Presidents of the Gilded Age (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes

Presidents of the Gilded Age

Overview: presidential weakness in the Gilded Age

Between 1877 and 1890, the United States was governed by four presidents—Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, and Grover Cleveland—whose limited achievements contributed to the characterisation of this era as politically stagnant. Contemporary historian Henry Adams described politics in the Gilded Age as "poor in purpose and barren in results", arguing that a thorough examination of Congressional records from this period would reveal little beyond "damaged reputations". This harsh verdict reflected a broader impression that politics had become stagnant due to the succession of conservative presidents who viewed themselves primarily as administrators rather than party leaders.

Hayes, 1877–81

Civil service reform

Hayes assumed the presidency determined to reform the civil service appointments system, which had operated on the spoils system since Andrew Jackson's presidency. The spoils system rewarded party loyalty rather than administrative competence in selecting officeholders. By the 1870s, the federal civil service had become staffed by incompetent and demoralised party appointees who owed their positions to political connections rather than merit.

Hayes faced opposition from a powerful faction within his own Republican Party led by Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York, known as the Stalwarts. Rather than awarding federal positions to political supporters, Hayes wished to establish a merit-based system where appointments reflected an examination of all applicants' abilities. This commitment immediately brought him into conflict with those who benefited from the existing patronage system, particularly Conkling, who fought Hayes's reform efforts consistently.

To demonstrate his seriousness about reform, Hayes appointed respected advocates Carl Schurz and William M. Evarts, his Secretary of State, to lead a special cabinet committee. This committee was charged with drafting new rules for federal appointments based on merit rather than party service. Although Hayes could not persuade Congress to pass legislation formally abolishing the spoils system, he issued an executive order forbidding federal officeholders from being required to make financial contributions to party politics or otherwise engage in party activities.

Railroad strike of 1877

In his first year in office, Hayes confronted the United States' largest labour disturbance to that date: the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. Following the financial panic of 1873, major railroad companies had suffered substantial losses and responded by cutting their employees' wages repeatedly throughout 1877. These wage reductions triggered a widespread strike by railway workers that threatened to disrupt the nation's transportation infrastructure.

Hayes demonstrated his willingness to send federal troops to suppress the strike when requested by several state governors, including those of New York and Baltimore, who feared potential riots. Business leaders praised Hayes's support, which appeared to establish a principle of federal government backing for business and industry when faced with labour unrest. This intervention marked an important precedent for the relationship between federal authority and industrial disputes during the Gilded Age.

Rutherford Hayes (1822–93)

Hayes was born in 1822 in Ohio and received his education at Kenyon College and Harvard Law School. After five years practising law in Lower Sandusky, he relocated to Cincinnati, where he established himself as a successful Whig lawyer. During the Civil War, Hayes fought with distinction, was wounded in action, and rose to the rank of major general. Whilst still serving in the Army, Cincinnati Republicans nominated him for the House of Representatives. Hayes accepted the nomination but characteristically refused to campaign actively, declaring that an officer fit for duty who abandoned his post at such a moment ought to be scalped. Despite this unusual approach, he was elected by a heavy majority and entered Congress in December 1865.

Hayes served in the House between 1867 and 1876 and was elected three times as Governor of Ohio. He declined to seek re-election in 1881 and retired from politics, dying twelve years later.

Garfield, 1881

A brief presidency

James A. Garfield was a self-taught scholar who nevertheless found the demands of presidential office overwhelming. After just one month in the White House, he reportedly exclaimed, "My God! What is this place that a man should ever want to get in it?" His presidency would last only a matter of months before his assassination cut short any opportunity to establish a substantial record.

Despite this brief tenure, Garfield continued the civil service reform programme initiated by Hayes. He recognised that the spoils system was damaging to the presidency and sought to strengthen federal authority over the New York Custom House, which served as the stronghold of Senator Roscoe Conkling, leader of the Stalwart Republicans and a major dispenser of patronage in New York. When Garfield submitted to the Senate a list of appointments that included many of Conkling's political allies, he also named Conkling's arch-rival, William H. Robertson, to run the Custom House.

