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The Gilded Age. Mark Twain elegantly stated…. “Get rich; dishonestly if we can, honestly if we must.”. Corruption in Politics vocabulary. Political machines – powerful organizations that influenced city and county politics in the late 1800’s. Exchanged money and jobs for working-class votes
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Mark Twain elegantly stated… “Get rich; dishonestly if we can, honestly if we must.”
Corruption in Politics vocabulary • Political machines – powerful organizations that influenced city and county politics in the late 1800’s. • Exchanged money and jobs for working-class votes • Bosses – powerful leaders who ran the political machines
James Bryce stated… “[He] rewards the loyal, punishes the mutinous [disloyal]… [and] negotiates treaties. He generally avoids publicity… and is all the more dangerous because he sits, like a spider, hidden in the midst of his web.”
Tammany Hall and other corruption… • William Marcy Tweed – Boss of Tammany Hall who was arrested [and later convicted] of stealingup to $200 million from the Boston City Treasury. • Ulysses Grant and the Whiskey Ring • Congress, the Union Pacific Railroad, and the Credit Mobilier of America
Gilded Age Presidents • Rutherford B. Hayes • James A. Garfield (assassinated) • Chester A. Arthur • Grover Cleveland (elected in 1884 and 1892) • Benjamin Harrison • William McKinley (assassinated)
Election of 1892 • Harrison loses the popular vote in 1888 to Grover Cleveland, but still becomes president… how??? • Harrison controls inflation and helps to pass the Sherman Antitrust Act • In 1892, Cleveland runs again, beating now incumbent president Benjamin Harrison
Civil Service Reform • Reaction to the corruption of the corruption of the Gilded Age • Pendleton Civil Service Act – law that creates a merit system for government employees • Today affects more than 90% of government jobs • http://www.scsc.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/civil_service_home/9164