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Mugwumps
Mugwumps, late nineteenth‐century reformers who blamed partisanship for the rampant corruption of Gilded Age politics.By voting independently of party lines, Mugwumps attempted to pressure regular Republicans and Democrats to support civil service reform, lower tariffs, and a hard‐money policy based on the gold standard.
In 1884, members of the Republican party's independent wing rejected their party's presidential candidate, James G. Blaine, to support the Democratic party nominee, Grover Cleveland. Republican loyalists called the insurgents “Mugwumps,” an Algonquian word for “great man,” used in this context to deride the bolters’ claim to moral superiority. Most Mugwumps were college‐educated business and professional men from New York or New England. Their spokesmen in 1884 were veteran Republicans such as Carl Schurz (1829–1906), a former U.S. senator and cabinet official, and George William Curtis (1824–1892) and E.L. Godkin (1831–1902), editors respectively of Harper's Weekly and The Nation. But younger men such as R.R. Bowker, a New York publisher, and George Fred Williams, a Boston lawyer, did the day‐to‐day organizational work. Cleveland's slim victory margin in 1884 seemed to underscore the importance of the Mugwump vote, and Cleveland courted their support by backing civil service reform and lower tariffs. After 1884, some bolters became Democrats and helped revive Democratic strength in New England in the early 1890s. But Mugwump‐Democratic cooperation was never wholehearted. Irish‐American Democrats and the Mugwumps distrusted each other from the start, and the Democrats’ 1896 presidential candidate, William Jennings Bryan, advocated populist programs that the Mugwumps abhored. The last national campaign in which the Mugwumps figured prominently was the anti‐imperialist opposition to U.S. annexation of the Philippines following the Spanish‐American War. See also Political Parties; Populist Era. Bibliography John G. Sproat , “The Best Men”: Liberal Reformers in the Gilded Age, 1968. Gerald W. McFarland |
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Paul S. Boyer. "Mugwumps." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Paul S. Boyer. "Mugwumps." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-Mugwumps.html Paul S. Boyer. "Mugwumps." The Oxford Companion to United States History. 2001. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-Mugwumps.html |
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Mugwump
MUGWUMPMUGWUMP. A Natick Indian word signifying "great chief" and used by the Puritan missionary John Eliot in his Algonquian Bible (1661–1663) to translate the English words "duke" and "centurion." It entered the American popular lexicon in the early nineteenth century as a humorous term for a person in authority. Its most famous application came in 1884, when New York Sun editor Charles A. Dana labeled as "little mugwumps" those liberal Republicans who bolted the party to support Democrat Grover Cleveland for president. Their defection contributed to James G. Blaine's defeat, and party leaders considered the mugwumps hypocritical turncoats and fence-sitters. Many dissident Republicans accepted the term proudly as marking their opposition to the spoils system and party corruption in general. In contemporary usage the term is often synonymous with "genteel reformers," designating upper-class, native-born reformers of the same era. Noted mugwumps include Samuel Clemens, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and Carl Schurz. Although past historians have tended to view them as elitist, reactionary, ineffective, and idealistic in their efforts to reform American politics, more recent assessments have pointed out their links to Civil War abolitionism and their efforts in pushing for civil service reform and independent voting, seeing the activities of mugwumps as important preludes to the achievements of the Progressive Era. BIBLIOGRAPHYHofstadter, Richard. The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R. New York: Knopf, 1955. McFarland, Gerald W. Mugwumps, Morals, and Politics, 1844– 1920. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1975. C. WyattEvans |
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"Mugwump." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Mugwump." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401802781.html "Mugwump." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401802781.html |
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mugwumps
mugwumps US political faction. A group of independent, or liberal, Republicans, they deserted their party's candidate, James G. Blaine, in the 1884 presidential election. They considered him corrupt, and supported the Democratic candidate, Grover Cleveland, who won.
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"mugwumps." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "mugwumps." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-mugwumps.html "mugwumps." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-mugwumps.html |
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mugwump
mug·wump / ˈməgˌwəmp/ • n. a person who remains aloof or independent, esp. from party politics. ∎ a Republican who in 1884 refused to support James G. Blaine, the Republican nominee for president. |
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"mugwump." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "mugwump." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-mugwump.html "mugwump." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-mugwump.html |
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mugwumps
mugwumps , slang term in U.S. political history for the Republicans who in 1884 deserted their party nominee, James G. Blaine , to vote for the Democratic nominee, Grover Cleveland .
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"mugwumps." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "mugwumps." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-mugwumps.html "mugwumps." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-mugwumps.html |
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mugwump
mugwump in North America, a person who remains aloof or independent, especially from party politics. The term comes (in the mid 19th century) from Algonquian mugquomp ‘great chief’.
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "mugwump." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "mugwump." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-mugwump.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "mugwump." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-mugwump.html |
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mugwump
mugwump (U.S.) great man, boss; one who holds aloof from party politics. XIX. of Algonquian orig.
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T. F. HOAD. "mugwump." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. T. F. HOAD. "mugwump." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-mugwump.html T. F. HOAD. "mugwump." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-mugwump.html |
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mugwump
mugwump •amp, camp, champ, clamp, cramp, damp, encamp, gamp, lamp, ramp, samp, scamp, stamp, tamp, tramp, vamp
•firedamp • headlamp • wheel clamp
•sidelamp • spotlamp • blowlamp
•sunlamp
•hemp, kemp, temp
•blimp, chimp, crimp, gimp, imp, limp, pimp, primp, scrimp, shrimp, simp, skimp, wimp
•chomp, clomp, comp, pomp, romp, stomp, swamp, tromp, whomp, yomp
•bump, chump, clump, crump, dump, flump, frump, gazump, grump, hump, jump, lump, outjump, plump, pump, rump, scrump, slump, stump, sump, thump, trump, tump, ump, whump
•ski-jump • showjump • handpump
•mugwump
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"mugwump." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "mugwump." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-mugwump.html "mugwump." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-mugwump.html |
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