Category: Gilded Age

1870s

Overview The term “Reconstruction” has more than one meaning in American history.  Usually it refers to the period from 1863 to 1877, as the federal government worked to “reconstruct” or “restore” former Confederate states back in the national system of…

ESSAY –Election Day 1884

In Fall 2010, Dickinson College student Peter Wright produced a concise essay that described how the presidential election of 1884 between Democrat Grover Cleveland and Republican James G. Blaine had turned quite personal and nasty. Mugwumps and Mudslingers: The Bitter…

ESSAY –Election Day 1896

Peter Wright offers a vivid portrait of William Jennings Bryan on the day of his defeat in 1896.  Bryan was the Democratic – Populist candidate for president who was overwhelmed by former Ohio governor William McKinley and the well-financed, well-organized…