THE AMERICAN JOURNEY A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES Brief Sixth Edition Chapter 20 Politics and Government 1877-1900
Politics and Government 1877-1900 The Structure and Style of Politics The Limits of Government Public Policies and National Elections The Crisis of the 1890s Conclusion
Parades like this Republican one in Canton, Ohio
Learning Objectives How did parties shape late nineteenthcentury politics? What explains the weakness and inefficiency of late nineteenth-century government? How effective was government in addressing the problems of America s industrializing economy?
Learning Objectives (cont'd) What factors contributed to the rise and fall of the Populist Party?
The Structure and Style of Politics
Campaigns and Elections The public enthusiastically participated in political campaigns and elections. Campaign pageantry enthralled large and small communities. Virtually all men participated in politics including immigrants and African Americans.
Campaigns and Elections (cont'd) Political parties mobilized the huge electorate through detailed records, ensuring registrations, and transporting voters to the polls. The election process was open and partisan but not necessarily corrupt.
FIGURE 20 1 Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections, 1876 1924
Partisan Politics Democrats and Republicans enjoyed an almost even balance of support which made them work hard to get out the vote. Party affiliation was determined by a mix of regional, ethnic, religious, and local factors. Republicans were strongest in the North and Midwest, Democrats in the South and urban Northeast.
Partisan Politics (cont d) Republicans were identified with nationalism and national unity, while Democrats favored limited government and personal liberties. There was little room for third parties that typically focused on specific issues or groups.
Partisan Politics (cont d) Prohibition Party - A venerable third party still in existence that has persistently campaigned for the abolition of alcohol but has also introduced many important reform ideas into American politics. Greenback Party - A third party of the 1870s and 1880s that garnered temporary support by advocating currency inflation to expand the economy and assist debtors.
Partisan Politics (cont d) Populist Party - A major third party of the 1890s, also known as the People s Party. Formed on the basis of the Southern Farmers Alliance and other reform organizations, it mounted electoral challenges against the Democrats in the South and the Republicans in the West.
MAP 20 1 The Two-Party Stalemate of the Late Nineteenth Century
Associational Politics Associations of people with similar opinions operated outside the electoral arena but played significant roles on politics. The Grange, for example, campaigned for Granger laws to help farmers but remained nonpartisan. The Mugwumps lobbied for civil service reform.
Associational Politics (cont d) Women were active in politics, especially through the National American Woman Suffrage Association founded in 1890 and social service organizations. The Women s Christian Temperance Union gained a massive following.
Associational Politics (cont d) Granger laws - State laws enacted in the Midwest in the 1870s that regulated rates charged by railroads, grain elevator operators, and other middlemen. Mugwumps - Elitist and conservative reformers who favored sound money and limited government and opposed tariffs and the spoils system.
Associational Politics (cont d) National American Woman Suffrage Association - The organization, formed in 1890, that coordinated the ultimately successful campaign to achieve women s right to vote.
This sympathetic cartoon shows a Granger trying to warn Americans blindly absorbed in partisan politics of the dangers of on rushing industrialization.
Women lobbying a Congressional committee to support woman suffrage. Susan B. Anthony noted with regret that to all men women suffrage is only a side issue.
The Limits of Government
The Limits of Government With a Congress and presidency divided between the two major parties, a small and inefficient bureaucracy, judicial restraints, and a resurgent belief in localism and laissez-faire policies, the size and objectives of the federal government were limited.
The Limits of Government (cont d) Laissez-faire - The doctrine that government should not intervene in the economy, especially through regulation.
The Weak Presidency (cont d) The impeachment of President Johnson weakened the presidency. Presidents viewed their duties as administrative.
The Inefficient Congress Congress was the most powerful branch of the national government. Early in the period, Congress was inefficient but as more national legislation was required, it reformed its procedures and structure.
FIGURE 20 2 Increase in Congressional Business, 1871-1901
The Federal Bureaucracy and the Spoils System The federal bureaucracy remained small and was criticized as being corrupt and inefficient.
Inconsistent State Government State governments were more active than the federal government.
Public Policies and National Elections
Civil Service Reform Reform of the spoils system gained momentum during the Hayes administration. Reformers wanted a professional civil service based on merit that was divorced from politics.
Civil Service Reform (cont'd) The assassination of President James Garfield by a disappointed office seeker prompted the passage of the Pendleton Civil Service Act that emphasized merit and skill in government appointments.
Civil Service Reform (cont'd) Pendleton Civil Service Act - A law of 1883 that reformed the spoils system by prohibiting government workers from making political contributions and creating the Civil Service Commission to oversee their appointment on the basis of merit rather than politics.
The Political Life of the Tariff The tariff issue was hotly debated in the late 1800s. It was linked to partisan, ideological, and regional concerns. The Republican Party was committed to industry and championed protective tariffs. Democrats espoused a laissez-faire approach and favored tariff reduction.
