CH 19 APUSH – Flashcards

- remarkably stable - From the end of the Reconstruction until the late 1890s, the electorate was divided almost precisely evenly between the Republicans and the Democrats. - 16 states were consistently Republican, and 14 were mostly Democrats (mostly Southern), and only 5 states (most importantly NY and Ohio) were usually in doubt, and generally decided the outcome of national elections. - The congressional balance was similarly stable, with the Republicans controlling the Senate and Democrats controlling the house. - Intensity of the parties loyalty: In most of the country, Americans viewed their party affiliations with a passion and enthusiasm: voter turnout in presidential elections between 1860 and 1900 averaged over 78% of all eligible voters (only 50% in current day elections). - Large groups of potential voters were disenfranchised in these years: women (in most states), blacks and poor whites (south). - Party loyalty reflected cultural inclinations: regional affiliations, churches, or other ethnic group, not economic interests. - To white southerners, loyalty to the Democratic Party was a matter of of unquestioned faith. It was a vehicle by which they had triumphed over REconstruction and preserved white supremacy. - Religious and ethnic differences shaped party loyalties. Democratic party attracted most of the Catholic voters, recent immigrants, and poorer workers - groups that often overlapped. - The republican party appealed to northern Protestants, citizens of old stock, much of the middle class - also considerably overlapped. - Among the few substantive issues on which the parties took different stands was the matters connected with immigrants. - Republicans tended to support measures restricting immigration and to favor temperance legislation, which many of them would believe to discipline immigrant communities. - Catholics and immigrants viewed such proposals as assaults on them and their cultures and opposed them; the Democratic party followed their lead.

July 2, 1881 on the Washington railroad station

- Chester A. Arthur, who succeeded Garfield, tried to - like Hayes and Garfield before him - follow an independent course and promote reform, aware that the Garfield assassination discredited the traditional spoils system. - 1883, Congress passed the first national civil service measure, the Pendleton Act, which required that some federal jobs be filled by competitive written examinations rather than by patronage. -The Pendleton Act of 1883 was the federal legislation that created a system in which federal employees were chosen based upon competitive exams. This made job positions based on merit or ability and not inheritance or class. It also created the Civil Service Commission.

- in response to the states popular demand both houses of congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act - July 1890: most members of congress saw the act as a symbolic measure to deflect public criticism but not likely to have any real corporate power - it's purpose was to break up trusts but it was actually used to break up unions - for over a decade after it's passage the Act was indifferently enforced and steadily weakened by courts - it had almost no impact

- The republicans were interested in the Tariff. - Representative William Mckinley of Ohio and Senator Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island drafted the highest protective measure ever proposed to Congress. - Known as the McKinley Tariff, it became law in October 1890. - Republicans leaders misinterpreted public sentiment: the party suffered a stunning reversal in the 1890 congressional election. - REpublicans senate majority went to 8, and in the house their party retained only 88 of the 323 seats. This led to the Democrats winning a majority in both houses of congress (since 1878) in the 1892 election.

- In the Wabash supreme court case in 1886 the court ruled one of the Granger LAw in Illinois unconstitutional. - 1886 - Wabash a supreme court case that ruled that individual states did not have the right to regulate interstate commerce -led to the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and the Interstate Commerce Commission Interstate Commerce Act -established the federal government's right to oversee railroad activities -required railroads to public their rate schedules and file them with the government - A five person agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), was to administer the act, and it would rely on courts to reinforce its rulings. For almost twenty years after the passage, the IC Act - which like the Sherman Act was barely enforced and narrowly interpreted by courts - had little practical effect.

