Whig Platform
- Up until the civil war
-Public spending and federal control of the economy
-president lincoln and the republicans in congress
-Legislation that was put into place during the civil war
-One thing that was put into place was the National Bank which managed federal debt and set interest rates
-worked against farmers and for industry build up
The Great Barbecue
-period between the civil war and the panic of 1873
-a time of public spending in state, federal and local infrastructure projects
-an example of new infrastructure is the transcontinental railroad
-called the great barbecue for all the public spending
-an upswing in the economy that would lead to the panic of 1873
-must waste and corruption was a part of the great barbecue
13th, 14th, and 15th amendments
-Reconstruction--Era Amendments that abolished slavery
and protected citizenship rights
-13th abolished slavery
-14th and 15th protected civil rights
-no state could deny equal treatment to any persons
-congress had the power to enforce through appropriate legislation
Presidential Reconstruction
-1865-1866
-President Johnson made all decisions and set the policy
-Allowed full amnesty to the former Confederates
-restored slavery with the black codes
-caused the north to run against the south again since they believed they won the war to free slaves
Congressional/Military/Radical Reconstruction
-1867-1877
-The period after Military reconstruction when Congress ordered the US Army to occupy the South again.
-dividing the south into 5 military districts, putting a northern (Republican) general in charge
- all seven southern states were forced to leave the union again
-Punishing the south and making them ratify the 14th amendment
- this created a southern wing of the Republican Party and the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan and Rifle Clubs
-1866-1870s
-Represented the white south and white supremacy
-most landholders, preachers, judges, journalists
-the extra legal and military arm of the out of power democrats
-terrorized republicans and black citizens until the end of Reconstruction
-helped to lead the state once the democrats returned to power
Ku Klux and Enforcement Acts
-gave congress and the president the authority to prosecute the KKK terror in the south
-Committees sent to the south to investigate, indict, and prosecute Klan terrorists
-justice was not served
-Acts did eliminate the reconstruction era KKK
-exposure and threat of prosecution forced the Klan out of business
Redeemer Democrats
-1870s-1960s
-along with their northen political allies these were the real beneficiaries of the Civil War
-these were the night riders of the KKK
-they returned to power at city hall, the state house, and Congress between 1870-1877
-this gave way to the solid south as they all voted the same
-the redeemers held power under many different names until the late 1960s
Grant Scandals
-During president Ulyssess S. Grant,1872-1879
-government corruption by White House appointees and members of Congress
-scandals such as the tax-free whiskey aka Whiskey Ring
-turned voters against the Grant administration
-called for reform turning Americans against Reconstruction
Liberal Republicans
-1872-1874
-allies of the southern Democrats-redeemers
-opposed corruption, the Grant administration, and Reconstruction in particular
-advocated civil service reform to reduce waste of patronage
-wanted political officials to be in office for merit and skill not for who they knew
Panic of 1873
-results of non-stop economic expansion since civil war
-too much spending lead to overproduction, and ruinous competition
-loan failure, production slow down, unemployment, bank panic, and Depression occur
-making the Grant Administration less and less popular
-Redemption ended reconstruction helping the Democrats into congress
Hard money/soft money
-hard money is backed by gold
-government only printed as much paper money as was backed by gold
-soft money was not backed by anything
-greenbacks became useless ( which is what was used to pay for the civil war)
-inflation developed, no banks or capital(money) exsisted
-rich were for hard money and poor for soft money
-despite the free silver movement the Gold standard remained from the Gilded Age to 1933
Compromise of 1877
-settled the contested Presidential election of 1876 and ended Reconstruction
-pulled federal troops out of the south
-Republicans promised that all federal spending would be distributed through the hands of Southern Democrats
-Republicans did this in favor of national reconciliation
-Compromise of 1877 meant a return to Home Rule and race terror in the South, and Democrats were appointed to every federal post in the south
Sharecropping and the Crop Lien
-freepersons negotiated with their former masters for a plot of land and a shack-working the same crops and planation's they had before slavery
-taxes on land increased, white farmers, debtors and Confederate veterans lost their property and went to work as tenants for landlords and banks.
-rural southerners of ANY race become debt peons-modern day slavery
-the crop lien was a system after --->Redemption granting all power over future crop to the landlord
-always cotton and they had no say even if they could read and write
The "New" South
-after the compromise of 1877, the Redeemers promoted the south to outside investors
-instead of rebuilding the region the Democrats became wealthy while the region only grew poorer
-Boosters sold the south to northern capitalists promising abundant natural resources, cheap land, cheaper labor, tax breaks, and no unions
-no progress for the south until at least World War 2
-the New South period drained the region and building no jobs, public services, schools, libraries or technical colleges
Plessy v. Ferguson
-1896
-The Supreme Court decision that mandated segregation constitutional and opened the door to Jim Crow
-Louisiana
-law that mandated segregation
-Plessey boards white rail car, he's not recognized as white, jailed
The Tariff
-tax on foreign goods imported into the US
-factory owners and industrialists needed the tax to protect against cheap foreign goods
-Louisiana sugarcane planters wanted the tax to protect from Caribbean sugar
-farmers opposed it bc they paid high prices on manufactured goods but had no say on how much their crop was worth
-1860s Wilson Admin. tariff remained high
**People's Party
-1892-1896
-most successful third party in American history
-they wanted income tax and prohibition
-this joined together race lines to get away from sharecropping
-very successful at taking over some state legislatures
**Disenfranchisement
-1890-1900
-poll tax meant you had to pay to vote and you had to have paid in previous years
-you must prove literacy or that you could read
-You could vote if your grandfather voted
-allowed southern redeemers to rule in the nation as the solid south
Railroads
-1830s to present
-The first American corporations and the first big business
-created a national market bringing the west into commerce
-depended on the government land, loans, and grants
-also depended on public trading
Corporate form
- a new system of legal conditions that created the structure of the modern economy
-Pioneered in 1870s in US (new jersey)
-laws authorized a business entity define as "the corporation " to legally function as a fictional person
-separated the functions of ownership and management
-freed investors of debt or liability
John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil
-beginning in the 1870s proved to be a pioneer in the new business organization
-first he bought into the petroleum industry
-Rockefeller also began to acquire oil fields, pipelines and refineries
-Standard oil's largest take over came from takeovers and mergers
Corporate liberals
-people employed by new corporations
-modern middle class
-secure in their own salaries but promoted big business and progress
-advocated various types of reform
-founded the first professional associations
such as the American bar association
working class
-emerged in the Gilded Age on a mass scale
-people became wage slaves-long hours, severe conditions
-few had any financial cushion
-no public welfare
-if they didn't want to work someone else did
Great Railway Strike
-1877
-Pennsylvania railroad imposed a random 10% wage cut
-tens of thousands left their jobs in protest
-thousands were stranded, cargo was stalled and business was hurt
-more than 100 were killed