The aftermath of the American Civil War coincided with immense growth in industry and the opportunity for business-minded people to get rich quick! This bred systematic political corruption in the United States, with writer Mark Twain coining the term, "The Gilded Age" to describe the period between 1865 to 1901.
He knew that no country could be well governed unless its citizens as a body keep religiously before their minds that they are the guardians of the law, and that the law officers are only the machinery for its execution, nothing more.
- Mark Twain, "The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today", 18731
For Twain, this was a period of corruption with a facade of respectability, and he was right!
Fig. 1 - A contemplative Mark Twain
Causes of Political Corruption
The root of political corruption during this period was corporate wealth driven by the desire to modernize the nation, turning the page after a difficult chapter of civil war and the continuing Reconstruction. Due to the laissez-faire political conditions pervading the country, it was difficult to control such abuses of the system.
Cronyism
The elevation of friends and acquaintances to positions, regardless of their ability to perform the role.
Laissez-faire
A political mindset characterized by a "hands off" approach towards the economy and an unwillingness to intervene.
Let's examine precisely which channels individuals used to exert their power and corrupt the nation.
| Channel | Explanation |
| Political machines | The use of political machines became commonplace during the Gilded Age. A political machine was a party organization set up to provide incentives in exchange for votes. The most famous of these was Tammany Hall in New York, run by William "Boss" Tweed in the 1860s and 1870s. |
| Public services | Due to the necessity of greater transport links, private companies landed lucrative contracts. Companies such as Crédit Mobilier siphoned the profits to a few greedy owners and were not held accountable by the highest offices of government. |
| President Grant | Ulysses S. Grant served as United States president during the height of the scandals and corruption of the Gilded Age. From 1869 to 1877, he was in office and turned a blind eye, allowing corruption to thrive within the whiskey, gold and weapons industries to name but a few. |
| Taxes and commissions | Due to the poor working conditions of the average worker during the Gilded Age, they had to work long hours for low wages. If hours were reduced, they had to grapple with companies reducing wages, when the eight-hour working schedule that Unions demanded came into effect. Thus, reliance on extra commissions from their employers, coupled with political machines, meant votes could easily be bought. |
All of these added up to the perfect storm in American society, and no one could epitomize the power that corruption held over the nation in the same manner as William "Boss" Tweed.
William "Boss" Tweed
As Tweed became involved with New York City's Democratic Party in the 1850s, he was quick to make use of cronyism to surround himself with friends and others who would be sympathetic to his money-making cause. Tammany Hall became increasingly powerful and as early as 1860, it controlled all the New York City candidates. In 1868, Tweed became the leader of the political machine and had his men placed in prominent positions concerned with governing the city.
With such a monopoly on power and public services, Tweed initiated an auditing scheme in 1870. This allowed his men to embellish the price of the most mundane tasks for maintenance of the city, using his own suppliers, to make him and his cronies rich. These suppliers had paid "legal services" and swore political allegiance too, so voter fraud was also commonplace.
As awareness and opposition to Tweed's movement grew, he was finally arrested in 1873, not before grafting between $30 million and $300 million!
Fig. 2 - William "Boss" Tweed (centre) and his cronies are depicted as vultures, waiting for the storm of accusations to blow over, so they could feast again.
In fact, the storm never did blow over. This 1871 cartoon, among others, in Harper's Weekly by Thomas Nast, helped expose the Tammany Hall machine and "Elegant" Oakley, the New York mayor who was Tweed's puppet until 1872.
Having examined a master of political corruption, we can now explore the specific forms that it came in, before going through some of the most infamous case studies.
Types of Political Corruption
We can summarize political corruption in the Gilded Age into three distinct categories. These were all BAD!
Bribes and supports: the biggest engine of corruption. By bribing workers and the correct people in government positions, money could be made by everyone. It was a win-win for those involved but left ordinary people out of pocket.
Alienating the voting system: not only was political allegiance bought in exchange for jobs, housing, or citizenship - particularly in the case of immigrants, often times men would vote multiple times, having shaved their beard before returning to the polling station.
Disrupting government roles: using the "spoils system", friends and those who would be economically beneficial would fill positions. The choice of officials rarely correlated with their ability to do the job, and this only gradually changed with the Pendleton Act in 1883.
The Pendleton Act
Although having a limited impact with its introduction in 1883, due to the fact it only scrutinized 10% of government employees, it had a fantastic intention. For the first time, it signaled a departure from the cronyism of the spoils system.
Meritocracy
A system where people are hired due to merit, or their ability to do a job well.
