American Stories
THIRD EDITION
By: Brands •
Chapter
20
Political Realignments
1876‒1901
Political Realignments, 1876‒1901
20.1
Politics of Stalemate
Why was there a stalemate between
Republicans and Democrats until the mid1890s?
20.2
The Rise of the Populist Movement
What factors led to the formation and
growth of the Farmers’ Alliance and
People’s party?
Political Realignments, 1876‒1901
20.3
The Crisis of the Depression
What were the main political and labor
effects of the panic and depression of the
1890s?
20.4
Changing Attitudes
What changes in outlook did the panic
and depression of the 1890s bring
about?
Political Realignments, 1876‒1901
20.5
The Presidential Election of 1896
Why was the presidential election of
1896 so important?
20.6
The McKinley Administration
What did McKinley accomplish that
placed the results of the 1896 election
on a solid basis?
Video Series:
Key Topics in U.S. History
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4.
Changing Political Landscape
Populist Party
Financial Crisis
The Age of Reform
Home
Hardship and Heartache
• The depression of the 1890s had
profound and lasting effects
• Rural hostility toward cities
• Fight over currency
• Changed attitudes to government,
employment, and reform
Home
Home
Politics of Stalemate
• The Party Deadlock
• Reestablishing Presidential Power
• Republicans in Power: The Billion-Dollar
Congress
• Tariffs, Trusts, and Silver
• The 1890 Elections
Home
Politics of Stalemate
• Politics fascinated country
• Campaigns involved whole community
• Average of 79 percent of electorate voted
• Black men kept from polls in some
areas
• Poll taxes spread across the South
• Literacy tests
Politics of Stalemate
The Party Deadlock
• Electorate split almost evenly
• Democrats emphasized state’s rights and
limited government
• Republicans promoted moral progress and
material wealth
• One-party control of both Congress and
White House rare
• Each party had safe states
• Federal influence waned
Politics of Stalemate
Reestablishing Presidential Power
• Presidency weakened by scandals
• 1868 – Andrew Johnson’s impeachment
• 1870s – scandals of Grant
administration
• 1876 – controversy over the election
Politics of Stalemate
Reestablishing Presidential Power
(continued)
• Presidents reasserted executive power
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•
•
•
•
Hayes made reforms and changes
Bland-Allison Silver Purchase Act
1881 - Garfield succeeded Hayes
Arthur and the Pendleton Act
1884 - Grover Cleveland
Politics of Stalemate
Table 20.1 The Election of 1880
Politics of Stalemate
Table 20.2 The Election of 1884
Politics of Stalemate
Republicans in Power: The
Billion-Dollar Congress
• Election of 1888 - most sweeping
victory for either party in twenty years
• In spite of Harrison’s narrow margin
• Gave Republicans presidency and both
houses of Congress
• Seemed Republicans had broken party
stalemate and become majority party
Politics of Stalemate
Politics of Stalemate
Tariffs, Trusts, and Silver
• 1890 – Many new laws
• McKinley Tariff Act
• Raised duties to historic high
• Dependents Pensions Act
• By 1893, 1 million Union army veterans and
families receiving pensions
• Sherman Antitrust Act
• Regulated big business
• United States v. E. C. Knight
Politics of Stalemate
Tariffs, Trusts, and Silver
(continued)
• 1890 - Sherman Silver Purchase Act
• Silver coinage had slipped into disuse
• Rise in silver production glutted world
market
• Moved country toward bi-metallic monetary
system
Politics of Stalemate
Politics of Stalemate
The 1890s Elections
• 1890 -“Billion-Dollar” Congress
• Republicans in control
• 1890 elections - voters crushed
Republicans
• Nebraska and Iowa switched to Democratic
party
Politics of Stalemate
Politics of Stalemate
Discussion Questions
• Why was there a stalemate between
Republicans and Democrats that lasted
until the mid-1890s?
• How did the Republican party’s vision
shape the “Billion-Dollar Congress”?
Politics of Stalemate
The Rise of the Populist Movement
• The Farm Problem
• The Fast-Growing Farmers’ Alliance
• The People’s Party
Home
The Rise of the Populist Movement
• Populism – fast-growing movement
among farmers
• Discontented farmers of West and South
provided base of support
• National Farmers’ Alliance and
Industrial Union
The Rise of the Populist
Movement
What Impact Did the Populist Movement
Have on American Politics?
• How did the average value of farmland
change over this period?
• How did the People’s Party fare in
various elections?
• In what regions was support for the
People’s Party strongest?
The Rise of the Populist
Movement
The Rise of the Populist
Movement
The Farm Problem
• Worldwide agricultural discontent
between 1870 and 1900
• Farmers could not control international
market
• Farmers’ complaints
• Lower prices for crops
• Rising railroad rates
• Onerous mortgages
The Rise of the Populist
Movement
The Fast-Growing Farmers’
Alliance
• Southern Alliance
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•
•
•
Farmers dealing with common problems
1890 – more than a million members
Farmers’ friends welcome
Organized
• Colored Farmers’ National Alliance and
Cooperative Union
• Loosely affiliated with Southern Alliance
• 250,000 members
The Rise of the Populist
Movement
• 1891 – strikers lynched
The Fast-Growing Farmers’
Alliance (continued)
• Northwestern Alliance
• On the Plains
• Disagreed with Southern Alliance ideas
• National Farmers’ Alliance
• Merging of regional Alliances
• Ocala Demands – platform
• Splitting the Alliance
• Formed People’s party
• Resistance to a new party
The Rise of the Populist
Movement
The Rise of the Populist
Movement
The Rise of the Populist
Movement
The People’s Party
• Northern Alliance splits from Democrats
to form People’s (or Populist) party
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•
•
•
Later joined by Southern Alliance
Populists recruited African Americans
1892 – James B. Weaver for president
Alliance waned after 1892 elections
The Rise of the Populist
Movement
The Rise of the Populist
Movement
Discussion Question
• What factors led to the formation and
growth of the Farmers’ Alliance and
People’s party?
