Chapter 20
Politics and Expansion in an
Industrializing Age
1877-1900
Introduction
• What were the issues and the political spoils that
the Democrats and Republicans fought over?
• What caused the rise of the grange, Farmers’
Alliances and the Populist Party?
• What was at stake in the election of 1896 and
what was the outcome?
• Why did the United States go to war with Spain
in 1898 and what was the result of the American
victory?
Contested Political Visions
• The Republicans and Democrats differed on
tariffs and money supply
• Both parties believed in limited government
rights to regulate business or protection of
worker’s welfare
• Both parties were willing to subsidize corporate
growth
• State and local governments addressed the
economic and social concerns of the people
Patterns of Party Strength
• Main Democratic support came from the
South, recent immigrants and Catholics
• Republican support came from rural and
small town New England, Pennsylvania
and the upper Midwest. Most were native
born and Protestant
The Hayes White House
• The main accomplishment of Rutherford
B. Hayes was restoring honesty to the
White House and to overcome the
scandals of the Grant Administration
Regulating the
Money Supply
• How much money should the government should issue
and what should back it?
• Bankers, Creditors, Businessmen, Economists and most
Politicians believed in a tight money supply backed by
the Gold Standard
• Southern and Western Farmers riddled by debt wanted a
softer money supply backed by the Gold and Silver
Standard
• They believed that a larger money supply would raise
farm prices and make it easier for them to pay off debts.
1870 Greenback Party was formed to further the Gold
and Silver Standard
• Party did not last long but debate continued, 1890
Sherman Silver Purchase Act
The Spoils System
• Initiated by Andrew Jackson
• Carl Schurz and E.L. Godkin criticized the
Spoils System and called for a Merit
System of Civil Service
Civil Service Reform
• James Garfield Assassinated by Charles Guiteau in
1881, second shortest serving President behind William
Henry Harrison
• Garfield supported Civil Service reform but Guiteau felt
he was owed a job because of his support for Garfield.
• Congress passed the Pendleton Act in 1883
• The Pendleton Act required Federal employees to pass a
Civil Service Exam and did not allow Federal Employees
to financially support political campaigns
1884: Grover
Cleveland
• 1884- Republicans nominated
James Blaine
• Blaine seemed tainted by
associated with the Grant
Administration and his support for
the Spoils System
• Democrats nominated Grover
Cleveland
• Mugwumps (Republicans that
supported the Pendleton Act) voted
for Cleveland and won him the
Presidency
Tariffs and Pensions
• President Cleveland believed in Lassiez-faire
economics
• He did try to lower tariffs to remove funds from
the government that he thought were a
temptation for corruption, decrease prices for
consumers and slow the growth of trusts
• Lower tariffs appealed to farmers in the West
and the South but alarmed industrialists
• Cleveland also angered Civil War veterans when
he halted wholesale disability pensions
1888 Big Business Strikes Back
• Tariff became a major issue in the election of
1888
• The Democrats nominated Cleveland again and
the Republicans nominated Benjamin Harrison
• Industrialists contributed heavily to the
Republicans
• Cleveland won the popular vote but lost the
electoral college
• 1890 Harrison and the Republicans passed the
highest tariff of all time, they also passed a
generous pension for Civil War vets
The Grange Movement
• Agricultural prices drop in the 1870’s
• Oliver H. Kelley tries to help farmers organize
cooperatives to market their crops and buy supplies.
• Lobbied for farmers to regulate the railroads
• States passed Granger laws which were opposed by
railroads as unconstitutional
• Wabash Case 1886- States cannot regulate the railroads
• Interstate Commerce Act created commission to oversee
the practices of the railroads, did little to curb railroad
abuses
• Failures of the Granger laws led to a decrease in their
popularity after the 1870’s
The Alliance Movement
• Farmers felt their needs were not being met
• With the failure of the Granger laws, farmers
turned to alliances.
• They joined the National, Southern and Colored
Farmers Alliances.