Now meritocracy meant that specific positions could be filled by qualified, well-educated and trained candidates. The Pendleton Act is now much further reaching, applying to 2.9 million government positions.
Political Corruption Examples
But both before, and after 1883, were some scandalous examples of political corruption during the Gilded Age, let's evaluate some of the most controversial.
Crédit Mobilier
We have already seen the corruption of the Democratic Party with "Boss" Tweed and Tammany Hall. But, Crédit Mobilier, charged with building the Union Pacific Rail on the East Coast, was a prime example of Republican dishonesty and greed. The huge project had the backing of loans and taxes, but Crédit Mobilier used men in high places, including Oakes Ames, serving in the House of Representatives for Massachusetts, to funnel the profits into the accounts of a few. This was uncovered in 1873, with the project having ended in 1869.
The Whiskey Ring
In the early 1870s, a group of whiskey distillers were in cahoots with Revenue Officials. This occurred primarily in St. Louis, but also in many other states. John MacDonald led the ring, which was initially set up in 1871 to help fund Republican election campaigns. However, the pursuit quickly transformed into a purely criminal venture by 1873. Once more, it benefitted everyone. The distillers paid half the required tax on the whiskey, and the criminal organizers siphoned off millions in taxes for themselves.
However, when Secretary of the Treasury, William Richardson lost his job, his replacement Benjamin Bristow launched an independent investigation in 1874. The results were shocking, with 110 people convicted of involvement in the ring.
1876 General Election
With all of these scandals, it would come as a major surprise if President Grant led his country after the general election in 1876. He considered it but after the tarnishing of corruption and the Panic of 1873 (an economic depression) decided against it.
Republican Rutherford Hayes took his place, competing against Democrat Samuel Tilden. It looked like Tilden would win, gaining 184 out of the 185 electoral votes necessary to win and leading by 250,000 of the public votes, with a staggeringly high turnout of over 80%. The Republicans called foul play at the eleventh hour, disputing 20 votes. Eventually, the pendulum swung Hayes' way, and he won by the smallest ever margin. Faith in the electoral system had certainly been knocked, with the scandal referred to as the Compromise of 1877.
Did you know? The Compromise of 1877 led to Democrats taking control of southern states that had troops stationed in them. Formally ending the Reconstruction Era, the Democrats failed to protect African Americans, allowing racism and segregation to thrive again, much like the pre-war south. African Americans referred to this compromise as "The Great Betrayal".
Fig. 3 - Male lobbyist illustration from the 1874 edition of Twain's novel
Effects of Political Corruption
Though legislation such as the Pendleton Act began to steer the United States away from systemic corruption, the results of decades of neglect of duty were stark. By 1890, 1% of families owned 51% of the country's real and personal property. The 44% of lowest income households held just 1.2% of the wealth. In the 1880s, there were a vast number of protests for workers' rights.
Soon, a new Populist Party became a political force, seeking to take power from the few and give it back to the masses. With the assassination of Republican William McKinley in 1901, another president who swindled his way to the top, bankrolled by bankers, the Gilded Age was over, and Theodore Roosevelt ushered in the Progressive Era. There has been a temptation to polarize the Gilded Age with the reforms of Roosevelt's Progressive Era, but this should not be indulged.
Building on previous presidents' accomplishments and advances, Roosevelt moved the presidency to the center of national political and governmental life where it has remained ever since.
- Charles W. Calhoun, "Reimagining the "Lost Men" of the Gilded Age: Perspectives on the Late Nineteenth Century Presidents", 20022
Clearly, Roosevelt did not wave a magic wand. He learnt from the mistakes of his predecessors and the shortcomings of a period, one that is easy to demonize because of Mark Twain's catchy title and heard the clamors for change from a politically engaged United States population.
Political Corruption - Key takeaways
- After the American Civil War, a period of corruption in United States politics ensued around 1865.
- This became known as the Gilded Age, taking the name from a Mark Twain novel written in 1873.
- During the Gilded Age, political machines, private companies, governmental neglect and commissions all contributed to corruption.
- Scandals included the railroad scandal with Credit Mobilier, the Whiskey Ring and the 1876 General Election.
- After President McKinley won the 1896 election by taking payments to boost his campaign, he was assassinated in 1901. Theodore Roosevelt's presidency brought an end to the corruption of the Gilded Age and the introduction of widespread reform.
References
- Mark Twain, "The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today", Chapter 29, (1973).
- Charles W. Calhoun, "Reimagining the "Lost Men" of the Gilded Age: Perspectives on the Late Nineteenth Century Presidents", The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Jul., 2002), pp.225-257.
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