Chapter 23
Sydney Land
"Gilded"
When something is "gilded" is id coated in gold. This usually said when cheap material is dyed gold to make it seem more valuable even though it is extremely cheap. The way that Mark Twain said it when describing the "Gilded Era" is implying that on the outside, the country seemed extremely wealthy and all positive, however, on the inside there were real problems within the cities and the infrastructure of the nation.
Grant Election and "Bloody Shirt Campaign"
Grant
- nominated as the Republican candidate for 1868 election
- replaced Johnson
Corruption of the Nation
Although the country seemed to be at a great stage of history, in reality, corruption of leaders had flooded New York. William Tweed, a local politician of New York had discovered a new strategy to win the votes of new immigrants. Tweed claimed that, when he won the election, he would spend a significant amount of attention on the wellbeing of the immigrants. However, Tweed was brought down by Thomas Nast, a journalist for the New York Times, who wrote a series of political cartoons to educate the immigrants how Tweed was using them and was actually not helping them as much as he could or should have.
Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877 was an unwritten agreement that settled the controversial previous election as well as ended reconstruction in the South. The compromise ensured that Hayes would become the next president. It stabilized the previous tensions with the South since they were the ones to give into the compromise and accept the northern candidate.