During the Gilded Age, the American political parties between 1875 and 1900 were evenly divided. It was an era in which political corruption was inescapable: businessmen bribed public officials at the local, state and national level, and political machines turned elections into games of fraud and manipulation.
The gradual maltreatment of blacks in the South tended to push them towards the Republican party as the century progressed. The Republican Party consisted heavily of northern Protestants and Americans descended from older generation and were supported by Scandinavians, German Lutherans, and English Methodists and Anglicans. They were shunned by Catholics because of their opposition to parochial schools, and immigrants sometimes disagreed with their policy that all teaching in schools must be in English.
The Democratic Party had become a heavily Southern party. The northern areas consisting of the Democratic Party were mostly made up of the working classes, which included Roman Catholics of German and Irish descent, white Southern Baptists, and many of the working class immigrants once they became eligible to vote. Democratic machines in the cities such as Tammany Hall in New York worked hard to get them registered and active in politics.
The gradual maltreatment of blacks in the South tended to push them towards the Republican party as the century progressed. The Republican Party consisted heavily of northern Protestants and Americans descended from older generation and were supported by Scandinavians, German Lutherans, and English Methodists and Anglicans. They were shunned by Catholics because of their opposition to parochial schools, and immigrants sometimes disagreed with their policy that all teaching in schools must be in English.
The Democratic Party had become a heavily Southern party. The northern areas consisting of the Democratic Party were mostly made up of the working classes, which included Roman Catholics of German and Irish descent, white Southern Baptists, and many of the working class immigrants once they became eligible to vote. Democratic machines in the cities such as Tammany Hall in New York worked hard to get them registered and active in politics.