Post on 30-Dec-2015
transcript
From Stalemate to Crisis
Brinkley text Chapter 19
From Stalemate to Crisis
In the late 19th century, the United States seems to have had another series of mediocre leaders
They were more concerned with irrelevant issues than with the nation’s more serious problems
This was a period of stalemate in which dramatic changes were taking place, but the leadership was doing little to affect them
From Stalemate to Crisis
The two-party system was strong Republicans and Democrats were almost
evenly matched, and there was a vigorous contest for power
The conflict between them centered more on regional, ethnic and religious sentiments than the broader political and policy issues
Party loyalty was strong on both sides
From Stalemate to Crisis
At this point, the federal government did comparatively little
The only Cabinet departments were the original line-up in 1789
The Department of State, the Department of War (later the Department of Defense), the Department of the Treasury, and the Post Office, and . . .
From Stalemate to Crisis
The Department of the Interior (added in 1849) The Department of Agriculture (1862) Mostly, the federal government just . . . . . . delivered the mail, . . . maintained the national military, . . . conducted foreign policy, . . . and collected tariffs and taxes
From Stalemate to Crisis
But there were exceptions Economic development was growing in
importance
From Stalemate to Crisis
The federal government had been involved in economic development for some time
Subsidies to railroads, land grants Intervention on the side of “capitalism”
(management) Pensions for Civil War veterans and widows Some reformers hoped to make old-age
pensions available to all Americans
From Stalemate to Crisis
Party patronage and corruption stalled reform efforts
The most powerful organizations were the political parties (Party Bosses), not the national government
There were 100,000 presidential appointments to be made with a very small staff
From Stalemate to Crisis
Presidents had to try to avoid offending powerful party factions
Rutherford B. Hayes (served 1877-1881)
Competition between Half-Breeds (reform) and Stalwarts (machine politics) for control of the Republican Party
From Stalemate to Crisis
1880 Election: Republicans nominated
James A. Garfield (Half-Breed) for President
Chester A. Arthur (Stalwart) nominated for Vice-President
Democrats nominated an unknown (Winfield Hancock)
Garfield-Arthur won easily
From Stalemate to Crisis
Four months into his term, Garfield was assassinated
Shot by Charles Guiteau, a lawyer and disgruntled office seeker
Probably mentally unbalanced
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Guiteau proclaimed, “I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts! I did it and I
want to be arrested! Arthur is President now!” Guiteau got his wish, and was arrested He was hanged a year later.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Garfield had advocated civil service reform Arthur had been a believer in the “Spoils
System” But Arthur supported Garfield’s civil service
reforms after Garfield’s death 1883: Pendleton Act required civil service
exams for some federal jobs Expanded over the years
From Stalemate to Crisis
1884 Election: James G. Blaine
(R) vs. Grover Cleveland (D)
Cleveland won More about
Cleveland later
From Stalemate to Crisis
FARMERS’ GRIEVANCES: TIGHT MONEY – the government would not
issue “greenbacks,” but insisted on “coinage at par” – printing only as much currency as gold reserves in the treasury could support.
UNFAIR BANK PRACTICES – banks gave better interest rates to the wealthy
From Stalemate to Crisis
(Farmers’ grievances, cont’d) RAILROADS – all railroad companies agreed
to give better freight rates to industries than to farmers
The Grange contended that since the land of the United States belongs to “all of us,” companies that had laid rails on that land should be controlled by the government.
From Stalemate to Crisis
When silver was discovered in Nevada in the 1870s the farmers’ alliances tried to convince the federal government to back currency up with silver as well as with gold (BI-METALLISM)
Congress refused.
From Stalemate to Crisis
RACIAL GRIEVANCES: Two theories, and two styles
of black leadership, emerged during this era
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON: raised as a slave, he advocated patience in achieving social equality
“Be content with where you are,” he advised young black people.
From Stalemate to Crisis
W.E.B. Du Bois (du BOYCE) Son of a university-educated
black family in the North He advocated that the “10%” –
the academically gifted young black people – should demand nothing less than full professional education and admission to the professions
This was the only true equality
From Stalemate to Crisis
The White leadership tended to favor Washington’s views
The emerging black business class tended to favor Du Bois’ strategy
Black leaders were divided for the next 75 years of which tactic would be most effective
From Stalemate to Crisis
Political parties did NOT reflect these divisions in society as much as they reflected religious and social affiliations
E.g., there was not a political party in the 1880s and 1890s that represented minorities, workers, or women
Differences in the parties were much more subtle.