The Rise of the Populist
Movement
The Crisis of the Depression
•
•
•
•
The Panic of 1893
The Pullman Strike
A Beleaguered President
Breaking the Party Deadlock
Home
The Crisis of the Depression
• Economic crisis dominated the 1890s
• Economy had expanded too rapidly
• Railroads had overbuilt
• Companies had outgrown markets
• Farms and businesses had borrowed heavily
for expansion
The Crisis of the Depression
The Panic of 1893
• 1893 - panic hit stock market
• Failure of major railroad
• Investors sold stock to purchase gold
• Depleted Treasury shook confidence
• May 1893 - market hit record low
• Business failures displaced 2 million
workers
• 1894 – heat wave and drought hit West
• Corn crop failed
• Cotton prices dropped
The Crisis of the Depression
The Pullman Strike
• 1894 - Pullman Strike
• Joined by Eugene Debs’s American Railway
Union
• Closed Western railroads
• President Cleveland suppressed strikes
• Federal troops sent in
• Debs was arrested
• Effect on labor movement
• Cleveland’s actions resented
• Injunctions endorsed
The Crisis of the Depression
A Beleaguered President
• Cleveland returned to presidency
• Defeated Weaver and Harrison
• Democrats controlled Congress as well
• Repeal of Sherman Silver Purchase Act
• Seen as cause of Panic of 1893
• Failed to stop depression
• Made silver a political issue
• Democrats failed to lower tariff
• Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act
The Crisis of the Depression
Breaking the Party Deadlock
• Elections of 1894 crushed Democrats
• Reduced to a sectional southern
organization
• Populists gained in the South and West
• Republicans swept congressional elections
• Republicans became dominant party
• Acceptance of activism and national
authority rose
The Crisis of the Depression
Discussion Question
• What were the main political and labor
effects of the panic and depression of
the 1890s?
The Crisis of the Depression
Changing Attitudes
• Women and Children in the Labor Force
• Changing Themes in Literature
Home
Changing Attitudes
• Depression of 1893 forced change of
view
• Established ideas failed to deal with
depression
• Unemployment – not a personal failure
• Local institutions discussed alternatives
• Acceptance of need for government
intervention to help the poor and jobless
Changing Attitudes
Women and Children
in the Labor Force
• Women and children worked more
• Paid lower wages
• More black urban women than white
• Children in southern textile mills
• Concerned groups formed
• League for the Protection of the Family
• Mothers Congress
Changing Attitudes
Changing Themes in Literature
• Depression led to growing realism in
literature
• Rejected sentimentalism, romanticism, and
escapism
• Portrayed life as it was
• Regionalists
• Realists – Mark Twain
• Naturalists
Changing Attitudes
Discussion Question
• What changes in outlook did the panic
and depression of the 1890s bring
about?
Changing Attitudes
The Presidential Election of 1896
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•
•
•
The Mystique of Silver
The Republicans and Gold
The Democrats and Silver
Campaign and Election
Home
The Presidential Election of 1896
• Free coinage of silver the main issue
• Boost the money supply
• Seen as solution to depression
• New voting patterns emerged and
national policy shifted
The Presidential Election of
1896
The Mystique of Silver
• Support for free silver coinage grew
• Dominated South and West
• Literature flooded country
• Seen as quick solution to economic crisis
• Silverites – quantity theory of money
• Believed amount in circulation determined
level of economic activity
• Silver also a symbol
• Moral crusade
• Patriotic
•
The Presidential Election of
1896
The Republicans and Gold
• Candidate - William McKinley
• Silverite Republicans defeated on
convention floor
• Promised gold standard to restore
prosperity
The Presidential Election of
1896
The Democrats and Silver
• Candidate - William Jennings Bryan
• Strong public speaker
• Free silver promised in "Cross of Gold"
speech
• Anti-Cleveland platform
• Attacked Cleveland on Pullman strike
actions and censured sale of gold bonds
• Democrats were enthusiastic
The Presidential Election of
1896
The Presidential Election of
1896
Campaign and Election
• Populist party endorsed Bryan
• Might have hurt his chances
• Bryan campaigned directly to voters
• First presidential candidate to do so
systematically
• Bryan offered return to rural, religious
United States
• Opportunity for common people
• Distrust of central authority
The Presidential Election of
1896
Campaign and Election (continued)
• McKinley let voters come to him
• Railroads brought voters to his hometown,
where he spoke from his front porch
• Reached people through the press
• McKinley defended economic nationalism
and urban-industrial society
• Election was clear victory for McKinley
• Populist party vanished after 1896
• Proposals later adopted
The Presidential Election of
1896
The Presidential Election of
1896
Discussion Question
• Why was the presidential election of
1896 so important?
The Presidential Election of
1896
The McKinley Administration
• McKinley faced favorable outlook
• Took office at depression’s end
• An activist, modern president
• Major policies
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•
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•
Dingley Tariff raised rates to record level
Need for regulation of industrialism
War with Spain
Gold Standard Act
• McKinley won reelection
• Against Bryan again
Home
The McKinley Administration
Table 20.3 The Election of 1900
The McKinley Administration
Discussion Question
• What did McKinley accomplish that
placed the results of the 1896 election
on a solid basis?
The McKinley Administration
Conclusion: A Decade’s
Dramatic Changes
• 1890s - brought powerful effects
• Political patterns shifted
• Social change from massive unrest
• War with Spain brought new world
responsibilities
• Technology and innovation
• 1901 - McKinley assassinated; Theodore
Roosevelt became president