2. Gilded Age Politics The Gilded Age by Mark Twain and Charles Warner (1873) Political equilibrium Civil service reform, currency, and the tariff
3. Gilded Age Politics Strict Constructionists Commander in Chief Enforcer of laws passed by Congress Head of political party
4. Gilded Age Politics High Voter Participation— Why? (1) People believed that the issues were important (2) People believed that their votes counted (3) Politics = Entertainment
5. Gilded Age Politics Involved electorate, but what determined how it voted? Republicans: Protestants of English and German descent, Southern Blacks, and Union Civil War Veterans. Ohio River Valley, the West, and New England
6. Gilded Age Politics Democrats: Southern Whites, Roman Catholics, Jewish people, immigrants under the influence of party bosses. Campaigns—Republicans: The Bloody Shirt Veterans’ Pensions
7. Gilded Age Politics Nativism Campaigns—Democrats: Republicans will take your booze away Played to Race in the South Maintained that Republicans were corrupt