Gilded Age
By Coleman Loose
What it is
Gilded - covered thinly with gold leaf or gold paint
The term "gilded" is appropriate for this era because when Mark Twain coined the term "Gilded Age", he meant that on the surface, society was sparkling, but underneath it was corrupted with greed and guile
Election of Grant and the "Bloody Shirt" Campaign
"Waving the bloody shirt" refers to a technique used during post-Civil War campaigns. Politicians get votes by recalling the hardships of the war. Republican Ulysses S. Grant employed this tactic in his 1868 presidential campaign win against Democrat Horatio Seymour, in which Grant narrowly won the popular vote but smothered Seymour in the Electoral College.
Corruption
Grant
- Ulysses S. Grant was a Great War hero, however, he was unfit to be President of the United States. He relied heavily on shady politicians and business for advice, and much of his administration was involved in the Credit Mobilier Scandal
Boss Tweed and Thomas Nast
- William "Boss" Tweed was the leader of the Tweed Ring, which openly rigged votes, encouraged judicial corruption, and embezzled New York City funds until being exposed by Harper's Weekly political cartoonist Thomas Nast
Compromse of 1877
- Democrats agreed not to block Rutherford Hayes victory in the election of 1876 as long as the Republicans withdrew troops from the South
- As a result, Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana became Democratic once again
- Marked the end of the Reconstruction era