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Explore the growth of government, worker and farmer activism, and the rise of imperialism in the late 19th-century United States. Learn about key events such as the Annexation of Hawai’i, the Election of 1896, and the Spanish-American War. Discover the formation of a national governing class and the challenges faced in a changing political landscape.
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20 Democracy and Empire 1870-1900
Democracy and Empire 1870-1900 • Toward a National Governing Class • Farmers and Workers Organize Their Communities • The Crisis of the 1890s • Politics of Reform, Politics of Order • The Path to Imperialism • Onto a Global Stage • Conclusion
Chapter Focus Questions • What factors contributed to the growth of government in the late nineteenth century? • How and why did workers and farmers organize to participate in politics during this era? • In what ways did the election of 1896 represent a turning point in U.S. political history?
Chapter Focus Questions (cont’d) • Why did the United States take on imperialist ventures in the late nineteenth century? • Why did the United States go to war with Spain in 1898, and with what results?
The Annexation of Hawai’i • American sugar planters and missionaries threatened 19th century Hawai’ian autonomy. • When Lili'uokalani became queen in 1891she resisted American influence. • On January 17, 1893, the queen was deposed by an American diplomat.
The Annexation of Hawai’i (cont'd) • Lili’uokalani protested to President Grover Cleveland and he reinstated her as queen and declared the independent republic of Hawaii.
The Annexation of Hawai’i (cont’d) • When McKinley became president he immediately annexed Hawaii. • Hawaii was a steppingstone to Asian markets. • The path to empire made major changes in government and the party system.
In 1888, Grover Cleveland, with his running mate, Allen G. Thurman, led a spirited campaign for reelection to the presidency.
Toward a National Governing Class • A growing economy and the legacy of Civil War and Reconstruction put the federal government on an irreversible path to greater size and power. • Many Americans looked to government to serve their demands. • Business leaders saw stronger government as essential to protect property rights.
Toward a National Governing Class (cont'd) • Economic and territorial expansion abroad grew out of these forces.
The Growth of Government • Government grew rapidly during the gilded age. • New employees, agencies, and responsibilities changed the character of government. • Taxes increased as local governments assumed responsibility for providing such vital services as police, fire protection, water, schools, and parks.
The Growth of Government (cont'd) • Government grew rapidly during the gilded age. • Federal regulatory agencies such as the ICC set precedents for government intervention into private enterprise.
The Machinery of Politics • Close elections brought men to the White House who lacked both luster and legitimacy. • Although each party had a base of supporters, neither commanded a clear majority of voters. • The two political parties only gradually adapted to the demands of the new era.
The Machinery of Politics (cont'd) • The tariff was the main issue that divided the parties. • Offices were filled by the spoils system that rewarded friends of the winning party.
The Spoils System and Civil Service Reform • Garfield’s 1881 assassination • Killed by disgruntled job seeker • highlighted spoils system • 1883: Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act • civil service system / professional bureaucracy • Standards developed for certain federal jobs • Also professionalism in other fields • Circuit Court of Appeals Act of 1891
Farmers and Workers Organize Their Communities • In the late 19th century, agrarian discontents gradually led to demands for increasingly radical economic and political reforms. • The ultimate goal of the Populist movement was to return power to the hands of the people.
The Grange • The Grange was formed in the 1870s by farmers in the Great Plains and South who suffered boom and bust conditions and natural disasters. • With little control over international markets, farmers sought to place blame closer to home.
The Grange (cont'd) • Grangers blamed hard times on a band of “thieves in the night,” especially railroads, and pushed through laws regulating shipping rates and other farm costs.
The Grange (cont’d) • Grangers created their own grain elevators and set up retail stores for farm machinery. • The depression of the late 1870s wiped out most of these programs.
The Farmers’ Alliance • In the late 1880s, Texas farmers formed the National Farmers Alliance and Industrial Union, in cooperation with the Colored Alliance. • The Alliance sought to replace the capitalist market with self-controlled cooperatives. • Northern Plains farmer organizations soon joined the Alliance.
The Farmers’ Alliance (cont'd) • By 1890, the Alliance was a major power in several states demanding a series of economic reforms, especially increased coinage of silver.
Workers Search for Power • Workers organized stronger unions that increasingly resorted to strikes and created labor parties. • Henry George ran for mayor of New York on the United Labor Party ticket and finished a respectable second.
Workers Search for Power (cont'd) • In the late 1880s, labor parties won seats on numerous city councils and in state legislatures in industrial areas where workers outnumbered other classes.
Women Build Alliances • Women actively shaped labor and agrarian protest. • Women were active members in the Knights of Labor, Grange and Alliances.
Women Build Alliances (cont'd) • The greatest female leader was Frances E. Willard, who: • was president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union • mobilized 200,000 paid members in the largest organization of women in the world by 1900 • Shifted focus after 1890 to the women’s suffrage issue
Populism and the People’s Party • Between 1890 and 1892, the Farmers’ Alliance, the Knights of Labor, the National Colored Farmers’ Alliance and other organizations formed the People’s Party. • The Great Uprising of 1877
Populism and the People’s Party (cont’d) • The People’s Party platform called for: • government ownership of railroads, banks, and the telegraph • the eight-hour day • the graduated income tax • a sub treasury system to protect farmers from price fluctuations
Populism and the People’s Party (cont'd) • Though the party lost the 1892 presidential race, Populists elected three governors, ten congressional representatives, and five senators.
The Crisis of the 1890s • Populist Ignatius Donnelly called industrial society a “wretched failure” and expected a violent crisis to restore democracy. • The events of the 1890s would shake many Americans’ confidence in the political system.
Financial Collapse and Depression • In 1893, the collapse of the nation’s major rail lines precipitated a major depression. • Full recovery was not achieved until the early 1900s. • Unemployment soared and many suffered great hardships. • Tens of thousands took to the road in search of work or food.
Financial Collapse and Depression (cont’d) • Jacob Coxey called for a march on Washington to demand relief through public works programs. • “Coxey’s Army” was greeted warmly by most communities on the way to Washington. • The attorney general, who was a former lawyer for a railroad company, conspired to stop the march. • Police clubbed and arrested the marchers for trespassing on the grass in Washington.
Strikes: Coeur d’Alene, Homestead, and Pullman • Strikes sparked by depression-driven wage cuts • Idaho: violence-plagued strike broken by federal and state troops • Andrew Carnegie’s Homestead steel plant (bloody confrontation)
Strikes: Coeur d’Alene, Homestead, and Pullman (cont'd) • Pullman, Illinois: • nation’s railroad system • ended with the arrest of Eugene Debs, socialist • conflicts in Chicago and other cities
Illustration of workers and their families confronting the private security force brought in to break the strike at the Carnegie Steel Company
The Social Gospel • Washington Gladden—called for churches to fight against social injustice • Charles M. Sheldon—“What would Jesus do?” • Catholic Church—endorsed the right of workers to form trade unions • Immigrant Catholic groups urged priests to ally with the labor movement.
The Social Gospel (cont'd) • YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association— provided services for poor women
