Political Realignments 1876‒1901

American StoriesTHIRD EDITION

By: Brands •By: Brands •

Chapter 20

Political Realignments

1876‒1901

Political Realignments, 1876‒1901

Politics of Stalemate

Why was there a stalemate between Republicans and Democrats until the mid-1890s?

The Rise of the Populist Movement

What factors led to the formation and growth of the Farmers’ Alliance and People’s party?

20.1

20.2

Political Realignments, 1876‒1901

The Crisis of the Depression

What were the main political and labor effects of the panic and depression of the 1890s?

Changing Attitudes

What changes in outlook did the panic and depression of the 1890s bring about?

20.3

20.4

Political Realignments, 1876‒1901

The Presidential Election of 1896

Why was the presidential election of 1896 so important?

The McKinley Administration

What did McKinley accomplish that placed the results of the 1896 election on a solid basis?

20.5

20.6

Video Series:Key Topics in U.S. History

1. Changing Political Landscape2. Populist Party3. Financial Crisis4. The Age of Reform

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Hardship and Heartache

• The depression of the 1890s had profound and lasting effects• Rural hostility toward cities• Fight over currency• Changed attitudes to government,

employment, and reform

Home

Home

Politics of Stalemate

• The Party Deadlock• Reestablishing Presidential Power• Republicans in Power: The Billion-Dollar

Congress • Tariffs, Trusts, and Silver • The 1890 Elections

Home

Politics of Stalemate

• Politics fascinated country• Campaigns involved whole community• Average of 79 percent of electorate voted

• Black men kept from polls in some areas• Poll taxes spread across the South• Literacy tests

Politics of Stalemate

The Party Deadlock

• Electorate split almost evenly• Democrats emphasized state’s rights and

limited government• Republicans promoted moral progress and

material wealth

• One-party control of both Congress and White House rare• Each party had safe states• Federal influence waned

Politics of Stalemate

Reestablishing Presidential Power

• Presidency weakened by scandals• 1868 – Andrew Johnson’s impeachment• 1870s – scandals of Grant administration• 1876 – controversy over the election

Politics of Stalemate

Reestablishing Presidential Power (continued)

• Presidents reasserted executive power• Hayes made reforms and changes• Bland-Allison Silver Purchase Act• 1881 - Garfield succeeded Hayes• Arthur and the Pendleton Act• 1884 - Grover Cleveland

Politics of Stalemate

Table 20.1 The Election of 1880

Politics of Stalemate

Table 20.2 The Election of 1884

Politics of Stalemate

Republicans in Power: TheBillion-Dollar Congress

• Election of 1888 - most sweeping victory for either party in twenty years• In spite of Harrison’s narrow margin• Gave Republicans presidency and both

houses of Congress• Seemed Republicans had broken party

stalemate and become majority party

Politics of Stalemate

Politics of Stalemate

Tariffs, Trusts, and Silver

• 1890 – Many new laws• McKinley Tariff Act

• Raised duties to historic high

• Dependents Pensions Act• By 1893, 1 million Union army veterans and

families receiving pensions

• Sherman Antitrust Act • Regulated big business• United States v. E. C. Knight

Politics of Stalemate

Tariffs, Trusts, and Silver (continued)

• 1890 - Sherman Silver Purchase Act• Silver coinage had slipped into disuse• Rise in silver production glutted world

market• Moved country toward bi-metallic monetary

system

Politics of Stalemate

Politics of Stalemate

The 1890s Elections

• 1890 -“Billion-Dollar” Congress• Republicans in control

• 1890 elections - voters crushed Republicans• Nebraska and Iowa switched to Democratic

party

Politics of Stalemate

Politics of Stalemate

Discussion Questions

• Why was there a stalemate between Republicans and Democrats that lasted until the mid-1890s?

• How did the Republican party’s vision shape the “Billion-Dollar Congress”?

Politics of Stalemate

The Rise of the Populist Movement

• The Farm Problem• The Fast-Growing Farmers’ Alliance• The People’s Party

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The Rise of the Populist Movement

• Populism – fast-growing movement among farmers• Discontented farmers of West and South

provided base of support • National Farmers’ Alliance and

Industrial Union

The Rise of the Populist Movement

What Impact Did the Populist Movement Have on American Politics?

• How did the average value of farmland change over this period?

• How did the People’s Party fare in various elections?

• In what regions was support for the People’s Party strongest?

The Rise of the Populist Movement

The Rise of the Populist Movement

The Farm Problem

• Worldwide agricultural discontent between 1870 and 1900• Farmers could not control international

market

• Farmers’ complaints• Lower prices for crops• Rising railroad rates• Onerous mortgages

The Rise of the Populist Movement

The Fast-Growing Farmers’ Alliance

• Southern Alliance• Farmers dealing with common problems • 1890 – more than a million members• Farmers’ friends welcome• Organized

• Colored Farmers’ National Alliance and Cooperative Union• Loosely affiliated with Southern Alliance• 250,000 members • 1891 – strikers lynched

The Rise of the Populist Movement

The Fast-Growing Farmers’ Alliance (continued)

• Northwestern Alliance• On the Plains• Disagreed with Southern Alliance ideas

• National Farmers’ Alliance• Merging of regional Alliances• Ocala Demands – platform

• Splitting the Alliance• Formed People’s party• Resistance to a new party The Rise of the Populist

Movement

The Rise of the Populist Movement

The Rise of the Populist Movement

The People’s Party

• Northern Alliance splits from Democrats to form People’s (or Populist) party• Later joined by Southern Alliance• Populists recruited African Americans• 1892 – James B. Weaver for president• Alliance waned after 1892 elections

The Rise of the Populist Movement

The Rise of the Populist Movement

Discussion Question

• What factors led to the formation and growth of the Farmers’ Alliance and People’s party?

