corpus
E. Defied Chief Justice Taney
F. detained 1000s anti-Unionists
G. "Supervised Voting" in border states
V. Draft and Violence
A. First Nationwide Draft Law: Congress-1863
1. Conscription Act
2. substitute system ($300)
B. Anti-Draft Riots in NYC-1863
1. poor and antiblack Irish
2. 4 days of mob violence
C. More than 90% Yankee troops=volunteers
1. inducements to enlist ("Bounties")
2. "Bounty Jumpers"
D. Frequent Deserters
1. all classes
2. 200,000 Yankee runaways
E. CSA Even Worse
1. first to use conscription-April 1862
2. robbed "cradle and grave" (17 to 50)
3. planter class exempt
4. Quote: "Rich man's war..."
VI. Civil War Economics 101
A. North Does Well for Itself
1. New Taxes to Raise Revenue
a. tobacco/alcohol
b. income tax (FIRST)
2. Raise Tariff to Protective Levels
a. Morrill Tariff-1861-raise 5-10%
b. by 1869- avg. rate of 47%
3. Greenbacks
a. $450 million at face value
b. popular yet value fluctuated
4. Borrowing=#1 Money raiser
a. Treasury sells bonds (2.6 BILLION)
b. sold thru private Jay Cooke bank
5. National Banking System-1863
a. banks could join system for special privileges
b. could buy govt bonds
c. could issue sound paper money
d. first step back to unified banking system (since 1836)
e. lasted more than 50 years
B. Poor Confederacy
1. customs duties choked off (blockade)
2. CSA Bonds - 400 M - sold home/abroad
3. Richmond increases taxes
4. 10% levy on produce
5. BUT no heavy taxation (states righters)
6. worthless paper money printed with abandon ($1Billion)
7. CSA dollar-worth 1.6 cents at surrender
8. 9000 % inflation (compared to 80% Union)
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Chapter 21 "The Furnace of Civil War" (1861-1865)
I. The Realities of War: First Battle of Bull Run
A. Green men - little training
B. Northern public "On to Richmond!"
C. Clash-July 21, 1861 (1st land battle)
1. tactically a tie
2. ended with "Great Skedaddle" (union panic)
3. shattered expectations of quick/glorious war
II. The Incomparable, Incompetent General McClellan
A. Brilliant, master organizer ("Young Napoleon")
B. Loved by his troops ("Little Mac")
C. Overcautious/afraid to commit troops in battle
D. Arrogant to Lincoln ("baboon")
E. Peninsular Campaign-spring of 1862
1. costly delays (Yorktown-wooden cannons)
2. send into Shenandoah Valley
3. Jeb Stuart rides around Union Army
4. devastating Lee counterattack (7 Days' Battles)
5. Union failure to take Richmond
G. Union War Goals
1. suffocate CSA by naval blockade
2. liberate slaves (cost masters' $$$)
3. seize Miss. R. (cut CSA in half)
4. chop CSA in pieces (target GA + Carolinas)
5. capture Richmond
6. engage enemy everywhere/wear down his strength
III. Civil War at Sea
A. 3500 miles blockade
1. leaky at first
2. London warned its ships to acknowledge
B. Blockade Runners
1. 700% profits
2. extremely risky
3. swift gray-painted steamers
C. Nassau, Bahamas (British port)
1. rendezvous point
2. fraudulent papers (for "Halifax")
D. Biggest CSA Threat: Ironclads
1. CSS Virginia (former Merrimack)
2. USS Monitor
3. Battle of Hampton Roads, VA-1862
IV. Antietam
A. 1st-Lee smashes Pope at 2nd Bull Run-1862
B. Lee Invades MD
1. "lost orders" (cigar box)
2. Little Mac gets command back
C. Draw Militarily
D. Bloodiest Single Day in Civil War (23,000)
E. Lee Retreats back into VA
F. Lincoln Uses News of this "Victory"
1. issues prelim. Eman. Proc.-Sept. 1862
2. full E.P.-Jan. 1, 1863
G. The E.P. (as I affectionately call it)
1. short-term effects
2. long-term effects
H. Opposition to the EP
1. increases Union desertions
2. former Pres. Pierce criticizes
3. Congressional elections-1862-opponents gain (NY, PA, OH, IL)
4. mixed reaction in Europe
V. Black Soldiers
A. Pre-Civil War History
B. Influence of Frederick Douglass
C. Overall 10% of Union Force by 1865 (180,000)
D. 500 engagements
E. 22 Congressional Medals of Honor
F. Confederate Reaction
