Who should govern congress? Access to power and the salary grab of 1873

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Boulder; University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Boulder; National Bureau of Economic Research; Northwestern University; Allegheny College
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• 发表日期: 2006
• 页码: 674-706
• 关键词: UNITED-STATES; shirking; REPRESENTATION; POLITICS

摘要

We examine the politics of the Salary Grab of 1873, legislation that increased congressional salaries retroactively by 50 percent. A group of New England and Midwestern elites opposed the Salary Grab, along with congressional franking and patronage-based civil service appointments, as part of a reform effort to reshape who should govern Congress. Our analyses of congressional voting confirm the existence of this nonparty elite coalition. Although these elites lost many legislative battles in the short run, their efforts kept reform on the legislative agenda throughout the late nineteenth century and ultimately set the stage for the Progressive movement in the early twentieth century.