Chapter 20
Politics and Expansion in an
Industrializing Age
1877-1900
Introduction
• This chapter covers:
– national politics between 1877 and 1900
– U.S. participation in the Spanish-American War
– the race for empire
Introduction (cont.)
1.) What were the issues and the political spoils
that the Democrats and Republicans fought
over?
2.) What caused the rise of the Grange, Farmers’
Alliances, and the Populist Party?
3.) What was at stake in the election of 1896,
and what was its outcome?
Introduction (cont.)
4.) Why did the United States go to war with
Spain in 1898 and what resulted from the
American victory?
Party Politics in an Era of Upheaval,
1877-1884
• Contested Political Visions
– The Republicans and Democrats differed on tariffs and
money supply
– The majority of politicians of both parties held that the
federal govt. had no right to regulate business or protect
workers’ welfare
• They were willing to subsidize and in other ways encourage
corporate growth
– People looked to state and local govts. to address their
economic and social problems
Patterns of Party Strength
• Male voter turnouts were high
• Democratic and Republican parties were
closely matched in strength
• Democratic support was:
– Solid South
– States that bordered the South
– Recent immigrants in the big cities
– Most Catholics
Patterns of Party Strength (cont.)
• Republican support was:
– Rural areas
– Small-town New England
– PA
– Upper Midwest
– Native-born Protestants
Regulating the Money Supply
• The nation split on the questions of how much
money the govt. should issue and what should back
it
• Those that supported limiting the money supply to
what the govt. could back with its holding of gold:
–
–
–
–
–
Bankers
Creditors
Most businessmen
Economists
politicians
Regulating the Money Supply
(cont.)
• Debt-ridden southern and western farmers wanted:
–
–
–
–
Larger money supply
Retention of the unbacked Civil War currency (greenbacks)
The issuing of notes backed by silver and gold
The minting of silver coins
• They believed this larger money supply would raise
falling farm prices and make it easier to pay off debts
Regulating the Money Supply
(cont.)
• In the 1870’s, the Greenback Party tried to further
the increased money supply idea
– Even after the Party’s demise, debtor groups continued to
demand a larger money supply
• 1890 Sherman Silver Purchase Act
– Called for the U.S. Govt. to purchase silver and issue noted
redeemable in gold or silver
Civil-Service Reform
• The spoils system had operated since the days
of Andrew Jackson
• A group of reformers saw its defects and
demanded a “professional civil service based
on merit”
• After a crazed job seeker assassinated
President James A. Garfield in 1881, Congress
acted
Civil-Service Reform (cont.)
• Pendleton Act
– 1883
– Created a civil-service commission to prepare competitive
examinations for federal jobs
– It prohibited politicians form asking govt. employees for
campaign contributions
• Gradually it began to raise the honesty and
competence of the federal bureaucracy
Politics of Privilege, Politics of
Exclusion, 1884-1892
• A Democrat in the White House:
Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889
– Republicans nominated James G. Blaine
• Tainted by corruption of the Grant era
• Identified with the spoils system
– Democrats nominated Cleveland
• Reputation for fighting the spoilsmen
• A number of Republican civil-service
reformers bolted their party to support him
– The Mugwump switch helped Cleveland
win
• 1st Democrat elected after the Civil War
1884 Election
A Democrat in the White House:
Grover Cleveland
• Cleveland believed in
laissez-faire govt.
• Had little
understanding of the
social problems
caused by
industrialization
A Democrat in the White House:
Grover Cleveland
• He attempted to lower the tariff
• He argued that reduced rates would remove a
potentially corrupting govt. surplus of funds---reduce
prices for consumers---slow the growth of trusts
• Lower tariffs appealed to:
– farmers and many Democrats from the West and South
• Lower tariffs alarmed:
– Manufacturers
– Those Republicans who looked out for their own interests
A Democrat in the White House:
Grover Cleveland
• Cleveland also angered Civil War veterans
when he halted wholesale granting of
disability pensions to them
Big Business Strikes Back, Benjamin
Harrison, 1889-1893
• The tariff = major issue in election of
1888
• Democrats re-nominated Cleveland
• Republicans nominated Benjamin
Harrison
– High protective tariffs
• Industrialists contributed heavily to
the Republicans
• Cleveland received more popular
votes than Harrison (48.6% to 47.8%)
• Harrison won the Electoral College
(233 to 168)
1888 Election
Big Business Strikes Back, Benjamin
Harrison, 1889-1893
• McKinley Tariff
– 1890
– Passed by Republicans
– Raised the tariff rates to an all-time high
• They also rewarded Civil War veterans with
generous pensions
Agrarian Protest and the Rise of
the People’s Party
• When prices of wheat and other agricultural
products dropped in the 1870’s, debt-burdened
farmers fell on hard times
• They responded by forming the first nationwide
agricultural organization
– The Patrons of Husbandry
– A.k.a. Grange
– Led by Oliver H. Kelley
Agrarian Protest and the Rise of
the People’s Party (cont.)