From Stalemate to Crisis
REPUBLICANS: Predominantly Northerners, white and black Remained loyal to the ideals of Lincoln, though
they were not active in racial equality Industrialist Protestant, tended to appeal to native-born
WASP Anti-immigration Pro-temperance
From Stalemate to Crisis
DEMOCRATS: Generally Southerners Many invoked “The Lost Cause” of states’
rights and old-world Southern gentility Largely Catholic and immigrant Segregationist
From Stalemate to Crisis
Republican presidents dominated from 1880-1912 During this period, Republicans generally controlled the Senate Democrats controlled the House This arrangement was stable and predictable,
generally accepted by each party. That generalized acceptance of the status quo
mitigated against any dramatic social change
From Stalemate to Crisis
One notable exception: Grover Cleveland A Democrat who earned a reputation as a
reformer Won in 1884 after his Republican opponent
rashly characterized Democrats as Catholics, rebels, and drunkards
From Stalemate to Crisis
As president, Cleveland worked to lower protective tariffs
He felt that protective tariffs were unfair to ordinary people and helped industrialists too much.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Cleveland’s re-election campaign in 1888 was fought over the tariff
He lost a close (and probably dishonest) election in ’88 to Benjamin Harrison
From Stalemate to Crisis
Benjamin Harrison was a completely unremarkable leader
During his term many new sources of anger among ordinary Americans appeared.
Benjamin Harrison
Grandson of President William Henry Harrison (who had served for four weeks in 1841)
Benjamin Harrison was the last President with a beard
From Stalemate to Crisis
Congress passed the first Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1890
It was not intended to do much other than quiet the criticism of big businessmen and their monopolies
It was little-used for about ten years, and was never very successful.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Republicans under Harrison acted quickly to re-instate the protective tariffs that Cleveland had fought against
The McKinley Tariff of 1890 benefited the industrial tycoons greatly
It was introduced by then-Representative (later President) William McKinley
From Stalemate to Crisis
The McKinley tariff was was the highest tariff ever
It raised the average duty (tariff) to an average of almost fifty percent (50%)
It was very unpopular among ordinary people It helped the Republicans lose their
Congressional majority in 1892 It also helped McKinley lose his Congressional
seat
From Stalemate to Crisis
Grover Cleveland returned to prominence after this mid-term Republican defeat, in an “I-told-you-so” frame of mind
Even though he had lost a presidential election for a second term in 1888, the Democrats nominated him again in 1892
He won, becoming the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms
So he was the 22nd and the 24th President
From Stalemate to Crisis
Under Cleveland’s second term Congress lowered the protective tariff somewhat
Passed the Wilson-Gorman tariff over the president’s weak objections.
But Cleveland was by no means a general reformer
He did not believe that changing social policies was any affair of the government
From Stalemate to Crisis
Farmers were often victimized by industrialists as well
Striking, union formation and other forms of collective action was more difficult for them
The Grange and other Farmers’ Alliances sprang up in the 1880s
Farmers could state their grievances and use politics to force government aid
From Stalemate to Crisis
The Grange: Oliver Hudson Kelley of
the U.S. Department of Agriculture made an official trip through the South
From Stalemate to Crisis
He was astounded by the lack of sound agricultural practices he encountered
Helped form the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry in 1867
From Stalemate to Crisis
The Grange began as a fraternal organization, complete with its own secret rituals.
Local affiliates were known as "granges" and the members as "grangers.“
In its early years, the Grange was devoted to educational events and social gatherings
From Stalemate to Crisis
The Grange grew slowly in the early years But the attraction of social events was
considerable Farm life in the 19th century was marked by a
tedium and isolation It usually was relieved only by church functions
and the weekly trips to town for supplies
From Stalemate to Crisis
Following the Panic of 1873, the Grange spread rapidly throughout the farm belt
Farmers in all areas were plagued by low prices for their products, growing indebtedness and discriminatory treatment by the railroads
These concerns helped to transform the Grange into a political force
From Stalemate to Crisis
During the 1870s, the Grangers advocated Cooperative purchasing to obtain lower prices
on farm equipment and supplies Pooling of savings to reduce dependence on
corrupt banks Cooperative grain elevators to hold non-
perishable crops until the optimal times to sell
From Stalemate to Crisis
Mary Elizabeth Lease of Kansas, one of the nation's first female attorneys, traveled to Grange halls
She urged the farmers to "raise less corn and more hell.”
