This classroom simulation uses active learning to introduce students to congressional politics using the national issues of the Gilded Age. Instructors can adjust the simulation to different grade levels (seventh grade to college) and time constraints (one to five class periods) using the various options provided. They can also shift the focus of the simulation from regional politics to political processes, historical events and persons, or a combination of all three. The simulation provides opportunities for historical and biographical research, writing assignments, class presentations, debates, and use of parliamentary procedures as well as comparisons and contrasts with historical events.

Congressional politics is particularly interesting in the Gilded Age because Congress played a predominant role in the national government during much of the period, with majority control of Congress shifting frequently between the two major political parties. Furthermore, the major parties had a penchant for straddling the most important issues, which led to intense interparty struggles as well as the emergence of a series of third parties. Also, the Gilded Age marks the transition from nineteenth-century political issues that usually generated regional and sectional loyalties to twentieth-century political issues that tended to inspire national loyalties. Following the Civil War, new regional issues such as the coinage of silver and the regulation of railroads were added to the longstanding regional issues of the protective tariff and civil rights for African Americans.

Background on Regional Issues

Protective tariffs were an important issue for manufacturers in the North, who had great influence over senators from their region. Many citizens throughout the country supported high tariffs as a means of promoting economic development. Southerners were strongly opposed to high tariffs because foreign countries usually retaliated by placing their own tariffs on the large volume of cotton and tobacco exports from the South. Reformers throughout the country, as well as most westerners, were generally opposed to a high tariff but did not consider it as important as other issues. Efforts to lower tariff rates were unsuccessful during the 1880s, and in 1890 the McKinley Tariff adjusted them even higher. Success in the 1892 election enabled the Democratic party to lower the rates in the Wilson-Gorman Tariff of 1894, but Republican victories in 1896 resulted in the Dingley Tariff of 1897, which raised rates to new highs.

Railroad regulation was of great concern for westerners and for farmers and small business owners in other regions. Opponents of railroad regulation included most business leaders, who were concentrated in the North. Citizens unaffected by the issue tended to oppose government regulation as an infringement of the property rights of business owners. A variety of railroad regulations had been passed in farming states during the 1870s, but these were overturned by the Supreme Court in the 1880s because of the interstate nature of most railroads. After several unsuccessful attempts, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which outlawed collusion between railroads, banned some methods of price discrimination, and provided for federal regulation of the railroads.

Farmers supported the coinage of silver to increase the money supply as a response to thirty years of deflation between 1865 and 1895. The falling prices for agricultural products made it increasingly more difficult for farm owners to pay their debts or for sharecroppers to acquire their own land. Farmers’ political clout was greatest in the South and West, where it joined with the silver mining industry to support the increased silver coinage. Business leaders, on the other hand, opposed the coinage of silver because they believed that it would undermine the public’s faith in the value of money and precipitate an economic depression. The political efforts of farmers and the silver mining industry resulted in the Bland-Allison Act of 1878 and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, as well as the emergence of the Populist Party and the Silverite Party in the early 1890s.

The major political arenas for civil rights during this period was in state legislatures where Jim Crow laws were being passed and in the local communities where lynching was becoming more frequent as a means of intimidating black citizens. At the federal level, the Supreme Court declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional in 1883, and provided the legal basis for segregation in the Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896. Republicans in the North and West had historical and political reasons for supporting African-American civil rights, but the issue had a low priority because of prevailing racial attitudes and the frustrations of Reconstruction. This limited support contrasted with the adamant opposition of the South (and some northern Democrats) to federal involvement with this issue. As a result, Congress was largely inactive on civil rights during this period. The Lodge Bill in 1890 would have provided some protection of southern black voting rights; it passed the House of Representatives by a narrow margin (155-149), but was killed by a southern filibuster in the Senate. In 1894, Congress repealed the 1870 Enforcement Act which provided federal oversight of election practices in local communities.