Post Office reform

Garfield also advanced the work his predecessor had begun in reforming the Post Office. In April 1880, a Congressional investigation had exposed widespread corruption in the Post Office Department, where profiteering rings had allegedly stolen millions of dollars. Employees had created bogus mail contracts and used fraudulent "star routes" to enrich themselves. Hayes had halted the implementation of any new star route contracts as part of a reform effort. Garfield forced the resignation of one of the ringleaders of the star routes, Thomas J. Brady, who was later indicted for conspiracy in 1883.

The assassination of Garfield

On 2 July 1881, less than four months after his inauguration, President Garfield arrived at the Washington railroad depot to catch a train for a summer retreat on the New Jersey seashore. As Garfield made his way through the station, Charles Guiteau emerged from the shadows and fired two shots at point-blank range into the President. One bullet grazed Garfield's arm; the other lodged in his abdomen.

Guiteau was an unsuccessful lawyer and insurance salesman who believed he was owed a patronage position in the diplomatic corps. He had convinced himself that the President's political decisions threatened to destroy the Republican Party. Guiteau was convicted of murder and hanged on 30 June 1882.

James Garfield (1831–81)

Garfield was born in 1831 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. He lost his father at the age of two and later drove canal boat teams to earn money, somehow managing to secure an education. In 1856, he graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts and returned to the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (later Hiram College) in Ohio as a classics professor.

In 1859, Garfield was elected to the Ohio Senate as a Republican. In 1862, when Union military victories had been few, he successfully led a group at Middle Creek, Kentucky, against Confederate troops. He was subsequently elected to Congress and repeatedly won re-election for eighteen years, becoming a leading Republican in the House. At the 1880 Republican Convention, Garfield failed to secure the presidential nomination for his friend John Sherman. On the 36th ballot, however, Garfield himself emerged as the dark horse nominee. He defeated the Democratic nominee, General Winfield Scott Hancock, by a margin of only 10,000 popular votes.

Arthur, 1881–84

The Pendleton Act and civil service reform

Chester A. Arthur continued the civil service reform efforts of his predecessors, most notably through his support of the Pendleton Act of 1883. Democrat Senator George Pendleton authored this legislation, which was the first law specifically designed to establish professional standards for handling the civil service. By standing up to Roscoe Conkling and his patronage machine, Arthur struck a blow against political corruption. President Arthur actively pushed for passage of the Act and signed it readily once Congress approved it.

Immigration and tariff legislation

In another area of reform, Arthur signed the first federal immigration law that excluded paupers, criminals, and the mentally ill from entering the United States. Congress also passed a Chinese Exclusion Act that would have made Chinese immigration illegal for twenty years and effectively rendered Chinese immigrants permanent aliens by excluding them from the possibility of US citizenship. Although Arthur vetoed this bill as excessively harsh, he subsequently signed a revised version that was less severe but still restrictive.

Arthur also attempted to address the tariff question by lowering tariff rates to prevent the government from being embarrassed by annual budget surpluses. However, Congress raised approximately as many rates as it reduced. Arthur eventually signed the Tariff Act of 1883, which reduced tariffs by an average of only 1.47 per cent, representing minimal actual change.

Chester Arthur (1829–85)

Arthur was born in 1829 in Fairfield, Vermont, the son of a Baptist preacher who had emigrated from Northern Ireland. He graduated from Union College in 1848, was admitted to the bar, and practised law in New York City. Early in the Civil War, he served as Quartermaster General of the State of New York.

In 1871, President Grant appointed him Collector of the Port of New York. In this role, Arthur effectively marshalled the thousand Customs House employees under his supervision on behalf of Roscoe Conkling's Stalwart Republican machine. Although honourable in his personal life and public career, Arthur was nevertheless a firm believer in the spoils system even as it came under vehement attack from reformers. He insisted upon honest administration of the Customs House but staffed it with more employees than needed, retaining them for their value as party workers rather than as government officials.

