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Like Modern GOP, Gilded Age Oligarchs Gerrymandered to Thwart Democracy
The dismantling of the 'People's House' into a fiefdom for big business-friendly Republicans isn't necessarily a new development. In the late 19th and early 20th century, oligarchs manipulated the voting districts to repress the will, and the votes, of the people -- much like the gerrymandering we see today. A century ago, it was the U.S. Senate, not the House, that fell victim to such sordid tricks.
The last time America experienced a vast decline in representative democracy was the Gilded Era, a period where both major parties became consumed by a small number of robber barons -- tycoons who monopolized entire industries, bought politicians like cattle, killed striking workers, and manipulated cabinet secretaries and judges alike through a system of graft and petty bribery. In the South, the end of Reconstruction brought a reign of terror against recently enfranchised black citizens, who lost the right to vote -- and in some cases, faced re-enslavement -- as railroad and timber industry-financed Redeemer Democrat politicians rewrote state constitutions and began Jim Crow voting restrictions.
Another, less well known aspect of this wave of undemocratic action was in the North concerning town-based state legislative districts. Before the 17th Amendment, state legislators elected U.S. Senators. And in northern states like Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey, state legislative districts were drawn based on counties or towns, not people. As hundreds of thousands of European immigrants arrived in these states, Republicans party chiefs, in a bid to suppress the votes of these new Americans, ruthlessly fought to ensure that legislative districts stayed the same, regardless of population. The immigrants could vote, but their votes wouldn't matter much.
The last time America experienced a vast decline in representative democracy was the Gilded Era, a period where both major parties became consumed by a small number of robber barons -- tycoons who monopolized entire industries, bought politicians like cattle, killed striking workers, and manipulated cabinet secretaries and judges alike through a system of graft and petty bribery. In the South, the end of Reconstruction brought a reign of terror against recently enfranchised black citizens, who lost the right to vote -- and in some cases, faced re-enslavement -- as railroad and timber industry-financed Redeemer Democrat politicians rewrote state constitutions and began Jim Crow voting restrictions.
Another, less well known aspect of this wave of undemocratic action was in the North concerning town-based state legislative districts. Before the 17th Amendment, state legislators elected U.S. Senators. And in northern states like Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey, state legislative districts were drawn based on counties or towns, not people. As hundreds of thousands of European immigrants arrived in these states, Republicans party chiefs, in a bid to suppress the votes of these new Americans, ruthlessly fought to ensure that legislative districts stayed the same, regardless of population. The immigrants could vote, but their votes wouldn't matter much.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/173784/modern-gop-gilded-age-oligarchs-gerrymandered-thwart-democracy
