REPUBLICAN POLICY IN THE 1860S AND 1870S

A. REPUBLICAN ASCENDANCY

Between 1860 and 1912 most of the presidents were Republicans. Only two Democrats, Andrew Johnson and Grover Cleveland, held the presidency in this span of time. There-fore, with respect to the presidency, it is called the period of Republican ascendancy. To ascend is to rise, and ascendancy essentially means being on top or in charge or in control. It was a period of Republican domination.

In 1861 most of the Southern states adopted ordinances of secession and said that they had seceded. The congressmen and senators from 11 Southern states, except for rare men such as Senator Andrew Johnson, left Washington. The Republicans already had a majority in Congress, but the defection of the Southern Democrats vastly bolstered the Republican majority. With ten and a half states unrepre-sented, by default the Republicans had a majority in Congress. They could do anything they wanted to do.

B. THE ACHIEVEMENTS UNDER LINCOLN

1. THE MORRILL TARIFF

In the winter of 1861 the Republicans pushed through the Morrill tariff. A tariff is a tax on foreign imports. The purpose of tariffs is to protect American domestic products from foreign competition, especially cheaper goods, by artificially raising the cost of the foreign good. From 1860 to 1930 the Republican party was the party of a high protective tariff. This protectionism was considered good for American manufacturing and economic development. Most manufacturing in the U.S. in the 19th century was in the Northeast. Northeastern business interests tied to the Republican party influenced the party in this direction. When nations are developing they tend to favor tariffs. When nations become exporters of industrial goods they seek to penetrate foreign markets and advocate "open trade."

2. HOMESTEAD ACT

The Republican Party was the heir to the defunct Whig party. The Whig party had favored federal policies that assisted business. The Republicans also wanted to make the lands of the west available to the people. The eastern cities were overcrowded with people, and the younger sons of farmers in the east needed land. In May 1862 the Republicans passed the Homestead Act. Individuals had to pay a $10 registration fee. But thereafter, a person could claim 160 acres of publicly owned land west of the Mississippi if they built a cabin on the land and lived there for 5 years. Aside from the registration fee, this land was free. Alternatively, if one did not wish to wait 5 years, one could buy the land at a cost of $1.25 per acre after 6 months. (Enduring Vision, Chap. 17, p. 549). Thousands of people moved to the West to get farms on this land. By 1900 some 600,000 homesteads had been patented, totaling 80 million acres. The patent was the title of ownership for the land. A few African Americans did take advantage of this, (photo, p. 767, of Tindall and Shi), and it was unfortunate that more of the Southern African Americans still enslaved in the South missed this opportunity. In the 1860s the Federal Government owned about 1 billion acres of land. 100 million acres were sold to private citizens and corporations, and 128 million was given to the railroads. In fact, The Enduring Vision is a bit critical of this, and suggests on p. 550 that only 1 acre in every 9 that was intended for the pioneers went to the people it was intended for.

3. MORRILL LAND GRANT ACT

In the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 the Federal Government gave each state 30,000 acres of public land per member of Congress from that state. The proceeds from the sale of the land was dedicated to state colleges of agriculture and mechanical arts. This was one of the first instances of federal support for education.

4. THE TRANS-CONTINENTAL RAILROAD

The trans-continental rr's are discussed in The Enduring Vision on p. 547-549. On p. 548 is the obligatory map showing the various rr routes and the lands granted to them. In the summer of 1862 the Republican controlled Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act. It authorized the Union Pacific Railroad to build west from Omaha, Nebraska, while the Central Pacific RR Co. built east from Sacramento, CA. The Federal Government donated 6,400 acres of federally owned public lands for each mile of railroad built. It also lent $60 million for the project, which was the first trans-continental rr. The land could be sold to generate money. Between 1863 and 1866 three other railroads received similar grants. Subsequently other trans-continental rr's would be built, and there would be donations of land to assist them. In May 1869 the two railroads finally met or were joined or connected at Promontory Point, in Utah. Leland Stanford, president of the Central Pacific RR, drove the famous ceremonial golden spike into the ground. He also was the benefactor for Stanford University. The Central Pacific RR employed thousands of Chinese immigrants, called coolies. The use of the Chinese as contract laborers stimulated Chinese immigration to the U.S. By 1852, there were 10,000 Chinese people in California.