• The Grange tried to help farmers economically by
organizing cooperatives to market their crops and
buy supplies
• It also lobbied state legislatures to regulate the
railroads
– Stop the overcharging of farmers, giving of discounts to
large shippers, and bribing state officials
• A number of states did pass Granger Laws
– They were bitterly attacked by the railroads as
unconstitutional
Agrarian Protest and the Rise of
the People’s Party (cont.)
• At first federal courts upheld state regulations
• 1886 Wabash case
– The Supreme Court ruled that states could not regulate
interstate railroads
• Congress stepped into the void by passing the
Interstate Commerce Act (ICA) in 1887
• ICA created the Interstate Commerce Commission
(ICC) to investigate and oversee railroad practices
Agrarian Protest and the Rise of
the People’s Party (cont.)
• The ICA did little to curb railroad abuses
• The law and the ICC set a precedent for future
federal regulation of interstate commerce
• The failure of the Granger Laws and the Grange’s
other efforts to help farmers economically led to the
organization’s decline after 1878
Agrarian Protest and the Rise of
the People’s Party (cont.)
• Farmers believed that the federal govt. was
unresponsive to their needs
• Western and southern farmers suffered from:
–
–
–
–
–
falling agricultural prices
A tight money supply
High interest rates
Heavy in debt
Being overcharged by industrial trusts, grain elevator
operators, and railroads
Agrarian Protest and the Rise of
the People’s Party (cont.)
• Earlier, farmers had turned to the Grange and the
Greenback Party to redress their grievances
• When these failed, farmers joined the Southern
Alliance, National Colored Farmers’, or the
Northwestern Alliances
• The alliances called for:
–
–
–
–
Tariff reduction
A graduated income tax
Public ownership of RR’s
“free silver”
Agrarian Protest and the Rise of
the People’s Party (cont.)
• In 1892, the alliances founded the People’s
Party (or the Populist Party)
• Developed a platform on their program
• They also endorsed the direct election of
senators and other electoral reforms
• Nominated James B. Weaver for president
African-Americans
Afterwhites
To ensure
that poor & uneducated
could vote, states
created grandfather clauses
Reconstruction
which
allowed
white
men
to
vote
if
a
relative
• After Reconstruction, white Democrats in the South
voted
prior
to southerners
the Civil War
increasingly
deprived
black
of the right
to vote
• At first the whites used intimidation and terror
• After 1890 they used more effective means:
– Poll taxes
– Literacy tests
– Grandfather clauses
African-Americans After
Reconstruction (cont.)
• Southern blacks also were victimized by:
– segregation laws
– the convict-lease system
– Lynching
• Some southern Populists attempted to combat
prejudice
– Encouraged white and black farmers to unite against their
exploiters
• The Southern Democratic elite purposely inflamed
racial antagonism to keep poor farmers divided
African-Americans After
Plessy v Ferguson (1896):
SegregationReconstruction
does not violate the 14th(cont.)
amendment &
can be used a public policy as long as separate
• The
federal
nothing
toequal”)
protect black
facilities
aregovt.
equaldid
(“separate
but
rights
• The Supreme Court gave it stamp of approval
to segregated but equal facilities in Plessy v.
Ferguson (1896)
– Plessy summary
• It also upheld poll taxes and literacy tests in
1898
African-Americans After
Reconstruction (cont.)
• Blacks responded to these abuses in several ways
• Some fled the South only to find de facto segregation
in the North
• Booker T. Washington advised fellow blacks to accept
their second-class status for a time and concentrate
on getting ahead economically and educationally
African-Americans After
Reconstruction (cont.)
• Abolitionist Frederick Douglass still called on
blacks to demand full equality
• The South became a one-party region always
controlled by the Democrats
– With the disenfranchisement of blacks
– The defeat of southern populism
African-Americans After
Reconstruction (cont.)
