Roscoe Conkling

After President Hayes announced that he would only be serving one term, the election of 1880 was up for grabs. Republicans stood behind the dark horse James Garfield of Ohio who had just been elected to the U.S. Senate. With the help of Conkling and through word of mouth, Chester Arthur’s name was being discussed in relation to the vice presidential slot. Garfield agreed with Arthur’s nomination and with little hesitation, Chester Arthur accepted and declared, “The office of the Vice-President is a greater honor than I ever dreamed of attaining” (Doenecke,…

quicker than those with less successful families. This also ties into the idea of socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status is defined as a “measure of combination of education, income and occupation”. Depending on a person’s socioeconomic background, they would either have a paved road to success, or they would have to trailblaze an entirely new route on their own. Wealthy and educated white men reaped the most benefits from their socioeconomic status at the time. Most wealthy white men at…

In the book “Destiny of the Republic” Candice Millard goes into great detail describing the main characters in this story that recounts the details of President James Garfield’s tragic death only months after taking office. James Garfield, Roscoe Conkling, Charles Guiteau and Dr. Bliss were some of the characters that interwove together, each with their own backgrounds to tell a bigger story. How these characters intersected would change history. I did thoroughly enjoy the historical portion of…

Fighting back the republican resistance, Hayes took aim at the New York Customhouse, and tried to replace its collector Chester Arthur with Theodore Roosevelt Sr, but Conkling fought back arguing “senatorial courtesy”. Hayes emerged victorious and he required a civil service exam to be administered at the New York Customhouse as well as preventing senators from controlling appointments, although they could suggest candidates. Hayes’s fight to decrease corruption in the New York Customhouse and…

Garfield got questioned by dozens of people just because in the past that protection was not provided. Everyday Garfield would visit with office seekers one of them was a guy named Charles Guiteau. He was not your typical office seeker he had spent the campaign season in 1880 hanging around republican headquarters in New York. Guiteau felt as if he was owed an appointment he associated with Conkling and vice president Chester A. Arthur, but not really as he wanted people to think. Guiteau was…

supposed bribes he took as a congressman. This was futile though since the bribe theory couldn’t be proved” (Blassingame, 76). The election was close but in the end “James Garfield won the Election of 1880 against Winfield S. Hancock by 7,363 votes” (Doenecke). As President, James Garfield knew exactly what he wanted to accomplish…and it dealt with the government. “His two main goals were these: reform the civil service system and purge the post office of corruption” (Barber, 31). James…

Chester A. Arthur was born on October 5, 1829, and died on November 18, 1886. He was an American attorney and politician. He served as the 21st president from September 19, 1881 to March 4, 1885. He was born in Fairfield Vermont, and grew up in New York. He also practiced law in New York City. He served as a quartermaster general in the New York Militia during the American Civil War. After the war, he put more time to Republican politics and quickly rose in the political machine run by New York…

Chapter 7: (The Spoilsmen: An Age of Cynicism) The Spoilsmen were also known as Robber Barons or Captains of Industry. From 1865 through the Industrial Revolution, they controlled most of the wealth, and thought that since they or their parents worked hard to get it they deserved it. The Republican Party was corrupt at this time, and was more successful than the Democrats. All the Republican Presidents during this time period were corrupt in some way, and even the leaders of the Republican Party…

Sumner William Seward peonage KKK 13th Amendment Force Acts Radical Republicans scalawag Black Codes 14th Amendment Civil Rights Act 1875 Ex-Confederates Carpet bagger Freedman’s Bureau 15th Amendment Tenure of Office Act Bloody Shirts 1. What was the purpose of congressional Reconstruction, and what were its actual effects in the South? (13pts) 2. What did the attempt at Black political empowerment achieve? Why did it finally fail? Could it have succeeded with a…