Politics in Late Nineteenth Century America

Immediately after the end of Reconstruction, politics were unhealthily trivial to American life. The laissez-faire philosophy was applied to both economics and politics and the public was less than interested in elections and other aspects of political life. However, as certain issues like religion, racism, and women's rights became more important, politics once again became important to Americans, as both an important activity and recreation.

The Democratic Party had been damaged after the Civil War, but soon recovered and during the subsequent presidential elections, the results were very close (in regards to the popular vote). Consequently, the two parties rarely cooperated in Congress. This may have been caused by Republican bitterness over the treatment of former slaves or by the lack of importance politics had. Whatever the cause, Congress was weakened.

The executive branch of the government was also suffering. The president did not handle national policy and his most prevalent job became appointing people to public office based on the spoils system. In this time of weakness, the judicial branch stepped up and began using its power over the legislative and executive branches.
Meanwhile, the government adopted a policy of laissez-faire. In other words, the governments only real purpose was make sure that the citizens could pursue their own lives without interference, including that of the government itself. Thus emerged individualism and Social Darwinism. It was now up to individuals to rise from poverty to riches, and the people that managed to succeed were regarded as superior to those who failed.

Regardless of how little the government was supposed to do, politics remained a popular activity in America. People rallied for their presidential candidates with buttons, posters, and other items of political paraphernalia. However, while people derived entertainment from campaigning, they were very loyal to their parties. Two factors that separated Republicans and Democrats were religion and ethnicity.

Grover Cleveland may not have won the 1882 election had it not been for the separation in the Republican Party. An entire Republican faction, called the Mugwumps, switched parties altogether.

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Copyright: Public Domain