Benjamin
Harrison
August 20, 1833 –
March 13, 1901
Republican
In office: 18891893
VP: Levi P.
Morton
Indiana
I. Political
Issues
(1) Election of 1888
Candidates:
Grover Cleveland
(DEMOCRAT)
vs. Benjamin Harrison
(REPUBLICAN)
B. The Main Issue of the
Campaign: Tariffs
1. Cleveland pledged a reduction on the
tariff while making it clear that he
opposed absolute free trade.
promised a strong
protective tariff as a safeguard
2. Harrison
to American industry
(1 cont) Outcome of the
Election
• Cleveland won the popular vote by
100,000 votes, but failed to win his
home state of New York, losing 36
electoral votes!
– Cleveland opposed Tammany Hall
(remember them?); they undermined his
campaign.
– Harrison Won! (His grandfather was 9th
US President William Henry Harrison
If New York would have voted for their
candidate- Grover Cleveland- he would have won
the election of 1888 by 2 electoral votes
Labor Unions
(11) Homestead Strike (1892):
a. Homestead, PA (Carnegie Steel)
b. Homestead was a company town, where
factory workers were forced to live in
run-down houses, with streets in terrible
condition and everything covered in soot
and dust.
c. Working conditions were horrible,
deaths in mills were not uncommon.
Carnegie Steel Works,
Homestead, PA
d. The Amalgamated Association of Iron and
Steel Workers Union (the AA) fought
against conditions at Carnegie’s plant.
Carnegie first accepted the union but
instructed his company president, Henry Clay
Frick, to dismiss the union in 1892.
A. Carnegie
H. Frick
e. Frick announced cuts in wages of certain
skilled workers and declared they would no
longer deal with the union, which led to the
workers mobilizing in self-defense.
g. Frick closed down mills to lock out
workers, hiring 300 Pinkerton detectives
to enforce the lockout.
h. Fighting broke out between the Pinkerton
men and union members. 3 Pinkertons
died and 7 union members were
killed.
i. PA sent 8,000 National guardsmen to
restore order.
j. In the end, the union remained intact,
but oppressive working conditions
remained the same in the steel industry
until WWI.
E. Foreign Affairs
• The First International Conference
of American States met in
Washington, D.C., in 1889.
• Almost every independent nation in
North and South America sent a
delegate to the conference that
purposed to improve trade relations
amongst the Americas.
(4)Native American Affairs
Oklahoma Territory- set up Land
for Native American reservation
Allowing 160 acre Plots an
addition to the Dawes Act
The Sooners, a nickname given to
individuals who participated in the
land rushes which initially opened
the Oklahoma Indian Territory to
non-native settlement by entering
early and hiding out until the legal
time of entry in order to lay quick (and, by definition,
illegal) claim to some of the most choice homesteads.
(9)Wounded Knee-The Final Battle
Ghost Dance- 1889, ritual dance performed
by Native Americas through out the Westthey believed this ritual would drive out the
white men.
The US Military believed this was a
declaration of war… the military wanted all
natives on reservations now
1890- Battle of Wounded Knee, in South
Dakota- was the last battle between
Native Americans and US Military
190 unarmed Native Americans were
killed (a massacre)
(7) Fredrick Jackson Turner’s Thesis
• “American exceptionalism and vitality
have always been the American
frontier, the region between urbanized,
civilized society and the untamed
wilderness.” The thesis explained why
America was different from
Europe. Americans thrived on
growth and change and adventure.
The U.S. Census of 1890 said the
West was full, leaving American’s
to wonder what was next.
(10) Populist Political Platform
Political party and platform started
because of the farmer’s problems
1. A
2.
graduated income tax- tax higher incomes at
higher rates
direct election of US senators
3. Free and unlimited coinage of silver.
4. Effective government control of railroads
and telegraphs
II. Economic
issues
A. Changing Public Opinion
Americans wanted the federal govt. to
deal with growing social & economic
problems & to curb the power of the
trusts:
Interstate Commerce Act – 1887
Sherman Antitrust Act – 1890
McKinley Tariff – 1890
Rep. Party suffered big losses in 1890
(even McKinley lost his House seat!).
(5)Sherman Anti-Trust Act
• President Harrison also signed the Sherman
Anti-Trust Act "to protect trade and
commerce against unlawful restraints and
monopolies," the first Federal act
attempting to regulate trusts- NO
MORE MONOPOLIES
(8) McKinley Tariff
1. Based on the theory that prosperity flowed
directly from protectionism.
2. The final version of the tariff gave a small nod
to reform by adding a few items to the free
(not taxed) list, but it increased already
high rates another 4%!
3. The result was the highest protective
tariff in American history to that point
with an average rate of 48 percent.
Ex: you buy a $1 candy bar!!! It would cost $1.48
 instead of $1.07 like today’s tax.
(12)“Billion Dollar Congress”
• Substantial appropriation bills were
signed by Harrison for internal
improvements, naval expansion, and
subsidies for steamship lines. For the
first time except in war, Congress
spent a billion dollars!! When critics
attacked "the billion-dollar Congress,"
Speaker Thomas B. Reed replied, "This
is a billion-dollar country." $$$$$$$
• Long before the end of the Harrison
Administration, the Treasury surplus
(that the high McKinley tariff had
helped create) had evaporated, and
prosperity seemed about to disappear
as well.
Harrison wearing his grandfather’s hat
(which is too big for him!)
III. Social
Issues
• (3) New States- Territory to
come in from 1889 and 1890
Idaho and Wyoming
•Giving us 43 states
• Oklahoma is still Indian
Territory
• Official flag
For 5 years!
(2) Jane Addams- The Hull House
• One of the
first settlement
houses in the
United Statesset up for
IMMIGRANT
WOMEN (AND
CHILDREN) to
have a safe
place to learn a
trade and live
until a good life
could start
Ellis Island
• Formerly Oyster Island (Formerly Gull Island)
• First immigration station in New York City
Harbor opened January 1, 1892.
• Located in NYC by the Statue of Liberty
• All newcomers were subject to physical
exams.
• Those with criminal records, mental
disorders, contagious diseases, or other
serious health problems were deported.
$$$ The Money Question $$$
(6) Sherman Silver Purchase Act
(1890)- required the government to
pay for silver purchases with Treasury
notes redeemable for either gold or
silver.
1. New discoveries decrease value of
silver
2. Strain is put on gold reserves
b/c people are trading silver in.