stalwart

(noun)

A member of a faction of the Republican Party toward the end of the nineteenth century. Stalwarts were the "traditional" Republicans who opposed Rutherford B. Hayes's civil service reform. They were pitted against the Half-Breeds (moderates) for control of the Republican Party. The only real issue between Stalwarts and Half-Breeds was patronage. The Half-Breeds worked to get civil service reform, and finally created the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. Stalwarts favored traditional machine politics.

Related Terms

Examples of stalwart in the following topics:

  • Civil Service Reform

    • The Stalwarts, a faction of the Republican Party in the late nineteenth century, opposed civil service reform and favored machine politics.
    • Immediately, Hayes's call for reform brought him into conflict with the Stalwarts, a pro-spoils branch of the Republican party.

  • Partisan Politics

    • By the mid-1870s, it was clear that Confederate nationalism was dead; all but the most ardent Republican "Stalwarts" agreed that the southern Republican coalition of African-American freedmen, scalawags, and carpetbaggers was helpless and hopeless.

  • The Grant Years

    • Grant made up for the defections with new gains among Union veterans and with strong support from the "Stalwart" faction of his party and the Southern Republican parties.

  • Politics in the Gilded Age

    • The scandal divided the Republican party into two different factions: the Stalwarts, led by Roscoe Conkling, and the Half-Breeds, led by James G.