This archive report was first published on 31 October 2021.
Published on October 31, 2021, the Gilded Age in the United States was marked by a peculiar phenomenon: the more Americans participated in democracy, the less they seemed to achieve. The parties were eager to capitalize on this energy, using it to maintain their grip on power and ignore the pressing issues of the time.
Richard Croker, a Tammany Hall boss, once described his machine as America's 'great digestive apparatus,' capable of converting immigrants into active citizens. However, this 'digestion' came at a cost, as the parties exploited the energy of the people to maintain their own power.
Many Americans, including Black politician Isaiah C. Wears, saw the parties as tools to be used for their own purposes. Wears famously described the Republican Party as the 'knife which has the sharpest edge and does my cutting.' Others sought community and social connection through party activities, but these efforts ultimately resolved little.
Despite the enthusiasm of the people, the parties failed to address the country's systemic problems. Voter turnouts climbed to unprecedented heights, but the results were often inconclusive, and the parties continued to prioritize their own interests over those of the people.
As one African American reverend pointedly asked, 'With all your speaking, organizing, parading in the streets, ballyhooing, voting and sometimes fighting, what do you get?' The answer, it seemed, was little.
