APUSH II: Unit 1
Chapter 20
The Commonwealth and Empire
Essential Question:
•How effective were politicians in meeting the
needs of Americans during the Gilded Age?
•How did problems in gov’t (patronage & coinage),
the economy (depression of 1893), & agriculture
(Populists) impact the politics of the Gilded Age?
SECTION 1:
TOWARD A NATIONAL GOVERNING
CLASS
The Growth of Government
• The size and scope of government at all levels grew
rapidly during the gilded age.
• New employees, agencies, and responsibilities
changed the character of government.
• Taxes increased as local governments assumed
responsibility for providing such vital services as
police, fire protection, water, schools, and parks.
Civil Service Reform
• The most important political issue of 1880s
was civil service reform:
– The federal bureaucracy swelled in size after 1860
& these positions were appointed via patronage
(spoils system)
– Congressmen often took bribes or company stock
for their votes
– Political machines ruled cities through bribes &
personal favors
Gov’t Regulation of Industry
• From 1870 to 1900, 28 state commissions
were created to regulate industry, especially
RRs:
– In 1870, Illinois declared RRs to be public
highways; this was upheld by Munn v. Illinois
(1876)
– But, was overturned in Wabash v. Illinois (1886):
“only Congress can regulate interstate trade”
Tariffs & Trusts
• Congress responded by creating:
– The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in
1887 to regulate the railroad industry
– The Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890 which made it
illegal to restrain trade (punishable by dissolution
of the company)
The Machinery of Politics
• The federal government developed its departmental
bureaucracy.
• Power resided in Congress and the state legislatures.
• The two political parties only gradually adapted to the
demands of the new era.
– Political campaigns featured mass spectacles that reflected the
strong competition for votes.
– Political machines financed their campaigns through kickbacks
and bribes and ensured support by providing services for
working-class neighborhoods.
• Offices were filled by the spoils system that rewarded
friends of the winning party.
The Spoils System and Civil Service Reform
• In 1885, Congress passed the Pendleton Civil Service
Reform Act that created the civil service system and
a professional bureaucracy.
– A system of standards was developed for certain federal
jobs.
– This effort paralleled similar efforts at professionalism in
other fields.
• The legislative branch was also given a more active
role in government under the Circuit Court of
Appeals Act of 1891.
Civil Service Reform
• Civil service reform received a boost when
disaffected patronage seeker, Charles Guiteau,
assassinated President Garfield:
– In 1883, Congress created the Pendleton Act for
merit-based exams for civil service jobs
– State & local gov’ts mirrored these reforms in
1880s & 1890s
Politics of Stalemate
• The 5 presidential elections from 1876 to 1892
were the most closely contested elections
ever
• Congress was split as well:
– Democrats controlled the House
– Republicans held the Senate
• This “stalemate” made it difficult for any of
the 5 presidents or either party to pass
significant legislation for 20 years
The Two Party System
Republicans
 Supported by white
southerners, farmers,
immigrants, & the working
poor
 Favored white supremacy &
supported labor unions
 Pietists: Methodists,
Congregationalists,
Presbyterians, Scandinavian
Lutherans
 Moral Reformers
 Northern states
Democrats
• Supported by Northern whites,
blacks, & nativists
• Supported big business &
favored anti-immigration laws
• Weakened by opposition to the
CW
• “Solid South”
• Litergicals: Catholics,
Episcopalian, German
Lutherans
• Mid-Atlantic and lower
Midwestern states
Bourbon Democrats
• Planter-merchant elite dominated southern
politics
• New South: entrepreneurs eager to promote a
more diversified economy based upon
industrial development and railroad expansion
• Promote business interests, laissez-faire
capitalism and opposed overseas expansion
Election of 1888
• Democrats: Cleveland
• Republicans: Benjamin Harrison, grandson of
President Harrison and a decorated war vet
• The Republicans accepted Cleveland’s
challenge to make the protective tariff the
chief issue; it also promised a generous
pension to Civil War vets
• Cleveland won the popular vote; Harrison won
the electoral college
Urban Political Machines
• Urban “political machines” were loose
networks of party precinct captains led by a
“boss”
– Tammany Hall was the most famous machine;
Boss Tweed led the corrupt “Tweed Ring”
– Political machines were not all corrupt (“honest
graft”); helped the urban poor & built public
works like the Brooklyn Bridge
SECTION TWO:
FARMERS AND WORKERS ORGANIZE
THEIR COMMUNITIES
The Farm Problem
• The most discontent group during the Gilded
Age were farmers:
– Harsh farming conditions
– Declining grain & cotton prices
– Rising RR rates & mortgages
– Government deflation policies
• Farmers lashed out at banks, merchants,
railroads, & the U.S. monetary system (gold
standard)
The Currency Debate
• Grant’s decision to reduce the number of
greenbacks deflated the post-war money
supply:
– By 1879, the U.S. returned to the international
gold standard & stabilized the U.S. economy
– But this policy hurt western farmers because
money was more scarce & credit was limited
Greenback & Silver Movements
• Many farmers supported the “free silver”
movement:
– The U.S. minted silver & gold coins at a ratio of
16:1, but stopped in 1873 due to an oversupply of
gold
– But western miners found huge lodes of silver &
wanted “free silver”—the gov’t should buy all
silver from miners & coin it
The Grange
• Formed in the 1870s by farmers in the Great Plains and
South who suffered boom and bust conditions and
natural disasters
• Blamed hard times on a band of “thieves in the night,”
especially railroads
• Pushed through laws regulating shipping rates and other
farm costs.
