Transcript The Political System Under Strain, 1877

The Political System
Under Strain (1877-1900)
Week Four
Chapter 21
Politics & Government
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Structure & Style of
Politics
Limits of Government
Sources of Discontent
Reform and Reaction
Politics of Empire
Origins of Empire
 Debates and Context
 Spanish-American
War
 China & the Open
Door
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Main Points and themes
The 2004 Presidential Election
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Campaigns & Elections
◦ National Pastime
◦ Entertainment
◦ Mass voting
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Partisanship
◦ Parties controlled voting
◦ Corruption
◦ Class, ethnicity, religion, region
Structure & Style
1892 Election: anti-Cleveland
B. Harrison vs. G. Cleveland
Structure & Style
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Third Parties
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Issue Oriented
Extremes of spectrum
Short-term
Populist Party
Bull Moose
Ross Perot
Green Party
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A mixed bag
Declining business regulations
Increasing use of government power
against unions
American military & Native People
Weak Presidency
Expanding, but inept Congress
Questions of national regulation &
capitalism
Limits of Government
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Pro-business
Anti-regulation
Corruption
Spoils system
National corporations dominated life
Low wages, working conditions, banking
system, anti-union
Sources of Discontent
“Machine Politics”
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Corruption & cooperation
between government,
business, labor, police &
crime bosses
Bosses pay off police &
public officials to NOT
arrest them, and in
return deliver votes of
the poor, immigrant
groups in cities
Unions voted for
politicians that helped
them, sometimes
assisted crime bosses
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“You have the liberty of voting in any way
you please, but we have the liberty of
counting in any way we please…”
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Pendleton Civil Service Act, 1883
◦ Prohibited federal workers from soliciting or
accepting political contributions from
government workers (bribes) & created the
Civil Service Commission
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Interstate Commerce Commission, 1887
◦ Federal government could regulate interstate
commerce (ICC)
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Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890
◦ Weak attempt to stop monopolies or trusts that
prohibit competition
Limited Reform
1866 National Labor Union
 1869 Knights of Labor
 1870s Farmers Alliance
 1880s-1890s Populists/Peoples Party
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Declining prices, corporate competition
Lost farms, high debt
Governors, legislatures,
William Jennings Bryant
Populism
Populist “Radicals”
Nebraska Populists
Populist Cartoons
William McKinley
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Populists remain a
third party or merge
with the Democrats?
Merged, & accepted
McKinley as their
candidate for 1896
presidency
McKinley lost
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Government support for capital
Refusal to regulate business
Capitalist exploitation of labor
Workplace conditions
Wages & hours
Meaning & control of labor
Culture & Community
Labor Movement
Labor and Unions
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Great Railroad
Strike 1877
Knights of Labor
Haymarket Square
Bombing of 1886
American Federation
of Labor
Samuel Gompers
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The Santa Fe Ring
Republican politicians
City government
Developers gave land to politicians who
approved laws or ignored laws/taxes to
the benefit of land developers
Approved illegal sales of territorial/federal
lands
Stole/sold Pueblo and Apache lands
Regional Politics
National, state, city government
 Question of corruption & regulation
 Abuses of power and discontent
 Early Reactions and Reform
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Conclusions
Creating an Empire, 1865-1917
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Origins of Empire
◦ American Westward Expansion
◦ Conquest of Indigenous Peoples
◦ Sense of Superiority
Debates and the Context
 Spanish-American War
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◦ Cuba, Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico
China and the Open Door
 Latin America
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Main Points
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Imperialism
◦ the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the
power and dominion of a nation especially by direct
territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control
over the political or economic life of other areas;
the extension or imposition of power, authority, or
influence
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Empire
◦ a major political unit having a territory of great
extent or a number of territories or peoples under a
single sovereign authority; the territory of such a
political unit; something resembling a political
empire; an extensive territory or enterprise under
single domination or control
Terms and Definitions
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Unification & Westward Expansion
Race & Views of Indians
Railroads and national markets
Search for resources and markets abroad
Economic competition lead to territorial
acquisition
U.S. policy makers debated American
power globally
Origins of Empire
Global Context
European Empires
 A Shrinking World
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Explorations
Railroads
Telephones
Canals
Competition for
resources and
trade
Pro-imperialism
Anti-Imperialism
Josiah Strong
 Albert Beveridge
 William McKinley
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W. J. Bryan
 Emilio Aguinaldo
 “Colored Citizens
of Boston”
 Clemencia Lopez
Debating Imperialism
Flip a coin for sides
 10 minutes to discuss the documents
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◦ 2 pieces of paper, Group #
◦ Argument for or against imperialism
◦ Evidence/examples in support of view
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10 minutes for debate
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Give one sheet to Roland or Rebecca
Start with Pro-Imperialism
Anti-imperialism (Rebuttal or new point)
3-5 rounds of debate
Instructions for debate
This is a role-playing debate set in the
1890s, not 2011
 No yelling out of context
 +1 point:
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◦ Clear argument, use of evidence from
documents, textbook, clear rebuttal
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-1 point:
◦ No evidence, failed rebuttal, wrong info
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Group with the most points receives
extra credit on Quiz 2
“Rules of Engagement”
Henry Cabot Lodge (R) “a record of
conquest, colonization, and territorial
expansion unequalled by any people in
the 19th century.”
 Formal vs. Informal Empire
 Rationales for Imperialism
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Racism and Social Darwinism
Righteousness
Mahanism
Economics
Debating Empire
Secretaries of State
 William Seward 1861-69
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◦ East Asian Trade & Caribbean hegemony
◦ Alaska 1867
◦ Open Japan to American goods
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James G. Blaine 1889-92
◦ Caribbean bases
◦ Panama canal
Early Policy-makers
Hawaii & the Pacific
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Sovereign nation
Missionaries, sugar,
Dole Corporation
Military Base 1880s
Trade Tariff
Attempted coup 1893
Senate rejected it
Queen Liliuokalani
Spanish-American-Cuban War
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Growing U.S. Power
in Hemisphere
Declining Spanish
Power
Cuban independence
movement
◦ Jose Martí
◦ U.S. business interests
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President McKinley
wavered
Yellow Journalism
Propaganda
Propaganda
War and Occupation
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“Treachery”
Manhood, honor,
race
April 25, 1898
Teller Amendment
Roosevelt and his
“Rough Riders”
Treaty
The U.S. in the Caribbean
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1899 Treaty
Cuba, Puerto Rico &
Guam go to the U.S
Platt Amendment
Puerto Rico:
taxation and citizens
but not represented
in Congress
Guam is a “territorial
possession”
Philippines
Part of larger U.S.Spanish conflict
 Independence Movement
 1899 Treaty
 Emilio Aguinaldo
 Native Resistance
 70,000 U.S. troops
 Formal control after 1902
 10 yrs conflict
 Tactics from Indian Wars
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Propaganda
McKinley, “We need Hawaii just as much
and a good deal more than we did
California, It is Manifest Destiny.”
 1898 Congress and McKinley approved
annexation of Hawaii
 Anti-Imperialist League
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The American Empire
Rhodes vs. Uncle Sam
U.S. and Asia
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Open Door Policy
◦ Forced China to open
markets to Americans
and Europeans
◦ Opposed nationalist
Boxer Rebellion
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Spheres of Influence
◦ Permanent part of
American foreign
policy
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Politics of an industrialization nation and
economy
Class conflict and control over labor,
production, prices, markets
Political corruption
Expansion created national economic and
political problems
Expansion around the globe to control
resources for industrialization
Imperialism led to conflict with Indigenous an
local populations
Was the US “different” from other nations?
Conclusions by 1900