The Political System Under Strain

1. The Political System Under Strain • World’s Columbian Exposition—400th anniversary, but a year late: 1893 symbol of American and worldwide industrialization and tangible version of mail-order catalogs • Strains on the political system—modern accomplishments masked problems: executive branch weak, legislative and judicial branches buyable • International consequences —competition for resources and markets with Europeans will bring confrontations, wars The Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 in London. A giant "white city" was built in the style of classical architecture along Lake Michigan, and at night, everything was lit up with a string of electric lights, the first time electric lights were used on such a large scale in America. It was at the Chicago World's Fair that most Americans saw electricity in use for the first time. The Chicago World's Fair was also the place where most Americans first saw postcards, fiberglass, the zipper, the ice cream cone, Cracker Jack, Quaker Oats, Shredded Wheat, belly dancing, spray paint, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheel at the fair was 264 feet high, carried 2,000 passengers at a time, driven by two 1,000 horsepower steam engines turning on a 45-foot axel. It was the most successful world's fair ever held in the United States. In its half-year, it drew 27 million visitors, or about half the American population at the time. A scene from Chicago’s Columbian Exposition in 1893.

2. Politics of Paralysis • Voter turnout—high: 80% of eligible, but suffrage restricted to ¼ of population • Ethnic and religious factors—Reps: North and WASP’s; Dems: South and immigrant catholic Cartoonist Thomas Nast was the first to portray the Republican elephant and the Democratic donkey.

3. Charles Guiteau, a frustrated office-seeker, is apprehended after shooting President James Garfield. The incident prompted passage of the Civil Service reforming Pendleton Act. • Pendleton Act—exams for some jobs • McKinley Tariff—so high, made imports prohibitive, raised consumer prices William McKinley, who as a senator, sponsored the McKinley tariff. Later, as president, he would also be assassinated.

4. The contestants in the election of 1884: Republican James G. Blaine, the “Plumed Knight,” and Democrat Grover Cleveland. Blaine was accused of RR corruption, while Cleveland was slandered with “Ma, Ma, where’s my Pa. Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha” and “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion.” • Crime of ’73—some favored inflation, some didn’t; demonetization of silver—not enough money—deflation: too little money chasing too many goods • Bland-Allison Act—some silver coinage—pressure for unlimited; Sherman Silver Purchase Act 4.5 mil per month • The dirty election of 1884 The “Billion Dollar Congress” came at the end of the presidency of Benjamin Harrison, the “human iceberg,” winner in electoral college.

5. The Grange began as a social organization, but then got into coops, lobbying, and politics. The Revolt of the Farmers • State commissions—investigate, regulate industry, especially RR’s • National Municipal League—advocated separate city/state elections, more mayoral authority • Targets of farm anger—high tariffs, sky-high RR rates, fat bankers, expensive middlemen • Granger cases—Munn v. Illinois allowed regulation of private business “devoted to public use,” eventually RR’s, then utilities; Interstate Commerce Commission had little power at first, but a start • Southern Alliance—coops to take over middlemen enterprises and profits, BUT eventually failed

6. The People’s Party—platform: subtreasury (storage and • loans to control volatile market), unlimited silver, direct election of • senators, income tax, government ownership of RR’s and utilities • Longer-term weaknesses of the Populists —voters changed parties, but Rep. to Dem; labor didn’t join farmers; people didn’t take to ominous message A pro-Populist Party cartoon. Populist firebrands William Peffer and Mary Elizabeth Lease, who told farmers to “raise less corn and more hell.” Both were mocked and made fun of for their appearance.

7. The New Realignment • Coxey’s Army—hundreds of discontented from 1893 depression armed with “clubs of peace”; trespassing on grass • Free silver—money would increase, prices rise, economy revive; Reps. believed in “sound money,” tariffs: Goldbugs • Cross of Gold speech– “You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold”; Populists commit suicide “Little Bobby,” who could play for miles, keeps Coxey’s Army paced on their way to Washington, D.C. The “Boy Orator of the Platte” William Jennings Bryan in action.

