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Crash Course 26: the Gilded Age

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material that corresponds to Chapter 17

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hi I'm John Green this is Crash Course u.s. history and today we're going to continue our look at the Gilded Age by focusing on political science another history class the history of me from the past academic exploration into little boxes creates a little box that you yourself will live in for the rest of your life you don't put your interdisciplinary party hat on from a book by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner that was called the Gilded Age of today was published in 1873 and it was not that successful but while the Gilded Age conjures up visions of fancy parties and ostentatious displays of wealth the book itself was stop politics and it gives a very negative appraisal of the state of American democracy at the time it shouldn't come as a huge surprise coming from Twain whose comments about Congress included can you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress but I repeat myself and also it could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly Native American Turtle class except Congress significant changes taking place in the American economy after the Civil War America's political system both nationally and locally don't with these problems in the best way possible by becoming incredibly corrupt Santa's I have to take off my party hat famously said that all politics is local and although that's not actually true I am going to start with local politics today specifically with one of America's greatest inventions the urban tickle machine is basically an organization that works to win election so that it can exercise power the most famous political machine was New York City's Tammany Hall Germany Democratic Party politics in the late 19th century survived until the 20th and is keenly associated with corruption now it's already time for the mystery document well the rules here are simple I guess the author of the mystery document I'm usually wrong and I get shocked with the shock pen Let's see we got here recent power in the city and it's going to undertake a lot of public improvements well I'm tipped-off say that they're going to lay out a new park at a certain place and I buy up all the land I can in the neighborhood in the board of this or that makes its planned public and there's a rush to get my land which nobody cared particular for before paint it perfectly honest to charge a good price and make a profit on my investment and of course it is that's honest graft stand I noticed when it's about machine politics is from New York to the same from New York but it is because it is George Plunkett like them apples the name of the book it's on Tammany Hall transition back to the desk please pocket became famous for writing a book describing the way that New York City's government actually work but he was a small fish compared with the most famous shark machine politician of the day William Boss Tweed seeing here with a head made of money cost we basically Ran New York in the late 80s and early 70s and his greatest feat of swindling helps explain how the machine system work it revolved around the new County Courthouse that now houses the New York City Department of Education Courthouse was initially estimated to cost around $250,000 but ended up costing 13 million dollars by the time it was finished in 1871 what's a bill of $180,000 for three tables and 40 chairs 1.5 million dollars for lighting fixtures and $41,000 for brooms and supplies and then $1000000 to repair any hole received $2 for every $1 received by the contractor that may seem like a bad deal for contractors but remember that plaster still got to keep half of me $10 which is worth about $9 in today's money that makes it sound like political machines were especially if you were a taxpayer footing the bill for that Courthouse machines also provided valuable services to immigrants and other poor people in cities as Plunkett explained Tammany could help families in need I don't ask whether they are Republicans Or democrats cats and I don't refer them to the charity organization society which would investigate their case in a month or two and decide they were worthy of help about the time they are dead from starvation I just get quarters for them by clothes for them if their clothes were burned up and fixed them up until they get things running again in return for this help Tammany expected vote so that they could stay power staying in powerment control of city jobs as well as City contract Plunkett claim to know every big employer in the district and in the whole city for that matter and they ain't in the Hat say no to me when I asked him for a job but with all the corruption sometimes even that wasn't enough fortunately Tammany politicians could always fall back on fraud have any found bearded men to vote than took did the barber to shave off the beard but left the mustache so that they could vote a second time and then they would shave off the stash so they could vote for a third and then of course there was always violence and intimidation end of the century of Tammany regular lamented the good old days when quote it was wonderful to see my men slug the opposition to preserve the sanctity of the ballot wasn't limited to cities like New York and Chicago some of the biggest boondoggles involved the United States Congress and the executive branch under President Ulysses Grant Scandal the New York son involved credit mobilier the construction company that did most of the road building for the Union Pacific Railroad accusation involved first overcharging the app for construction costs and siphoning off profits to credit mobilio and second rivalry of Congressman that is also more parties because only Republican Congressman including the Speaker of the House were implicated in it eventually Massachusetts congressman Oakes Ames was found guilty of giving Vibes but no one was ever found guilty of receiving those bribes as you can imagine that did wonders for the reputation of Congress Scandal involve the so-called a ring which was a group of distillers in St Louis who decided that they didn't like paying excise taxes on their product perhaps a slightly more noble cause than that of the 2009 Bling Ring just wanted to dress like Paris Hilton John McDonald and Grant Administration official help distillers reduce their taxes by intentionally under counting the number of kegs of booze 1875 the tax evasion grew out of control in McDonald eventually confessed and was convicted there by painting the presidency with corruption just as credit mobilier did Congress worth it Patron a series of one termers Hayes Garfield his