1. executed Black POWs until 1864
2. "Fort Pillow" TN massacre-Nathan B. Forrest
G. Confederate Use of its own Blacks
1. slave "labor battalions"
2. not consider for soldiers until 1 month before Appomattox
H. Great Mass of Runaways
1. tens of thousands
2. joined/followed Union Armies: 25,000-Sherman-1864-GA
VI. Gettysburg - Turning Point of the Civil War
A. "High Water Mark of the Confederacy"
B. July 1-3, 1863
C. Lee versus Meade
D. Pickett's Charge-Day 3-disaster
1. Lee's decision to attack Union center-Cemetery Ridge
2. Lee accepts responsibility/offers resignation to Davis
3. Historical controversy/Southern mythology
E. Gettysburg Address
VII. Western Theater of the Civil War
A. Meteoric Rise of Grant
B. Grant's first successes: Forts Henry & Donelson, TN-1862
C. Battle of Shiloh-1862
1. Confederate surprise attack on Grant
2. successful Grant counterattack
3. proves that Western war will be long
D. Union capture of New Orleans-Adm. Farragut-1862
E. Grant's Vicksburg Campaign
1. 8-month siege
2. Southern citizens hold out-eat anything-starve
3. surrender on July 4, 1863 (day after Gettysburg)
4. except for Fort Hudson, Union now controls Miss. R.
G. Chickamauga, GA-Confederate victory (CSA Bragg vs. USA Rosecrans)
H. Grant takes on Chattanooga
1. Missionary Ridge
2. Lookout Mtn. (Battle Above the Clouds)
3. Grant victorious-promoted by Lincoln to general-in-chief
VIII. Sherman That Mean-Ole Devil
A. Steamrollers Atlanta-Sept. 1864
1. "Total Warfare" (civilians)
2. burned city November
B. March to the Sea
1. Atlanta to Savannah GA
2. 250 miles
3. cuts supply lines
4. 60-mile swath of destruction
5. brutal methods-orgy of pillaging
6. Savannah evacuated by Confeds-Sherman's "Christmas Present" for AL
IX. Lincoln's Reelection-1864
A. Right in Middle of War ("Don't Swap Horses...")
B. Lincoln: attacked within Party & without
1. "radical republicans"
a. led by Chase (Sec. Treasury)
b. Joint Comm. of Conduct of the War
2. Northern Democrats
a. "War Democrats"-support Lincoln
b. "Peace Democrats"-against
c. "Copperheads" faction
d. Clement Vallandigham-OH-jailed-exiled to CSA-Canada-returned
C. "Union Party"
1. Republicans plus War Democrats
2. Lincoln plus Johnson (TN)
D. Democrats go with McClellan
E. Heavy Tactics/Union Army furloughs to vote ("Bayonet Vote")
F. Lincoln wins-South loses last best hope for peace
X. End of the Civil War
A. Grant Wears Lee Down-War of Attrition-1864
1. inconclusive Wilderness battle: 1st time Grant v. Lee
2. Cold Harbor: "Bloody Angle"
a. "Grant the Butcher"
b. Grant undeterred
3. Petersburg-Richmond Campaign (June 1864-March 1865)
a. Stalemate at Petersburg-summer 1864
b. "I Propose To Fight It Out..." (Grant)
c. Lee digs in-miles of trenches
d. Battle of the Crater-July 30
e. finally overwhelmed Lee's Lines
f. April 2, 1865: Lee evacuates Petersburg & Richmond
4. Appomattox: Palm Sunday, April 9, 1985
B. Lincoln Assassination
1. Ford's Theater: April 14, 1865 (Good Friday)
2. Lincoln died next day
3. initial Southern glee-misguided
4. Johnson: hot-tempered/impetuous-now President
XI. Aftermath of the Civil War
A. 600,000 deaths (battle and disease)
B. Over 1 Million: Killed or Wounded
C. $15 Billion
D. "Lost Flower": Youth (millions of unborn)
E. Extreme States Rights crushed
F. 4 Million Freedmen-long way to go
G. influence on other democracies (England)
H. "Lost Cause" Mythology (South)
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Chapter 22 "The Ordeal of Reconstruction" (1865-1877)
I. Post-Civil War South - Land of Woes
A. Economic Devastation
1. destroyed cities
2. failed businesses & banks
3. silent factories
4. broken down transportation
5. fields of weeds
B. Whites: Loss of Status
1. planters: loss of $2 Billion (slaves)
2. former Confederate ringleaders
3. imprisoned, released, pardoned (1868)
4. defiant "We Don't Need No Reconstruction"
5. "Lost Cause" and "Damyankees"
