POLITICAL REALIGNMENTS IN THE 1890s

1
POLITICAL REALIGNMENTS IN THE 1890s

• America Past and Present
• Chapter 20

2
Politics of Stalemate

• Politics a major fascination of late nineteenth
  century - entertainment
• White males make up bulk of electorate
• Black men denied vote by poll tax, literacy
  tests, etc.

3
The Party Deadlock

• Democratic party and Republican party divide
  evenly
• Federal influence wanes, state control rises
• Early State commissions weak and advisory in
  nature
• Congress passes the Interstate Commerce
  Commission (ICC) prototype for Federal
  Commissions to regulate all areas of government

4
Reestablishing Presidential Power

• Presidential power at low until 1890s
• Presidents reassert executive power
• Hayes ends military Reconstruction
• Garfield - assassinated
• Arthur Pendleton Act
• Cleveland uses veto to curtain federal
• activities

5
Republicans in Power the Billion-Dollar Congress

• 1888--Republicans control both White House and
  Capitol Hill
• 1890--Adoption of Reed rules permits enactment of
  billion dollar program
• Billion-Dollar Congress shaped the future policy
  of the nation

6
Tariffs, Trusts and Silver

• 1890--McKinley Tariff raises duties to historic
  high
• By 1893--1 million Union pensions granted
• 1890--Sherman Anti-Trust Act regulates big
  business but is vague and at the mercy of the
  courts
• 1890--Sherman Silver Purchase Act backs paper
  money with silver and kept limited silver coinage
  in circulation

7
The 1890 Elections

• Republicans also assert activist government
  policies on state level
• Sunday closing laws
• prohibition
• mandatory English in public schools
• 1890--alienated voting blocks turn out Republican
  legislators

8
The Rise of the Populist Movement

• Discontented farmers of West and South provide
  base of support
• The National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial
  Union the result
• Alliance objective to organize and politicize the
  farmers

9
The Farm Problem

• Worldwide agricultural economy causes great
  fluctuations in supply and demand
• Farmers complaints
• lower prices for crops (actual prosperity rising)
  
• rising railroad rates (rates actually declining)
• onerous mortgages (loans permit improvement)
• Conditions of farmers vary by region
• General feeling of depression, resentment

10
The Fast-Growing Farmers' Alliance

• Alliances unite and politicize to help farmers
• Alliance eventually rejects Democratic and
  Republican
• After 1890 Runs its own candidates in North and
  West

11
The Fast-Growing Farmers' Alliance Ocala Demands

• System of government warehouses to hold crops for
  higher prices
• Free coinage of silver
• Low tariffs
• Federal income tax
• Direct election of Senators
• Regulation of railroads

12
The People's Party

• Southern Alliance splits from Democrats to form
  Populist party
• 1892--Populist presidential candidate James
  Weaver draws over one million votes
• Alliance wanes after 1892 elections

13
The Crisis of the Depression

• Economic crisis dominated the 1890s and was
  caused by economic changes of the period
• Railroads overbuilt, companies grew beyond their
  markets, farms and businesses went deeply in debt

14
The Panic of 1893

• February 1893--failure of major railroad sparks
  panic on New York Stock Exchange
• Investors sell stock to purchase gold
• Depleted Treasury shakes confidence
• May, 1893--market hits record low, business
  failures displace 2 million workers
• 1894--corn crop fails

15
Coxey's Army and the Pullman Strike

• 1894--Jacob Coxey leads Coxeys Army to
  Washington to demand relief
• Pullman strikes by Eugene Debs American Railway
  Union close Western railroads
• President Cleveland suppresses strikes with
  federal troops

16
The Miners of the Midwest

• United Mine Workers strike 1894
• Old miners--English and Irish workers, owners
  of small family mines
• New miners--1880s immigrants
• Strike pits new miners against old

17
A Beleaguered President

• Cleveland repeals Sherman Silver Purchase Act to
  remedy Panic of 1893
• Repeal fails to stop depression
• Repeal makes silver a political issue
• Democrats renege on promise of lower tariff

18
Breaking the Party Deadlock

• Election of 1894 reduces Democrats to a sectional
  southern organization
• Republicans sweep congressional elections
• Republicans become majority elsewhere

19
Changing Attitudes

• Depression of 1893 forces recognition of
  structural causes of unemployment
• Americans accept the need for government
  intervention to help the poor and jobless

20
Everybody Works but Father

• Women and children paid lower wages, displace men
  during depression
• Employers retain women and children after
  depression to hold down costs

21
Changing Themes in Literature

• Depression encourages realist school
• Mark Twains characters speak in dialect
• William Dean Howells, Stephen Crane portray grim
  life of the poor
• Frank Norris attacks power of big business
• Theodore Dreiser presents humans as helpless
  before vast social, economic forces

22
The Presidential Election of 1896

• Free coinage of silver the main issue
• boost the money supply
• seen as solution to depression
• New voting patterns emerged and national policy
  shifted

23
The Mystique of Silver

• Free and independent coinage of silver
• set ratio of silver to gold at 161
• U.S. mints coin all silver offered to them
• U.S. coins silver regardless of other nations
  policies
• Silverites believe amount in circulation
  determines level of economic activity
• A moral crusade for the common people

24
Republicans and Gold

• Candidate William McKinley
• Silverite Republicans defeated on convention
  floor
• Promises gold standard to restore prosperity

25
The Democrats and Silver

• Candidate William Jennings Bryan
• Free silver promised in "Cross of Gold" speech
• Democrats enthusiastic

26
Campaign and Election

• Populist party endorses Bryan
• Bryan offers return to rural, religious U.S.
• McKinley defends urban, industrial society and
  support of eastern press
• Election is a clear victory for McKinley, utter
  rout of Populist party

27
The McKinley Administration

• McKinley takes office at depressions end
• An activist president
• Dingley Tariff raises rates to record highs
• 1900--U.S. placed on gold standard
• 1900--McKinley wins landslide reelection against
  William Jennings Bryan

28
A Decades Dramatic Changes

• September, 1901--McKinley assassinated
• Theodore Roosevelt becomes president