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