History Chat - July 2, 2020

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Summary: History of the Republican Party in the late 19th Century partnering with Big Business.

Timestamp 3:57: After the 1872 election, people who didn’t like Grant or his policies in his first term were not happy as they felt their voices weren’t being heard, and kept insisting his policies were a redistribution of wealth. This was followed by taxpayer protests because it restricted businesses.

Timestamp 7:43: Granger Laws were in the midwest and stated that the people are supposed to be able to rise on their own, but given there was a monopoly, it didn’t work as such. The Grain Operators proceeded to have restrictions on how much they can sell grain for, which helped farmers have a steady income. This made them cry Communism

Timestamp 10:07: In the Crime of 1873 is a result of overinvestment in railroads, which causes a shortage in Money, resulting in an economic crash. To try and rectify this, they did a gold to silver ratio, where 1 ounce of gold is equivalent to 16 ounces silver. Initially this wasn’t profitable due to the high price of silver, but once Silver is found in Nevada the price of silver skyrocketed. This is happening while the routine Currency laws are being re written, and congressmen change the ratio and add in that silver cannot be coined to protect their lending interests. This causes an uproar by those who mined the silver

Timestamp 14:05: Democrats took the house of Representatives in 1873 and they vow to no longer work with big businesses and the first thing they do to achieve that is focus on the Tariff laws. They say Republicans use this to collude with Big business and raise prices.

Timestamp 15:06: In the Election of 1876, Samuel Tilden of NY represents the Democrat Party. He is a Democrat who was previously a lawyer who fought politics to take back the country for the little guy. Tilden wins 51% of popular vote. In Turn, African American Republicans were kept from voting in the South, & Democrats in New York City were kept from Voting which resulted in Fraud. Many states turn in contested results, which include Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida. With the lack of official Results, Democrats start to gather Militia to put Tilden into the White house by force and in turn Rutherford B Hayes supporters threaten Martial law & believe they have no grounds for him to gain white house office. Hayes wins office, but works to bridge the gap between Republican & Democrats. By him taking office, this allows voter suppression towards African Americans for Generations.

Timestamp 26:14 : July 1877 major strike in B&O railroad. Strikers want better pay and conditions, and mimic the Paris Commune to achieve it. They receive a lot of pushback on the topic, and Rutherford B Hayes calls the military. The Railroad that is the centerpiece of this is owned by Thomas Scott, who helped Rutherford B Hayes get into office.

Timestamp 28:32:Posse Comitatus act was passed in 1878 stating when troops can be used domestically against Americans Citizens, and this is still in use. The Caveat to this is American Indians are not protected

Timestamp 29:59: Democrats were put into the house in 1874 and into the Senate in 1878. This means Democrats are in control of the government and Congress effective 1879. What they do is put Former Confederates are put back into office to try to undo Reconstruction. James Garfield of Ohio views this as Treason, as they are trying to “starve” the government by withholding funds.

Timestamp 32:16: Going into the election of 1880, Republicans pair with big business even further for the purpose of funding. Some people ask for a 3rd term for Grant, which many are opposed to. They choose to have a third candidate, which is James Garfield. To balance the ticket and Satiate the Conkling/ Grant people happy, they appoint Chester Arthur as Vice President, who is corrupt. James Garfield is interested in reverting back to what Lincoln believed in by levelling the playing field. Once James Garfield is elected, Conking wants his “cut” and Garfield refuses,which causes Conking to resign from the Senate because he knows that New York is imperative. Incidentally, Garfield dies in office, and Chester A Arthur is presented the position, and puts his corruption to the side and properly runs the country.

Timestamp 39:45: Grover Cleveland represents the democratic party and proceeds Chester A Arthur. He is a reformer who focuses on cities and insists on government answers to everyone, and starts with getting rid of Tariffs. Republicans insist that if you don’t support tariffs, you are a communist via propaganda as it cuts into their interests.

Timestamp 41:40: Election of 1888 was very corrupt. Republicans are determined to win this election to protect Tariffs. This is the first election that pioneers campaign financing. This is done by John Wanamaker, who also pioneered Department stores. He plays to the heartstrings of those who benefit from Tariffs and get them to contribute. Additionally, employers tell their employees if they don’t vote for who they favor, don’t come to work the next day. At this time, ballots are still visible. Harrison lost the popular election, but won the electoral college in a last minute arrangement.

Timestamp 46:34: As soon as he is elected, he assures that no Democrat will ever win again. He does this by creating 4 new states, which are North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington. Traditionally, each party would get one state. They struck a deal that Republicans would get 3 of the 4 states, and later Idaho and Wyoming were hastily added for additional Republican support.