The Political Life of the Tariff (cont'd) The political disagreement was over how much the tariff should be and whom should be protected.
Arguments in the Tariff Debates
Here the platform of the Democratic Party ("Democracy") is splintering because of conflicting interests.
The Beginnings of Federal Regulation Popular pressure began to propel Congress to take the first steps toward regulating business, starting with railroads and proceeding to interstate commerce and corporate monopolies.
The Beginnings of Federal Regulation(cont'd) Interstate Commerce Act - The 1887 law that expanded federal power over business by prohibiting pooling and discriminatory rates by railroads and establishing the first federal regulatory agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission. Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) - The first federal regulatory agency, established in 1887 to oversee railroad practices.
The Beginnings of Federal Regulation(cont'd) Sherman Antitrust Act - The first federal antitrust measure, passed in 1890; sought to promote economic competition by prohibiting business combinations in restraint of trade or commerce.
In this 1881 cartoon, the evil spirit of artisanship threatens a government clerk
The Money Question Monetary policy was the most divisive political issue of the late 19th century.
The Money Question (cont d) Creditors, bankers, conservative economists, and many business leaders supported a sound money policy to ensure economic stability, maintain property values, and retain investor confidence. Farmers and other debtors wanted to expand the money supply to match the nation s growing population and economy.
The Money Question (cont d) The conflict on money focused on the use of paper currency and silver coinage. Silver became the prominent issue in the 1880s and divided Southerners and Westerners against Eastern conservatives. Sound money - Misleading slogan that referred to a conservative policy of restricting the money supply and adhering to the gold standard.
The Money Question (cont d) Free silver - Philosophy that the government should expand the money supply by purchasing and coining all the silver offered to it.
Depicting corporate power as threatening popular liberty, this cartoon posed the question, What are you going to do about it? The American answer, beginning with the ICC in 1887, was government regulation.
The Crisis of the 1890s
Farmers Protest Inequities The agricultural depression of the late 1880s politically mobilized farmers. Farmers protested that the system of money and credit worked against agriculture. Monetary deflation worsened the debt burden of farmers. High railroad rates and protective tariffs also were targets of farmer reforms.
Farmers Protest Inequities (cont'd) Farmers organized the Farmers Alliance in the South and the West. The Alliance tried to establish cooperatives and developed new ideas to solve rural credit and currency problems.
Farmers Protest Inequities (cont'd) Farmers Alliance - Abroad mass movement in the rural South and West during the late nineteenth century, encompassing several organizations and demanding economic and political reforms; helped create the Populist Party.
The People s Party In 1890, state-level third parties ran populist campaigns and gained control of two state legislatures and won several congressional elections. The Populists were organized in 1892 and ran on the Omaha Platform.
The People s Party (cont'd) Though meeting disappointments, the Populists received over one million votes, carried several western states, and won hundreds of state office throughout the West and some areas of the South. Omaha Platform - The 1892 platform of the Populist Party repudiating laissez-faire and demanding economic and political reforms to aid distressed farmers and workers.
This hostile cartoon depicts the People s Party as an odd assortment of radical dissidents committed to a Platform of Lunacy.
The Challenge of the Depression A long, harsh depression began in 1893 that led to labor unrest and violence. The major political parties did not respond to the crisis and President Cleveland refused to listen to appeals for reforms.
The Challenge of the Depression (cont d) The unemployed rallied around Jacob Coxey s call for a march on Washington. While many Americans were sympathetic to the plight of the unemployed, the government suppressed Coxey s Army.
The Challenge of the Depression (cont d) The federal government protected big business from labor unrest through court decisions and legislation. Coxey s Army - A protest march of unemployed workers, led by Populist businessman Jacob Coxey, demanding inflation and a public works program during the depression of the 1890s.
Jacob Coxey s Army of the unemployed marches to Washington, D.C.
The Battle of the Standards and the Election of 1896 Unpopular actions and the continuing depression alienated workers and farmers from the Cleveland administration and the Democratic Party. Silver was the major issue in the 1896 election. McKinley won the Republican nomination on a platform that supported high tariffs and the gold standard.
The Battle of the Standards and the Election of 1896 (cont'd) The Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan on a silver platform, undercutting the People s Party who also nominated Bryan. The campaign was intense and dramatic. But Bryan but he lost the election decisively to McKinley.
MAP 20 2 The Election of 1896
William Jennings Bryan in 1896.
This Republican campaign poster of 1896 depicts William McKinley standing on sound money
Conclusion
Conclusion Politics and government often seemed at cross purposes in the late 1800s. The localism, laissez-faire, and other traditional political and governmental principles were becoming increasingly inappropriate for America s industrializing society.
Conclusion (cont'd) By the end of the 1890s, the Republicans had emerged as the dominant party, a new activist presidency was emerging, and the stage was set for the Progressive Era of reform.