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
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