Chapter 20: Political
Realignments in the 1890s
AP United States History
Week of March 14, 2016
Politics of Stalemate
Politics in the 1890s was characterized by two things: stalemate at the federal level, and a shift from
the Civil War political allegiances
•
While electoral turnout was high, mostly white males voted
•
Women began voting in states in the late 1800s
•
•
Southern states adopted measures to restrict black vote
•
•
Poll taxes, grandfather clauses, literacy tests
Republican Party used government to help the nation progress
•
•
Constitutional amendment failed in 1870, 1910
Tariff, Homestead Act, civil rights legislation
Democratic Party’s principles included states’ rights, and small and local governments
•
Base of support was still largely in the south, but platform appealed everywhere
Politics of Stalemate, Part II: Experiments in the
States
AP Government lesson: when the political parties, or government, cannot accomplish anything at the
national level, the situation is called “gridlock.” One solution is for states and cities to implement policy
on their own
•
State bureaus, commissions began to regulate the new industrial society
•
•
By 1900, 28 states regulated railroads
•
IL established maximum rates; upheld in Munn v. Illinois
•
Congress passed Interstate Commerce Act (1887), creating Interstate Commerce
Commission (ICC)
Rutherford B. Hayes (R), 1877-1881: ended military reconstruction, was committed to gold standard
•
Vetoed Bland-Allison Silver Purchase Act, but Congress passed over his veto
•
James Garfield (R), 1881-1881; Chester A. Arthur (R), 1881-1885: lowered tariff, passed Pendleton
Civil Service Act
•
Grover Cleveland (D), 1885-1889: worked to curb federal activities — lowered tariff, forced
companies to surrender federal land
Republicans in Power
With a Republican president (Benjamin Harrison, 1889-1893) and control of both houses of Congress,
the party was primed to enact its policy through an avalanche of new laws
•
McKinley Tariff Act: raised tariff duties and promoted new industries
•
Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890: attempt to regulate business, making trusts illegal
•
•
US was only nation to regulate business combinations
•
Act was vague; Supreme Court crippled it early
Sherman Silver Purchase Act, 1890: directed Treasury to purchase silver and issue legal tender to
buy it
•
What’s the deal with silver? Money is backed by gold, so there’s only as much money as there is
gold. What happens when the economy needs more money? Nothing, because you don’t have
more gold.
•
The US had discovered a lot of silver in the 1870s and 1880s, plunging its price, so
European nations dropped silver for currency. The South and West wanted silver coinage,
since it would drive up inflation, increase wages and crop prices, and chip away at the
political and economic power of the Northeast
The Rise of Populism
In the 1890s, as farm discontent rose, a movement known as populism
began among farmers.
•
What were farmers upset about?
•
Declining crop prices: farm prices did fall, but not as much as other
commodity prices
•
Rising railroad rates: railroad rates actually fell
•
Mortgages: farmers mortgaged property to buy new farm equipment,
but that increased output
•
Various: drought in Kansas and Nebraska, workload in New England,
•
The “real” problem: they felt their condition had declined
The Rise of Populism, Part II: Farmers’ Alliances
What was the organization that provided farmers with social, cultural, and educational opportunities, that was
founded in 1867?
Answer: The Grange. It wasn’t supposed to be involved in politics, but…
•
•
A multitude of farm societies popped up in the late 1870s
•
Two main ones: Northwestern Alliance (west of Mississippi R.), Southern Alliance
•
Southern Alliance eventually got Plains states to join
•
Met in Ocala, FL and adopted Ocala Demands (1890)
•
Proposed “Sub-treasury” system — farmers could claim Treasury notes against their crop
•
Also: free coinage of silver, end to protective tariffs, federal income tax, tighter railroad regulation, direct
election of senators
1892 election featured a third party: the People’s (Populist) Party
•
Adopted many of Ocala Demands and made some electoral gains (mostly in states)
•
Populism had little appeal within cities
•
IS the Populist Party the best answer to “what event BEST illustrates the end of sectionalism?”
The Crisis of the (1893) Depression
The Panic of 1893 was the worst financial crisis yet to hit the nation, and shaped the last decade of the
1800s. Largely, it was caused by the over expansion of the 1870s and 1880s
•
•
The Panic of 1893 hurt business confidence
•
Banks cut back on lending, businesses closed
•
Heat wave and drought struck midwest in 1894
Jacob Coxey lobbied for the Coxey Good Roads Bill
•
•
Coxey and others pushed for the government to provide jobs to ease the recession
Employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company went on strike
•
Protested wage cuts, layoffs
•
Eugene V. Debs and American Railway Union joined the Pullman Strike
•
President Cleveland secured injunction against strike, as it obstructed mail delivery
•
Business now used the injunction against labour, blocking strikes
The Crisis of the (1893)
Depression, Part II: Miners
The Panic of 1893 was the worst financial crisis
yet to hit the nation, and shaped the last decade
of the 1800s. Largely, it was caused by the over
expansion of the 1870s and 1880s
•
The depression also impacted miners of the
midwest
•
Miners repeatedly struck for higher wages
•
Immigration from southern and eastern
Europe picked up after 1890
•
Sparked tensions between
“old” (English-speaking) and “new”
miners
•
“New” miners resorted to violence
amidst strikes
•
Public opinion shifted against strikers
•
United Mine Workers (union) lobbied
government to stop “demoralizing
effects” of immigration
The Crisis of the (1893)
Depression, Part III: Grover
Cleveland
Although Democrats now controlled both
houses of Congress and the Presidency, the
depression hurt Cleveland’s administration
Pictured: Grover Cleveland
•
Cleveland wanted to repeal Sherman Silver
Purchase Act
•
Problem: it contracted currency during a
recession
•
Worse: repeal issue confined
Democratic Party to the South
•
Even worse: did not solve Treasury’s
gold problem
•
Could it get any worse? Democrats lost
113 House seats in 1894 election
•
Republicans became majority party
in US
The Crisis of the (1893) Depression, Part IV:
Changing Attitudes
The depression did not only shift political alignments, but it also undermined
traditional views and caused Americans to rethink ideas about government, the
economy, and society
•
•
As husbands and fathers lost jobs, women and children entered the labour force
•
Parallel with larger numbers of women working in 1970s
•
Middle-class women formed organizations to limit child labour
Depression also spurred move to realism and naturalism in literature
•
Mark Twain, in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer embraced common speech
•
Other writers focused on economic hardship, the poor, lower classes, and
criminals
The Election of 1896: “Battle of the standards”
The main issue in the 1896 election was the competing gold and silver standards for money
•
Free-silver (Democrat/Populist) movement grew in South, West, farming regions of northeast
•
Why? Quantity theory of money: if government coined silver, more money would be in
circulation, which would stimulate the economy
•
Silverites wanted this regardless of what other nations were doing
•
•
The silver issue also narrowed the platform of the Democratic Party, which new
reflected southern views on silver and race
•
By now, silver also represented the common people
•
Nominated William Jennings Bryan, who delivered “Cross of Gold” speech
Republicans (and gold-standard interest) nominated William McKinley
•
Defended economic nationalism and advancing urban-industrial society
The Election of 1896:
President William McKinley
McKinley won the 1896 election,
cementing voter realignment, initiating a
generation of Republican rule, and
defeating Populism…but not their ideas
Pictured: William McKinley
•
•
Economy began to recover, and gold
was discovered
•
Government now began to shift
towards regulating, instead of
promoting economic growth
•
March, 1900: US passed Gold
Standard Act
McKinley was shot in September, and
Theodore Roosevelt became
president