- American farmers were the most individualistic of citizens, and had made the most effect to organize. - first major farm organization appeared in the 1860s: The grange *Origins: - Appeared shortly after the Civil war in ta tour throughout the South by Oilver Kelley, a minor Agricultural Department official. He was appalled by what he considered the isolation and drabness of rural life. 1867, he left government and with others, founded the National Grange of the PAtrons of Husbandry. - At first, their purposes were modest - they attempted to bring farmers together to learn new scientific agricultural techniques. - They also hoped to create a community, relieving the loneliness of rural life. - By 1875, Grange claimed more than 800,000 members. *Grievances: - As membership grew, the lodges in the MW began to focus less on social benefits of organization and more on economic possibilities. They attempted to organize marketing cooperatives to allow farmers to circumvent the hated "middle man" (people who managed the sale of farmers' crops, taking a large cut of the profit for themselves). - Urged cooperative political action to curb monopolistic practices by railroads and warehouses. - Set up cooperative stores, creameries, elevators, warehouses, insurance companies, factories that produced machines, stoves and other items. - One corporation emerged to specifically meet the need of Grangers: The first mail-order business, founded by Montgomery Ward and Company in 1872. *Political Programs: - Grangers worked to elect state legislators pledged to their program. At their peak, they managed to gain control of the legislatures in most of the MW states. - Their purpose was to subject the railroads to government controls. The granger laws of the early 1870s imposed strict regulations on railroad rates and practices. - New Regulations were soon destroyed by courts leading to the decline of the power of the association

- As early as 1875, farmers in parts of the South (notably Texas) were banding together in so-called Farmers' Alliances. By 1880, the southern Alliance has more than 4 million members, and a NW alliance was emerging. - Like the Granges, the Alliances dealt with local problems. - They formed cooperatives and other marketing mechanisms - They established stores, banks, processing plants and other things to free them from the hated "furnishing merchants" who kept so many farmers in debt. - Some alliance leaders also saw the movement as an effort to build a society in which economic competition might way to cooperation. - Argued for a sense of mutual, neighborly responsibility that would enable farmers to resist oppressive outside forces. - Alliance lecturers traveled throughout rural areas attacking the concentration of power in great corporations and financial institutions and promoting cooperation as an alternative economic system.

- Called the Peoples party, but members known as Populists. Sentiment for a third party was strongest among the members of the NW alliance and Southerners. - In July 1892, 1300 exultant delegates pured into Omaha, Nebraska, to proclaim the creation of the new party, approve an official set of principles, and nominate candidates for the presidency and vice presidency. - Election of 1892 demonstrated potential power for the new movement. James B. WEaver, the populist candidate,led nearly 1500 populist candidate to win seats in state legislatures. The party elected 3 governors, 5 senators, and 10 congressmen. - Populists dreamed of creating a broad political coalition. - Populism always appealed to farmers, particularly small farmers, or family farmers strugging to hold onto their land. In the south there were a lot of modest landowners to, and significant numbers of sharecroppers and tenant farmers. - Populists tended to be not only economically, but also culturally marginal. Movement appealed above all to geographically isolated farmers who felt cut off from the mainstream of national life and resent their isolation. Populism gave such people an outlet for their grievances, and provided with a social experience of belonging to a community. - Notable for the groups they failed to attract like Labor. Reps from the Knights of LAbor attended early organization meeting; the new party added a labor plank to its platform -- calling for shorter hours for workers and restrictions on immigration, and denouncing the use of private detective agencies as strike breakers in labor disputes. -Most of the populist leaders were members of the rural middle class: professional people, editors or lawyers, or longtime politicians and agitators.

- Although for the most part Populism never attracted significant labor support (because of the economic interests of labor and the economic interests of farmers were often at odds), the Rocky Mountain states were one exception. - They were successful in attracting miners to their causes, partly because local populist leaders endorsed a demand for "free silver," the idea of permitting silver to become, along with gold, the basis of the currency so as to expand the money supply. - In colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and other areas of the Far WEst, silver mining was an important activity, and the People's party enjoyed substantial, if temporary, success there.

- In the south, white populists struggled with the question of whether to accept AA into the party. Their numbers and poverty made black farmers possibly valuable allies. - There was an important black component to the movement - a network of "Colored Alliances" that by 1890 had 1.25+ members. - Most white populists were willing to accept the assistance of AA only as long as it was clear that whites would remain indisputably in control. - When southern conservatives began to attack populists for undermining white supremacy, the interracial character of the movement quickly faded.

