Chapter 20POLITICAL REALIGNMENTS

IN THE 1890s

Copyright 2007, Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman

America Past and PresentEighth Edition

Divine Breen Fredrickson Williams Gross Brand

Politics of Stalemate

• ________ was a major fascination of the late nineteenth century

• ___________ made up bulk of electorate– Women may vote in national elections only in

_________________________________– Black men denied vote by _______________

_________

The Party Deadlock

• Post-Civil War Democratic party divides electorate almost evenly with Republicans

• Democrats emphasize _________________________ _______________

• Republicans see government as agent to promote _________________________________________

• One-party control of both Congress and White House rare• Each party has safe states, control of federal government

rests with 6 “doubtful” states in North and Midwest• Federal influence wanes, state control rises

Experiments in the States

• State government commissions investigate, regulate railroads, factories

• Munn v. Illinois (1877) _______________ __________________________________

• Wabash case (1886) prompts establishment of ___________________ _______________________

• ICC prototype for modern regulatory agencies

Reestablishing Presidential Power

• Presidency hits nadir under Johnson

• Later presidents reassert executive power– Hayes ended ________________________– Garfield asserted ____________________– Arthur strengthened ___________________– Cleveland used veto to curtail ___________

___________________________

The Election of 1880

The Election of 1884

Republicans in Power:The Billion-Dollar Congress

• 1888: Republicans control both ________ _________________________

• 1890: Adoption of Reed Rules permits enactment of _______________________

Tariffs, Trusts and Silver• 1890: McKinley Tariff raises ________________

___________• Dependents Pension Act: By 1893, 1 million

receiving pensions from union army • 1890: Sherman Anti-Trust Act ______________

___________– U.S. vs. E.C. Knight clarifies that law does not apply

to manufacturers

• 1890: Sherman Silver Purchase Act moves country toward _________________________

The 1890 Elections

• “Billion Dollar” Congress alienates people

• Republicans also assert activist government policies on state level– ____________________– _______________– ________________________________

• 1890: Alienated voting blocks turn out Republican legislators

The Rise of the Populist Movement

• __________________________________ provide base of support

• The National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union the result

The Farm Problem

• Worldwide agricultural economy causes great fluctuations in supply and demand

• Farmers’ complaints– ____________________________________

__________________________– ____________________________________– ____________________________________

__________________________

• Conditions of farmers vary by region• General feeling of ___________________

Selected Commodity Prices

The Fast-Growing Farmers' Alliance

• ______: Southern Alliance begins• Alliance movement segregated, Colored

Farmer’s National Alliance– ______________________________________

• 1889: Regional Alliances merge into _______ _____________________

• Division in the South– Tillman: Capture existing Democratic party to

___________________________– Tom Watson and Leondias Polk urge new party

• Starting 1890, Alliance runs candidates– Speakers like Mary “Yellin’” Lease promote Alliance

candidates

The Fast-Growing Farmers' Alliance: Ocala Demands

• System of government warehouses to ___________________________

• Free coinage of ________

• _______________

• Federal income tax

• _________________ of Senators

• Regulation of railroads

The People's Party

• Southern Alliance splits from Democrats to form ______________

• Southern Populists recruit African Americans, give them ________________

• 1892: Populist presidential candidate James Weaver draws over one million votes– Loses South to _______________________

______________________________– Loses _________________

• Alliance wanes after 1892 elections

The Crisis of the Depression

• Economic crisis dominated the 1890s

• _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________

The Panic of 1893

• February, 1893: Failure of ___________ ________________ sparks panic on New York Stock Exchange

• Investors sell stock to _______________• Depleted Treasury shakes confidence • May, 1893: Market hits record low, business

failures displace ___________ _____________

• 1894: Corn crop fails

Coxey's Army and the Pullman Strike

• 1894: Jacob Coxey led “Coxey’s Army” to Washington to demand relief

• Pullman strike joined by Eugene Debs’ American Railway Union ____________ ____________________

• President Cleveland suppressed strikes with _____________________________

The Miners of the Midwest

• United Mine Workers strike of 1894

• “Old miners”: ______________________ _____________________________

• “New miners”: _____________________

• Strike pits new miners against old

A Beleaguered President

• Cleveland repeals ___________________ to remedy Panic of 1893

• Repeal _________________________

• Repeal makes silver a political issue

• Democrats renege on promise of lower tariff

Breaking the Party Deadlock

• Election of 1894 reduced Democrats to a sectional southern organization

• Republicans ____________________ _________________

• Republicans became majority elsewhere

Changing Attitudes

• ____________________ forced recognition of structural causes of unemployment

• Americans accepted the need for government intervention _____________ ______________________

“Everybody Works but Father”

• Women and children paid lower wages, _______________________________

• Employers _________________________ after depression to hold down costs

Changing Themes in Literature

• Depression encouraged ______________• Mark Twain’s characters ______________• William Dean Howells, Stephen Crane

portrayed grim life of the poor• Frank Norris attacked ________________

__________________• Theodore Dreiser presented humans as

helpless before vast _________________ _______________

The Presidential Election of 1896

• Free coinage of silver the main issue– _______________________– _____________________________

• New voting patterns emerged and national policy shifted

The Mystique of Silver

• “Free and independent coinage of silver”– Set ratio of silver to gold at ______– U.S. mints coined all silver offered to them– U.S. coined silver regardless of other

nations’ policies

• ________ believed amount in circulation determined level of economic activity

• A moral crusade for the common people

Republicans and Gold

• Candidate: ____________________

• Silverite Republicans defeated on convention floor

• Promised gold standard ______________ ____________

The Democrats and Silver

• Candidate: ____________________

• ________________ promised in "Cross of Gold" speech

• Democrats were enthusiastic

Campaign and Election

• Populist party endorsed __________

• Bryan offered return to rural, religious U.S.

• McKinley defended _________________ ____________

• Election was a clear victory for ________, utter rout of Populist party

The McKinley Administration

• McKinley took office at depression’s end

• An __________ president

• ________________ raised rates to record highs

• 1900: U.S. placed on _______________

• 1900: McKinley won landslide reelection against _____________________

The Election of 1900

A Decade’s Dramatic Changes

• September, 1901: __________________

• ___________________ became president