"Era of Poor Politicking"

After the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson became the new leader of our country. We will be looking at the period of time of Johnson’s presidency through McKinley’s. We will be looking at the choices they made which drastically changed our country, of lack of choices to differ our country.


During the presidency of Johnson, the radical republicans disregarded his ideas and passed legislation over his veto. In 1867 Johnson was impeached for breaking one of the laws that the radicals enforced. Ulysses S. Grant was the next president. Yes, he was a great general in the war, but when it came to his presidency, he made little effort to impact the country.

The next president was Rutherford B. Hayes.

“Beneficiary of the most fiercely disputed election in American history, Rutherford B. Hayes brought to the Executive Mansion dignity, honesty, and moderate reform.” (source)

After Hayes came James A. Garfield. Just as Garfield was beginning to make a good impact on the government during the reconstruction period, he was assassinated. His presidency only lasted for one year. He was succeeded by Chester A. Arthur. While president, Arthur passed two major acts. These acts were the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Pendleton Civil Service Act. Cleveland came next. He was the only president to leave the White House and then return for a second term four years later. He vetoed many acts and bills.

Next to come was Benjamin Harrison. He passed many acts while serving his term. In one year he passed three substantial acts. Many people believe that his term was a productive one. And finally the last president in the “era of poor politicking” was William McKinley.

“William McKinley, Jr. (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901) was the 25th President of the United States, and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected to the office.By the 1880s, McKinley was a national Republican leader; his signature issue was high tariffs on imports as a formula for prosperity, as typified by his McKinley Tariff of 1890. As the Republican candidate in the 1896 presidential election, he upheld the gold standard, and promoted pluralism among ethnic groups. His campaign, designed by Mark Hanna, introduced new advertising-style campaign techniques that revolutionized campaign practices and beat back the crusading of his arch-rival, William Jennings Bryan. The 1896 election is often considered a realigning election that marked the beginning of the Progressive Era.” (source)

McKinley was then assassinated, becoming the third American president to be assassinated.

After researching this group of presidents, I can see why anyone would call this the “era of poor politicking”. Many of the presidents that I have mentioned, didnat make much of an impact on our country. They also didn’t help it in ways they should have. Some of the presidents, however, didn’t get a chance to make changes because they were assassinated, impeached, etc. Some of these presidents were faced with opposition, while others just didn’t try much to make a difference.