- The reform program of the populists was spelled out in the Omaha platfrom of 1892. - proposed a system of "subtrasuries," which would replace and strengthen the cooperatives of Grangers and Alliances that had been experimenting for years. - The government would establish a network of warehouses, where farmers could deposit their crops. Growers could then borrow money from the government at low rates of interest and wait for the price of their goods to go up before selling them. - Populists also called for the abolition of national banks, the end of absentee ownership of land, the direct election of US senators (which would weaken the power of conservative state leg) and other devices to improve the ability of the people to influence the political process. - They called for the regulation and government ownership of railroads, telephones, and telegraphs. - Demanded a system of government-operated postal saving banks, a graduated income tax, and the inflation of currency.

- led to the most severe depression the nation had yet experienced -began in 1893 when Philadelphia and Reading Railroad could not meet payments on loans and declared bankruptcy - other companies followed and began to fail as well - depressed prices in agriculture=farmers could not purchase other goods -depressed conditions in Europe= loss of American Market abroad - the depression showed how dependent the country was on railroad success - once the depression began the economy rapidly crashed - it led to the highest level of unemployment at that point

- The suffering of the depression caused naturally produced social unrest, especially among the enormous numbers of unemployed workers. - 1894, Jacob S. Coxey, an Ohio businessman and People, began advocating a massive public works program to create jobs for the unemployed and an inflation of the currency. - Became clear that his proposals were making no progress in Congress. -Coxey announced that he would send a march of the unemployed to the capital to present their demands to the government. - "Coxey's Army" as it was known, numbered only about 500 when it reached Washington, after having marched on foot from Ohio. Armed police barred them from the Capitol and arrested Coxey. - Congress took no action on their demands.

Crime of '73 - crime of '73= the idea that the big bankers were responsible for the devaluation of silver - The Fourth coinage Act of 1873 embraced the gold standard but demonetized silver. Therefore, because it set a specie standard of gold and not silver, miners felt it was a crime. - Silver mine owners wanted to end the crime of '73 so the government would take their surplus of silver and pay them more than market price - discontent farmers wanted currency inflation so they also wanted to end the crime of '73 - farmers wanted to raise the price of farm goods and make it easy to pay off farmers debts -congress mad no response to the mine owners/ farmers demands

- As the election of 1896 approached, Republicans, watching the failure of the Democrats to deal effectively with the depression, were confident of success. - Republicans decided on Governor William Mckinley of Ohio, who had as a member of Congress authored the 1890 tariff act, as the party's presidential candidate. - The republican platform opposed the free coinage of silver except by agreement with the leading commercial nations.

- 36 year old congressman, an an effective orator. - Delivered "cross of Gold Speech" - Defenders of the gold standard seemed to dominate the debate until his final speech.

- Speech delivered by William Jennings Bryan, who defended "Free silver" in what became known as the most famous political speeches in American history. - The closing passage sent his audience in a frenzy, the last line, "you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold" - It became known as the "Cross of Gold Speech"

- The choice of Bryan and the nature of the Democratic platform created a quandary for the Populists. - They had expected both major parties to adopt conservative programs and nominate conservative candidates, leaving the populists to represent the growing forces of protests. - The populists faced the choice of naming their own candidate and splitting the protest vote or endorsing Bryan and losing their identity as a party. - By now, the populists had embraced the free silver cause, but most populists still believed that other issues were more important. - Many argues that "fusion" with the democrats - who had endorsed free silver by ignored most of the other populist demands - would destroy their party. - Majority concluded that there was no viable alternative. -Amid considerable acrimony, the convention voted to support Bryan.

- For the populists and their allies, the 1896 election results were a disaster. - They had gambled everything on their "fusion" with the democratic PArty and lost. - Within months of the election, the People's party began to dissolve. Never again would American farmers unite so militantly to demand economic reform.

