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Party Loyalty: Regionalism |
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Democrats: South ("Solid South")Republicans: North |
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Party Loyalty: Religion/Ethics |
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Democrats: - Catholic - support immigration & the poor (felt that Republicans were assaulting their people & culture)
Republicans: - N. Protestants - want to restrict immigration - supported the middle class - favored temperance legislation |
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Leaning to the "Right" |
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Conservative (Republicans) |
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Leaning to the "Left" |
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Liberal (Democrats) |
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Reasons for Party Loyalty |
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- high voter turnout (78%) - party identification (more cultural than economic) |
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Stalwarts v. Half-Breeds |
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- competed against one another for control of the Republican party --> threatened to split the party - interested in augmenting patronage - Pres. Hayes tried to please both --> failed - nominate James Garfield (half-breed) as pres and Chester Arthur (stalwart) as VP |
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Stalwarts |
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- led by Roscoe Conkling (NY) - favored traditional, professional machine politics - Arthur succeeds Garfield after his assassination --> keeps most of his appointments & supports civil service reforms |
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Half-Breeds |
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- led by James G. Blaine (Maine) - favored reform - Garfield elected w/ a stalwart but defied stalwarts in his appointments/civil service reforms --> later assassinated by crazed stalwart |
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Pendleton Act (1883) |
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- sparked by assassination of Garfield - first nat'l civil service measure - required some federal jobs to be filled by competitive written examinations rather than by patronage - at first, few offices fell under civil services, but by mid-20th century, most federal employees were civil servants |
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Mugwumps |
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- significant in the election of 1884 - some believed Republican candidate (James G. Blaine) was corrupt --> left for the Democratic party and dubbed "mugwumps" - helped to seal Cleveland's victory |
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Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 |
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- passed despite Cleveland's disapproval - designed to curb railroads - first large-scale legislation passed by fed. gov't to regulate corporations in the interest of society ~ set the precedent for future regulatory commissions in the 20th century - prohibited rebates & pools; required railroads to publish their rates openly - forbade unfair discrimination against shippers and charging more for short hauls than long ones - set up the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to enforce and administer the act
- positive result: provided an orderly forum where competing business interests would be resolved in peaceful ways |
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Conflicts with Election of 1888 |
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- tariff ("McKinley Tariff") ** - trusts - railroad |
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Election of 1888: McKinley tariff |
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Republicans: favored a high tariff - stimulated American industry - benefited all Americans (wealth will "trickle down" to the lower classes) - wanted to support big businesses --> refuse to reduce the tariff
Democrats: favored a low tariff - i.e. Cleveland - wanted lower prices for consumers and a less monopolistic system
- primary issue in the election of 1888 - hurts the consumer (lack of competition --> easier for business to raise prices) - Republicans interpreted victories in the House & Senate as a mandate for the tariff --> tariffs increased |
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Election of 1888: Railroads |
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- also a major problem during Cleveland's presidential term
Democrats: wanted more control over railroad - court case: US v. E.C. Knight |
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US v. E.C. Knight |
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- 98% of manufacting of refined sugar ~ from E.C. Knight - effort to gov't to apply Sherman Anti-Trust Act --> Supreme Court refused b/c sugar was not involved in interstate industry |
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Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890) |
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- passed by Congress b/c of groing popular demand - mid-1880s: 15 western/southern states made laws prohibiting combinations that restrained competition, but corporations just incorporated states where it was still legal (i.e. NJ, Delaware) - anti-trust supporters believed that they needed nat'l gov't support to succeed - most congressmen saw ct as symbolic (a measure to fend off public criticism, but not likely to have an impact) |
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Munn v. Illinois (1877) |
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- supreme court case w/ corporate rates & agriculture - allowed states to regulate certain businesses within their borders, including railroads (gave Illinois more freedom to use Granger laws) - regarded as a milestone in the growth of federal gov't regulation - declared that business interests (private property) used for public god should be regulated by the gov't |
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Wabash decision (1886) |
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- weakened the power of Munn v. Illinois - ruled one of the Granger laws in Illinois as unconstitutional ~ infringed on power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce - limited power of states to regulate commerce even in their own boundaries |
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The Grange (1867) |
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- first major farm organization - Oliver H. Kelly touring the south after Civ. War --> appalled by isolation & drabness of rural life --> left gov't (1867) and founded National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry ~ created a network of local organizations
Cooperatives for consumers & producers: - grain elevator, dairies (to store/process products) - sought to end monopolistic railroad practices - tried to manufacture harvesting machinery (failed)
- Independence Day 1873 = "The Farmers' Declaration of Independence" ~ vowed farners would use all lawful & peaceful means to free themselves from tyranny of monopolies |
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Reasons for Agrarian Malaise |
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Belief that: - the railroads were using discriminatory rates to exploit farmers - big business used high tariffs to exploit farmers - a deflationary monetary policy based on gold hurt farmers - corporations charged exorbitant prices for fertilizers and farm machinery |
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Sub-treasuries |