C. "Freedmen" ???
1. uneven effect of emancipation
2. variety of responses to emancipation
3. Tens of thousands took to roads
a. 1878-1880: 25,000 from LA,TX,MI to KA
b. "Exodusters"-finally curbed by racist steamboat captains
4. formalized "slave marriages"
5. reuniting families
6. Church = focus of community & Black life
a. churches segregate for 1st time
b. black Baptists: 150,000 to 500,000 (1860-1870)
c. AME: 100,000 to 400,000 (by 1875)
d. gave rise to other benevolent organizations
7. Education
a. great demand
b. short supply of qualified teachers
c. American Missionary Association
D. Freedmen's Bureau
1. Primitive welfare agency-formed March 1865
2. provide clothing, food, medical care, and education
3. General O.O. Howard (white moderate)
4. education = greatest success
a. 200,000 Blacks taught to read
b. multigenerational classes
5. greatest failure: land redistribution
a. mythical "40 acres & a mule"
b. local administrators collaborate with planters
6. President Johnson-against-tries to kill it
7. expires in 1872
II. "The Tailor President": Andrew Johnson
A. Background of poverty & obscurity (NC)
B. Self-made man
C. Early politics (TN)
1. champion of poor whites
2. resents planter aristocrats
3. champion of states' rights AND the Constitution
D. Union Democrat-1864
E. Personal characteristics: hotheaded, stubborn
III. How to Let 'Em Back In the Union?
A. Lincoln: "Ten Percent Plan" (1863)
1. Lincoln's view: Southern states never really left
2. easy threshold - new state govts - purified regime
B. Radical Republicans
1. challenge Lincoln with Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
2. required 50% of state's voters
3. Lincoln pocket-vetoed
C. Johnson's Proclamation-May 28, 1865
1. recognizes many 10% governments
2. disenfranchised leading Confeds (taxable property over $20,000)
3. individuals could petition HIM for pardons
4. special state conventions
5. must ratify 13th Amendment & repudiate CSA debts
D. Many Johnson "10-percent" states pass Black Codes
IV. Former Rebels Misbehave
A. Black Codes (1st-MISS-Nov 1865)
1. ensure stable & subservient labor force
2. binding "labor contracts" & anti-idleness
B. Goal: restore "proper" system of race relations
C. Sharecropping: the new slavery
D. Let's Us Former Rebels Go Back to Congress-Dec. 1865
1. Republicans: shocked and disgusted
2. turned "whitewashed" Rebels out
V. Andrew Johnson Clashes With Radicals in Congress
A. Vetoed extension Freedmen's Bill (overridden): 1866
B. Vetoed new Civil Rights Bill [citizenship rights] (overridden): 1866
C. Radicals formulate the 14th Amendment to secure gains
1. sweeping amendment parts
2. Johnson advises Southern states to reject it
D. Johnson's "Swing `Round the Circle"
1. series of "give-em-hell" speeches - mistake
2. try to influence the Congressional Elections of 1866
3. try to keep control of Reconstruction policies
4. Republicans HELPED by Johnson (win 2/3 majority in both = VETO-PROOF)
E. First Reconstruction Act - 1867
1. carved South into 5 Military Districts
2. Temporary disenfranchisements of 10 of 1000's former Confeds
3. New requirements to re-enter the Union
a. ratify the 14th Amendment
b. guarantee in new state constitutions Black male suffrage
F. 15th Amendment-ratified in 1870 (cemented Black male suffrage)
1. suffragettes appalled (Anthony opposition)
2. no women voters (word "sex" not added)
G. Southern States Prodded Along
1. federal troops occupation "Bayonet Rule"
2. By 1870 - all reorganized govts
3. "Bluebellies" remain until "Redeemers" take over
4. 1877 - last federal muskets removed (Solid South-Democratic-emerges)
VI. Report Card: Reconstruction Governments in South
A. Black men organize
1. "Union League": network of political clubs
2. elect their own
B. Black women organize
1. parades and rallies
2. church meetings
