The Gilded Age
By: Kyle Zatyko
What is the gilded age?
Definition of gilded- covered thinly with gold leaf or gold paint.
How the beginning was granted.
Republican: Grant
- Famous due to the war
- Did not have previous government experience
- Campaigned with the slogan "let us have peace"
- Bloody Shirt-reminding the public of the war that Grant won, "vote as you shot"
Democrat: Horatio Seymour
- Democrat party was divided sectionally
- Former governor of New York
- Poor mid-westerners introduced the "Ohio Idea", the focus on greenback money
The ugly stone: Corruption
Examples of Thomas Nast's work.
More Stones
Union Pacific Railroad- When tasked by the government to build more railroads Union Pacific Railroad created a sister company Credit Mobilier and hired that sister company to make the railroads for them at hugely inflated prices, garnering more money for the company at the expense of tax payers. Government officials were found to have been bribed to keep quiet about the pilfering when the scheme was revealed.
Compromise of 1877
Republican candidate: Rutherford B. Hayes
Democrat candidate: Samuel J. Tilden
The election was a complete mess. Three states, Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana sent 2 sets of ballots each with separate results. Furthermore the election depended on these 3 states votes because Tilden won the popular vote but was one elector vote from being declared the winner.
It was up to congress to decide the course of action. They devised a committee comprised of senators, representatives, and supreme court justices to 'work it out'. Hayes was declared the winner of all 3 states, giving him the presidency, however, it was under the condition that the US military would remove its troops from Louisiana and South Carolina. This decision marked the end of reconstruction and the end of the Republican party's focus on civil rights.