Basic Simulation

The instructor should divide the class into groups of six to nine students. Each group, simulating the U.S. Senate, will discuss, amend, and vote on legislation representing the four major sectional issues of the 1880s and 1890s: the Lodge Bill of 1890 (civil rights), the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 (silver coinage), the McKinley Tariff of 1890 (tariffs), and the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 (railroad regulation). Each Senate group will divide into three subgroups representing the North, South, and West. The instructor provides background on regional issues, distributes the legislation (Handout 1) and the appropriate portion of the scoring instructions to each sectional subgroup (Handout 2), and facilitates discussion, amending, and voting on the four pieces of legislation. After the student voting, each region tallies its score to see how well it accomplished its political goals. The instructor and students then compare the simulated experiences with actual historical events.

This simulation can be used as either an opening or concluding activity for a unit of study on the Gilded Age. As an opening activity (one class period), students will be introduced to four major political issues of the day and become familiar with the regional positions on those issues. The negotiations will normally take twenty-five to thirty minutes, however some groups will get so involved in the discussion that the instructor must expedite their process, while other groups will proceed quickly, forcing the instructor to prompt further discussion of the issues.

As a concluding activity, the simulation requires one or two class periods depending on the time allotted for negotiations. Prior to the simulation, the instructor can provide background information while homework, reading, or research assignments can focus on the student’s assigned region. (See Detailed Simulation options for additional ideas.) Students can demonstrate their knowledge of the political positions of their regions and the underlying reasons for those positions through writing assignments, class presentations, or speeches during the simulation.

Detailed Simulation

Alternatively, the instructor may choose to use this simulation as the centerpiece of an instructional unit that embraces several class periods and requires detailed information. In this case, the entire class would represent the U.S. Senate and additional class time would be allotted for negotiations. Political parties could caucus, discuss common positions, and select party leaders. If the instructor chooses to focus on the legislative process, students could argue over the legislative agenda, debate the merits of each bill, use parliamentary procedures, filibusters, and closure votes to the extent desired by the instructor.

Option 1: If the instructor’s goal is to teach political process, he/she could assign three additional issues which cut across regional and party lines: civil service reform (Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883), anti-trust legislation (Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890), and imperialism (an annexation treaty for Hawaii was submitted to the Senate in 1893). Students could choose note cards with their assigned positions listed on the cards or receive their positions directly from the instructor. For the most effective simulation, the instructor should ensure that each of the three issues is supported by one-third of the class and opposed by one-third of the class, while the remaining one-third of the students are neutral on the issue. Similarly, each student should be in favor of one issue, opposed to one issue, and neutral on one issue. For each class decision that correspnds to their position on these national issues, the students add two points to their score for the regional issues. Students should also be assigned party affiliations randomly—with an equal number (or any ratio the instructor chooses) of Republicans and Democrats and maybe one Populist to make things interesting.

Option 2: The instructor could assign each student a specific historical role as an individual senator (see box). For this purpose, the fifty-fourth Congress (4 March 1895 to 3 March 1897) is a good choice because of its relative political balance in the Senate (forty-four Republicans, forty Democrats, four Populists, and two Silverites). It is also one of the few Congresses in U.S. history in which senators from a minor party were in a position of power, providing the swing votes necessary to pass or defeat legislation. Finally, the choice of this particular Congress facilitates the instructor’s discussion of the crucial 1896 campaign and election, which receives considerable attention in most textbooks. The students could do research on their particular senator to determine his views on the issues for the simulation, or this could be the focus of a writing assignment or class presentation by the student. Short biographies of senators are provided in the Biographical Directory of the American Congress; more detailed information can also be found in state histories.

