Unfinished Nation - Chapter 19 Key Terms

Chapter 19: From Crisis to Empire

Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison

Republican senator who was elected president in 1888 in one of the most corrupt elections in American history

Boxer Rebellion

a revolt begun by Chinese nationalists against foreigners in China

Chester A. Arthur

became president when Garfield was assassinated

Coxey's Army

a group of unemployed who marched on Washington, led by an Ohio Populist, to demand relief from the depression

Farmers' Alliances

began among southern farmers in 1875 but spread nationwide; formed cooperatives and other marketing mechanisms

free silver

economic philosophy that advocated for the coining of silver; farmers and others believed that expanding the money supply in this way would increase prices for their products and ease their debt payments

Grangers

founded in 1867, the first major farm organization in the country to mobilize against railroads and other special interests; predecessor to the farmers' alliances of the late nineteenth century

Grover Cleveland

reform governor of New York who was elected president in 1884 and again in 1892

Half-Breeds

political group within the Republican Party led by James G. Blaine of Maine, who favored reform

imperialism

the process whereby an empire or nation pursues military, political, or economic advantage by extending its rule over external territories and peoples

Interstate Commerce Act

the first effective federal railroad regulation, passed in 1887; administered by a five-person agency

James A. Garfield

veteran Republican congressman from Ohio and a Half-Breed; won the presidency in the 1880 election; assassinated in 1881

jingoes

a term coined in the late nineteenth century to refer to advocates for expanded U.S. economic, political, and military power in the world

Open Door

the metaphor Secretary of State John Hay used in 1898 to characterize the access to Chinese markets he desired for the United States; it was later expanded to refer to a policy of granting equal trade access to all countries

Panic of 1893

the beginning of the most severe depression the United States had experienced at the time; triggered by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad bankruptcy

Pendleton Act

first national civil service measure, passed in 1883, that tested applicants' qualifications for federal jobs by a test rather than patronage connections; largely symbolic at first but grew in reach over time

Populism

a reform movement of the 1890s that promoted federal government policies to redistribute wealth and power from national elites to common people; more generally, refers to a political doctrine that supports the rights of the people over the elite

Puerto Rico

part of the Spanish Empire from 1508 until 1898, when it fell under the control of the United States; became an American territory in 1917

Queen Liliuokalani

nationalist leader of Hawaii elevated to the throne in 1891

Rutherford B. Hayes

elected president in 1876 but largely ineffectual in office; the deals that led to his election are often described as marking the end of Reconstruction

Sherman Antitrust Act

aimed at prohibiting corporate combinations that restrained competition, and passed in 1890, it was largely ineffective

Spanish-American War

war of 1898 between the United States and Spain; took place in Cuba and the Philippines and resulted in American possession of or great influence over those areas and others

Stalwarts

political group within the Republican Party led by Roscoe Conkling of New York that favored traditional, professional machine politics

Teller Amendment

the 1898 amendment to the war declaration against Spain that promised no American intention to occupy or control Cuba in the wake of an American victory

William Jennings Bryan

Congressman from Nebraska, tireless 1896 presidential candidate, and author of the "Cross of Gold" speech; also later secretary of state under President Woodrow Wilson and a Christian fundamentalist witness in the Scopes trial

William McKinley

governor of Ohio and former congressman who was elected president in 1896 and 1900; assassinated in 1901

U.S.S. Maine

American vessel sunk in Havana harbor in February 1898; explosion was blamed on a Spanish mine and used by popular press to urge war; likely a mechanical error

yellow journalism

sensationalist reporting, particularly in newspapers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, so named for the color of a character in one of the papers' comic strips