The impact of the railways was tremendous. Previously a trip from coast to coast could take months. Now it could be done in a week. In addition to providing greater speed, the trans-continental rr's cut transportation costs. This enabled producers to increase production, whereas previously transportation costs had been so prohibitively high that it was pointless to produce too many goods. Now producers could produce for a national market, not just a local or regional one. The trans-continental rr's represented an intelligent investment in basic infrastructure. It was good for business, it was good for the country, and it was good for the Government to play a role in the economy by assisting business. Government had a supportive role to play. In the second Pacific Railroad Act of 1872 Congress awarded 170 million acres of land to the railroads. By 1893 Minnesota and Washington state gave the railroads a quarter of their state owned lands, and Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, N. Dakota and Montana had given a fifth of their state owned lands. Government, state and federal, sometimes has a constructive role to play. Of course, it is a matter of balance.

Although Lincoln did not live to see the completion of the trans-continental rr, he thought it would be one of his greatest achievements.
 
 

C. ALASKA

The presidency of Andrew Johnson from April 1865 to March 1869 was dominated by Reconstruction, which we have already studied. However, he also inherited William Seward as secretary of state from Lincoln. In 1867 the Republican Seward negotiated a treaty with Russia, in which Tsar Alexander II sold Alaska for $7.2 million. The Senate ratified the treaty. Although this was ridiculed in the press at the time, today the advocates of American foreign policy appreciate Seward's wisdom. (The Enduring Vision, p. 522).

D. ULYSSES S. GRANT

1. GRANT, THE MAN

Ulysses S. Grant was the Union general who won the Civil War. Ironically, he graduated at the bottom of his class at West Point. It just goes to show you that there is no necessary correlation between doing well in school and performing well at a task in life. But it helps to have the credential. Because today, if you don't have that piece of paper, people can use that fact to deny you the job or promotion or raise that you want.

Grant drank heavily, and people criticized him for it. They even wrote letters to Lincoln about and talked to the president about it. Lincoln feigned to be shocked, and asked, what brand is he drinking? And then he suggested that maybe they needed to send some of the same brand to the other generals. Maybe it would help them to do a better job. Grant was the hero of Appomattox, where Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered.

2. THE CREDIT MOBILIER SCANDAL

Grant, the Republican was elected as president in November 1868 and re-elected again in 1872, serving until March 1877. Grant himself may have been an honest man. But he was a rather passive president. He may have been too trusting, and was deceived and taken in by his friends and advisors. Corruption swirled around his administration. In the Credit Mobilier scandal it was discovered that a fraudulent construction company called Credit Mobilier had charged the Union Pacific RR Co. 94 million for work that probably cost $44 million--and pocketed the $50 million difference. It just so happened that men who sat on the board of directors of the Union Pacific also sat on the board of Credit Mobilier. When the RR Co. received a government contract for construction work, these men awarded the construction contract to their construction company, and the construction co overcharged the RR co. (Tindall and Shi, p. 778). Vice President Schuyler Colfax was linked to the scandal (Enduring Vision, p. 521), because he had received shares of stock from the Credit Mobilier Co. (Tindall and Shi, p. 725). Unfortunately overcharging the government in order to line private pockets is as old as America, and even older than that.

3. GOULD AND FISK

Grant's brother-in-law was engaged in questionable dealings that resembled insider trading. He discussed with Grant whether and when Grant would order the Treasury to sell gold held by the Federal Government. And he passed this information along to Jay Gould and Jim Fisk. These financiers had circulated a rumor in 1869 that the President was opposed to selling gold. This caused the supply to fall and the price to rise. Gould and Fisk bought up gold, and others scrambled to invest in it. Gould and Fisk, with their inside connection, learned that the President was preparing to sell government gold, and sold their investments. With the benefit of this information they saved themselves. But when the gold was sold on the market and prices fell, other investors were ruined. (Enduring Vision, p. 521).

4. THE GILDED AGE

There was widespread bribery and corruption, and the selling of government jobs at post offices and contracts at Indian reservations. Mark Twain coined the phrase the Gilded Age to describe the greedy, selfish speculators and profit mongers gouging the public to advance themselves (Enduring Vision, p. 522). Gilded means covered in gold. This was a period when railroads and companies bribed Congressmen and state legislators to induce them to vote for construction con-tracts and land grants. There is nothing new about corrupt-ion. But from the 1870s and the Grant period the Republican Party acquired a reputation for greed and corruption and plutocracy. Plutocracy is rule by the rich, or the wealthy. The Republican Party came to be seen as the party of the rich and of business interests: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

5. CORRUPTION

In truth, however, the Republican party did not have nay monopoly on corruption. Both parties bribed voters, and the Democratic machines in the cities were notorious for paying immigrants and buying them drinks to vote. Tammany Hall in New York City is the most famous example.

