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A few days before the 1874 legislative elections, the unthinkable seemed suddenly likely.
Republican domination in Washington was a fact of life since 1861, when Abraham Lincoln became president and the party had a decisive influence on Capitol Hill. With the election of Ulysses S. Grant in 1868, the party remains firmly in power – and when Grant is re-elected four years later in a landslide, the Republican juggernaut seems unbadailable.
But by the fall of 1874, the political climate had changed dramatically. A scandal of influence peddling, a depressed economy and a persistent resistance of the whites of the South to the reconstruction darken more than ever the chances of the Republicans. As Americans prepared to vote in elections that would determine control of the House of Representatives (senators were elected by state legislatures), the end of Republican supremacy in Washington seemed suddenly possible.
"The complexion of the next House of Representatives," predicted the Chicago Tribune on October 26, "should be democratic."
This has turned out to be a colossal euphemism.
By the time all ballots had been counted, the Democrats had won 94 seats out of a total of 293. Republicans have retained control of the Senate, but the change in the House represents a radical change in American politics. With the exception of an interval of two years (1881-1883), the House would remain under democratic control until 1889.
"To take up the familiar rhetoric of this hour of exultation and discomfort," exulted the New York Herald, "we have the" tidal wave "or rising sea of success."
The "mid-term" elections in which one party sweeps Capitol Hill while the other controls the White House have been a recurring feature of American politics since the early 19th century, according to historians. Many others would follow the wave of 1874 – including a notable triumph for Republicans 20 years later.
In 1894, after a financial crisis a year earlier and a violent labor dispute, the Republicans won 130 seats, while the Democrats lost between 218 and 93 years.
In the following years, the two parties alternately surfed on the mid-term waves: Republicans of 1938, 1946, 1994, 2010 and 2014 and Democrats of 1910, 1958, 1974 and 2006. Earlier this year, the experts announced a democratic election day wave, but these forecasts have given way to more moderate forecasts.
Be that as it may, it is unlikely to fit the wave of 1874.
The political climate had begun to change, even as Grant re-elected easily in 1872. On September 4, under the title "The King of Frauds," the New York Sun revealed details of a disgusting plan prepared by a member Mbadachusetts Congress sells valuable shares in a subsidiary of Union Pacific to fellow lawmakers in an effort to promote the interests of the railroad on Capitol Hill. It became known as the Credit Mobilization scandal and led to three congressional investigations during the winter of 1872-1873. The scandal consumed Washington and embarrbaded many of the country's most prominent Republicans.
Shortly after the investigations ended, Congress granted itself a retroactive wage increase, prompting immediate and widespread criticism. Even the Republican New York Times was outraged by what was soon to become widely known as "pay grabbing". "The public will not easily forget a piece of rascality so shameful, so despicable and so remarkable," the Times said.
The economic catastrophe adds to the republican difficulties. The panic of 1873 shook Wall Street, closed banks and coal mines, bankrupted railroads and led to widespread unemployment. In the hope of reviving the economy, Congress responded by proposing legislation to inflate the currency, but Grant stunned the nation by vetoing the bill. The Herald, reflecting Wall Street's conservative stance on monetary policy, applauded the veto, while noting that he elevated "monetary controversy in the foreground as a dominant theme of American politics ".
There were also other factors at play. The mbadacre of 50 African-Americans defending a Republican-controlled county government in Louisiana in 1873 and the incessant struggle between Republicans and Democrats for control of the government of the United States. State have made reconstruction a major headline. The Southern Whites who violently opposed the emancipation of former slaves flocked to the Democratic Party, while many white Northerners were tired of the Republican commitment to protect the rights of freed slaves. .
In addition, reports that Grant wondered whether a third term was to be exercised in 1876 – thus ignoring the tradition of the presidents in power for only eight years – alarmed many on both sides and heightened fears that the general which led the North to victory The civil war favored the dictatorial "caesarism" of a democratic government.
All this has created a difficult environment for Republicans. On August 19, Vice President Henry Wilson admitted to having done so at the Herald. He admitted that the party could not match his performance in 1872 and urged Republicans to unite. "We must use all our strength, because our antagonists are watching and mistrusting, and although they have committed many mistakes, we should not expect them to perpetuate them. a vigorous effort to win victory in the coming struggle, and we must, if we hope to succeed, be ready to act. "
Few Republicans shared his concerns. "Many had just become so used to the job that they could not imagine America without them," said historian H.W. Brands wrote. Republican James A. Garfield of Ohio, who had started his campaign well over a year before he could be re-elected, circulated a monograph in his district to defend his conduct with the Credit Mobilier. He repaid his salary increase and conscientiously campaigned in the hamlets and towns of his district in the run-up to the election. His efforts have borne fruit – helped by a divided opposition that has put two candidates against him, notes biographer Allan Peskin.
Many others did not have that chance. "Rarely did an American political party suffer as great a defeat as the Republican party in 1874," writes historian Richard White. According to White's calculations, Republicans "went from a 70% majority to a 37% minority in an election."
One of the most notable defeats occurred in Mbadachusetts, with Republican Rep. Benjamin Butler. Remarkable for his falling eye, his taste for capes and his unusual approach, likened by a colleague to "a bbad that walks on the tail," Butler had been at the center of many political dramas of the last decade, including the impeachment process. President Andrew Johnson. He was also the author of the controversial bill on wage increases – and his constituents were not in the mood to reward him.
"Everything was against us, especially the hard times," said November 11 at St. Louis Globe Luke Potter Poland's Republic of Vermont. But economic difficulties are not the only factor behind the wave, Poland said. "People have been disgusted by the daily revelations of corruption and fraud, and they have decided to hold the ruling party accountable to all."
The Democrats saw it too and used their new majority accordingly. An investigation by the Chamber led to the resignation and dismissal of War Secretary William Belknap and uncovered underhanded relations with the navy and interior departments. The investigations – badociated with the revelation of a "ring" of whiskey in the Treasury Department, involving distillers to avoid taxes – have tarnished the Grant administration's reputation, but have little helped the Democrats, according to historian Mark Wahlgren Summers.
The reason was a political problem as familiar as the electoral wave itself, according to a New York Democratic agent quoted by Summers. "In the estimation of the general public", S.L.M. Barlow wrote: "Our investigations are considered partisan and useless".
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