What factors influenced political life in the late nineteenth century?

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Figure false: “Woman’s Holy War”
Figure false: This political cartoon styles the temperance campaign as “Woman’s Holy War” and shows a woman knight in armor (demurely seated sidesaddle on her charger), wielding a battle-ax and trampling on barrels of liquor. The image of temperance women as ax-wielding Amazons proved a popular satiric image. The cartoon appeared in 1874, the year the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was founded. Picture Research Consultants & Archives.

FOR MANY AMERICANS, politics provided a source of identity, a means of livelihood, and a ready form of entertainment. No wonder voter turnout averaged a hefty 77 percent (compared with roughly 60 percent in the 2008 presidential election). A variety of factors contributed to the complicated interplay of politics and culture. Patronage provided an economic incentive for voter participation, but ethnicity, religion, sectional loyalty, race, and gender all influenced the political life of the period.

CHRONOLOGY

1869

  • – National Woman Suffrage Association is founded.

1874

  • – Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is founded.

1890

  • – General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC) is founded.

1892

  • – Ida B. Wells launches antilynching campaign.