In what ways did the political conflicts of the Gilded Age still reflect the aftermath of the Civil War and Reconstruction? To what extent did the political leaders of the time address issues of race and sectional conflict, and to what extent did they merely shove them under the rug?          

The finality of the Civil War wasn’t reached until Reconstruction was completed. The North had won the war, but the South was not a part of the Nation. In the South, the ideals of slavery and secession ran rampant throughout the area. Difficulties of successfully completing Reconstruction made the era of hardships and problems last longer and longer. One of the consequences of this horrible time period was the Gilded Age. An era that exploited the weaknesses of the nation’s aftermath of the Civil War allowed for this type of behavior to continue on without sufficient reprimands. Wastes, extravagances, speculation, and graft were all products of the Civil War, products that were not easily quelled by law enforcement. Although many of the businesses throughout the nation returned to normal, honorable methods, those special few ended up spoiling the entire system. The carnival of corruption was about to take charge and no one was able to prevent them from starting or able to force them to stop.

            This time period brought forth some of the worst criminals in history, making this era one of corruption and greed. Two of the financially notorious millionaires in society, Jim Fisk and Jay Gould cornered the gold market in 1869. Using the delicate combination of physical power and mental prowess, the two successfully implemented their plan on “Black Friday”, reeking havoc on the American stock market and economy. Another example of the Gilded Age was witnessed in the infamous Tweed Ring in New York. Led by Boss Tweed, the fraudulent elections, combined with bribery and graft, stole over 200 million from the city. Most of this behavior was permitted to continue because of President Grant being in control. His inability to foresee some of these scandals allowed more atrocities to continue. The Credit Mobilier scandal and the Whiskey Ring in Washington proved to be as detrimental to the integrity of the country as they were scandalous.

            Much of the reason these people were allowed to continue this behavior, other than the ineptness of law enforcement, was the addressing of issues of race and sectional conflict. Rather, each party was allowed to maintain their positions by avoiding the issues and appealing to ideals rather than valid issues. The Republicans adhered to the traditional Puritan values of their ancestors. Conversely, the Democrats were dominated by the Protestants and Catholics. Throughout the country, these differences explained the varying views and decisions of elections. For the most part, each party shared the same perspective on major issues, resulting in extremely close elections. However, the tide began to change when the end of Reconstruction arouse in 1877. Conflicts between the classes and ethnic differences began to take the forum. With this came the evolving idea of changing the focus of prominent men’s career choices. During this time period, it became evident to many Americans that the reason the political arena was so convoluted and corrupt was the fact that it did not possess the highest caliber of men. This change in policy would help to end the Gilded Age and redirect the focus of the “best men” in the new century.  

The aftermath of the Civil War and Reconstruction were both very confusing times.  After the Civil War, the slaves were supposed to have become free people, equal to any other American citizen.  However this did not happen.  New laws such as the Black Codes were created in order to keep the freedmen from becoming equal.  During the Gilded Age the government of the United States continued with this method of handling the freed slaves. 

            In 1877, the Compromise of 1877 was created in order to decide who would become president after the election of 1876.  A compromise was needed because of the confusion of who should become president.  The democratic nominee Samuel J. Tilden had 184 electoral votes of the needed 185.  There were also twenty electoral votes that were being disputed.  In regards to the popular vote, Tilden had 4,284,020 votes and his opponent, Rutherford B. Hayes, had 4,036,572 votes.  The Compromise of 1877 decided that Hayes would become president if he would take back the federal troops that moved to Louisiana and South Carolina at the beginning of this dispute.  Even though this compromise did resolve the conflict just in time for inauguration day, it did harm a group of people who were recently set free.

            In addition to the Compromise of 1877, the Republican Party gave up its promise to help bring equality to the blacks that were set free from slavery.  Even before this event the fight for equality was weakening.  The Civil Right Act of 1875 was passed a few years before.  This act granted the blacks “equal accommodations in public places and prohibited racial discrimination in jury selection…”  (520).  The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was announced to be unconstitutional in the Civil Rights Cases (1883) because the government was only not supposed to be discriminate.  An individual could decide whether to deny a person their civil right, as long as the government was not influencing it.  After the Civil Rights Cases reconstruction was over. 

            The white men once again enslaved the blacks that were previously set free.  The freed slaves were denied many rights, such as the right to vote.  They were also forced into sharecropping when the South made the blacks economically dependent.  Also the Jim Crow Laws were created in the 1890’s, making it segregation legal.  During the case of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) it was concluded that it was fine for there to be separate facilities as long as they were equal.  However the African American facilities were usually much worse than those of the whites.  The political leaders of that time did not directly address race issues; instead they allowed the blacks and people of other races to once again be discriminated against again.

            During the Gilded Age the blacks that were supposed to have been set free were once again enslaved.  The Compromise of 1877 brought the end of reconstruction, and the end of the Republican Party’s ambition to bring equality to the freed slaves.  The government and the south then both passed laws that would take away the liberties of the freed slave.  

In what ways did the political conflicts of the Guilded Age still reflect the aftermath of the Civil War and Reconstruction? To what extent did the political leaders of the time address issues of race and sectional conflict, and to what extent did they merely shove them under the rug?

After the civil war, there were many different feelings regarding the newly free slaves.  Since there had been no code to treat the blacks as equals, they simply were not.  No changes were made during the Gilded Age to try and create equal opportunities for the blacks.  The Compromise of 1877 was made to decide who would lead the country after the election of 1876.  There was a lot of confusion in this matter.  Samuel Tilden was the democratic nominee, opposing Rutherford B. Hayes.  Hayes won the election of 1876. 

          As well as the compromise of 1877, the republicans gave up their promise to help bring the much-needed equality for the new black citizens. 

The Republicans didn’t actually plan to give all the male blacks the right to vote immediately, they had actually envisioned them having the same status as the women—citizenship without suffrage. However, they decided that they had to free the former slaves while thousands of white southerners were being denied suffrage. After the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, the North and the South gave ballots to blacks and the Southerners thought it was hypocritical in insisting that blacks have to be allowed to vote in the South. After gaining suffrage, the black men began organizing politically.  Their primary vehicle was the Union League. This organization was originally a pro-Union in the North, but eventually it expanded its missions to include the building black schools and churches, representing black work unions, and recruiting militia to protect communities from many white supremacists.
Black women assumed many political roles and attended and helped to assemble mass meetings, parades and rallies. They even went to the constitutional conventions held in the Deep South. Black men held the greater power and formed the backbone of the black political community, sitting down with whites to reform their state’s constitutions. Although there were not any black governors elected, black participation grew exponentially during the Reconstruction. During this time there were about fourteen black congressmen, blacks filled two black senators, and other numerous local government positions.