Option 3: No one Congress actually considered all of the issues in this simulation, but the fifty-first Congress (March 1889 to March 1891) coincides most closely with the legislation being considered. The instructor might choose the fifty-first Congress for historical accuracy and even limit the simulation to the three pieces of legislation actually passed by that Congress concerning coinage, anti-trust, and the tariff. However, the strong Republican majority (51 to 37) which enabled the passage of such landmark legislation would tend to stifle political negotiation in the simulation and prompt relatively quick votes along party lines. The result would be a shorter, more focused, simulation which would be more historically accurate in its details but would rarely achieve the political bargain of higher tariffs for increased silver coinage, which actually took place in that Congress.

Most of the senators listed in Handout 3 from the fifty-fourth Congress were serving in those same roles six years earlier, but some changes are necessary to make the list accurate and achieve the proper balance between the political parties in each region for the fifty-first Congress. The instructor should replace David B. Hill (NY), William V. Allen (NE), and William N. Roach (ND) with Republicans Frank Hiscock (NY), Charles F. Manderson (NE) and Lyman R. Casey (ND). James Smith, Jr. (NJ) and Jeter C. Prichard (NC) should be replaced with Democrats John R. McPherson (NJ) and Matt W. Ransom (NC). Also, change John P. Jones’s (NV) party affiliation to Republican for the fifty-first Congress and delete Frank J. Cannon, since Utah was not yet a state. This results in a simulation with ten Republicans from the West, eleven Democrats from the South, and eight Republicans and three Democrats from the North.

Option 4: Rather than assigning individual senators, the instructor could assign each student (or a two-student team) a particular state and have the students generate their own list of viewpoints that they think would be appropriate to senators from that state during the Gilded Age. This could be a classroom activity or homework assignment in preparation for a class discussion of the various political interest groups in each state or region and their relative influence. This discussion could be used as preparation for the simulation, as a summary after the simulation, or the instructor could choose not to do the simulation at all.

Discussion Questions

Which section of the country supported which viewpoints on the issues? Why did the North want high tariffs and the South and West want low tariffs? Why did the West and South support the coinage of silver but the North oppose it? Why was support for African-American civil rights limited in the North and West? Why was the South so strongly opposed to African-American civil rights? Why did the North oppose railroad regulation? Why was the West so strongly in favor of railroad regulation? Since the South and West agreed on most issues, what limited their cooperation? What predominant interest groups determined regional viewpoints? Why? Which regions had firm positions on issues and which were more flexible? What areas within a region would have had conflicting viewpoints on the issues? What other political issues were important during the Gilded Age? Why was political support for these issues not divided along regional lines? What methods could be used to prevent the passage of legislation? To what extent were regional and party loyalties in conflict in the simulation?

Bibliography

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997).

Cherny, Robert W. American Politics in the Gilded Age, 1868-1900, Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, 1997.

Edwards, Rebecca. “Popular Appeals in the Campaign of 1896,” Nebraska History 77(Fall/Winter 1996): 129-39.

Goodwyn, Lawrence. Democratic Promise: The Populist Movement in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976.

Hahn, Steven. The Roots of Southern Populism: Yeoman Farmers and the Transformation of the Georgia Upcountry, 1850-1890. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.

Kilmer, Paulette D. The Fear of Sinking: The American Success Formula in the Gilded Age. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1996.

Martis, Kenneth C. The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989. New York: Macmillan, 1989.

Painter, Nell Irvin. Standing at Armageddon: The United States, 1877-1919. New York: W. W. Norton, 1987.

Thomas, Brook. Plessy v. Ferguson: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997.

Woodward, C. Vann. The Strange Career of Jim Crow, 3rd revised edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.