8. Republican coalition—industrial cities, business, farmers, veterans, industrial workers; Dems held the South • Disfranchisement—poll taxes, literacy tests; grandfathering • Ida B. Welles— “educated” whites about mob violence; organized black women: National Association of Colored Women • Booker T. Washington—advocated working within “the system”; gather “little green ballots” through manual labor • W.E.B. DuBois—hated “the system,” wanted political action through “talented tenth” • NAACP—challenged Jim Crow • END OF READING Ida B. Welles (top) began campaigning against lynching when three of her friends were lynched; Booker T. Washington (far right) encouraged blacks to work within an admittedly racist system; and W.E.B. DuBois lashed out at discrimination and segregation.

9. Visions of Empire • Ecological factors—continental exchange hastened N.A. penetration unlike elsewhere • Forces encouraging American imperialism—economic, political systems

10. Alfred Thayer Mahan, author of The Influence of Sea Power upon History. • Mahan calls for a strong navy—great nations/seafaring nations: battleships, coaling stations • Missionaries—responsibility to civilize “our little brown brothers” with Christianity • Social Darwinism—fittest peoples dominate lesser peoples • Commercial factors—foreign markets cushion boom/bust Rudyard Kipling, the famous British author who called “the white man’s burden” the civilizing of the non-white world. An American missionary family in Hawaii.

11. William Henry Seward—worked to link eastern factories to western ports to Far Eastern markets • Acquisition of Midway and Alaska– “Seward’s Folly,” “Seward’s Polar Bear Garden”? • Blaine’s Pan-American Union—Latin-American “customs union” to reduce trade barriers and nudge out British goods • The Venezuelan Boundary Dispute—32-pound nugget; Cleveland steps in to trump British territorial claims in northern South America and assert Latin-American dominance William Henry Seward, who pointed the nation’s attention toward the Pacific and Far East with a transcontinental RR and acquisition of Midway and Alaska.

12. Jose Marti led Cuba’s revolt against Spanish colonialism with the cry, “Cuba libre”; Valeriano Weyler viciously tried to put down the rebellion with “reconcentration” camps; and Dupuy de Lome, Spanish ambassador who wrote the insulting letter about President McKinley, “the would-be politician.” The Imperial Moment • Cuba in revolt—Marti incites; Weyler represses: reconcentration (200,000 dead) • The de Lome letter– “Yellow Journalism” elevates tensions • Sinking of the Maine —there to protect American businesses, citizens (260 dead) The battleship Maine (left) before it went to Cuba and after the explosion. The sensational (Yellow Journalism) reaction to the sinking in the papers.

13. Secretary of State John Hay, who had been Lincoln’s personal secretary during the Civil War, called the conflict “a splendid little war,” but it cost 5462 lives (379 in battle, rest due to disease, bad food, and accidents). Commodore George Dewey, directing the Battle of Manila Bay from his flagship Olympia, who said, “Fire when ready Gridley”; Admiral William Sampson (below) won an equally decisive battle at Santiago, sinking all seven enemy ships. • Teller Amendment—no intention to annex, BUT… • Dewey at Manila—sinks all Spanish ships; McKinley: “Where’s Manila?” • Racial tensions—blacks can die for Cuban peasants but can’t buy pop in Tampa

14. The Rough Riders before the Battle of San Juan Hill; Roosevelt in his colonel’s uniform and (below) attending to his duties. • The Rough Riders—many Black Hills cowboys in unit Rough Riders with Roosevelt assembled after the Battle of San Juan Hill.

16. Sanford B. Dole became the self-proclaimed President of the Republic of Hawaii on July 4, 1894 after he and other American businessmen overthrew Queen Lil, whose other claim to fame is writing “Aloha Oe.” • Annexing Hawaii—sugar planters (McKinley Tariff) had wanted it since Lil’s overthrow, now needed strategically • Aguinaldo—can’t trust Filipinos to run Philippines in America’s business interest • Anti-Imperialists—don’t need to colonize or militarily dominate to benefit from trade • The role of racism—little brown brothers need big white brothers even at 230,000 lives (5,000 U.S.); Imperialists/Anti-Imperialists both looked down noses Emilio Aguinaldo, who first fought against the Spanish to gain Filipino independence, then against the Americans.

18. Puerto Rico—Foraker Act: 2nd class citizens • The open-door notes—nations with “spheres of influence” should let everybody play • Boxer Rebellion—Society of the Harmonious Fist attacks “foreign devils” • Sense of mission— spreading American way of life “blessed by divine providence” The Empress Dowager. Boxers; Fanatics stirring up the people. American soldiers in China.