The Rise of the Populist Movement

The Crisis of the Depression

• The Panic of 1893• The Pullman Strike• A Beleaguered President• Breaking the Party Deadlock

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The Crisis of the Depression

• Economic crisis dominated the 1890s• Economy had expanded too rapidly

• Railroads had overbuilt• Companies had outgrown markets• Farms and businesses had borrowed heavily

for expansion

The Crisis of the Depression

The Panic of 1893

• 1893 - panic hit stock market• Failure of major railroad • Investors sold stock to purchase gold• Depleted Treasury shook confidence

• May 1893 - market hit record low • Business failures displaced 2 million

workers

• 1894 – heat wave and drought hit West• Corn crop failed• Cotton prices dropped

The Crisis of the Depression

The Pullman Strike

• 1894 - Pullman Strike • Joined by Eugene Debs’s American Railway

Union • Closed Western railroads

• President Cleveland suppressed strikes • Federal troops sent in• Debs was arrested

• Effect on labor movement• Cleveland’s actions resented• Injunctions endorsed

The Crisis of the Depression

A Beleaguered President

• Cleveland returned to presidency• Defeated Weaver and Harrison• Democrats controlled Congress as well

• Repeal of Sherman Silver Purchase Act • Seen as cause of Panic of 1893• Failed to stop depression• Made silver a political issue

• Democrats failed to lower tariff• Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act The Crisis of the Depression

Breaking the Party Deadlock

• Elections of 1894 crushed Democrats• Reduced to a sectional southern

organization• Populists gained in the South and West• Republicans swept congressional elections

• Republicans became dominant party• Acceptance of activism and national

authority rose

The Crisis of the Depression

Discussion Question

• What were the main political and labor effects of the panic and depression of the 1890s?

The Crisis of the Depression

Changing Attitudes

• Women and Children in the Labor Force• Changing Themes in Literature

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Changing Attitudes

• Depression of 1893 forced change of view• Established ideas failed to deal with

depression• Unemployment – not a personal failure• Local institutions discussed alternatives• Acceptance of need for government

intervention to help the poor and jobless

Changing Attitudes

Women and Childrenin the Labor Force

• Women and children worked more• Paid lower wages• More black urban women than white• Children in southern textile mills

• Concerned groups formed• League for the Protection of the Family• Mothers Congress

Changing Attitudes

Changing Themes in Literature

• Depression led to growing realism in literature• Rejected sentimentalism, romanticism, and

escapism• Portrayed life as it was

• Regionalists• Realists – Mark Twain• Naturalists

Changing Attitudes

Discussion Question

• What changes in outlook did the panic and depression of the 1890s bring about?

Changing Attitudes

The Presidential Election of 1896

• The Mystique of Silver• The Republicans and Gold• The Democrats and Silver• Campaign and Election

Home

The Presidential Election of 1896

• Free coinage of silver the main issue• Boost the money supply• Seen as solution to depression

• New voting patterns emerged and national policy shifted

The Presidential Election of 1896

The Mystique of Silver

• Support for free silver coinage grew• Dominated South and West • Literature flooded country• Seen as quick solution to economic crisis

• Silverites – quantity theory of money• Believed amount in circulation determined level

of economic activity

• Silver also a symbol• Moral crusade• Patriotic•

The Presidential Election of 1896

The Republicans and Gold

• Candidate - William McKinley• Silverite Republicans defeated on

convention floor• Promised gold standard to restore

prosperity

The Presidential Election of 1896

The Democrats and Silver

• Candidate - William Jennings Bryan• Strong public speaker• Free silver promised in "Cross of Gold"

speech• Anti-Cleveland platform

• Attacked Cleveland on Pullman strike actions and censured sale of gold bonds

• Democrats were enthusiastic

The Presidential Election of 1896

The Presidential Election of 1896

Campaign and Election

• Populist party endorsed Bryan• Might have hurt his chances

• Bryan campaigned directly to voters• First presidential candidate to do so

systematically• Bryan offered return to rural, religious

United States• Opportunity for common people• Distrust of central authority

The Presidential Election of 1896

Campaign and Election (continued)

• McKinley let voters come to him• Railroads brought voters to his hometown,

where he spoke from his front porch• Reached people through the press• McKinley defended economic nationalism

and urban-industrial society

• Election was clear victory for McKinley• Populist party vanished after 1896

• Proposals later adoptedThe Presidential Election of

1896

The Presidential Election of 1896

Discussion Question

• Why was the presidential election of 1896 so important?

The Presidential Election of 1896

The McKinley Administration

• McKinley faced favorable outlook• Took office at depression’s end• An activist, modern president

• Major policies• Dingley Tariff raised rates to record level• Need for regulation of industrialism• War with Spain• Gold Standard Act

• McKinley won reelection • Against Bryan again

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The McKinley Administration

The McKinley Administration

Table 20.3 The Election of 1900

Discussion Question

• What did McKinley accomplish that placed the results of the 1896 election on a solid basis?

The McKinley Administration

Conclusion: A Decade’sDramatic Changes

• 1890s - brought powerful effects• Political patterns shifted• Social change from massive unrest• War with Spain brought new world

responsibilities• Technology and innovation

• 1901 - McKinley assassinated; Theodore Roosevelt became president