term was filled out by Chester Arthur after Garfield was assassinated Cleveland Benjamin Harrison and then Cleveland again McKinley who was elected twice but then he was assassinated as for their parties Gilded Age Republicans favored High tariffs low government spending paying off national debt and who sing the amount of paper money or greenbacks in circulation Democrats oppose the tariffs and we're often linked to New York bankers and financier they were Pro different businesses that and the widespread corruption some national reform legislation actually did get passed in the Gilded Age Civil Service Act of 1883 did by Garfield's assassination by a disgruntled office Seeker created a merit system for 10% of federal employees who were chosen by competitive examination rather than political favoritism the unintended effect it made American politicians much more dependent on donations from big businesses rather than small donations from grateful political appointees and then in 1890 the Sherman Antitrust Act forbade combinations and practices that restrain trade but again it was almost impossible to enforce this against the Monopoly us steel more often it was used to restrain trade in their radical lobbying for like health insurance and hard hats so at the end of the 19th century stop me if that sounds familiar so state governments expanded their responsibility for Public Health and Welfare cities invested in public works like transportation gas in bleeder electricity and the movement to provide public education continues what is this France is what courts would often say when striking those laws down was less developed in the South but they were busy rolling back reconstruction and creating laws that limited the civil rights of African-Americans when is known as Jim Crow laws in the west Farmers became politically motivated over the issue of freight rates wait we talk about railroads change movement to put pressure on state governments to establish Fair railroad rates and Warehouse charges railroads in particular tend to be pretty monopolistic they owned the track going what town after all so it was hard for Farmers to negotiate their shipping prices The Grange movement eventually became the farmers Alliance movement which also pushed for economic cooperation raise prices but we split into northern and southern Wings they could never really get it together the biggest idea to come out of the farmers Alliance was the subtreasury plan Elmer's wood store grain in government warehouses and get low rate government loans to buy seed and Equipment using the stored grain is collateral this would allow farmers bypass the bank so we can creasing Lee came to be seen along with the railroads as the source of all the farmers troubles politically-motivated farmers and their supporters group into a pool local party The People's Party or populist in 1892 they held a convention in Omaha and put forth a remarkably reform-minded plan particularly given that this was put forth in Omaha which included the subtreasury plan which didn't exactly happen although the deal Farmers ended up with was probably better for them government ownership of railroads which sort of happened if you can Amtrak income tax what you did happen after the passage of the 16th Amendment government control of the currency which happened with the creation of the Federal Reserve System recognition of the rights of laborers to form Williams which happened both at the state and federal level and free coinage of silver to produce more money which will get through in a second People's Party attempting to appeal to a broad Coalition of reducing classes especially Miners and industrial workers and it was particularly successful with those groups in Colorado and Idaho as the preamble to the party platform put it option Dominick The Ballot Box the legislators the Congress and touches even the ermine of the bench from the same prolific room of governmental Injustice Wii read the two great classes Tramps and millionaires added tremendously to the populists electoral power most American voters stuck with the two main parties industrial workers never really joined in large numbers because the populist call for free coinage of silver would lead to inflation especially in food prices and that would hurt Urban laborers if it hadn't been for that threat of silver inflation we might have three major cool parties in the u.s. today or at least two different ones stupid inflation always ruining everything hobby was leaders also struggled to unify because racism populist like Tom Watson are you the black and white poor farmers were in the same boat but Southern populist were not inclined to take up the fight against segregation and even wants in himself later begin spouting anti kemetic rhetoric James 1 million votes 22 electoral votes which is better than the Democratic nominee for president in 1896 William Jennings Bryan spoke of America is being crucified on a cross of gold firmly supported free coinage of silver in the hopes that increase in the amount of money in circulation would raise prices for farmers and make easier for people to pay off their debts William Jennings Bryan is probably better known for The anti-evolution Stance he took in the famous Scopes Monkey Trial where he was up against none other than Clarence Darrow what you did almost become president simply silver still lost the 1896 election to William McKinley in what is become known as the first modern political campaign because the business classes gave McKinley's campaign an unprecedented 10 million dollar one un entire presidential electoral college 6 feet in 1896 effectively put an end to the populist party the corruption in government both Federal and local continued and new journalist called muckrakers begin losing it in the press and even know they were defeated at the polls populist ideas especially direct election of senators and a progressive income tax quickly became mainstream now these days we don't necessarily associate those ideas with populist which suggests that maybe they were right to worry about hitching their wagon to Brian star but in the end would you rather have your name survive or see your ideas turn course many of the problems the populist were concerned with persisted as did the scourge of Jim Crow will discuss those next week when we look at the Progressive Era thanks for watching crossword produced and directed by Stan Miller or script supervisor is married to danco the associate producer is Danica Johnson that she was written by my high school history teacher role Meyer Rosie on a Rojas and myself Graphics team is stock Cafe answered by our team of historians thank you for watching crash course as we say in my hometown don't forget to be awesome

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