Chapter 16
U.S. History Since 1877
Chapter 16
16.1 Stalemate in Washington
16.2 Populism
16.3 The Rise of Segregation
Alabama Standards
ACOS:
1. Explain the transition of the
United States from an agrarian
society to an industrial nation
prior to World War I.
AHSGE Standard V:
2. Evaluate the concepts,
developments, and
consequences of
industrialization and
urbanization.
16.1 Stalemate in Washington
A Campaign to Clean Up
Politics
Two Parties, Neck and
Neck
Democrats Reclaim the
White House
A President Besieged by
Problems
Republicans Regain Power
A Campaign to Clean Up Politics
Under the spoils system,
or patronage,
government jobs went to
supporters of the winning
party in an election.
Many Americans wanted to
reform patronage.
President Rutherford B.
Hayes attacked the
practice of patronage.
A Campaign to Clean Up Politics
Garfield and Arthur
The “Stalwarts” were a
group of Republican
politicians who opposed civil
service reform.
They accused Hayes of
backing civil service reform
to create openings for his
own supporters.
Civil service reformers were
called “Halfbreeds.”
President James Garfield
was a Halfbreed.
A Campaign to Clean Up Politics
Vice President Chester
Arthur was a Stalwart.
Chester Arthur
President Garfield was
assassinated by Charles J.
Guiteau, who wanted a
civil service job through
the spoils system.
http://www.history.com/videos/death-of-president-garfield
James Garfield
Memorial
A Campaign to Clean Up Politics
In 1883, Congress passed the
Pendleton Act.
It allowed the president to decide
which federal jobs would be filled
according to rules set up by a
bipartisan Civil Service
Commission.
Only people who took the exam
could be appointed.
Once appointed, a civil service
official could not be removed for
political reasons.
Chester Arthur
Two Parties, Neck and Neck
Few new policies were
introduced in the 1870s and
1880s.
The Democrats had control of
the House.
The Republicans had control of
the Senate.
Presidential elections were very
close.
The Republicans won four of the
six presidential elections
between 1876 and 1896.
Democrats Reclaim
the White House
In the election of 1884,
Republicans remained
divided over reform.
Democrats nominated
Governor Grover
Cleveland of New York, a
reformer who opposed
Tammany Hall.
Democrats Reclaim
the White House
Republicans nominated
James G. Blaine, a former
Speaker of the House.
Blaine was popular
among Republican Party
workers.
A major issue was
corruption in government.
Voters focused on the
morals of each candidate.
Democrats Reclaim
the White House
Some Republicans, called
“Mugwumps,” disliked
Blaine so much that they
supported Grover
Cleveland.
The Mugwumps did not
like Blaine’s connection
with the Crédit Mobilier
scandal.
Democrats Reclaim
the White House
Cleveland admitted to having
fathered a child ten years earlier
and retained the support of the
Mugwumps for his honesty.
Blaine tried to persuade
Catholics to vote Republican
because his mother was a
Catholic.
His tactic failed.
Cleveland was elected president.
Ma! Ma! Where’s My Pa!
A President
Besieged by Problems
Many Cleveland supporters
sought patronage jobs.
Many strikes occurred during
Cleveland’s term.
Police sometimes attacked
the strikers.
A bomb exploded at a labor
demonstration in Haymarket
Square in Chicago.
A President
Besieged by Problems
Only large corporations were given rebates, or
partial refunds, and lower rates for shipping
goods.
In 1886, the Supreme Court ruled in Wabash v.
Illinois that Illinois could not restrict the rates
charged for traffic between states because only
the federal government could regulate interstate
commerce.
A President
Besieged by Problems
In 1887, Cleveland signed the Interstate Commerce
Act, which created the Interstate Commerce
Commission.
This was the first law to regulate interstate
commerce.
Many wanted Congress to cut tariffs because these
taxes caused an increase in the price of
manufactured goods.
A President
Besieged by Problems
President Cleveland proposed lowering tariffs, but
Congress was deadlocked.