3. monitor constitutional conventions
C. Political milestones
1. 5 states (AL, FL, LA, MS, SC): Negro voters majority
2. other states: Negro-White coalitions = Republican majority
a. "Scalawags"
b. "Carpetbaggers"
3. 14 Black Congressmen, 2 Black Senators (Revels + Bruce)
D. Pass Good Legislation
1. introduce badly needed reforms
2. establish adequate public schools
3. tax systems streamlined
4. public works
5. women receive guaranteed property rights
E. Graft and Corruption: SC and LA
VII. KKK ("Invisible Empire of the South")
A. Tennessee roots - 1866
B. Fed on white resentments & prejudices
C. tomfoolery and terror
D. targets: "uppity" Blacks and carpetbaggers
E. Radicals outraged - pass FORCE ACTS (Ku Klux Klan Acts)-1870/71
F. Wholesale disenfranchisement of Blacks by 1890
1. intimidation, fraud, trickery
2. literacy tests
3. White supremacy leader in SC: Gov. Ben "Pitchfork" Tillman
VIII. Johnson Impeachment - 1868
A. Trumped up charges
B. Tenure of Office Act - 1867 (dubious Constitutional grounds)
1. meant to save Sec. War Stanton (Radical mole)
2. President fires Stanton
C. Sensational trial in Senate Chamber (1000 tickets)
D. Failure to get 2/3's vote (7 Repubs. vote "not guilty")
E. Johnson saved but reduced to figurehead
IX. "Seward's Icebox": Alaska
A. Russians want to unload "frozen asset"
B. Russians want to check British power
C. sell to U.S. for $7.2 million
D. Seward ridiculed (but no one laughs now)
X. Legacy of Reconstruction
A. Not go far enough for Blacks ???
1. Thaddeus Wade's program: radical reforms & protection
2. missed opportunities for millions
B. Southern white racism underestimated
C. Increased Southern hatreds in "New South"
D. Only fleeting benefits to Blacks
1. then left to white Redeemers after 1877
2. disenfranchised by 1890
3. trapped in poverty (sharecropping)
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Chapter 23 "Political Paralysis in the Gilded Age" (1869-1896)
I. Commonalities between GOP and Dem. Parties
A. Pro-Business & Conservative
1. Rejected economic radicalism
2. Opposed socialism
B. About Equal in Strength
1. Republicans generally hold presidency
2. Republicans dominate the Senate
3. Democrats control the HR
4. Neither party control both houses for more than 1 term
C. Bases of Support
1. Republicans: Blacks, Midwest, New England, big business, GAR
2. Democrats: Solid South, Immigrant Vote, Big Cities
D. High Voter Turnout
1. Close to 80% in presidential elections (all-time high)
2. Congressional elections: 60-80% participation
II. Controversial Issues: 1870s and 1880s
A. Monetary Policy
1. Greenbacks
a. $450 million issued by Lincoln Govt.
b. popular with farmers and debtors ("cheap-money" people)
c. unpopular with creditors ("hard-money people")
d. Treasury exchange gold for greenbacks (Hayes 1879)
2. Gold versus Silver
a. official value of Au & Ag fixed at 16:1 (per oz.)
b. market value of silver actually higher
c. until 1873 govt. on bimetal standard
d. U.S. mint stopped coining silver
e. 1873: Congress law establishing Gold Standard
f. 1878: Bland-Allison Act
1. Treas. must purchase $2-$4 million silver per month
2. Treas. must coin silver
3. Did not satisfy pro-silverites
g. 1890: Silver Purchase Act
1. Authorized Treas. to buy & coin 4.5 mill. oz. Ag/month
2. Treas. paid for silver with Treasury notes
3. Treasury Notes redeemable in Au or Ag
4. opened up assault on nation's gold reserve
3. American farmers pro-silver
a. started Populist Party
b. 1896: Democrats support issue with Bryan
B. Graft and Corruption
1. Big Cities: Machine Politics/Boss System
2. Immigrants = Urban constituents in need of services
3. compromise: favors in exchange for "honest graft"
4. mixed legacy
5. Tammany Hall-NYC-Boss William Marcy Tweed
a. 200 Million bilked
b. shut down by NY Times expose' (Thomas Nast)