1900 - This was signed by McKinley. It stated that all paper money would be backed only by gold. This meant that the government had to hold gold in reserve in case people decided they wanted to trade in their money. Eliminated silver coins, but allowed paper Silver Certificates issued under the Bland-Allison Act to continue to circulate. -McKinley wanted higher tariff rates - he had to deal with the explosive silver question but he did not think the issue was very important - he sent a commission to Europe to explore the possibility of a silver agreement with England and France - the Republicans enacted the Gold Standard Act of 1900 - it confirmed the nations commitment to the gold standard and a specific gold value to the dollar -the Act required all currency issued by the US to stick to that gold value

-Ablest and most effective apostle of imperialism was Alfred Thayer Mahan, a captain and later admiral in the US navy. - MAhan's thesis, presented in The Influence of Sea Power upon History (1890) and other works, was simple: countries with sea power were the great nations of history; the greatness of the United States, bounded by two oceans, would rest on its naval strength. - Mahan advocated that the US construct a canal across the isthmus of Central America to join the Oceans, acquire defensive bases on both side of the Caribbean and PAcific, and take possession of Hawaii and other PAcific islands. - Mahan feared the Us didn't have a large enough navy to play the great role he envisioned. - During the 1870s and 18890s, the government launched a shipbuilding program that by 1898 had moved the US to 5th place among the world's naval powers, and by 1900 to third.

- Cleveland Administration took active interest in Latin America - 1895: it supported Venezuela in a dispute with Great Britain - British ignored American demands that the matter be submitted to judgement - Secretary of State Richard Olney charged that Britain was violating the Monroe Doctrine - Cleveland stated that if Britain resisted the commissions decision the US would be willing to go to War to enforce it - Britain agreed to arbitration

- 1887: US and Hawaii negotiated a treaty permitting the US to open a naval base at pearl Harbor - Americans dominated the sugar plantations and undermined native Hawaiians - Native Hawaiians protested this - in 1891 they brought a powerful nationalist Queen Liliuokalani to the throne - she set out to challenge American control of the island - she had no effect and only had power for 2 years - in 1890- the US eliminated the rule saying Hawaii could sell sugar to the US duty free - Hawaii realized they had to become a state to avoid Tariffs - republicans returned to power and approved annexation

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- The cuban revolt provided an opportunity for publishers of some American newspapers. - Joseph Pulitzer with his New York World and William Randolph Hearst with his New York Journal. - 1890s, Hearst and Pulitzer were engaged in a ruthless circulation war, and they both sent batteries of reporters and illustrators to the island with orders to provide accounts of Spanish atrocities. - A growing population of Cuban immigrants in the US supported and helped publicize the Cuban cause as effectively as those of the yellow journalists in generating American support for the revolution.

- Whatever chances there were for a peaceful settlement vanished as a result of two dramatic incidents in February 1898. - February 1898: Cuban agent stole a private letter written by Dupuy de Lôme (a spanish minister in Washington) - the letter described president McKinley as weak and a crown pleaser -although many Americans already felt this way about McKinley, the words coming from a foreigner created intense anger and de Lôme resigned - around the same time the American battleship the "maine" blew up in Havana harbor - war hysteria swept the country and people yelled "Remember the MAine!" - became a national chant for revenge. -Americans blamed Spain for blowing up the ship even though it was most likely a technical problem on the battleship - War hysteria swept the country and congress unanimously approved 50 million dollars for military preparations.

- General William R. Shafter, the American commander, moved toward Santiago. On the way he met and defeated spanish forces in two simultaneous battles, El caney and San Juan Hill. - At the center of the fighting during many of these engagements was a cavalry unit known as the Rough Riders. - Commanded by General LEonard wood, its real leader was Colonel Theodore Rolt, who had resigned from the NAvy Department to get into the war and who had struggled with an almost desperate fury to ensure that his regiment made it to eh front before the fighting ended.

- Demands for independence in Puerto rico continued to grow. - 1898, in response to political pressure organized by the popular politician Luis Muños Rivera, Spain granted the island a degree of independence. However before control had any chance to take effect, the control shifted to the US. - American military forced occupied the island during the war. They remained in control until 1900, when the Foraker Act ended military rule and established a formal colonial government. - The US could amend or veto any legislation the Puerto Rican passed. Agitation for independence continued, and in 1917, under pressure to clarify the relationship btwn Puerto Rico and America, Congress passed the Jones Act. - The Jones Act declared Puerto Rico to be US territory and made all Puerto Ricans American citizens.