Tariff reduction became a major issue in the
election of 1888.
Republicans Regain Power
Benjamin Harrison was the
Republican candidate in
1888.
Industrialist who wanted
tariff protection supported
Harrison financially.
Cleveland ran again and was
against high tariff rates.
Harrison won the election by
winning the electoral vote
but not the popular vote.
Republicans Regain Power
In 1888, Republicans gained
control of both houses of Congress
and the White House.
The McKinley Tariff cut tariff
rates on some goods, but
increased the rates of others.
It lowered federal revenue and left
the nation with a budget deficit.
A new pension law passed in 1890
for veterans furthered worsened
the deficit.
The Sherman Antitrust Act of
1890 made trusts illegal, but the
courts did little to enforce the law.
William McKinley
NOTEBOOK
Read pages 498-499
in the American Vision.
16.2 POPULISM
16.2 Populism
Unrest in Rural
America
The Farmers’ Alliance
The Rise of Populism
The Election of 1896
Unrest in Rural America
In the 1890s, Populism emerged
to increase the political power of
farmers.
During the Civil War, the
government issued greenbacks,
or paper currency that could not
be exchanged for gold or silver
coins.
This rapid increase in the money
supply resulted in inflation–a
decline in the value of money.
The prices of goods greatly
increased.
Unrest in Rural America
To fix this, the government
stopped printing greenbacks
and making silver coins.
It also started paying off
bonds
As a result, the country did
not have a large enough
money supply to meet the
needs of the economy.
This led to deflation–or an
increase in the value of money
and a decrease in the general
level of prices.
Unrest in Rural America
Deflation forced most farmers to borrow money to
plant their crops.
The short supply of money caused an increase in
interest rates that the farmers owed.
Some farmers wanted more greenbacks
and silver coins.
The Grange was a national farm
organization that tried to respond
to the plight of farmers.
Unrest in Rural America
Grangers created cooperatives–
marketing organizations that
worked to help its members.
The cooperatives pooled members’
crops and held them off the
market to force the prices to rise.
Cooperatives could negotiate
better shipping rates from
railroads.
Unrest in Rural America
The Grange was unable to
improve the economic
conditions of farmers.
By the late 1870s, many
farmers left the Grange and
joined other organizations.
The Farmers’ Alliance
The Farmers’ Alliance was
formed in 1877.
It organized large
cooperatives called
exchanges to force farm
prices up and make loans to
farmers at low interest rates.
These exchanges mostly
failed because they loaned
too much money at low
interest rates that were not
repaid.
A Winston County Farmer
The Farmers’ Alliance
Other businesses
discriminated against the
exchanges.
Members of the Kansas
Alliance formed the
People’s Party, or
Populists, to push for
political reforms.
Most Southerners opposed
them because most wanted
the Democrats to retain
control of the South.
The Farmers’ Alliance
Charles Macune came up
with a subtreasury plan.
It would set up warehouses
where farmers could store
their crops to force prices
up.
The Rise of Populism
In 1890 the Farmers’ Alliance
issued the Ocala Demands:
 the adoption of the
subtreasury plan
 the free coinage of silver
 an end to protective tariffs
and national banks
 tighter regulation of the
railroads
 direct election of senators
by voters
The Rise of Populism
Many pro-Alliance Democrats
were elected in the South.
By early 1892, Southern
members of the Alliance were
disappointed by the
Democrats.
In July 1892, the People’s
Party held its first national
convention and nominated
James B. Weaver for
president.
James B. Weaver
The Rise of Populism
The People’s Party platform
called for:
 unlimited coinage of silver
 federal ownership of railroads
 a graduated income tax, one
that taxes higher earnings more
heavily.
 an eight-hour workday
 restriction of immigration
 a ban on the use of
strikebreakers.
James B. Weaver 1892
The Rise of Populism
Democrats nominated Grover
Cleveland for the 1892
election.
Cleveland won.
The Panic of 1893 was caused
by the bankruptcy of the
Philadelphia and Reading
Railroads.
