Political Scandals During The Gilded Age

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The Gilded age is an American History term meaning covered with glitter and gold and was applied to this period because of political corruption. President Grant was elected as president because of his war experience not his political background. He relied on his staff to help him make decisions. His staff was very corrupt and found themselves involved in many political scandals. Some of the issues that grant faced during his time in office was printing money, cheaper currency, and inflation. Farmers wanted cheaper currency, so they could afford to live. President Grant voted against printing more money. During President Hayes’ election four states were questioned about their votes. The package in which they were delivered looked tampered with, so they had to figure out if these votes counted. They couldn’t decide if the House or the senate should count them, so they developed and electoral commission. This group of politicians consisted of eight Republicans and seven Democrats. The Republicans outvoted the Democrats. The next president was James Garfield. He was shot in the back at a …show more content…

The payoffs for industries were high tariffs. The downside was increased government spending. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was passed to help the silver minors and economy. During President Cleveland’s reelection, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act drained the treasuries. Paper notes were traded for gold, then reissued, and the process would be repeated. The worst depression of that century occurred during Cleveland’s second term. Cleveland tried to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, but it was too late. Gold was almost depleted, so he borrowed $62 million in gold from J.P. Morgan. The Wilson-Gorman Act reduced tariff slightly, and had a provision that the Populist favored. It was a 2% income tax on incomes over $4000 a year. In all Cleveland was unable to deal with the economic crises in his second