Rise of Populism and Segregation in America: A Historical Perspective

1. Chapter 17 Norton Media Library Give Me Liberty! An American History Second EditionVolume 2 by Eric Foner

2. I. Agrarian revolt • The farmers’ plight • Generally • Falling agricultural prices • Growing economic dependency • Regional variants • In trans-Mississippi West • In South • Farmers Alliance • Origins and spread • Strategies • Initial cooperative approach; “exchanges” • Turn to “subtreasury plan,” political engagement

3. I. Agrarian revolt (cont’d) • Advent of People’s (Populist) party • Scope of following • Grassroots mobilization • Guiding vision • Commonwealth of small producers as fundamental to freedom • Restoration of democracy and economic opportunity • Expansion of federal power • Omaha platform

4. I. Agrarian revolt (cont’d) • Populist coalition • Interracial alliance • Extent • Limits • Involvement of women • Mary Elizabeth Lease • Support for women’s suffrage • Electoral showing for 1892 • Prospects for Populist-labor alliance • Context • Economic collapse of 1893 • Resurgence of conflict between labor and capital • Sharpening of government repression of labor

5. I. Agrarian revolt (cont’d) • Prospects for Populist-labor alliance • Key episodes • Miners strike at Coeur d’Alene, Idaho • Coxey’s Army • Pullman strike • Populist appeals to industrial workers in 1894 • Some success among miners • Minimal success among urban workers; preference for Republicans

6. I. Agrarian revolt (cont’d) • Election of 1896 • Campaign of William Jennings Bryan • Joint support by Democrats and Populists • Electrifying rhetoric • Themes • “Free silver” • Social Gospel overtones • Vision of activist government • National tour to rally farmers and workers • Campaign of William McKinley • Insistence on gold standard • Massive financial support from big business • National political machine; Mark Hanna

7. I. Agrarian revolt (cont’d) • Election of 1896 3. Outcome • Sharp regional divide • McKinley victory 4. Significance and legacy • Emergence of modern campaign tactics • Launching of Republican political dominance • Fading of Populism

8. II. The Segregated South • Redeemers in power • Dismantling of Reconstruction programs • Convict lease system • Failures of the New South • Limits of economic development • Persistence of regional poverty • Black life • Rural • Varied prospects around region • Elusive quest for land

9. II. The Segregated South (cont’d) • Black life 2. Urban • Network of community institutions • The black middle class • Racially exclusive labor markets • Pockets of interracial unionism • For black men • For black women • Kansas Exodus

10. II. The Segregated South (cont’d) • Decline of black politics • Narrowing of political opportunity for black men • Shifting of political initiative for black women • National Association of Colored Women • Middle-class orientation • Pursuit of equal rights and racial uplift • Range of activities • Disfranchisement • Persistence of black voting following Reconstruction • Mounting alarm over specter of biracial insurgency • Elimination of black vote, state by state • Justifications and motivations

11. II. The Segregated South (cont’d) • Disfranchisement 5. Effects • Massive purging of blacks from voting rolls • Widespread disfranchisement of poor whites as well • Emergence of southern white demagogues 6. The North’s blessing • Senate • Supreme Court

12. II. The Segregated South (cont’d) • Segregation • Fluidity of race relations following Reconstruction • Green light from Supreme Court for legal segregation • Civil Rights Cases • Plessy v. Ferguson • “Separate but equal” doctrine • Justice Harlan dissent • Spread of segregation laws across South • Unreality of “separate but equal” • Segregation as component of overall white domination • Social etiquette of segregation • Effects on other “non-white” groups

13. II. The Segregated South (cont’d) G. Rise of lynching • Motivations • Shocking brutality • The “rape” myth • Ida B. Wells’s antilynching crusade • A distinctly American phenomenon H. Uses of historical Memory • Civil War as “family quarrel” among white Americans • Reconstruction as horrible time of “Negro rule” • Erasure of blacks as historical actors

14. III. Contrasting notions of nationhood • New nativism • Against “new immigrants” from southern and eastern Europe • Depictions of “new immigrants” • As lower “races” • As threat to American Democracy • Campaigns to curtail • Immigration Restriction League • Efforts to bar entry into United States • State disfranchisement measures

15. III. Contrasting notions of nationhood (cont’d) • New nativism • Against immigrants from China • Congressional exclusion of Chinese women • Congressional exclusion of all Chinese • Passage in 1882 • Renewal in 1892, 1902 • Discrimination and violence against Chinese-Americans • Uneven positions of Supreme court on rights of Chinese • Yick Wo v. Hopkins • United States v. Wong Kim Ark • Fong Yue Ting • Precedent for legal exclusion of other groups