c. NY attorney Samuel J. Tilden
d. Tweed dies in prison
e. Tammany stayed in business
C. Role of Federal Government
1. Norm in late 19th Cent: small federal govt.
2. No social welfare, no education, no regulation economy
3. Federal Budgets: SURPLUSES!!! (problem: what to do with $)
4. Routine Federal Tasks
a. army fight Plains Indians
b. small diplomatic service
c. navy does coastal patrols (no expansion until 1890s)
5. Weak Conception of Presidency
a. post-Johnson impeachment
b. Congress more dominant
c. President does not develop policy
d. small executive staff
e. oversee federal govt operations
III. Grant Administration (1869-1877)
A. Grant Background
1. Repub. from IL (born in OH)
2. Most popular Northern hero of Civil War
3. greenhorn in political arena (inept)
4. personally honest, yet duped by friends
5. too loyal to crooked cronies he placed in office
6. defeated conservative Dem. Seymour in 1868 ("Bloody Shirt")
7. defeated Liberal Repub. Greeley in 1872 (Dems. support)
8. dabbled with idea of 3rd Term - rebuked by Congress
B. Grant Policies
1. Panic of 1873 (5 Year depression)
a. over speculation in business ventures
b. banks: too many imprudent loans
c. failure of Bank of Jay Cooke & Co. (Phila)
d. Blacks lose $7 M in Freedmen's Savings & Loan
2. Grant vetoes bill to print more paper money (1874)
3. Resumption Act of 1875 (buy back greenbacks start 1879)
4. Treas. begins to accumulate gold
5. Contraction of nation's money supply
6. worsened impact of Panic of 1873
C. Grant Scandals ("Grantism")
1. 1869: Jim Fisk & Jay Gould - corner Gold Market scheme
a. Grant assured that Treas. wouldn't sell its gold (???)
b. Grant's bro-in-law receives $25,000
c. bid up price of gold - "Black Friday" (9-24-1869)
d. drove honest businessmen to wall
e. Treasury forced to sell some gold
f. congressional investigation
g. contributed to Panic of 1873
2. 1867-1868: Credit Mobilier
a. mirror company of Union Pacific
b. overcharge govt. per mile of track
c. 348 percent dividends
d. pay off govt - bribes
e. V.P. Schuyler Colfax linked to
3. 1875: Whiskey Ring
a. Personal secretary Orville Babcock
b. robbed Treas. of millions in excises
c. Grant helped exonerate Babcock (guilty)
4. 1876: Sec. War Belknap – Indian Ring
a. made $24,000 selling govt. trading posts to Indians
b. HR voted to impeach
c. Belknap resigns
IV. Hayes' Administration (1877-1881)
A. Hayes' Background
1. Repub. from OH
2. Officer in Union Army during CW
3. One term in US House
4. 3X Gov. of OH
5. Won disputed Election of 1876
a. Dem. opponent Samuel J. Tilden (pop. vote winner)
b. 3 states disputed e. votes (FL LA SC)
c. Electoral Commission (8 GOP and 7 Dem)
d. Compromise of 1877: Hayes gets disputed votes
e. South gets end of Radical Reconstruction
f. Fed. Govt. abandons the Negro
6. "His Fraudulency" and "Old 8-to-7"
a. pious, Victorian
b. "Lemonade Lucy" Hayes
B. Hayes' Politics
1. Opposed the spoils system (earning hatred of Stalwarts)
2. Endorsed civil service reform
3. Split within GOP
a. personal feud over patronage
b. Senator Roscoe Conkling --- "Stalwarts" (Turkey-Gobbler)
1. opposed withdrawing troops from South
2. wanted to maintain political rights of Southern Blacks
3. supported the spoils system
4. opposed civil service reform
5. supported Grant for 3rd term in 1880
6. later bitterly opposed Hayes and Garfield
c. Rep. James G. Blaine --- "Half-Breeds"
1. supported President Hayes' policies
2. in favor of civil service
3. accused of being "half-hearted" Republicans
5. National RR Strike of 1877
a. started by workers of B&O RR; sympathy strike spread
b. main issue: 10% pay cut
c. Hayes calls in federal troops to suppress strike
6. sound money policies
a. vetoed Bland-Allison Silver Coinage Act (1878)
b. passed over his veto