• The South became a one-party region always
controlled by the Democrats
– With the disenfranchisement of blacks
– The defeat of southern populism
The 1890’s: Politics in a Depression
Decade
• 1892: Populists Challenge the Status Quo
– Democrats nominated Cleveland
– Republicans nominated Harrison
– Populist nominated Weaver
• Won about million votes
• Few came from the urban Northeast
• Gained less than 1/4 of the votes of the agricultural South
– Largely because of the race issue
– Cleveland won
1892 Election
Capitalism in Crisis: The
Depression of 1893-1897
• Soon after Cleveland was inaugurated, the nation
suffered a financial panic that ushered in a severe
depression
• During the depression:
– Thousands of banks and businesses failed
– 20-25% of the labor force was unemployed
– Agricultural prices fell more than 20%
• Completing the ruin of many farmers already in economic difficulty
Capitalism in Crisis: The
Depression of 1893-1897
• Hard times increased the appeal of the Populists and
spawned strikes and protests
– In 1894, Jacob Coxey led a march of the unemployed on
Washington to demand a public-works program to create
jobs
• He was arrested and the demonstration was broken up
• The heightened unrest frightened the middle class
Business Leaders Respond
• Cleveland opposed govt. help for victims of the
depression
• His use of force against the Pullman strikers and
Coxey’s marchers appeared heartless
• He angered farmers when he induced Congress to
repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act
– In defense of the gold standard
Business Leaders Respond (cont.)
• Cleveland’s actions split the party
– Democrats from agricultural states began to favor
free silver
• Hard times also led many Americans to
question the laissez-faire doctrine
1894: Protest Grows Louder
• The voters repudiated Cleveland in the 1894
midterm elections
– Congress went Republican
– The vote for Populist candidates climbed more
than 40% above their 1892 tallies
1894: Protest Grows Louder
(cont.)
• The issue of free silver came to symbolize the
deep split between economic classes
– Creditors feared that abandonment of a strictly
gold standard would cause runaway inflation and
ruin
– Debt-ridden farmers saw silver as the cure that
would rise farm prices and return prosperity
Silver Advocates Capture the
Democratic Party
• At the 1896 Democratic convention, western and
southern delegates gained control
– They wrote a platform calling for free silver
– Nominated William Jennings Bryan
• The Republicans nominated William McKinley
– Promised to maintain the gold standard
– Raise the protective tariff
• The Populists endorsed Bryan
– Feared that if they ran their own candidate, they would
split the farm vote
– Nominated one of their own, Tom Watson, for VP
1896: Republicans Triumphant
• McKinley received huge campaign contributions from
businessmen who feared Bryan
• Bryan was also handicapped by the lack of appeal of
free silver to factory workers and the urban middle
class
– They realized that it would probably bring about higher
food prices
• McKinley won the election
– Carried the Northeast, Midwest,and most cities
• The Republicans also kept its majority in Congress
1896: Republicans Triumphant
(cont.)
• As promised, McKinley and the Republicans
maintained the gold standard and raised the tariff to
an all-time high
• These policies aroused little opposition because
prosperity returned
– More gold became available with new discoveries
– farm prices began to rise
• McKinley easily beat Bryan for a 2nd term in the
1900 election
1896: Republicans Triumphant
(cont.)
• The elections of 1894 and 1896 ushered in a
long period of Republican dominance in U.S.
politics that lasted almost unbroken until the
1930’s
• The Populist Party disintegrated after 1896
– Many of the reforms it had advocated were
enacted by Progressives after 1900
Expansionist Stirrings and War with
Spain, 1878-1901
• Roots of Expansionist Sentiment
– In the late 19th century the U.S.A. showed heightened
interest in overseas empire
– The example of European nations and Japan, which were
seizing colonies in Asia and Africa, stimulated U.S.
expansionism
– During the depression of 1893-1897, American
businessmen and politicians argued that the U.S.A. must
capture overseas markets to maintain prosperity
Roots of Expansionist Sentiment
(cont.)
• Republican politicians claimed that to be a great
power the U.S. must:
– build up its navy
– obtain far-flung colonies
• to establish fueling stations and bases
– Show its influence in the world as a superior county
• Inspired by:
– Alfred T. Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power upon History
– Social Darwinist ideas
Roots of Expansionist Sentiment
(cont.)
• Leading Republicans
were:
– Theodore Roosevelt
– Henry Cabot Lodge
– John Hay
Roots of Expansionist Sentiment
(cont.)
• Our Country
– 1885
– Josiah Strong
– Combined religion and Social Darwinism racism
– Told Americans that, as members of the superior
Anglo-Saxon race, they were destined to spread
Christianity and civilization to “inferior” people
Pacific Expansion
• Expansionist enthusiasm led the United States to
overtake some Pacific Islands:
– Samoan Island
• U.S. established a joint protectorate with Germany and Great
Britain
– Hawai’i
• American sugar plantation owners overthrew the govt. of Queen
Liliuokalani
• Asked U.S. to take over the island
• President Cleveland, who was not an expansionist, declined to do
so
• President McKinley requested Congress to annex Hawai’i
• 1898
Crisis over Cuba
• Cubans revolted against
Spanish rule in 1895
• The Spanish authorities
brutally attempted to
suppress the rebellion
• Public opinion in U.S.
turned against the Spanish
b/c of yellow-journalism
– William Randolph
Hearst=Journal
– Joseph Pulitzer=World
– Both featured daily accounts
of Spanish atrocities
Crisis over Cuba (cont.)
