The Politics of Equilibrium

• government was ill equipped to confront new challenges, leading to increasing problems

• the party system was almost evenly divided between democrats and republicans

• most Americans had strong loyalties to their respective parties

• voter turnout was strong, over 78% of all eligible voters actually voted

• few restrictions on voting for adult WHITE MALES

• North was strongly tied to the Republican party, while the South was strongly tied to the Democrat party

• Democratic party attracted Catholics, recent immigrants, and poorer workers in cities

• Republican party attracted northern Protestants, generationally rooted Americans, many middle class citizens, and industrialists

• Both parties however believed in limited control of the government

• annual pensions given to Civil War veterans and their widows

• Rutherford B. Hayes was seen as a relatively ineffective president and marked end of the Reconstruction period

• Stalwarts and Half-Breeds competed for control of the Republican party (broken into factions)

• James A. Garfield, a Half-Breed, favored reforms and civil service support, which enraged Stalwarts

• Once Garfield was assassinated, Chester A. Arthur succeeded him, however still supported reforms

• Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland for the next election

• Benjamin Harrison won against Cleveland in his reelection, however only by the electoral and NOT by the popular (100,000 more votes for Cleveland)

• Passed the Sherman Antitrust Act

• Third party rose to significance, the Populists, advocating for substantial economic reform

• Cleveland was reelected as the Republicans lost much of the public support

• many tariffs and commerce laws were disputed over how to regulate, eventually Interstate Commerce Act passed

The Agrarian Revolt

• grangers were first successful attempt in organizing politically among farmers, rejected monopolistic practices by railroads, trusts, warehouses

• post granger associations, farmers’ alliances gathered with more than a million people joining also related to colored farmers’ national alliance

• established stores, banks, processing plants, and other facilities to free farmers from dependence on merchants and capitalists keeping farmers in debt

• started creation of a national political organization

• movement created a new political party, the “people’s party",” a movement known as populism

• however, populism never gained enough labor support as the economic interests of labor vs the interests of farmers often opposed each other

• purchased sub-treasuries where farmers could deposit their crops, allowing them to borrow money from the government at low rates of interest until price of goods went up

• mainly advocated for improvements in involving people to influence the political process

The Crisis of the 1890s

• panic of 1893 marked the most severe depression the nation had ever experienced at the time

• PA and reading railroad declared bankruptcy, then national cordage co, triggering a stock market collapse

• u.s. economy was increasingly interconnected, leading to many businesses going bankrupt and a general panic

• debates over what backed money and currency led to further trouble and disagreement

• silver was discontinued as a form of currency in the 1870s, which stopped a potential method of expanding currency

• golds worth had a ratio of 1 to 16 with silver

• many Democrats rallied to nominate a pro-silver candidate, wanted to gain support of Populists in the 1896 presidential election

• after Republican’s win of the 1896 election, the People’s party quickly began to dissolve and Democrats were severely distraught

• McKinley and allies ensured that higher tariff rates were imposed, helped ease things at the end of the panic

Stirrings of Imperialism

• Manifest Destiny was a still a prevalent ideology, instead in the context of expanding America’s power to other territory internationally and across lands and oceans

• instead of settling in areas, they created military, political, and business structures that allowed the u.s. (and many European countries engaging in imperialist activities at the time) to dominate and profit from the existing populations

• champions of imperialism argued that the acquisition of colonies was essential for the health, or survival even, of their own industrializing nations

• however, this usually benefitted the colonizing nation while the colonized were left with depletion of their resources and theft of their rights, freedoms, and cultures

• Hawaii and other pacific islands were of great importance to the u.s., establishing plantations, missions, and using the islands as a go-between for trade with china

• Colonization of the Hawaiian islands was devastating to the Native Hawaiian people, they died from disease, colonizers banned their cultural and religious practices, and took land for settlers and military operations

War with Spain

• Spain had control over Cuba and the Philippines for centuries, and kept native people oppressed in the colonies

• u.s. saw the crisis of growing unrest in cuba, some wanted to help liberate cubans and leave them to their own devices, while others wanted to replace the Spanish presence with an American presence

• initially, the leaders of the u.s. at the time (Cleveland succeeded by McKinley) didn’t intervene in cuba

• when U.S.S. Maine exploded, many Americans blamed it on the Spanish, pushing for a war

• war was declared in April and over in August, short lived as the cuban rebels had been doing the majority of the work to weaken the Spanish presence

• significant part of the u.s. force consisted of inexperienced soldiers, African Americans

• Roosevelt also ordered a fleet of ships to attack Spanish in the philippines, quickly destroying the Spanish’s naval presence there

• puerto rico also resisted Spanish rule, and was eventually ceded to u.s. control, taking Philippines as part of the treaty of paris (1898) that ended the war

• many rich and prominent figures opposed this expansion of territory, for many reasons among the fact that imperialism was immoral

The Republic as Empire

• Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico had relatively few problems, transitioning to status as territories of the U.S.

• Cuba tried to establish their own treaty with no American rule, however Congress quickly responded in opposition with the Platt Amendment

• the Philippine war lasted for four years, where the native people in the colony resented their subjugation

• as more and more support grew in the Philippines for their liberation, American forces’ tactics became harsher

• rebels were executed, communities evacuated, residents were forced into concentration camps

• Americans eventually tired Filipino forces, ending the war and sadly solidifying America’s control (they would not gain total independence until 1946)

• China became a great source of trade for the U.S., and leaders ensured that they would have free and unrestricted trade with them despite growing foreign involvements (see open door metaphor)

• Boxer Rebellion resulted in some Chinese nationalists rejecting any foreigners in their country

• after the glaring gaps in military force and technology, the U.S. strengthened its forces, education for military training, bought modern weapons and facilities, creating a relatively modern military system

Conclusion

Comprehension Questions

1. How and why did the federal government attempt to regulate interstate commerce in the late nineteenth century?

2. What efforts did farmers undertake to deal with the economic problems they faced in the late nineteenth century?

3. What was the “silver question”? Why was it so important to so many Americans? How did the major political parties deal with this question?

4. How did the Spanish-American War change America’s relationship with the rest of the world?

5. What were the main arguments of those who supported U.S. imperialism and those who opposed the nation’s imperial efforts?