7. political suicide: Hayes vetoes Chinese Exclusion Act (1879)
8. decides not to run again b/c of Stalwart opposition
V. Garfield Administration (1881)
A. Garfield Background
1. log cabin birth - poverty
2. "Canal Boy" and "Boatman Jim" (OH canal)
3. Repub. from OH
4. Served in Union Army
5. Elected to US HR in 1863
6. Elected to US Senate in 1880
7. Nominated after 36 ballots (dark horse)
6. Defeated Dem. Winfield Scott Hancock in 1880
7. Assassinated by Charles Guiteau - July 1881
a. deranged office seeker - DC train station
b. president lingers for 13 weeks
c. death helps spur civil service reform
VI. Arthur Administration (1881-1885)
A. Arthur Background
1. Repub. born in VT
2. Loved fine clothes and elegant living
3. Assoc. with Conkling NY Machine for 20 years
4. 1878: removed by Hayes as Collector of Port of NY
5. Came to presidency with uncertain reputation
6. Surprised everyone by backing reform
7. offended too many in own party---disowned by GOP
B. Arthur's Policies
1. supported increased pensions for vets of Union Army
a. $27 Million (1878) to $66 Million (1883)
b. supported by GAR
c. popular way to dispose of fed. surplus
2. vetoed corrupt rivers-and-harbors bill (broke w/ Conkling)
3. Prosecuted members of GOP for defrauding govt.
4. Supported Civil Service Reform
a. signed Pendleton Act (1883)
b. created Civil Service Commission
c. 3-member panel appointed by President
d. started competitive exams
e. covered only 10% of fed. jobs initially
f. president could extend merit system to other jobs
g. forbade solicitation of campaign $ by fed. employees
VII. Cleveland's First Administration (1885-1889)
A. Cleveland Background
1. Dem. born in NJ
2. Reform mayor of Buffalo
3. Reform Gov. of NY - fought NYC Tammany Hall
4. "Grover the Good" & "Honest Ugly"
5. Campaign of 1884
a. Blaine vs. Cleveland
b. Anti-Blaine Repubs- "Mugwumps" - support Cleveland
c. Questions about Blaine's honesty
d. Questions over Cleveland paternity of illegit. child
6. First Democrat elected Pres. in 28 years (since 1856)
7. bulldozer mentality/leadership style/doer (non-compromising)
B. Cleveland Policies
1. Replace GOP officeholders with Dems
2. Named 2 Confeds. to cabinet
3. Appointed Southerners to many positions
4. Active presidency
a. vetoes many pork-barrel bills
b. vetoes private pensions (unpopular)
c. expands # of civil service jobs
5. Generally Conservative and Pro-Business
a. vetoed bill to provide seeds for TX drought farmers
b. "...The govt. should not support the people" Quote
c. did sign weak Interstate Commerce Act of 1887
1. purpose: regulate abusive RR rates
2. little enforcement power initially
d. apostle of laissez-faire
6. signed controversial Dawes Severalty Act - 1887
a. goal: dissolve tribal affiliations/councils
b. turn Red Man into private landowner
7. Lower the Tariff
a. appealed to Congress to cut rates
b. gave Republicans an easy issue for 1888
c. made industrialists nervous - gave $3 Million to GOP
VIII. Election of 1888
A. Benjamin Harrison-Repub. from OH
a. grandson of WHH known as "Young Tippecanoe"
b. "Little Ben"
c. tariff issue played into his hands
d. Sir Sackfield-West diplomat letter issued helped GOP
B. "Old Grover" voted out
a. 1st sitting president to lose since 1840 (Van Ruin)
b. don't feel too sorry for him though (Hint Hint)
IX. Benjamin Harrison Administration (1889-1893)
A. Took oath in 1889
B. Republicans back with vengeance
1. Blaine: Sec. of State
2. Young TR: Civil Service Commission
C. Narrow G.O.P. lead in HR: barely enough sustain quorum
D. Argument over Quorum - Speaker "Czar" Reed
E. 51st Congress - "Billion-Dollar Congress"
1. disposal of surplus - Pension Act of 1890
2. pensioners: 676,000 to 970,000 (1891-1895)
3. allegiance of G.A.R.
4. Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890)
a. compromise between West & East
b. West got 4.5 Million oz. of silver bought monthly
c. certificates redeemable in Au or Ag (DUH!!!)
d. "Gold Bug" East held its nose in exchange for
5. McKinley Tariff of 1890 (48.4%) - HIGH
a. caused eastern manufacturers to raise prices
b. hurt the Midwest
c. mvmt against McKinley
d. 1890 Midterm Elections: G.O.P. control reduced HR
X. Populist Challenge in Election of 1892
A. G.O.P. renominates "Cold-Fish Harrison"
B. Dems go with former president Cleveland
C. Populists go with old greenbacker Gen. Weaver
D. Populist Platform demands
E. Epidemic of Nationwide Strikes
1. Homestead Strike, 1892 (near Pittsburgh)
2. Silver miners, 1892 (Coeur d'Alene, ID)
F. Pops make RESPECTABLE showing (22 e.v.)
G. Problems for the Populists
1. Industrial laborers-urban East
2. racist white Southerners ("Bourbon elite")
3. against leader Thomas Watson (GA-interracial appeals)
H. Southern blacks heavy losers
1. extinction of suffrage
2. literacy tests & poll taxes
3. "Grandfather clauses"
4. severe "Jim Crow" laws
5. even Tom Watson turned into racist
XI. "Honest Ugly" Part II. (Cleveland's 2nd Term: 1893-1897)
A. OH CRAP - DEPRESSION OF 1893
1. Worst depression in 19th Century
2. lasted 4 years (woe to Cleveland)
B. Causes
1. spurge of overbuilding & over speculation (cause)
2. labor disorders
3. agri. depression
4. free-silver agitation (damaged U.S. credit overseas)
C. Gold Reserves being drained
1. dropped below $100 million
2. cause: Sherman Silver Purchase Act
3. Grover gets repeal in extra session (1893)
D. Grover's secret cancer surgery
E. Gold still dropping - down to $41 million (Feb 1894)
F. Grover's Loan Deal with J.P. Morgan
1. J.P. loans fed. govt $65 million in gold
2. charged $7 million commission
3. stabilized Treasury reserves
4. BUT VERY UNPOPULAR
G. Coxey's Army-1894-unemployed 500-arrested
H. Cleveland Breaks the Pullman Strike (1894)
1. 1st use of legal tool (injunction)
2. Eugene Debs arrested (6 months jail term)
3. organized labor sours on Cleveland
I. Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act of 1894
1. reduced rates to 41.3%
2. 630 amendments
3. becomes law without Grover's Signature
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Chapter 24 "Industry Comes of Age" (1865-1900)
I. Importance of Railroads
A. Massive Increase of RR construction
1. 1865: 35,000 mi
2. 1900: 192,556 mi.
B. Role of Federal Government
1. transcontinental RRs too expensive for private
2. Congress advanced loans
3. created two favored cross-continent companies
4. HUGE gifts of Western lands to RRs (156 M acres land)
5. checkered alternating pattern land grants
C. RRs cash in
1. sell some extra land for $3 acre
2. charged govt. per mile of track laid (sliding scale/gradient)
3. towns sprouted up along tracks
4. CORRUPTION - overcharging govt.
a. Credit Mobilier (pocketed 75 M for 50 M construction)
b. bribed govt officials
D. Union Pacific RR
1. Built by Irish "Paddies"
2. Omaha, NB westward
3. 1086 miles track
E. Central Pacific
1. Sacramento, CA eastward
2. Built by Chinese "Coolies"
3. 689 miles (had to cross Sierra Nevada)
4. "Big Four" Financiers (Leland Stanford & Collin Huntington)
F. "Wedding"-1869-Ogden, UT
G. Other RRs
1. Northern Pacific: Lake Superior to Puget Sound (1883)
2. Atchison, Topeka & Sante Fe: SW deserts to CA (1884)
3. Southern Pacific: New Orleans to San Fran (1884)
4. Great Northern: Duluth MN to Seattle (1893)
a. did not receive generous lands like others
b. promoter James J. Hill
H. Consolidator "Commodore" Vanderbilt-NYC & older eastern lines
1. replaced iron rails with steel
2. standard gauge of track (4'8.5")
3. Westinghouse air brake-1870s
4. Pullman Palace Cars
I. Economic Revolution
J. Bad Stuff
1. "Stock watering" (stock price manipulation)
