{"id":1566,"date":"2021-07-09T06:05:53","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T06:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/?post_type=chapter&p=1566"},"modified":"2022-05-17T16:38:02","modified_gmt":"2022-05-17T16:38:02","slug":"introduction-to-the-corruption-in-the-gilded-age","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/chapter\/introduction-to-the-corruption-in-the-gilded-age\/","title":{"raw":"Introduction to the Corruption in the Gilded Age","rendered":"Introduction to the Corruption in the Gilded Age"},"content":{"raw":"

What you'll learn to do: describe the\u00a0complicated\u00a0culture of political participation\u00a0associated with the Gilded Age<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_6910\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1024\"]\"8<\/a> Figure 1.<\/strong> A drawing of the Cabinet[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIn the years following the Civil War, American politics were disjointed, corrupt, and, at the federal level, largely ineffective in terms of addressing the challenges that Americans faced. Bosses of city and state political machines\u00a0dominated through systematic graft and bribery. Americans around the country recognized that solutions to the mounting problems they faced would not come from Washington, DC, but from\u00a0more local institutions such as churches, labor unions, and farmers' organizations. Thus, the cycle of federal ineffectiveness and machine politics continued through the remainder of the century relatively unabated.\r\n

In these circumstances, many Americans wished to move on from the lingering challenges of the Civil War's aftermath.\u00a0To resolve the contested election of 1876,\u00a0an electoral commission declared Rutherford B. Hayes the winner in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida. As a result, Southern Democrats were able to reestablish control over their home governments, which would have a tremendous impact on the direction of southern politics and society in the decades to come.\u00a0Here, corruption melded with violence, intimidation, and law to create the Jim Crow system of racial hierarchy in the South. Even as it grew more unequal, the South made strides in urbanizing and modernizing during this period.<\/p>\r\nAll told, from 1872 through 1892, Gilded Age politics\u00a0could be\u00a0unresponsive to the needs and desires of many American citizens, particularly those of modest means.\u00a0Very few measures offered direct assistance to Americans who continued to struggle with the transformation into an industrial society; the inefficiency of a patronage-driven federal government, combined with a growing laissez-faire attitude among the American public, made the passage of effective legislation difficult. Some policies, such as the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, attempted reform and\u00a0relief but remained largely ineffective.\r\n\r\nYet the so-called Gilded Age was not entirely the dark period of American politics that earlier historians have suggested. The public eagerly engaged in politics and voted in record numbers, while political machines could offer avenues of influence and power to ambitious men from modest backgrounds.","rendered":"

What you’ll learn to do: describe the\u00a0complicated\u00a0culture of political participation\u00a0associated with the Gilded Age<\/h2>\n
\"8<\/a><\/p>\n

Figure 1.<\/strong> A drawing of the Cabinet<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In the years following the Civil War, American politics were disjointed, corrupt, and, at the federal level, largely ineffective in terms of addressing the challenges that Americans faced. Bosses of city and state political machines\u00a0dominated through systematic graft and bribery. Americans around the country recognized that solutions to the mounting problems they faced would not come from Washington, DC, but from\u00a0more local institutions such as churches, labor unions, and farmers’ organizations. Thus, the cycle of federal ineffectiveness and machine politics continued through the remainder of the century relatively unabated.<\/p>\n

In these circumstances, many Americans wished to move on from the lingering challenges of the Civil War’s aftermath.\u00a0To resolve the contested election of 1876,\u00a0an electoral commission declared Rutherford B. Hayes the winner in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida. As a result, Southern Democrats were able to reestablish control over their home governments, which would have a tremendous impact on the direction of southern politics and society in the decades to come.\u00a0Here, corruption melded with violence, intimidation, and law to create the Jim Crow system of racial hierarchy in the South. Even as it grew more unequal, the South made strides in urbanizing and modernizing during this period.<\/p>\n

All told, from 1872 through 1892, Gilded Age politics\u00a0could be\u00a0unresponsive to the needs and desires of many American citizens, particularly those of modest means.\u00a0Very few measures offered direct assistance to Americans who continued to struggle with the transformation into an industrial society; the inefficiency of a patronage-driven federal government, combined with a growing laissez-faire attitude among the American public, made the passage of effective legislation difficult. Some policies, such as the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, attempted reform and\u00a0relief but remained largely ineffective.<\/p>\n

Yet the so-called Gilded Age was not entirely the dark period of American politics that earlier historians have suggested. The public eagerly engaged in politics and voted in record numbers, while political machines could offer avenues of influence and power to ambitious men from modest backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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CC licensed content, Original<\/div>