16. III. Contrasting notions of nationhood (cont’d) • Booker T. Washington and the scaling back of black demands • Background on Washington • 1895 Atlanta address • Washington approach • Repudiation of claim to full equality • Acceptance of segregation • Emphasis on material self-help, individual advancement, alliance with white employers

17. III. Contrasting notions of nationhood (cont’d) • American Federation of Labor and the scaling back of labor’s outlook • Rise of the AFL, Samuel Gompers • AFL-Gompers approach • Reproduction of broad reform vision, political engagement, direct confrontation with capital • Emphasis on bargaining with employers over wages and conditions; “business unionism” • Narrower ideal of labor solidarity • Concentration on skilled labor sectors • Exclusion of blacks, women, new immigrants

18. III. Contrasting notions of nationhood (cont’d) • Ambiguities of the “women’s era” • Widening prospects for economic independence • Expanding role in public life • Growing network of women’s organizations, campaigns • Women’s Christian Temperance Union • Growing elitism of women’s suffrage movement • Ethnic • Racial

19. IV. Becoming a world power • The new imperialism • Traditional empires • Consolidation and expansion of imperial powers • Cultural justifications for imperial domination • Abstention of United States from scramble for empire before 1890s • Continuing status as second-rate power • Confinement of national expansion to North American continent • Minimal record of overseas territorial acquisition • Preference for expanded trade over colonial holdings • Leading advocates

20. IV. Becoming a world power (cont’d) C. Emerging calls for American expansion • Leading advocates • Josiah Strong (Our Country) • Alfred T. Mahan (The Influence of Sea Power Upon History) • Themes • Moral • Global application of manifest destiny • Uplift of “inferior races” • Economic • Expanded markets for American goods • Protection of international trade • Strategic • Influence

21. IV. Becoming a world power (cont’d) • Intervention in Hawaii • American trade and military agreements • Economic dominance of American sugar planters • Over throw of Queen Liliuokalani • Rise of assertive nationalism • Contributing factors • Depression-era quest for foreign markets • Concern over economic and ethnic disunity • Manifestations • Rituals • “Pledge of Allegiance” • “Star-Spangled Banner” • Flag Day • Yellow journalism

22. IV. Becoming a world power (cont’d) • Spanish-American War • Background • Long Cuban struggle for independence from Spain • Renewal of struggle in 1895 • Harsh Spanish response • Growing American sympathy for Cuban cause • Toward intervention • Destruction of battleship Maine • War fever, fanned by yellow press • U.S. Declaration of war; Teller Amendment

23. IV. Becoming a world power (cont’d) • Spanish-American War 3. The war • In Philippines • Admiral George Dewey’s victory at Manila Bay • Landing of American troops • In Cuba and Puerto Rico • Landing of American troops • Naval victory of Santiago • Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders; legendary charge up San Juan Hill • Swift defeat of Spain

24. IV. Becoming a world power (cont’d) • From liberator to imperial power • Postwar attainment of overseas empire • Varied arrangements • Annexation of Hawaii • Acquisition of Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam • Qualified sovereignty for Cuba, Platt Amendment • Value as outposts for U.S. naval and commercial power • Open Door policy • Initial welcome in former Spanish colonies for U.S. forces • As agent of expanded trade and social order • As agent of social reform and national self-rule

25. IV. Becoming a world power (cont’d) • From liberator to imperial power 4. Growing disenchantment in Philippines • Founding of provisional government by Emilio Aguinaldo • U.S. failure to recognize; insistence on retaining possession 5. Philippine war • Bloodiness and brutality • Controversy in United States • Outcome 6. Legacy of poverty and inequality in American possessions

26. IV. Becoming a world power (cont’d) H. Status of territorial peoples • Limits on claims to American freedom • Forakaer Act • Insular Cases • Divergent futures for American territories • Hawaii (statehood) • Philippines (independence) • Guam (“unincorporated” territory) • Puerto Rico (commonwealth) I. American debate over imperial expansion • Opponents (Anti-Imperialist League): “republic or empire?” • Proponents: “”benevolent” imperialism

27. V. America at dawn of twentieth century

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29. End slide This concludes the Norton Media Library Slide Set for Chapter 17 Give Me Liberty! An American History 2nd Edition, Volume 2 by Eric Foner W. W. Norton & CompanyIndependent and Employee-Owned