President Hayes attempted to reform the Customs House in 1878 and removed Arthur from his position. Two years later, at the Republican Convention, Arthur was nominated for the Vice Presidency. In 1881, Arthur became president following Garfield's death. He would not be nominated for the presidency three years later, and in 1885 he died.

Cleveland and the Mugwumps

The 1884 presidential campaign

Grover Cleveland was the first Democrat elected president after the Civil War. He would also become the only president to leave the White House and return for a second term four years later. The 1884 election was one of the most contentious in American history. Cleveland's opponent, the Republican candidate James G. Blaine, was attacked throughout the campaign with the chant: "Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, that continental liar from the State of Maine!" These accusations referenced charges of corruption involving railroad interests. Blaine was also suspected of harbouring an anti-Roman Catholic bias, which damaged his support among immigrant voters. Meanwhile, Cleveland's opponents attempted to exploit the fact that Grover Cleveland had allegedly fathered an illegitimate child.

Cleveland's achievements in civil service reform

Cleveland continued efforts to reform the civil service. Soon after taking office, he confronted the task of filling all the government positions for which the president held the power of appointment. These positions were still typically filled under the spoils system, but Cleveland announced that he would not dismiss any Republican who was performing his duties well and would not appoint anyone based solely on party service. He also used his appointment powers to reduce the overall number of federal employees, as many departments had become bloated with political time-servers who contributed little actual work.

Later in his term, as fellow Democrats complained about being excluded from the spoils of office, Cleveland began to replace more partisan Republican officeholders with Democrats. Whilst some of his decisions were influenced by party considerations, a greater proportion of Cleveland's appointments were decided by merit alone compared to his predecessors' administrations. This represented genuine, if incremental, progress towards a more professional civil service.

Cleveland's limited government philosophy

Cleveland believed firmly in a very limited role for federal government. As a Democratic president facing a Republican-dominated Senate, he frequently resorted to using his veto powers to check what he viewed as inappropriate expansions of federal authority. He vetoed hundreds of private pension bills for American Civil War veterans, arguing that if their requests had already been rejected by the Pension Bureau, Congress should not attempt to override that decision. When Congress passed a bill granting pensions for disabilities not caused by military service, Cleveland vetoed that measure as well.

Grover Cleveland (1837–1908)

Cleveland was born in New Jersey in 1837, one of nine children of a Presbyterian minister. He was raised in upstate New York and passed his law examinations in 1858, establishing himself as a lawyer in Buffalo. He became notable for his single-minded concentration on whatever task confronted him. Running as a reformer in 1881, Cleveland was elected Mayor of Buffalo. A year later, he was elected Governor of New York, and in 1884 he became president. In 1886, Cleveland married the 21-year-old Frances Folsom; he was the only president to be married in the White House.

Cleveland was defeated in the presidential election of 1888. Although he won a larger popular majority than the Republican candidate Benjamin Harrison, he received fewer electoral votes. In 1892, he was once again elected president for a second term, but four years later his party deserted him and nominated William Jennings Bryan. Cleveland died in 1908 after suffering a heart attack.

Historiographical perspectives

Historians have offered contrasting interpretations of the presidencies during the Gilded Age. Some scholars have been extremely harsh in their assessments. S. Morison, H. Commager, and W. Leuchtenburg in The Growth of the American Republic (1969) argued that "there is no drearier chapter in American political history than that which records the administrations of Hayes, Garfield, Arthur and Cleveland". They maintained that Civil War issues were dead, though politicians continued to flay the corpses, and that national politics became little more than a contest for power between rival parties waged on no higher plane than a struggle for traffic between rival railroads.

Key dates

• 1877: Hayes begins presidency
• 1877: Great Railroad Strike
• 1881: Garfield becomes president; assassination of Garfield; Arthur becomes president
• 1883: The Pendleton Act
• 1884: The Mugwumps and the election of Cleveland