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Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall was a New York City political organization that endured for nearly two centuries. Formed in 1789 in opposition to the Federalist Party, its leadership often mirrored that of the local Democratic Party’s executive committee. Although its popularity stemmed from a willingness to help the city’s poor and immigrant populations, Tammany Hall became known for charges of corruption levied against leaders such as William M. “Boss” Tweed. -
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The Granger Movement
Granger movement, coalition of U.S. farmers, particularly in the Middle West, that fought monopolistic grain transport practices during the decade following the American Civil War. By the mid-1870s nearly every state had at least one Grange, and national membership reached close to 800,000. It called for unified action against the monopolistic railroads and grain elevators that charged exorbitant rates for handling and transporting farmers’ crops and other agricultural products. -
Transcontinental Railroad is Finished
The Transcontinental Railroad led to rapid settlement of the western United States. It also made it much easier to transport goods over long distances from one part of the country to another. This enormous railroad expansion resulted in rail companies and their executives receiving lavish amounts of money and land from the United States government. In many cases, politicians cut shady backroom deals and helped create railroad and shipping tycoons such as Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould. -
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Robber Barons
These men used union busting, fraud, intimidation, violence and their extensive political connections to gain an advantage over any competitors. Robber barons were relentless in their efforts to amass wealth while exploiting workers and ignoring standard business rules. They soon accumulated vast amounts of money and dominated every major industry including the railroad, oil, banking, timber, sugar, liquor, meatpacking, steel, mining, tobacco and textile industries. -
The Credit Mobilier Scandal
The Crédit Mobilier scandal of 1872-1873 damaged the careers of several Gilded Age politicians. Major stockholders in the Union Pacific Railroad formed a company, the Crédit Mobilier of America, and gave it contracts to build the railroad. They sold or gave shares in this construction to influential congressmen. -
The Gilded Age (book) is Published
The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today is a novel by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner first published in 1873. It satirizes greed and political corruption in post–Civil War America. -
The Whiskey Ring Scandal
Whiskey Ring, in U.S. history, group of whiskey distillers (dissolved in 1875) who conspired to defraud the federal government of taxes. Operating mainly in St. Louis, Mo., Milwaukee, Wis., and Chicago, Ill., the Whiskey Ring bribed Internal Revenue officials and accomplices in Washington in order to keep liquor taxes for themselves. The Secretary of the Treasury organized a secret investigation that exposed the ring and resulted in 238 indictments and 110 convictions. -
Railroad Workers Strike
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company announced a 10-percent pay cut on its railroad workers in Martinsburg, West Virginia, the second cut in less than eight months. Infuriated and fed up, the workers—with the support of the locals—announced they’d prevent all trains from leaving the roundhouse until their pay was restored. The mayor, the police and even the National Guard couldn’t stop the strike. It wasn’t until Federal troops arrived that one train finally left the station. -
Pendleton Civil Service Act
Pendleton Civil Service Act landmark U.S. legislation establishing the tradition and mechanism of permanent federal employment based on merit rather than on political party affiliation. Widespread public demand for civil service reform was stirred after the Civil War by mounting corruption Congress passed a bill that allowed for the open selection of government employees and the right of citizens to compete for federal appointment without regard to politics, religion, race, or national origin. -
Muckrackers (Yellow Journalism)
The muckrakers’ work grew out of the yellow journalism of the 1890s, which whetted the public appetite for news arrestingly presented, and out of popular magazines, especially those established by S.S. McClure, Frank A. Munsey, and Peter F. Collier. The emergence of muckraking was heralded in the January 1903 issue of McClure’s Magazine by articles on municipal government, labour, and trusts, written by Lincoln Steffens, Ray Stannard Baker, and Ida M. Tarbell. -
End of the Gilded Age
In 1893, both the overextended Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the National Cordage Company failed, which set off an economic depression unlike any seen before in America. Banks and other businesses folded, and the stock market plunged, leaving millions unemployed, homeless and hungry. In some states, unemployment rose to almost 50 percent. The Panic of 1893 lasted four years and left lower and even middle-class Americans fed up with political corruption and social inequality.
