There are three main reasons for the corrupted era of the
gilled ages. The corruption ranges the assassination of James Garfield, the
Populist Party, and the election of 1896. These three events play a big part in
the downturn of the gilded age.
The first main reason for the
downfall of the Gilded Age was the assassination of President James Garfield.
President Garfield was a reformer that was facing against a republican. In the
Gilded Age republicans were known as a stalwart; the stalwart was ran by
Chester Arthur in the election. In the election of 1880 Garfield brings in the
win. By doing this he angered the stalwarts by giving reformers most of his
patronage jobs once he was elected. After Garfield’s death, Arthur became
president. Since Arthur became president, Arthur passed a service act called
the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883, which made civil service commission to
make appointments to federal jobs through a merit system based on the
candidates’ performance on an examination.
The next
main reason for the downfall of the Gilded Age was the forming of the Populist
Party. The members of the populists were farmers and other workers. Since the
populists were another party for the 1892 election, they had many things they
wanted to change like the economic platform reforms and they also wanted
senators to be voted in by popular vote, single term for president and
vice-president, and a secret ballot to end vote fraud. Populists wanted an
8-hour workday. In the 1892 election populists won 4 states, had 22 votes,
which was 10 percent of total votes. Due to the great election the populists
had, the populists eventually merged with the Democratic Party.
The final reason for the downfall
of the Gilded Age was the election of 1896. In the election of 1896, it was
William McKinley versus William Jennings Bryan. Mark Hanna was the leader of
the republicans. McKinley and the republican were the “gold bugs,” people who
want gold, and Bryan and the Democratic were the “silverites,” people who want
silver. Bryan lost to McKinley and was a good candidate against McKinley.
Popocrats were populists who were going to vote in the 1896 election only. Due
to the election of 1893 and above there was one main reason that was so crucial
and that was the depression of 1893 that still wasn’t cured yet.
The assassination of James
Garfield, the Populist Party, and the election of 1896 was a big part in why
the corrupted time known as the gilded age came to an end.