6. THE DEPRESSION OF 1873-78

In 1873 the economy slipped into Depression. It was triggered by the failure or bankruptcy of some railroads. These railroads had borrowed heavily from the banks, and when the railroads went under they dragged the banks with them, and a chain reaction rippled across the economy. One in four (1 in 4) railroads failed, 18,000 businesses failed and 3 million were unemployed. Wages were cut, workers went on strike (Enduring Vision, p. 524). The Depression of 1873 was not Grant fault's. But it happened on his "watch." Therefore the public associated him with it. The public did blame the Depression on the Republicans, as the party in power. 1874 was an election year, and the public vented its frustration by voting for the Democrats in the Congressional elections. Consequently the Democrats won a majority in the House of Representatives in November 1874.
 
 

E. THE CURRENCY

Another issue that vexed the nation during the 1860s and 1870s, and right down to 1900, was the currency. The Federal Government had borrowed money to finance the Civil War. During the Civil War the Federal Government issued yellow national bank notes. These were to be converted into gold when circumstances permitted. In Feb. 1862 (Richard B. Morris, Encyclopedia of American History, p. 530) the Federal Government began to issue green paper bills called Greenbacks. They were not "backed" by a particular weight in gold. They were backed by the good faith and credit of the United States. At first the greenbacks were supposed to be temporary. And there were silver dollars in circulation too. Some people wanted to back up the currency with both gold and silver since this would put more money into circulation. The banks and Wall Street were horrified. In 1872 Congress in effect defined coin as gold coin, and under the Coinage Act of 1873 the U.S. Mint stopped making silver coins. Farmers, especially in the South, were Democrats and the Democrats generally favored an expansion of the currency. Wall Street, usually aligned with the Republicans, wanted the gold standard. The amount of greenbacks in circulation varied from year to year. This issue was not resolved until 1900, when the U.S. formally adopted the gold standard (Currency Act of 1900).
 

F. CIVIL SERVICE REFORM

Carl Schurz was a German immigrant. He is the father of civil service reform. He advocated selection for jobs in the federal civil service on the basis of merit. Merit was to be measured and determined on the basis of performance on a written examination.

Up until the 1880s local, state and federal positions were patronage positions. Politicians gave jobs to their family and friends and contributors and cronies who donated to their campaigns. It was called the spoils system. After each election the incumbent job holders could be fired, and they would hold their positions till the next election. If their candidate won they kept the job. If their candidate lost, they were likely to be fired.

The educated, professional middle classes hated this system. It was not efficient or respectable. Carl Schurz and liberal Republicans broke ranks with the traditionalists in their party in 1872 over this issue and the scandals and corruption swirling around Grant. This divided and weakened the Republican Party, making it vulnerable to the Democrats as was the case in 1877. Those who remained loyal to Grant and the traditional spoils system were called Stalwarts. Those who wanted reform were called Half Breeds.

The Republican Party was bitterly divided over this issue. In 1880 James Garfield was elected president. Garfield was tied to the Half-Breed wing of the party. His vice president, Chester Arthur, was a Stalwart and had been a chief lieutenant of New York senator Roscoe Conkling. This balanced the ticket between the two wings of the party. In July 1882, Garfield was shot in Washington, D.C. in a railway station. He died on Sept. 19th. His vice president, Chester Arthur, became president. The assassin was a disgruntled job seeker, Charles Guiteau. He was hanged (Enduring Vision, p. 669). Guiteau apparently had voted Republican in the election but then did not get the job he requested or thought he had been promised. He feared that Garfield was going to enact civil service reform, and Guitieau blamed Garfield for Guiteau's failure to secure a job as he had been promised. Guiteau was under the delusion that if he killed Garfield and stopped him from enacting civil service reform that the Stalwart wing of the Party would feel grateful to him and reward him with a job. Reportedly, as he shot Garfield, he cried out "Now a Stalwart will be president." He was probably mental.

In this bizarre way, the assassination of Garfield seemed to illustrate just how sick the patronage or spoils system had become. The assassination helped to sway public opinion, and the public outcry for reform pushed both parties toward concessions in this area. In 1883 Congress passed the Pendleton Civil Service Act. It established a Civil Service Commission to prepare competitive exams and establish standards of merit for federal jobs. It also forbade political candidates from soliciting contributions from government workers (Enduring Vision, p. 669). Initially, the Pendleton Act covered a modest twelve percent (12%) of federal employees. However, over the decades, the job classifications that fell under the civil service process were expanded. As each administration left office, it was anxious to protect its people from being fired by the succeeding administration. And so from very pragmatic motives, outgoing presidents assigned more and more jobs to the civil service procedures.