• Created their own grain elevators, mutual insurance and
set up retail stores for farm machinery.
– The depression of the late 1870s wiped out most of these
programs.
The National Farmers’ Alliance
• In the 1880s, the National Farmers’ Alliance joined forced
with the Colored Farmers’ Alliance to replace the Grange as
the leading farmers’ group with the goals to:
– challenge the disproportionate power of the governing class
– restore democracy
– establish a cooperative economic program
• Northern Plains farmer organizations soon joined the Alliance
• Midwestern farm groups battled railroad influence.
• By 1890, the Alliance was a major power in several states
demanding demanded a series of economic reforms known as
the Ocala Demands:
– Allow farmers to store crops in gov’t silos when prices are bad
– Free-coinage of silver, a federal income tax, & regulation of RRs
– Direct election of U.S. senators
Workers Search for Power
• In 1877, a “Great Uprising” shut down railroads all across
the country.
– Federal troops were called out, precipitating violence.
– Government created national guards to prevent similar
occurrences.
• Workers organized stronger unions that increasingly
resorted to strikes and created labor parties.
• Henry George ran for mayor of New York on the United
Labor Party ticket and finished a respectable second.
• In the late 1880s, labor parties won seats on numerous
city councils and in state legislatures in industrial areas
where workers outnumbered other classes.
Women Build Alliances
• Women actively shaped labor and agrarian protest.
• The Knights included women at their national convention
and even ran day-care centers and baking cooperatives.
• Women were active members in the Grange and
Alliances.
• The greatest female leader was Frances E. Willard, who:
– was president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union
– mobilized nearly 1 million women to promote reform and to
work for women’s suffrage
Populism and the People’s Party
• Between 1890 and 1892, the Farmers’ Alliance, the Knights
of Labor, the National Colored Farmers’ Alliance and other
organizations formed the People’s Party.
• The People’s Party platform called for:
– government ownership of railroads, banks, and the telegraph
– the eight-hour day
– the graduated income tax, and other reforms
• Though the party lost the 1892 presidential race, Populists
elected three governors, ten congressional representatives,
and five senators.
Populism and the People’s Party
• Between 1890 and 1892, the Farmers’ Alliance, the
Knights of Labor, the National Colored Farmers’ Alliance
and other organizations formed the People’s Party.