• Alliances called for tariff reduction, Graduated
Income Tax, public ownership of the railroads,
Silver standard, direct election of senators
• 1892 Alliances formed the Populist party in
Omaha Nebraska and nominated James
Weaver for President
African-Americans after
Reconstruction
• Whites used intimidation and terror to deprive blacks the
right to vote
• After 1890 they used poll taxes, literacy tests and
grandfather clauses
• Segregation laws were passed in the South and lynching
became more prominent
• The Congress did nothing to protect black rights
• Segregation was upheld by Plessey vs. Ferguson (1898)
• Poll taxes and literacy tests were also upheld
• Booker T. Washington- “Everybody’s money is green”
• Frederick Douglass called upon blacks to demand full
equality
1892: Populists Challenge the
Status Quo
• 1892 Grover Cleveland regains the
Presidency from Benjamin Harrison
• Populist James Weaver receives more
than 1 Million votes
The Panic of 1893
• Nation suffers a financial panic
• Partly caused by Land Speculation,
agricultural surpluses and failure to repay
banks
The Depression of 1893-1897
• Banks and Businesses fail
• 20-25% of the labor force is unemployed
• 1894 Jacob Coxey leads a march of
unemployed in Washington, He was
arrested and the March ended
Business Leaders Hunker Down
• Cleveland believed in Lassiez-faire economics.
• He appeared heartless when he ordered military
intervention in Coxey’s March and the Pullman
Strike
• Angered farmers with repeal of the Sherman
Silver Purchase Act in defense of the Gold
Standard
• Cleveland’s actions split the Democratic party
which supported “Free Silver”
1894: Protest Grows Louder
• 1894 midterm elections Congress goes
Republican
• Populists Party candidates rise 40%
• Silver was looked upon as the economic
savior by farmers
• Critics felt it would cause inflation
Silver Advocates Capture the
Democratic Party
• 1896 Democratic Convention- Western
and Southern delegates gain control
• Platform included Populist ideas and
Free Silver
• Nominated William Jennings Bryan
• Republicans nominated William
McKinley who promised to maintain the
Gold Standard and raise the tariff
• Populists nominated Bryan as well but
their own Vice president Tom Watson
1896 Republicans Triumph
• McKinley was largely supported by Big Business
• Republicans kept the majority in Congress and
the Presidency
• Republicans kept the Gold Standard and raised
a protective tariff to the highest levels ever
• Republicans won again in 1900 because the
economy began a turn around
• Populist Party disintegrated after 1896, but, the
major political parties began to adopt
progressive policies after the 1900’s
Roots of Expansionism
• US follows the examples of Europe in
Asia and Africa
• Idea is overseas markets will maintain
prosperity
• Alfred T. Mahan- The Influence of Sea
Power- advocates a 2 ocean Navy
• Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot
Lodge and John Hay see America as a
great power and must continue to build
and grow to maintain it’s position in the
world
• Josiah Strong advocates Christian Duty
to spread Christianity and Civilization to
inferior people groups
• Social Darwinism
Pacific Expansion
• Annexation of Hawaii
• Queen Liliuokalani
• Dole Pineapple
Crisis over Cuba
• Cuba revolts against Spanish rule in 1895
• Spain tries to suppress the rebellion
• William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer begin a
Newspaper war for readership by sensationalizing the
atrocities, Yellow Journalism
• President McKinley sent the USS Maine to Havana
Harbor to protect the lives and property of Americans
living in the area. February 15, 1898 USS Maine
explodes killing 266 crewmen
• Yellow Journalism calls for retaliation and McKinley bows
to pressure and asks for a declaration of war against
Spain. Also, passed the Teller Amendment which stated
that the US would allow Cuba to remain independent
after hostilities
The Spanish-American War
•
•
•
•
Fighting lasted less than 4 months
Battle of San Juan Hill: July 1st 1898
Spanish were driven out of Cuba by July of 1898
Admiral George Dewey defeated the Spanish
fleet in Manila Bay in August of 1898
• US occupied Cuba until 1902 in spite of the
Teller Amendment
• Platt Amendment recognized Cuba’s
Independence in Domestic Relations, US
controlled Foreign Relations
Critics of Empire
• Carl Schurz, E.L. Godkin,
William Jennings Bryan,
Andrew Carnegie, Mark
Twain, Jane Addams found
Anti-Imperialists League
• Senate ratified treaty
annexing the Philippines in
1900 and McKinley defeated
Bryan again in 1900 election
Guerrilla War in the Philippines
1898-1902
• McKinley was persuaded that the US
should keep the Philippines to use as a
way to penetrate Chinese and Japanese
Markets
• Filipino Rebels led by Emilio Aguinaldo
fought against the US.
• US maintained control of Philippines until
1946