Timestamp 50:40: People were unhappy with Republicans in the summer of 1890 that it is coined the Alliance Summer. People were starving, and the government failed to acknowledge it publicly. In the midterm elections of 1892 and the presidential election of 1892, Democrats took control of both houses of congress and the Presidency. In turn, Republicans cry that there will be a depression because Democrats don’t know how to handle money. Economy contracts because republicans said to take money out of Stocks and banks. This causes the economy to contract, 10 days before the re elected Grover Cleavelent takes office. Even though it happened on a republican watch, Cleaveland inherits a crisis. In the midterm election of 1894, since republicans said “we told you so” regarding a democrat run economy, Republicans received the favor of the general public. This is mirrored in the election of 1896, which had a bottom line of currency.

[From wikipedia] Richardson’s first book, The Greatest Nation of the Earth (1997), stemmed from her dissertation at Harvard University. Inspired by Eric Foner’s work on pre-Civil War Republican ideology, Richardson analyzed Republican economic policies during the war. She contended that their efforts to create an activist Federal Government during the Civil War marked a continuation of Republican free labor ideology. These policies, such as war bonds and greenbacks or the Land Grant College Act and the Homestead Act, revolutionized the role of the Federal Government in the U.S. economy. At the same time, these actions laid the groundwork for the Republican Party’s shift to Big Business after the Civil War.

In this 2001 book, Richardson "focused on the “Northern abandonment of Reconstruction.” Building on the earlier work of C. Vann Woodward, she argued that a more complete understanding of the period required appreciation of class, not only race. As Reconstruction continued into the 1870s and especially the 1880s, Republicans began to view African Americans in the South more from a class perspective and less from the perspective of race that had driven their earlier humanitarianism. In the midst of the labor struggles of the Gilded Age, Republicans came to compare “the demands of the ex-slaves for land, social services, and civil rights” to the demands of white laborers in the North. This ideological shift was the key to Republican abandonment of Reconstruction, as they chose the protection of their economic and business interests over their desire for racial equality." [From wikipedia]

In this 2007 book, "Richardson presented Reconstruction as a national event that impacted all Americans, not just those in the South. She incorporated the West into the discussion of Reconstruction as no predecessor had. Between 1865 and 1900, Americans re-imagined the role of the federal government, calling upon it to promote the well-being of its citizens. However, racism, sexism, and greed divided Americans, and the same people who increasingly benefited from government intervention—white, middle-class Americans—actively excluded African-Americans, Native Americans, immigrants, and organized laborers from the newfound bounties of their reconstructed nation." [from wikipedia]

In this book, published in 2010, Richardson "focused on the U.S. Army’s slaughter of Native Americans in South Dakota in 1890. She argued that party politics and opportunism led to Wounded Knee. After a bruising midterm election, President Benjamin Harrison needed to shore up his support. To do so, he turned to The Dakotas, where he replaced seasoned Indian agents with unqualified political allies, who incorrectly assumed that the Ghost Dance Movement presaged war. The Army responded by sending one third of its force in order to avoid spending cuts from Congress. After the event, Republicans tried to paint the massacre as a heroic battle to stifle the resurgent Democrats." [wikipedia]

In this 2014 book, Richardson "extended her study of the Republican Party into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This book studied the entire life of the GOP, from its inception in the 1850s through the presidency of George W. Bush. The party’s founders united against the “slave power,” a small group of wealthy white men who controlled all three branches of government. These Republicans articulated a new vision of an America in which all hardworking men could rise. But after the Civil War, Republicans began to emulate what they originally opposed. They tied themselves to powerful bankers and industrialists, sacrificing the well-being of ordinary Americans. A similar process took place after World War II, when Republicans sought to dismantle successful New Deal policies and prop up the wealthy. However, in both cases, reformers within the party were able to return the GOP to its founding vision of equality of opportunity, first Theodore Roosevelt during the Progressive Era, and then Dwight D. Eisenhower, who enforced integration and maintained the New Deal. The Nixon and Reagan administrations have represented yet another fall from the GOP’s founding purpose. It's ironic, Richardson points out, that Republicans treated Barack Obama with an unprecedented level of disrespect, as Obama's rise from humble beginnings to the highest office in the nation embodied the vision of the original Republicans." [wikipedia]

In her most recent publication, Richardson argues "that America was founded with contradicting ideals, with the ideas of liberty, equality, and opportunity on one hand, and slavery and hierarchy on the other. United States victory in the American Civil War should have settled that tension forever, but at the same time that the Civil War was fought, Americans also started moving into the West. In the West, Americans found and expanded upon deep racial hierarchies, meaning that hierarchical values survived in American politics and culture despite the crushing defeat of the pro-slavery Confederacy. Those traditions--a rejection of democracy, an embrace of entrenched wealth, the marginalization of women and people of color--have found a home in modern conservative politics, leaving the tremendous promise of America unfulfilled." [wikipedia]