The Challenge from Below
 Out of Touch Politics
Electorate evenly divided
Laissez-faire/change was socialistic and
harmful to $ & democracy
Currency Reform
Sherman Silver Act 1890
(replaced in ‘93)
Civil Service Reform
Pendleton Act of 1883
Civil service exam/not
connections
 The People’s Party
Granger Movement-concern farmer’s
plight/ railroads cause of plight
Munn v. Illinois (1877) &Wabash v.
Illinois (1886) established the principle
of regulation of interstate
transportation
Farmers’ Alliances-successors of
Granger & concern of falling and rising
costs due to bankers
CO-OP’s
People’s Party /Populist (1892)
Platform mostly for farmers but
also for industrial workers
Panic of 1893
Worst up to that time…
20 % unemployed
Coxey’s Army- A protest march
from Ohio to Washington, D.C.,
in 1894 organized by Jacob
Coxey to publicize demands for
the federal government to
alleviate the suffering brought
on by the Panic of 1893.
Election of 1896
William J. Bryan runs for
President on antiexpansion/free silver
campaign/loses to McKinley
African Americans after Reconstruction
 Jim Crow- social & legal system of segregation
 Civil Rights Cases (1883)
Civil Rights Act of 1875 & 14th
Amendment weakened/did not apply to
private and institutions
 State’s limit 15th Amendment
Poll Tax
Literacy Test
Grandfather Clause
Result
Black vote down 62 %
Poor White down 27%
 Lynching
Ida B. Wells-Barnett
 Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Establishes “separate but equal”
14th Amendment weakened more
 Blacks response
Booker T. Washington-self-help as the
best way to end poverty
Poverty 1st, politics 2nd, and civil
rights
Tuskegee Institute 1881
W E. B. Dubois-education that best suits
the individual
1909: NAACP was formed to
demand an immediate end of
discrimination
Becoming a World Power
 European Imperialism
1839-1842: Opium War opens spheres
of influence in China to European
powers
1889: US, Great Britain and Germany
establish a protectorate over Samoan
Islands
Partition of Africa
US only opportunity: Western
Hemisphere & China
European Imperialism or
American Imperialism
 The Impulse for Expansion
Manifest Destiny
Problem: 1890’s 90% of US goods sold
in US = depressions
Solution: Overseas empire
Navy Captain Alfred T. Mahanpowerful navy = world power
The Influence of Sea Power on
history: 1660-1783
Great White Fleet 1907
Social Darwinism
 Acquisitions and Actions
1854: Commodore Perry open’s Japan
for trade
1867: Seward’s Folley
1889: US, Great Britain and Germany
establish a protectorate over Samoan
Islands
1893: Overthrow of Hawaiian Queen
Liliuokalani by Dole, Inc. Cleveland does
not bring it into Union
The Spanish-American War
 The Growing Conflict with Spain
1895: Cubans begin fighting their war
of independence against Spain
1896: Filipinos begin fighting their war
of independence against Spain
Re concentration of Cubans
Yellow Press
The Decision to Intervene in Cuba
De Lome Letter
Maine Explosion
Declaration of War with Spain
Teller Amendment-promised to
leave the island to the Cubans
US investment in Cuba - $50
million
Pres. McKinley proclaims
Hawaii a US Terr.
 Fighting the War against Spain
Treaty of Paris 1898
Cuba
Guam
Puerto Rico
Philippines $20 million
Platt Amendment: reserves the right
for US military to govern Cuba and
cedes Guantanamo Bay base to US
military
Violates the spirit of the Teller
amendment and allows for US
domination of Cuban sugar
market
Creating an American Empire
 The Debate over Colonies
Anti-Imperialist League
Politicians-WJB
Progressive Reformers
Writers
Industrialists
Labor
Europe still big market
$$$ to maintain
Constitutional Rights??? To
Colonists
Distract from problems at home
Pro- expansionist
 The Philippine-American War
1899:Guerilla war begins in Philippines
in opposition to US occupation
1902: Guerilla war in Philippines ends/
1out of 5 Filipinos & 4,500 US killed
Philippine Government Act: establishes
limited self government for Philippines;
President appoints a governor;
promises eventual self determination
 1946: Philippines receive independence from
US
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