It resulted in the stock market
crash and the closing of many
banks.
The Rise of Populism
By 1894 the country was in a
deep depression.
Cleveland wanted to stop the
flow of gold and make it the
sole basis for the country’s
currency.
So Congress repealed the
Sherman Silver Purchase
Act.
The Rise of Populism
This caused the
Democratic Party to split
into the goldbugs and
the silverites.
 Goldbugs believed the
currency should be based
only on gold.
 Silverites believed coining
silver in unlimited amounts
was the answer to
the nation’s economic
crisis.
The Election of 1896
The Democrats
nominated William
Jennings Bryan for the
presidential election of
1896.
He strongly supported the
unlimited coinage of
silver.
Populists also supported
Bryan for president.
The Election of 1896
The Republicans nominated
William McKinley for
president.
Most business leaders liked
McKinley because they were
against unlimited silver
coinage.
McKinley won.
New gold strikes increased the
money supply without needing
to use silver.
As the silver issue died out, so
did the Populist Party.
Learn more
about William
Jenning Bryan’s
“Cross of Gold
Speech” on
page 513.
16.3 THE RISE OF
SEGREGATION
16.3 The Rise of Segregation
Resistance and
Repression
Disfranchising African
Americans
Legalizing Segregation
The African American
Response
Resistance and Repression
Most African Americans
were sharecroppers.
They were landless
farmers who paid their
rent with a large portion of
their crops.
In 1879 Benjamin “Pap”
Singleton organized a
mass migration of African
Americans, called
Exodusters, from the
rural South to Kansas.
Resistance and Repression
Some stayed and formed the
Colored Farmers’ National
Alliance to help its members
set up cooperatives.
Many African Americans
joined the Populist Party.
Democrats began using
racism to win back the poor
white voters.
Disfranchising
African Americans
Southern states tried to
limit almost all African
Americans from voting.
In 1890 Mississippi
required all citizens
registering to vote to
pay a poll tax.
Many African Americans
and poor whites could
not afford it.
Disfranchising
African Americans
The state also required all
prospective voters to pass a
literacy test.
Most African Americans had
no education and failed the
test.
Other Southern states
adopted similar restrictions.
Disfranchising
African Americans
The number of African
Americans and poor whites
registered to vote fell
dramatically in the South.
Some Southern states had a
grandfather clause to allow
poor whites to vote.
This clause allowed any man to
vote if he had an ancestor on
the voting rolls in 1867.
Legalizing Segregation
African Americans faced
discrimination in both the
North and the South.
In the South, segregation
was enforced by laws
known as Jim Crow laws.
Jim Crow was a character
popularized by a slavery-era
stage performer.
Legalizing Segregation
In 1883 the Supreme Court
overturned the Civil Rights
Act of 1875.
 This meant that private
organizations or businesses
were free to practice
segregation.
 Southern states passed
laws that enforced
segregation in almost all
public places.
Legalizing Segregation
The Supreme Court ruling in
Plessy v. Ferguson endorsed
“separate but equal” facilities
for African Americans.
This ruling established the
legal basis for discrimination in
the South for over 50 years.
Between 1890 and 1899,
hundreds of southern African
Americans were lynched.
The African American
Response
In 1892 Ida B. Wells
began a crusade against
lynching.
She wrote articles and a
book denouncing
lynchings and mob
violence against blacks.
The African American
Response
Booker T. Washington,
an educator, urged fellow
blacks to achieve economic
goals rather than legal or
political ones.
He explained his views in a
speech known as the
Atlanta Compromise.
The African American
Response
The Atlanta Compromise was challenged by
W.E.B. Du Bois, the leader of African American
activists born after the Civil War.
Du Bois said that white Southerners continued to
take away the civil rights of African Americans,
despite progress in education and vocational
training.
The African American
Response
He believed that African
Americans had to demand
their rights, especially voting
rights, to gain full equality.
AHSGE Practice
Compare and contrast the
contributions of Washington and
Du Bois.