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- major demand of Southern Alliance (1880s) - federal subtreasury offices alongside warehouses/elevators - store crops until prices increase - subtreasury loans ~ 80% of the value of the crop - AAA ~ to buy excess crops |
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Effect of Panic of 1873 on Grange |
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Panic of 1873: caused decline in farm prices --> membership drastically increased (esp. in S & mid-W) - middle:as membership grew, focused less on social benefits and more on economic profits of organization - organized marketing cooperatives to allow farmers to circumvent hated middlemen - looking to supplant/reject laissez faire (threatens capitalism)
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Economic Attempts of the Grange |
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Business & corporations - Mongomery Ward & Co. ~ corporation arose to fit needs of Grangers (mail-order business) - most Grange enterprises failed b/c inexperience of operators & opposition to middlemen whose business they were challenging
Worked to elect state leg. pledged to the program (sometimes under the independence "Anti-Monopoly" or "Reform" ~ peak gained control of congresses of most midwest states - goal: subject railroads to gov't controls |
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Granger Laws (1870s) |
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Grange ~ politically successful in Illinois, Wisconson, Iowa, & Minnesota - reglated railroad rates & storage fees - Granger Laws ~ wanted gov't convol over big business to benefit people - legislation proposed by the Grangers to pass regulatory legislation over the railroads - many states imposed strict regulations on railroad rates & practices but soon destroyed by courts |
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Farmers' Alliances |
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- alliances in the South (1877) and Midwest (1880) - later Colored Alliance formed (1889)
- not reform-oriented ~ concerned about local issues 1889: 3 Alliances met - demanded free silver and subtreasury plan - many supported/joined Knights of Labor
Changes: - est. stores, banks, processing plants, and other facilities - build up society in which economic competition might give way to cooperation - mutual neighborly responsibility that would enable farmers to resist oppressive outside forces
- didn't work b/c of strong market forces against them - Southern and Northwestern Alliances agree to merger --> Ocala Demands - farmers drew encouragement from successes of candidates from Alliances to form their own party (Omaha, Nebraska --> People's Party) |
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People's Party (Populists) |
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- emerged in early 1890s through Farmer's Alliances - attempted to unite disconnected farmers & improve their economic conditions - anti-Semetic
Goals: - increase $$ supply with the free & unlimited coinage of solver & gold @ the legal ratio of 16 to 1 - use the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 to regulate railroads and prevent discrimination against small customers - organize cooperative marketing societies - support candidacy of William Jennings Bryan in the election of 1896
Role of Women: - full voting rights - temperance - Mary E. Lease - populist orator
nominate James Weaver in election of 1892 |
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Reasons the Populist Party failed |
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- can't agree on political strategy - racism - dramatic increase in urban population (New Immigrants) --> higher prices for agricultural products - discovery of gold in Yukon --> eased farmers' access to credit - Democratic party absorbed many Populist programs - William Jennings Bryan lost election of 1896 to William McKinley and the Republicans |
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Successes/Failures of the Populist Party |
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Successes: - attracted working class, immigrants, farmers, miners, and protestants - commercialized/mechanized farms
Failures: - never attracted significant labor support b/c economic interests of laborers and farmers were at odds - exception: attracted miners in the Rocky mountain states ~ "free silver" |
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Causes of the Panic of 1893 |
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Immediate Cause: - collapse of stock market (Phildelphia & Reading Railroad and National Cordage Company declare bankruptcy)
Long-Term Causes: - European depression --> foreign investors called in $$ - depressed prices of farmers --> decreased purchasing power - railroads began to decline
** Showed interdependence of regions of US |
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Reactions to the Panic of 1893 |
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1. Coxey's Army - led by Jacob Coxey (1896) ~ led march into Washington to petition for public works programs that would give jobs to the unemployed - wanted bank notes & inflation
2. Union unrest during the decade (i.e. Homestead & Pullman Strikes) |
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Causes of Political Crisis in the 1890s |
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- Grover Cleveland (Democrat) wins again in election of 1892 - Panic of 1893 - Silver Question - Election of 1896
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Silver Question |
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- what's the basis of the dollar? - at the time, it was gold/silver ~ people could exchange money for these metals (bimetallism) - 1870s: price of silver higher than gov't exchange rate (more profitable than the 16 to 1 gov't ratio; owners want more $ --> dont sell it to gov't)
2 main groups of support: 1.) Silver owners who could not make more $$ from the gov't 2.) Discontented farmers who wanted an inflation of currency to rise price of products |
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Crime of '73 |
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1873: Congress prohibits coinage of silver (Crime of '73) - less inflation --> farmers upset (harder to repay debt) |
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Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890) |
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- gov't would purchase silver & pay it back in gold - gold reserves decreasing (Cleveland blames Silver Purchase Act) --> repealed act after split in the Democratic party (south v. east) - gold supporters saw it as essential to survival of the nation - silver supporters saw it as "free silver" and freedom from oppression of gold William H. Harvey's Coin Financial School |
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Election of 1896 |
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Republicans: William McKinley - high tariff
Democrats: William Jennings Bryan - split between free silver and gold people - most (S & W) want low tariff, strict control, income tax, and free silver - minority of E want free silver (only w/ foreign approval) - Bryan ~ Cross of Gold speech propels convention to vote for pro-silver platform - fusion of Democrats & Populists (pro-silver)
McKinley wins --> end of Populist party (put all their support behind Bryan) |
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McKinley's presidency |
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- more calm, greater prosperity --> people at ease - all Republicans agree on higher tariffs --> Dingley Tariff (highest rates in history) - silver issue: sent delegates to Europe to seek agreement but none was reached - passed Currency Act/Gold Standard Act of 1900 to confirm commitment to gold |
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