HIST 221 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Gilded Age, Populism, William Jennings Bryan
19 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Reading analysis
Compare and contrast
Identify a central point of comparison that is interesting and construct a
specific argument
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Bring in other materials from our course
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Think about paraphrasing vs. citation
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Clear and concise thesis that is backed up by evidence and examples*
Have an introduction - argument should appear in the first couple
sentences
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# of paragraphs depends on structure
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Gilded Age Politics
Major issues at national level
Economic policy
Currency
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Tariffs
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Immigrations
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Major issues at local levels
Social services, infastructure, jobs
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2 parties
Republican: nationalism, prosperity, activist federal government
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Democrat: personal liberties, resistance to federal authority
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Stalemate and equilibrium
No president receive majority population vote
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Very high voter participation rates
80% of eligible Northerners vote in 1880
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Politics was the biggest participatory and spectator sport of the Gilded Age
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Growing government powers/authority
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Wide-scale attempts to redistribute money and power
"Urban machines"
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Third parties
Populism
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Socialism
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"Machine Politics"
Feature of industrialized US cities beginning in the mid 19th century
Distributed resources and services to the people who voted for them
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Expected "blind eye"
No matter how much corruption there was, as long as you get
something for us you will turn a blind eye and overlook whatever
we are doing and still vote for us
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Importance of immigrants
Courts could decide who could become citizens and who couldn’t
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Needed to be white and have good moral standing
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Example: NYC's Tammany Hall - Democratic Party
Pyramid structure, but fostered personal contact
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Areas of power: courts, jails, infastructure, also "higher ups" in state and
federal politics
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Money is being made fixing roads and building bridges and subways at
this time
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Gangs of New York
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Graft and Corruption
Boss Tweed and Tweed Ring (1860s-1871)
65% kickbacks in city works
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Gangs
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Populism
Southern and Western political movement started by farmers
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Formed in response to perceived corruption of America by industry and finance
Mad at railroads for making so much money
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Felt like victims of the world market beyond their control
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Populism Timeline
Post Civil War - Patrons of Husbandry (Grange movement)
Farmers' cooperatives, small local victories (railroad fees)
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1887: Interstate Commerce Commission
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Farmers' Alliances became state organizations, then fused into Northern and
Southern blocks in 1880s
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Emerged as the Populist Party (also called People's Party) in 1890s
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1890 - Populists rise to power in a dozen Southern and Western States
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Emergence as a third party in 1892
Founding document of the party is the Omaha platform
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Populism's Goals and Tactics
Activist government and corporate and economic restructuring
Want free silver, loosening of the currency supply
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Monetary policy
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Utilities and transportation (especially railroads)
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Subtreasuries meant freer government loans for farmers
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Schools
Especially universities and people to go to school and the
government to pay for it
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More transparent political processes (referendum)
People to be more engaged in the political process
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Graduated income tax
Rich people pay money to government and it gets distributed to pay
for these services
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Some immigration restrictions
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Pro-labour unions and strikes
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Community-centric, allowed widespread participation
Women and women suffrage in the West
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Attempts to bridge regional and urban rural divides
Some cooperation with Knights of Labour
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Representation by Northerners and Southerners
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African Americans
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Limits:
Af-Am?
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Asian exclusion
Do not challenge the racial underpinnings in immigration
policy
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Populism is wildly disparaged because women were seen as populist witches
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William Jennings Bryan
Became Presidential candidate for Populist and Democratic Party in Election of
1896
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Eloquent orator, "Cross of Gold"
Bringing together farmers and industrial labourers
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Lecture 8 -Political Alternatives
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
9:36 AM