Sample Senators,
Fifty-Fourth Congress
(Option 2)

NORTH
David B. Hill, New York, Democrat
James Smith, Jr., New Jersey, Democrat
Charles J. Faulkner West Virginia Democrat
Daniel W. Voorhees Indiana Democrat
Eugene Hale Maine Republican
George F. Hoar Massachusetts Republican
Orville H. Platt Connecticut Republican
William E. Chandler New Hampshire Republican
John Sherman Ohio Republican
James McMillan Michigan Republican
Shelby M. Cullom Illinois Republican

SOUTH
George Gray Delaware Democrat
John T. Morgan Alabama Democrat
James H. Berry Arkansas Democrat
Wilkinson Call Florida Democrat
John W. Daniel Virginia Democrat
James Z. George Mississippi Democrat
Isham G. Harris Tennessee Democrat
Arthur Pue Gorman Maryland Democrat
Joseph C. S. Blackburn Kentucky Democrat
Francis M. Cockrell Missouri Democrat
Jeter C. Pritchard North Carolina Republican

WEST
William B. Allison Iowa Republican
Henry M. Teller Colorado Republican
George L. Shoup Idaho Republican
Francis E. Warren Wyoming Republican
John P. Jones Nevada Silverite
John H. Mitchell Oregon Republican
William V. Allen Nebraska Populist
Watson C. Squire Washington Republican
William N. Roach North Dakota Democrat
Cushman K. Davis Minnesota Republican
Frank J. Cannon Utah Republican

Handout 1: Legislation for the Basic Simulation

Protective Tariff Bill—A tax will be charged at a rate of 50 percent of dollar value on all products imported into the United States of America.

Bill Regulating Railroads—Railroad rates shall be reasonable and just; rate schedules must be published and rate changes are forbidden without prior public notice. Furthermore, it will be illegal for railroads to engage in unjust price discrimination between customers, particularly in the form of rebates, kickbacks or long-haul/short-haul rates, or to enter into pooling or traffic-sharing agreements with other railroads. An Interstate Commerce Commission will be established by the federal government to investigate these concerns.

Silver Purchase Bill—The United States Treasury will purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver per month from domestic mining companies and issue new paper money of comparable value to be redeemable in either gold or silver.

Civil Rights Bill—Federal marshals and election supervisors are authorized to determine whether prospective voters meet the qualifications for voting. These federal officials are further authorized to place the completed ballots of qualified voters in the ballot box over the objections of local officials.

Additional Legislation for the Detailed Simulation:
Civil Service Reform Bill—10 percent of federal jobs will be classified as civil service jobs to be filled by competitive examinations rather than political appointment. A Civil Service Commission will be established to administer the competitive examinations of applicants for these posts. The solicitation of political contributions from such civil servants will be illegal.

Treaty for the Annexation of Hawaii—The Provisional Government of Hawaii relinquishes its sovereignty and requests immediate annexation as a territory of the United States of America, with all the rights and privileges inherent.

Bill to Restore Competition to Big Business—Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce, is hereby declared to be illegal.

Handout 2: Regional Scoring

NORTH (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin)
Six points for the passage of the Protective Tariff Bill.
Two points for the passage of the Civil Rights Bill.
Three points for the defeat of the Silver Purchase Bill.
Three points for the defeat of the Bill Regulating Railroads.

SOUTH (Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and Delaware)
Four points for the defeat of the Protective Tariff Bill.
Six points for the defeat of the Civil Rights Bill.
Two points for the passage of the Silver Purchase Bill.
Two points for the passage of the Bill Regulating Railroads.

WEST (Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, California, Washington, Oregon, and—after 1894—Utah.)
Two points for the defeat of the Protective Tariff Bill.
Two points for the passage of the Civil Rights Bill.
Five points for the passage of the Silver Purchase Bill.
Five points for the passage of the Bill Regulating Railroads.

These point values are based on the relative importance of the particular issue to the region and give each region an equal opportunity (fourteen possible points) for success in the simulation. The point values are reasonably accurate for the “core” areas of the North, South, and West where the predominant political views on these issues were clear.

David L. Ghere is an associate professor of history in the General College at the University of Minnesota and the author of over a dozen publications concerning Abenaki Indians in colonial New England. He is also the creator of numerous classroom simulations, which he has presented at OAH conferences and at various workshops he has conducted for social studies teachers.