• President McKinley did not want to intervene in Cuba
• He did send the battleship Maine to Havana to protect the
lives and property of Americans on Cuba
• On Feb. 15, 1898, an explosion the Maine killed 266 of its
crewmen
USS Maine
USS Maine
Crisis over Cuba (cont.)
• The yellow press immediately accused the
Spanish of blowing up the ship
• The public demanded revenge
• Giving in to popular pressure, McKinley asked
Congress to declare war on Spain
• Congress declared war on April 1898
Crisis over Cuba (cont.)
• Congress also passed the Teller Amendment
– Proclaimed that the U.S. had no desire to overtake
Cuba and would leave the island as soon as its
independence was ensured
– Teller Amendment
Spanish American War
The Spanish-American War, 1898
• The fighting against Spain lasted less than 4 months
• Admiral George Dewey attacked the Spanish fleet in
the Philippines
• American troops took Manila Bay in August
• By July, the Spanish were driven from Cuba
• The defeated Spanish:
– Recognized Cuba’s independence
– Ceded to the United States:
• Philippines
• Puerto Rico
• Guam
The Spanish-American War, 1898
(cont.)
• Contrary to the Teller Amendment, the U.S. occupied
Cuba from 1898 to 1902
• The U.S. withdrew its forces only after Cuba agreed
to the conditions set forth in the 1901 Platt
Amendment
– Platt Amendment
– It limited Cuba’s sovereignty by:
• Reserving to the U.S. the right to intervene in Cuba
• The U.S. could maintain a naval base on Cuba
The Spanish-American War, 1898
(cont.)
• Although the Platt Amendment was abrogated
in 1934, the United States still retains the base
at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba
Critics of Empire
• Some Americans were horrified by their nation’s
actions in the Spanish-American War
• They founded the Anti-Imperialist League
– Pointed out that imposing U.S. rule on other peoples by
military force violated the principles of human equality
and liberty championed in our own Declaration of
Independence
Critics of Empire (cont.)
• Some members of the Anti-Imperialist League:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Carl Schurz (civil-service reformer)
E.L. Godkin (civil-service reformer)
William Jennings Bryan (ag. spokesman)
Jane Addams (settlement house founder)
Mark Twain (writer)
William James (writer)
Critics of Empire (cont.)
• Despite the League’s efforts, the Senate
ratified the treaty annexing the Philippines
• In 1900 pro-expansionist McKinley again
defeated anti-imperialist Bryan for the
presidency
Guerrilla War in the Philippines,
1898-1902
• Pres. McKinley was persuaded that the U.S.
should keep the Philippines by the arguments
of:
– the expansionists
– businessmen to use the islands as a way of
penetrating nearby Chinese markets
• This U.S. decision led to a war against Filipino
independence fighters
Guerrilla War in the Philippines,
1898-1902 (cont.)
• To crush the guerrilla resistance of the
Filipinos, the U.S. used brutal tactics
• The U.S. lost many more soldiers than it had in
the Spanish-American War
• In 1946, the U.S. granted the Philippines their
independence
Conclusion
• Between 1877 and 1896, the 2 major political parties
(Democrats and Republicans) were closely matched
in strength
• Each party had loyal followers:
– Democrats:
• The South and new immigrants in cities
– Republicans:
• Rural and small town native-born Americans in the Northeast and
Midwest
Conclusion (cont.)
• Both parties ignored the pressing economic
problems of the country’s farmers
• The farmers turned successively to the Grange, the
Farmers’ Alliance, and the Populist Party
• In 1896, when the Populist joined the Democrats in
backing William Jennings Bryan, big business used its
financial might to turn back the Populist challenge
and elect McKinley president
Conclusion (cont.)
• McKinley’s victory marked the start of a long
period of Republican dominance in national
politics
• The McKinley administration soon led the U.S.
into the Spanish-American War and an
imperialist foreign policy
Conclusion (cont.)
• However, this burst of expansionism in the late 19th
century and early 20th century never fully diverted
U.S. attention from domestic issues
• The Populist Party, thought it was defeated in 1896,
left behind the feeling that:
– govt. must free itself from business domination
– govt. must play a more active role in solving the economic
and social problems arising form industrialization
• After the turn of the century, the Progressive
movement would build on that new attitude