• The People’s Party platform called for:
– government ownership of railroads, banks, and the telegraph
– the eight-hour day
– the graduated income tax, and other reforms
• Populists emerged as a powerful 3rd party & got
numerous state & national politicians elected
• In 1892 they even launched a 3rd party candidate…
BENJAMIN
HARRISON
•Congress passed the
Sherman Anti-Trust Act,
the McKinley Tariff Acts
and admitted Idaho and
Wyoming as new states
•The McKinley tariff of
1890 raised duties on
manufactured goods to the
highest level ever
• 1890 midterm election:
landslide Democratic
victory
•1892: Cleveland becomes
the only president in
history to ever serve two,
non-consecutive terms
The Election of 1896
• A Populist-Democrat merger looked possible
in 1896 when William Jennings Bryan received
the Democratic nomination against Repub
William McKinley:
– Called for free silver & income tax; attacked trusts
& injunctions
– Bryan visited 26 states on his whistle-stop
campaign to educate Americans about silver
The McKinley Administration
• Republicans benefited from an improving
economy, better crop production, &
discoveries of gold:
– The election of 1896 cemented Republican rule &
became the party of prosperity
– From 1860-1890, Republicans had promoted
industry; by 1900, it was time to regulate it
The McKinley Administration
• McKinley was an activist president and
became the first “modern” president:
– He communicated well with the press
– The Spanish-American War brought the USA
respect as a world power
– The Gold Standard Act (1900) ended the silver
controversy
SECTION THREE:
THE CRISIS OF THE 1890S
The Depression of 1893
• The most serious blow to politics in the Gilded
Age was a five-year depression that began in
1893:
– Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 destabilized
currency (remember, it was repealed in 1893 by
Cleveland)
– A stock market panic occurred when the
Philadelphia & Reading Railroad went bankrupt
– 500 banks (nearly 50%), 200 railroads, & 1,500
businesses failed
– Companies cut wages & laid off workers;
unemployment hit 20%
Long Depression
• Full recovery was not achieved until the early 1900s.
– Unemployment soared and many suffered great hardships.
– Tens of thousands took to the road in search of work or food.
– The Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 finally pulled the US out of the “Long
Depression”
• Jacob Coxey called for a march on Washington to demand
relief through public works programs.
– “Coxey’s Army” was greeted warmly by most communities on the
way to Washington.
– The attorney general, who was a former lawyer for a railroad
company, conspired to stop the march.
– Police clubbed and arrested the marchers for trespassing on the
grass in Washington.
Coxey’s Army (1894)
• In 1894, there were 1,400 strikes led by
hordes of unemployed people demanding
gov’t relief:
– Jacob Coxey led an “army” from Ohio to D.C.
to convince Congress to create jobs by spending
$500 million on new roads
The Pullman Strike (1894)
• In 1894, Pullman Palace Car workers went on
strike when the company cut wages by 50%
– American RR Union leader Eugene V. Debs called
for a national railroad strike
– President Cleveland issued an injunction & sent
the army to end the strike & resume rail traffic
– Strikers in 27 states resisted U.S. troops & dozens
died
Pullman Strikes
•
•
•
•
•
•
1894
3000 Wildcat Strike  125,000 (four days)
 250,000 in 27 states
Scabs
Pres. Cleveland
Eugene V. Debs & Clarence Darrow
The Pullman Strike (1894)
• Effects of the Pullman Strike:
– Eugene Debs was arrested & became committed
to socialism while in jail, sparking a brief U.S.
socialist movement
– In the 1895 case, In re Debs, the Supreme Court
used the Sherman Antitrust Act to uphold
Cleveland’s injunction since the strike “restrained”
U.S. trade
Strikes: Coeur d’Alene, Homestead,
and Pullman
• Strikes were sparked by wage cuts, longer work days, and
big business attempts to destroy unions.
• In Idaho, a violence-plagued strike was broken by federal
and state troops.
– The miners formed the Western Federation of Miners.
• The hard times precipitated a bloody confrontation at
Andrew Carnegie’s Homestead steel plant.
• A major strike in Pullman, Illinois:
– spread throughout the nation’s railroad system
– ended with the arrest of Eugene Debs
– resulted in bitter confrontations between federal troops and
workers in Chicago and other cities.
The Free Silver Issue
• Grover Cleveland won the 1892 election by
capturing the traditional Democratic Solid South
and German voters alienated by Republican nativist
appeals.
• When the economy collapsed in 1893, government
figures concentrated on longstanding currency
issues to provide a solution.
• The debate was over hard money backed by gold or
soft money backed by silver.
– Cleveland favored a return to the gold standard, losing
much popular support.
Populism's Last Campaign
• The hard times strengthened the Populists, who were silver
advocates.
• They recorded strong gains in 1894.
• But in 1896, when the Democrats nominated William
Jennings Bryan as a champion of free silver, Populists
decided to run a fusion ticket of Bryan and Tom Watson.
• Republicans ran William McKinley as a safe alternative to
Bryan.
– Republicans characterized Bryan as a dangerous man who would
cost voters their jobs.
