Gilded Age's Indian Ring Scandal - Essay Example

Under Grant, these corruption scandals had become more common to the extent that similar events were being referred to as “Grantism,” a term that effectively captured the greed and dishonesty of leaders of the time. The then citizens thought that funds from these investments were eventually used to bankroll Republican Party operations (Elder, 2002). This is especially true considering that the dealings led to the creation of the Liberal Republican Party. Regardless, the actual loophole for these corrupt Gilded Age deals was the then prevailing spoils system, in which better-endowed people used their influence to reward their relatives, friends, and corrupt business allies with lucrative government tenders (Gerrard, & Newell, 2006).

As Gerrard and Newell (2006) said, an ever-growing citizenry, however, began to acknowledge the fact that the civil service needed urgent reform. The Dawes Act of 1887 for example, was a major piece of legislation that mandated the president to oversee the granting of land and citizenship to Indians (Gerrard, & Newell, 2006). The Act arguably set the pace for more accountability by state officers as evidenced in Manifest Destiny, when it comes to the allocation of national resources. Manifest Destiny sought to correct acts of greed and dishonesty that were synonymous with the Gilded Age and build a better society where every community had a voice. Read More