Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Policy Setting: 1876
1904
-
The national political environment in which Powell began his career in 1867 was chaotic. The rift in the nation torn
by the civil war was fresh. Reconstruction did not eliminate tensions after the surrender at Appomattox courthouse,
but instead sent them underground to fester. The unpredictability of the electorate produced unclear party control of
Congress, with a nearly constant divided legislature with one chamber controlled by a Republican majority while
the other was controlled by a majority of Democrats. Even when the Congress was controlled by a single party,
there was divided government with the opposite party controlling the White House (Table 15.1.1). Presidential
elections were also inconclusive between 1876 and 1888 when no party held the White House for more than a
single term.
The presidency was wracked by contentious election results or assassinations in the final decades of the nineteenth
century. In 1877 after months of uncertainty following the fall election, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, a reform
candidate was selected by a single vote cast along party lines by the 15-man electoral commission. Congress had
appointed the commission to sort through the disputed electoral results from three states following the 1876
elections (Rehnquist, 2004). At the beginning of his administration in the hope of gaining some legitimacy with
which to govern, Hayes announced that we would not seek re-election. The 1880 election was decided by fewer
than 10,000 popular votes, and went to Republican James Garfield who was assassinated four months after his
inauguration. Creation of a merit based career bureaucracy was passed during Chester Arthur
'
s completion of
Garfield
s term, following what had been a decade long effort pressing for civil service reform. The Democratic
party held the White House briefly when Grover Cleveland was elected to nonconcurrent terms in 1884, and again
in 1892. Benjamin Harrison reclaimed the White House for the Republicans by a 100,000 popular vote margin in
the 1888 elections. The 1900 elections gave President McKinley a second term, of which he would serve only six
months before his death by assassination in September 1901.
'
Congressional elections were similarly inconsistent, alternating between divided party government within the
legislature and between the Congress and Executive. From March 1877 when the 45th Congress was being sworn
in, until Republican control of government resumed in 1897, there were only two instances of unified government.
Each party held majority control for two years, Republicans during the 51st Congress (1889
-
1891) for the first 2
'
'
years of President Harrison
s administration, and the Democrats for the first 2 years of President Cleveland
s
Table 15.1.1
US presidential and congressional election results: 1876
1904.
-
Congress (years)
House majority party
(percent seats)
Senate majority party
(percent seats)
President (party)
1879)
*
45th (1877
-
Democrat (52.90)
Republican (52.63)
Hayes (Republican)
1881)
†
46th (1879
-
Democrat (48.12)
Democrat (55.26)
Hayes (Republican)
1883)
*
47th (1881
-
Republican (51.54)
Democrat (48.68)
Garfield (Republican) died September 19,
1881; succeeded by Arthur
1885)
*
48th (1883
-
Democrat (60.31)
Republican (50.00)
1887)
*
49th (1885
-
Democrat (56.00)
Republican (55.26)
Cleveland (Democrat)
1889)
*
50th (1887
-
Democrat (51.38)
Republican (51.32)
Cleveland (Democrat)
51st (1889
-
1891)
Republican (53.92)
Republican (57.95)
Harrison (Republican)
1893)
*
52nd (1891
-
Democrat (71.69)
Republican (53.41)
Harrison (Republican)
53rd (1893
-
1895)
Democrat (61.24)
Democrat (50.00)
Harrison (Republican)
1897)
†
-
54th (1895
Republican (71.15)
Republican (48.89)
Harrison (Republican)
55th (1897
-
1899)
Republican (57.70)
Republican (48.89) McKinley (Republican)
-
56th (1899
1901)
Republican (52.38)
Republican (58.89) McKinley (Republican)
57th (1901
-
1903)
Republican (56.02)
Republican (62.22) McKinley (Republican) Died September 14,
1901; succeeded by T. Roosevelt
58th (1903
-
1905)
Republican (53.63)
Republican (63.33)
Source: Data Sources are Party Divisions, Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, http://www.clerk.house.gov; Party Divisions,
http://www.senate.gov; Presidents http://www. whitehouse.gov.
*
Divided legislature.
†
Divided government.
