Chapter 19: From Crisis to Empire

• Stalwarts: split of the republican

  -led by Roscoe Conkling (NY)

  -traditional, professional machine politics

  -increase share of patronage
• Half-Breeds: split of the republican party

  -led by James G. Blaine (Maine)

  -favored reform
• Roscoe Conkling


  -NY political boss, led the Stalwarts, promoted polititcal patronage and party loyalty

  -ally of Chester A. Arthur
• James A. Garfield


  -20th president of the U.S.

  -half-breed republican

  -advocated for civil service reform and aimed to curb the power of political machines

  -was shot twice in the Washington railroad station b/c of his attitude toward the spoils system and defying the Stalwarts
• Pendelon Act (1883)


  the first national civil service measure, required that some federal jobs be filled by competitive written exams rather than by patronage age
• Chester A. Arthur

  -21st president of the U.S.

  -Stalwart republican

  -came to power after the assassination of Garfield

  -devoted, skilled, and open spoilsman, ally of Roscoe Conkling
• Grover Cleveland


  -22nd & 24th president of the U.S.

  -democrat

  -vetoed wasteful bills, fought corruption, civil service reform, interstate commerce commission

  -disgruntled liberal Republicans (aka "mugwumps") left Republicans and supported
• Benjamin Harrison


  -23rd president of the U.S.

  -republican
• Sherman Antitrust Act


  aimed to prevent monopolies and promote fair competition in the economy, ultimately had little impact

  *in actuality, it was used to break up unions
• McKinley Tariff


  extremely high tariff proposed by William McKinley of Ohio & Nelson W. Aldrich
• Wabash St. Louis and Pacific Railway Co. v Illinois (aka Wabash)

  -declared one of the Granger Laws in Illinois unconstitutional and an attempt to control interstate commerce and infringed on the exclusive power of Congress

  -overturns Munn v. Illinois
• Interstate Commerce Act


  -banned discrimination in rates between long and short hauls, required railroads to publish their rate schedules, declared that rates must be "just"

  -created ICC
• National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry (The Grange)

  -provided social and economic opportunities for FARMERS

  -opposed the manufacturing and processing monopolies that fixed grain and livestock prices at a disadvantage to farmers
• Granger Laws of the early 1870s


  strict regulation on railroad rates and practices

  (limited by courts and political inexperience)
• The Peoples Party (Populism)

  A political group that gained much support from farmers who turned to them to fight political unfairness, James B. Weaver ran as their presidential candidate in 1892 (impressive turnout)
• Farmers Alliance


  replaced the National Grange as a support group for the nations farmers
• Omaha Platform(from Populist Party)

  -a Populist Party platform for the 1892 election

  -written by Ignatius Donnelly

  -ideas include: (1) abolition of the new bank (2) graduated income tax (3) direct election of Senators (4) free coinage of silver at 16:1 (5) reduction of tariffs
• subtresuries


  a network of gov.-owned warehouses where farmers could deposit their crops to allow them to borrow $ from the gov at low interest rates until the price of their goods went up
• Coxey's Army


  -led by Jacob Coxey, a march of the unemployed to Washington to present demands to the gov., Congress ignored

  -had demands to reduce unemployment

  (was not effective)
• The Panic of 1893

  cause: stock market collapsed when the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad declared bankruptcy, and the National Cordage Company failed

  effects: banks and businesses failed, increased unemployment by 20%
• bimetallism


  both silver and gold currency
• Sherman Silver Purchase Act

  US Treasury bough $4.5 million ounces of silver a month, the gov. deposited most silver in the Treasury rather than circulation
• William Jennings Bryan


  -a Populist who gave a profound speech (The Cross of Gold)

  -won democratic nomination in 1896, ran for president 3 times and lost
• Cross of Gold


  -speech given by William Jennings Byran

  -he said people must not be "crucified on a cross of Gold", referring to the Republican proposal to eliminate silver coinage and adopt a strict gold standard
• Marcus A. Hanna


  an industrialist and Republican politician from Ohio, Party Boss member, coined the "Front Porch" campaign
• Front Porch Campaign


  candidate remains close to or at home to make speeches to supporters who come to visit, the candidate largely does not travel around or otherwise actively campaign
• Dingley Tariff


  raised tariffss in the U.S.
• Currency or Gold Standard Act of 1900

  enacted by the republicans, confirmed the nations commitment to the gold standard
• Munn v. Illinois (1877)

  state governments can regulate industries when in the best interest of public
• Alfred T. Mahan


  -wrote the Influence of Sea Power

  -stated that the control of the sea was important to world dominance

  -urged the US and other countries to build their navies

  -favored T. Roosevelt and other expansionists
• Queen Liliuokalani


  believed native Hawaiians should control the islands
• scorched earth policy


  (1895) Cuba revolted against the Spanish following a military strategy that involves destroying everything that could be useful to the enemy
• General "Butcher" Weyler


  Spanish general who tried to crush the Cuban rebellion by putting them in barbed wire reconcentration camps
• yellow journalism


  -journalism that exploits or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers

  -helped push the US and Spain into war in Cuba and the Philippines

  -"You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war"
• De Lome Letter


  -Spanish minister calls McKinley (US President) weak

  -upsets many Americans
• USS Maine


  -huge cause for involvement in Spanish American war (and example of yellow journalism)

  -mysteriously blew up & killed 260 sailors
• Teller Amendment


  Once the US overthrew Spanish rule, Cubans would be given their freedom
• Rough Riders


  -group of volunteers that played a role in the Spanish-American War in Cuba
• After the Spanish American War, US gained Guam, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Phillipines

  -McKinley planned to "Christianize and civilize them"
• Anti-Imperialist League


  -made up by Mark Twain, Presidents of Harvard and Stanford, Samuel Gompers, Carnegie

  -argued that the Filipinos deserved "Consent of the governed"