Ulysses S. Grant Being a virgin to politics, he became the first president to be in office after the Civil War. He was previously a Union General who defeated General Lee at Appomatox Court House, which ended the Civil War. During Grants presidency, several scams passed through Congress. Grant was never proven to be involved with any of them. Also, the Panic of 1873 (overspeculation) came about in his reign. he served out two consecutive terms and was not renominated to run for a third.

Thomas Nast Thomas Nast was a cartoonist for the New York Times and drew many famous political cartoons including one of Boss Tweed. The cartoon showed condemning evidence on the corrupt ring leader and he was jailed shortly afterwards.

Horace Greely In 1872 the republicans renominated Grant and some of the "reform-minded" republicans left their party, creating the Liberal Republican party and nominating Greely, editor of the New York Tribune. The Democrats also nominated him. There was much mudslinging involved in this election and Greely lost, in more ways than one. Along with the loss of the presidency, Greely lost his job, his wife, and his mind within one month of the election.

Roscoe Conkling Conkling was the leader of a group for Republicans called the Stalwarts. These people loved the spoils system and supported it wherever it was threatened. They were opposed by the Half-Breeds led by James G. Blaine. Conkling, a senator from New York, and Blaine's infighting caused the nomination of the politically neutral Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876.

James G. Blaine champion of the Half-Breeds, a political machine of the Republican party. A congressman from Maine; very good with people. Was candidate for Pres. in 1884 for the Rep., however, other Rep., like the mudwamps, wouldn't support him. They considered him a political villain. Became secretary of state during Garfield's administration and tried to persuade Garfield towards the Half-Breed political machine.

Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford B. Hayes was a republican governor from Ohio. He had spent majority of his term as governor reforming the government and politics within Ohio. He was elected president in 1876 by the Compromise of 1877. Hayes was known as the "caretaker" president because he just took care of the country.

Samuel Tilden A New York lawyer who rose to fame by bagging big boss Tweed, a notorious New York political boss in New York. Tilden was nominated for President in 1876 by the Democratic party because of his clean up image. This election was so close that it led to the compromise of 1877. Even though Tilden had more popular votes the compromise gave presidency to the Republicans and allowed the Democrats to stop reconstruction in the south.

James A. Garfield James Garfield was elected to presidency in 1880. He barely won the popular vote but won by a huge margin in the electoral college. He was assassinated so Stalwarts could be in power in the government. This brought about reforms in the spoils systems.

Chester A. Arthur He was the Vice President of James A. Garfield. After President Garfield was assassinated, September of 1881, Arthur assumed the position. He was chosen to run as Vice President, primarily, to gain the Stalwart's vote. Arthur was left in charge of the United States with no apparent qualifications. He, in turn, suprised the public with his unexpected vigor in prosecuting certain post office frauds and wouldn't help the Conklingite cronies when they came looking for favors. He was also in favor of civil service reform.

Charles J. Guiteau In 1881 Charles J. Guiteau shot President Grafield in the back in a Washington railroad station. Guiteau allegedly committed this crime so that Arthur, a stalwart, would become President. Guiteau's attorneys used a plea of insanity, but failed and Guiteau was hung for murder. After this event politics began to get cleaned up with things like the Pendelton Act.

Grover Cleveland Cleveland was the democratic presidential candidate for the 1884 election. His republican opponent, James G. Blaine, was involved in several questionable deals , but Cleveland had an illegitimate child. Consequently, the election turned into a mudslinging contest. Cleveland won, becoming the first democratic president since Buchanan. He took few initiatives, but he was effective in dealing with excessive military pensions. He placated both North and South by appointing some former Confederates to office, but sticking mostly with Northerners. Cleveland also forced Congress to discuss lowering the tariff, although the issue could not be resolved before he was defeated by Benjamin Harrison in the 1888 election.

Benjamin Harrison called "Young Tippecanoe" because of grandfather William Henry Harrison. Republican elected president in 1888. Opponent, Grover Cleveland. had more popular votes but Harrison put in office because of more electoral votes; pro-business, protariff

Cheap Money Cheap money" is the theory that more printed money meant cheaper money. Therefore prices would be the same with more money out, making it easy to pay off debts. Creditors thought the exact opposite, however, thinking that it would mean harder to pay debts.