- the US senate resisted the Treaty of Paris (1898) - during debates over ratifying the treaty a powerful anti imperialist movement arose - the group opposed acquiring the Philippines -anti=imperialists were some of the nations wealthiest and most powerful figures ( Carnegie, Twain) - some thought imperialism was immoral and thought it went against American commitment to human freedom -others didn't want to "pollute" the American population with 'inferior' Asian races - Industrial workers feared they would loose jobs - Anti-Imperial League ( 1898): fought annexation and fought the Paris Peace Treat

1901 - When Cuba drew up a constitution that made no reference to the US, Congress responded by passing the Platt amendment in 1901 and pressured Cuba from making treaties with other nations - In effect, gave US control of Cuban foreign policy - Gave the US the right to intervene in Cuba to preserve independence, life and property, and it required Cuba to permit American naval stations on its territory. - The amendment left cuba with nominal political independence.

- Americans did not like to think of themselves as imperial rulers in the European mold. They soon learned, however, that subjugating other people required more than ideas; it also required stregh and brutality. -American forces during the Philippine War engaged in a long and bloody war with insurgent forces fighting for independence. - The conflict in the Philippines is the least remembers of all American wars. - Longest, lasting from 1898 - 1902 and one of the most vicious, involving 200,000 American trops and resulted in 4,300 American deaths. The number of filipinos killed in the conflict has long eben a matter of dispute, but it seemslikely that at least 50,000 natives died. - fought to quell Filipino resistance to American control of the Philippine Islands. Filipino guerrilla soldiers finally gave up when their leader, Emilio Aguinaldo, was captured.

- leader of the Filipino rebellion - he claimed to lead the legitimate gov't of the nation - he was captured by American forces in 1901 which led to America's victory in the Philippine War - after his capture he signed a document urging his followers to stop fighting and he declared allegiance to the united states - he retired from public life and lived quietly until 1964

- POLICY PROPOSED BY JOHN HAY, VICE PRESIDENT OF MCKINLEY, IN 1899, UNDER WHICH ALL NATIONS WOULD HAVE EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES TO TRADE IN CHINA!¡ -1898: McKinley asked for an "open door" to China - he wanted access to China without any special advantage - 1899: Secretary of state, John Hay translated McKinley's statement into Policy, "The Open Door Notes" - he asked England, Germany, Russia, France, Japan and Italy to approve three principles - each nation with a sphere of influence to China had to respect the rights of other nations in it's sphere - the Chinese officials had to collect tariff duties in all spheres - nations could not discriminate against other nations by levying port dues and railroad rates in their own sphere - these principles allowed the US to trade freely without fear of interference or having to involve military in the region

-Boxers= secret Chinese martial arts society with highly nationalistic convictions - they launched a revolt against foreigners in China, attacking Westerners - the Boxer Rebellion spread across eastern China - the climax of the rebellion was a siege of the entire western foreign diplomatic corps - the diplomats took refuge in the British embassy in Beijing) - Imperial powers including the US sent an international expeditionary force into China to rescue the diplomats -August 1900 the powers fought their way into Peking and broke the siege - the Boxer Rebellion was an important event for the US role in China: the US helped end the rebellion, Hay won support for the Open Door approach from England and Germany

- war with Spain showed America's weaknesses in military organization - After the war McKinly made Elihu Root Secretary of war to supervise a major overhaul of the armed forces - 1900-1903: Root's reforms enlarged the regular army - he established federal army standards for the National Guard - he ensured that the nation would never fight a war with volunteer regiments trained and equipped differently than the regular army - the uproot also led to the creation of officer training schools - 1903: a general staff called the Joint Chiefs of Staff were established as military advisors to the secretary of war - also led to the creation of a central planning agency