The Election of 1896
• Bryan won 46% of the vote but failed to carry the Midwest,
Far West, and Upper South.
– Traditional Democratic groups like Catholics were uncomfortable
with Bryan and voted Republican.
• The Populists disappeared and the Democrats became a
minority party.
• McKinley promoted a mixture of pro-business and
expansionist foreign policies.
• The return to prosperity after 1898 insured continued
Republican control.
SECTION FOUR:
THE AGE OF SEGREGATION
Nativism and Jim Crow
• Neither McKinley nor Bryan addressed the increased
racism and nativism throughout the nation.
– Nativists blamed foreign workers for hard times and
considered them unfit for democracy.
• The decline of the Populist party led to the establishment
of white supremacy as the political force in the South.
– Southern whites enacted a system of legal segregation
and disenfranchised blacks, approved by the Supreme
Court.
• Reformers abandoned their traditional support for black
rights and accepted segregation and disenfranchisement.
• 1896 legal case, Plessy v. Ferguson, legalized “separate but
equal” in private establishments, ex. railroads
Mob Violence and Lynching
• Racial violence escalated.
• Between 1882 and 1900 lynchings usually exceeded a
hundred each year.
– They were announced in newspapers and became public
spectacles.
– Railroads offered special excursion prices to people traveling to
attend lynchings.
– Postcards were often printed as souvenirs.
• Ida B. Wells launched a one-woman anti-lynching crusade.
– She argued that lynching was a brutal device to get rid of African
Americans who were becoming too powerful or prosperous.
SECTION FIVE:
“IMPERIALISM OF
RIGHTEOUSNESS”
The White Man’s Burden
• Many Americans proposed that the economic crisis required
new markets for American production.
• Others suggested Americans needed new frontiers to
maintain their democracy.
• The Chicago World’s Fair:
– showed how American products might be marketed throughout
the world
– reinforced a sense of stark contrast between civilized Anglo-Saxons
and savage people of color.
• A growing number of writers urged America to take up the
“White Man’s Burden.”
• Clergymen like Josiah Strong urged Americans to help
Christianize and civilize the world.
For and Against
Anti-Imperialism
• American Anti-Imperialist
League
• Republicanism
Imperialists
• White Man’s Burden
• Missionary
• Capitalism
• Social Darwinism
• Manifest Destiny
(Turner, City Upon a Hill)
Foreign Missions
• After the Civil War, missionary activity increased
throughout the non-western world.
– College campuses blazed with missionary excitement.
– The YMCA and YWCA embarked on a worldwide crusade
to reach non-Christians.
• Missionaries helped generate public interest in
foreign lands and laid the groundwork for economic
expansion.
An Overseas Empire
• Beginning in the late 1860s, the United States began
expanding overseas.
• Secretary of State William Henry Seward launched the
nation’s Pacific empire by buying Alaska and expanding the
United States presence in Hawaii.
• The U.S. policy emphasized economic control, particularly in
Latin America.
• During the 1880s and 1890s, the United States strengthened
its navy and began playing an increased role throughout the
Western Hemisphere and the Pacific.
Imperialism
Creating economic,
cultural, and territorial
relationships
Empire building
Global Context
Source of Raw Materials
Market for Exports
Divert urban energies
New Frontier in
American History???
China’s Open Door
• End of Sino-Japanese
War in 1895 leaves a
power vacuum in
China
• Secretary of State,
John Hay requests
“Open-Door Policy”
•spheres of
influence
• 1900 – Boxer
Rebellion
•“kill foreign
devils”
Annexation of Hawaii
• 1880s
• July 1898 – Newlands
Resolution
• Joint Resolution
• Extension of Chinese
Exclusion Act to Hawaii
and restriction of
immigration
• 1900 -
Hawaii
• The United States annexed Hawaii in 1898.
• Hawaii was a stepping-stone to Asian
markets.
• In 1899, Secretary of State John Hay
proclaimed the Open Door policy in Asia to
ensure American access and laid the basis for
twentieth-century foreign policy.
Campaign of 1900
– McKinley reelected in 1900
• campaign on “return to prosperity” as the Long
Depression is finally over
– Bryan seen as one-issue candidate
– Theodore Roosevelt elected as VP
– Roosevelt takes over presidency in 1901 after
McKinley is shot and killed
• Uses presidency as “bully pulpit”
• Big Stick diplomacy
Panama!
