Republican and Democratic parties evenly matched, competitive
16 Republican, 14 Democratic states (including the "solid south")
both parties anti-radical - failed to help farmers, blacks, labor
Charles Guiteau shot Garfield July 2, 1881 - "I am a Stalwart"
1888 election B. Harrison defeated G. Cleveland 233-268 (5.4m to 5.5m) and Republicans won both houses of Congress - "Grand Old Party"
Blaine's Half-Breeds allied with Garfield vs. Roscoe Conkling's Stalwarts allied with Chet Arthur
"Plumed Knight" and "Tatooed Man"
big business, high tariff, spoils
1884 election - Cleveland def. Blaine by only 23,000 votes out of 10m
Carl Schurz and Mugwumps defected from Republican party
G. Cleveland public honesty but personal life tainted - 1876 illeg. son after affair with Maria Halpin - married 21-year-old Frances Folsom June 1886
negative government, no leadership, vetoed 1887 Pension Bill, low tariff, gold standard
"human iceberg" lost to high tariff B. Harrison 1888 in 1st "front porch" campaign, $3m raised by Republicans and John Wannamaker
Congress controlled by "Czar" Thomas Reed - the "$ Billion" 51st Congress 1890-91 - Naval Act, Pension Act, Corp. James Tanner said "God bless the surplus" as commissioner of pensions
Reed changed rules 1890 - ignored Dem. speakers - counted absent Democrats as present for quorum
state and local issues more important than national
Tammany Hall founded 1854 in New York City by Democrats to control local wards, help immigrants, deal with ethnocultural issues
"Rum, Romanism, Rebellion - Democrat personal liberty vs. Republican piety
George Washington Plunkitt was Irish boss of Tammany Hall
Boss Richard Croker of Tammany Hall in NY opposed by Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper New York World after 1883
labor violence - Pullman 1894 - E. Debs - socialism
Depression 1893 - 20% unemployed - Jacob Coxey and 17 "armies"
Simon Pingree "potato patches" in Detroit
League for Protection of the Family - against child labor and for compulsory education
Oliver Kelly and Grange 1867, then Patrons of Husbandry 1873
Granger laws against railroad - Munn vs. IL upheld state laws that set maximum grain storage fees
C.W. Macune and Farmers Alliance in Texas - 1875 Exchange
Alliance won KA, NE, SD 1890, elected 44 to Congress
Populist Party - 1890 Ocala Platform - subtreasury, income tax, direct election - 1st national movement against laissez faire
Mary Lease of KA - 160 speeches in 1890 - raise "less corn and more hell"
Sockless Jerry Simpson elected to Congress - only "princes wear silk socks"
Ignatius Donnelly's novel Caesar's Column was anti-semitic and ignored urban industrial workers and immigrants
Coin Harvey published booklet 1894 after Cleveland repealed Sherman Silver Purchase Act
1894 elections - 13 states went for silver, beginning of party realignment