Hard/Sound Money The metallic or specie dollar is known as hard money. It was extremely important during the late 1860's and early 1870's, especially during the Panic of 1873. It was in opposition with "greenbacks" or "folding money." The issuing of the "greenbacks" was overdone and the value depreciated causing inflation and the Panic of 1873. "Hard-money" advocates looked for the complete disappearance of the "folding money."

Gilded Age The Gilded Age was a period in US history c1869-1889 that seemed alright on the outside but was politically corrupt internally. This period, although tainted by various political schemes, led to the development of many new industries.

spoils system the political system popularized by Andrew Jackson in the 1830's where the person elected to office appoints people to office regardless of merit or ability, usually as a reward for assistance in campaigning. Extremely popular during the Gilded Age (1869-1889) and it led to much corruption in politics.

Bloody-Shirt The slogan "bloody-shirt" was a strong campaign slogan used by the Republicans in the presidential elections of 1868. It was used to blame the Democrats for the Civil War which cost the lives of many Americans. This was the first time that the Civil War was used in a presidential election. It was also a great example of the political "mudslinging" of the era.

Tweed Ring A group of people in New York City who worked with and for Burly "Boss" Tweed. He was a crooked politician and money maker. The ring supported all of his deeds. The New York Times finally found evidence to jail Tweed. Without Tweed the ring did not last. These people, the "Bosses"of the political machines, were very common in America for that time

Credit Mobilier Scandal A railroad construction company that consisted of many of the insiders of the Union Pacific Railway. The company hired themselves to build a railroad and made incredible amounts of money from it. In merely one year they paid dividends of 348 percent. In an attempt to cover themselves they paid key congressmen and even the Vice-President stocks and large dividends. All of this was exposed in the scandal of 1872.

Whiskey Ring In 1875 Whiskey manufacturers had to pay a heavy excise tax. Most avoided the tax, and soon tax collectors came to get their money. The collectors were bribed by the distillers. The Whiskey Ring had robbed the treasury of millions in excise-tax revenues. The scandal reached as high as the personal secretary to President Grant.

Resumption Act It stated that the government would continue of greenbacks from circulation and to the redemption of all paper circulation and to the redemption of all paper currency in gold at face value beginning in 1879.

Crime of '73 When Congress stopped the coinage of the silver dollar against the will of the farmers and westerners who wanted unlimited coinage of silver. With no silver coming into the federal government, no silver money could be produced. The whole event happened in 1873. Westerners from silver-mining states joined with debtors in demanding a return to the " Dollar of Our Daddies." This demand was essentially a call for inflation, which was solved by contraction(reduction of the greenbacks) and the Treasury's accumulation of gold. A compromise over the coinage of silver came with the Bland-Allison Act of 1878. The law instructed the Treasury to coin between 2 million and 4 million dollars in silver each month.

Bland-Allison Act This act was a compromise concerning the coinage of silver designed by Richard P. Bland. It was put into effect in 1878. The act stated that the Treasury had to buy and coin between $2 and $4 million worth of silver bullion each month. The government put down hopes of inflationists when it bought only the legal minimum.

GAR Grand Army of the Republic, this was an organization formed by the Union veterans at the end of the American Civil War in 1866. Its main goal was to aid fellow veteran's families, and to try to obtain pension increases. In 1890, they had over 400,000 members. They also adopted Memorial Day in 1868. The Republican party was influenced by them greatly until 1900.

Stalwart A political machine led by Roscoe Conkling of New York in the late 19th Century. Their goal is to seek power in government. They also supported the spoils system.

Half-Breed A half-breed was a republican political machine, headed by James G. Blane c1869. The half-breeds pushed republican ideals and were almost a separate group that existed within the party.

Compromise of 1877 During the electoral standoff in 1876 between Hayes (Republican) and Tilde(Democrat). The Compromise of 1877 meant that the Democrats reluctantly agreed that Hayes might take office if he ended reconstruction in the South.

Pendleton Act of 1833 This was what some people called the Magna Carta of civil-service reform. It prohibited, at least on paper, financial assessments on jobholders. It created a merit system of making appointments to government jobs on the basis of aptitude rather than who you know, or the spoils system. It set up a Civil Service Commission, chaired with administering open competitive examinations to applicants for posts in the classified service. The people were forced, under this law, to take an exam before being hired to a governmental job position.