• Panama Canal
– Hay-Paunceforte Treaty of 1901 – British consent to
American plan for a canal across Panama
– 1903 - Colombia rejects the treat (Panama was
province of Colombia)
• 500 Panamanians revolt against Colombians and US
prevents Colombian troops from surprising the rebellion
– Nov. 7, 1903 – Panama is declared independent
• Nov. 18 Panama signs treaty extending Canal Zone
– Canal opens two weeks after the outbreak of WWI
Roosevelt Corollary
• Roosevelt Corollary - 1904
– Starts over crisis in Dominican Republic
– Stabilize Caribbean and Central America
– Monroe Doctrine prohibited European intervention
in the regions, the US was justified in intervening
first to prevent the actions of outsiders and would
act as an “international police power”
1898
1899
1900
1902
1903
Roosevelt issues the Roosevelt Corollary
US Recognizes Panama’s independence
1901
Platt Amendment
Theodore Roosevelt elected President
Boxer Rebellion in China
Filipino insurrection;
Treaty of Paris ends Spanish-American War;
Open Door Policy in China
Plessy v. Ferguson; McKinley defeats Bryan for President
Sinking of the Maine;
Philippines Islands
Hawaii Annexed by US
1896
1904
SECTION SIX:
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
The United States and Cuba
• A movement to gain independence from Spain began in the
1860s.
• Americans sympathized with Cuban revolutionaries.
– The Spanish were imposing harsh taxes.
– By 1895, public interest in Cuban affairs grew, spurred on
by grisly horror stories of Spanish treatment of
revolutionaries.
• Spanish misrule of Cuba only provided a justification
• American Investments in Cuba and Sugar and mining were
increasing
• Cuban Revolt/ “Cuba Libra”
Remember the Maine
• February 15, 1898, the USS Maine explodes in
Havana harbor
• Blame the Spanish for torpedoing the ship
• Battle cry of “Remember the Maine! To Hell With
Spain”
• Roosevelt (Sect. of Navy) “An act of dirty treachery on the
part of the Spaniards.” The US, “Needs a war.”
• New York Journal, “The Whole Country Thrills with War
Fever”
Yellow Journalism
• Yellow Journalism (Hearst and Pulizter)
• De Lome Letter
• McKinley’s war message – April 11th, 1898
• Approved April 21st, 1898
• April 22 – Blockade of Cuba, an act of war under
international law
• Teddy Roosevelt resigns as Secretary of the
Navy to form the Rough Riders
A “Splendid Little War” in Cuba
• The United States smashed Spanish power in what John
Hay called “a splendid little war.”
• The Platt Amendment protected U. S. interests and
acknowledged its unilateral right to intervene in Cuban
affairs.
– This amendment paved the way for U.S. domination of Cuba’s
sugar industry and provoked anti-American sentiments among
Cuban nationals.
• The United States also annexed a number of other
Caribbean and Pacific islands including the Philippines.
• July 25th – Americans moved to Puerto Rico
• Treaty of Paris – December 10, 1898 (144 day war)
War in Philippines
– Roosevelt ordered Commodore George Dewey to
Philippines to engage Spanish ships
– Dewey destroyed or captured all the Spanish warships in
Manila Bay
– Fight for control of the island against Emilio Aguinaldo (until
1930s)
War in the Philippines
• Initially, Filipino rebels welcomed American troops in
their fight against Spain.
• After the United States intended to annex their
country, they turned against their former allies.
• Between 1899 and 1902, Americans fought a war that
led to the death of one in every five Filipinos.
– Supporters defended the war as bringing civilization to the
Filipinos.
– Critics saw the abandonment of traditional support for selfdetermination and warned against bringing in dark-skinned
people.
Critics of Empire
• The Filipino war stimulated the founding of an AntiImperialist League that denounced the war and
territorial annexation in no uncertain terms.
• Critics cited democratic and racists reasons for antiimperialism.
• Most Americans put aside their doubts and
welcomed the new era of aggressive nationalism.
A Decade of Changes: The 1890s
• The Depression of 1893 and the problems
faced by farmers & industrial workers forced
people to rethink industry, urbanization, &
the quality of American life
• Many embraced the need for reform which
opened the door to the Progressive Era