2. Bribery govt. officials
3. Combinations/"Pools"
4. Secret rebates (kickbacks)
5. overcharging farmers for short hauls
K. Populists Complain and Organize
1. The Grange - Oliver Kelly (Patrons of Husbandry)
2. Granger Laws - state efforts to curb abuses of RRs
3. Supreme Court setback: Wabash case (1886)
4. Congress passes the INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT (1887)
a. set up the ICC
b. made RRs publish rates
c. weak enforcement power
d. FIRST ATTEMPT BY D.C. TO REGULATE BUSINESS
II. Other Industrial Side Effects
A. Millionaires (immense fortunes - no income tax!)
B. Harnessing of Resources (Mesabi Range-Lake Superior MN)
C. Massive influx of immigrants
D. Wave of inventions (440,000 patents 1860-1890)
1. Bell-telephone (1876)
2. Edison-electric light (1879) [6000 filaments tried]
E. Business Consolidation
1. Vertical Organization: Carnegie Steel
2. Horizontal Organization: Rockefeller's Standard Oil
a. perfected the "trust" (smaller firms assign stock to big co.)
b. forced out weaker competitors
c. "American Beauty Rose" // "Reckafellow"
3. Interlocking Directories: J.P. Morgan
F. Tycoons / Plutocrats / Robber Barons / Captains of Industry / Pirates
1. Carnegie: steel
2. Morgan: money itself (banking); consolidated steel industry
3. Rockefeller: oil
G. Background of each man above
H. Background of each industry
I. Justification of Ruthlessness
1. Godliness = riches ("gospel of wealth")
2. "The good Lord gave me my money." (Rockefeller)
3. Carnegie-"Gospel of Wealth": money for public good (philanthropy)
4. Social Darwinism
5. "Deserving Poor" vs. "Undeserving Poor"
6. "Ragged Dick" Horatio Alger mythology
J. More Industrial Tricks
1. use 14th Amendment (corporations as legal "persons")
2. incorporate in easy states (NJ)
K. Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890
1. no combinations allowed that restrain TRADE
2. bigness, not badness, the sin
3. ineffective initially
4. irony: used to curb labor unions (combinations) more
than bad trusts
L. "New South" Boosterism: Henry Grady-Atlanta Constitution
1. Northern roadblocks to South getting industry
2. Birmingham Steel-hindered by lords of Pittsburgh & RRs
3. Textiles-mixed blessing
a. pulled from Appalachia (cheap white labor)
b. "lint-heads" lifestyle
M. Changing Role of Women
1. "Hello Girls" ("number please")-switchboards
2. new jobs
3. "Gibson Girl" (model for middle-class women)-1890s
N. Demise of Jeffersonian Ideals
1. permanent class of factory workers (unskilled)
2. nation of farmers to nation of wage earners
3. 1860: 50% Americans self-employed
4. 1900: 67% depend on wages
III. Unions and Struggle for Economic Justice
A. Plight of Mass of Toilers in America
1. horrible pay ($1 a day average)
2. norm: 10-15 hour workdays/6 days a week
3. unsafe working conditions
4. child labor
5. at mercy of big corporations
a. "lockouts"
b. "scabs"
c. "yellow dog contracts"
d. indebtedness to "company stores" credit
B. NLU-1866
1. 600,000
2. skilled, unskilled, farmers
3. excluded Chinese
4. few efforts for Blacks and women
5. goal: 8-hour workday (achieved for federal employees only)
6. knocked out by 1870s depression
C. K of L-1869
1. "one big union" (all workers)
2. regardless of skill level, gender, or race
3. refused to get involved in politics
4. goal: 8-hour workday
5. favored arbitration over warfare
6. Terence Powderly leadership
7. won many strikes for 8-hours
8. knocked out by Haymarket Square Riots-1886-Chicago IL
a. dynamite bomb-killed/injured a dozen
b. blamed on 8 anarchists (5 executed)
c. Gov. John P. Altgeld (Dem-IL) pardons last 3 (1892)
9. skilled unionists broke away
D. AF of L-1886
1. Samuel Gompers (cigar maker)
2. elitist
3. federation of local guilds
4. shunned politics & socialists
5. goals: trade agreements & "closed shop" (all-union labor)
6. weapons: walkout and boycott
7. only successful union by 1900