From Stalemate to Crisis
Such pleas went largely unheeded Most farmers preferred to blame the politicians,
judges and bankers for their plight As a result, the various groups who advocated
real reform (or who were consistently abused by America’s majorities) had no hope of assistance under the programs of either the Democrat or the Republican parties
But those problems did not go away.
From Stalemate to Crisis
The Grange and the various Farmers’ Alliances became more and more militant in demanding government action to assist farmers
They demanded laws to assist farmers in getting bank loans, and to lower the rates charged by railroad companies
Farmers called these high freight rates “thievery, legalized.”
From Stalemate to Crisis
Out of the demands of farmers, workers, and other ordinary folk came a new political movement
The People’s Party, commonly called The Populists.
Populist leaders included farm advocate Mary E. Lease and Congressman Tom Watson of Georgia.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Populism appealed to small town people, to farmers, and to some among the working class
They didn’t offer much for black citizens, though many blacks followed them because neither of the major parties offered them anything, either
The AFL stayed away from populism, claiming it was “too radical” for them.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Populism was a political force that was able to connect small town people both in the North and the South
This was a geographic line neither of the major two parties had ever been able to bridge
Democrats in particular began to listen to the Populist message, and to realize that many voters were drawn to it.
From Stalemate to Crisis
A continuing Populist call was for “free coinage of silver,” as a means of ending the currency problems of the country.
Farmers at that time generally took out bank loans at the start of the planting season, planning to pay them back once the crop sold
A farmer was thus “land poor” – his wealth was in his crops, not in his pockets. Cash was always short.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Farmers and Populists saw printing more paper dollars, or making silver one of the economy’s official metals, as the answer to their problems
This showed a slight understanding of how paper money works, but was still an appealing idea to the Populists.
From Stalemate to Crisis
The Republican Party scoffed at this new “bi-metallist” theory. Silver was far too plentiful, they argued; backing currency with silver would ultimately water down the dollar’s worth
Republicans and their industrialist constituents favored what they called “hard money” – paper money backed dollar-for-dollar with gold only.
From Stalemate to Crisis
The “money question” became the big divide in American politics during the 1890s
Populists, for all the flaws in their economic thinking, seemed to be the only political home for small-town, rural Americans.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Democrats realized the appeal of their ideas, even though they were simplistic
Democrat strategy began to envision a different Democrat party that widened its appeal to now include small town people in North and South
By mid-1890s, the Democrat party began to resemble the Populist party in many ways.
From Stalemate to Crisis
An economic panic in 1893 soon widened into the worst depression the country had even known at that point
Several major companies went bankrupt, laid off many workers, and sent the stock market into a skid.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Workers blamed the industrialists for the problem, and also for taking out their losses on the backs of their employees by laying them off when times got tough.
Industrialists blamed the “low tariff” policies of the Cleveland administration, for not being attentive enough to foreign competition and its effect on domestic sales.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Banks began to call in loans and were reluctant to grant new ones, trying to safeguard their assets in case the economy really did fail completely.
Over 8000 businesses failed, including a few of the industrial giants
Farm prices fell, as demand fell (because workers could not afford to buy groceries.)
From Stalemate to Crisis
Unemployment was over 20%. An Ohio Populist named Jacob Coxey led a
march of farmers and the unemployed on Washington DC, to force Congress to come to their aid
“Coxey’s Army” Congress ignored them A revolt was brewing
Jacob Coxey
From Stalemate to Crisis
Many Populists believed (incorrectly) that the root of the Depression was a little-noticed government action in 1873, by which Congress agreed never to accept silver as any more than 1/16 of the treasury’s specie
“Specie” = hard money, precious metal During the economic crisis of 1893, this 1873
action began to seem like a crime.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Populists proclaimed that if only the government had accepted silver on a par with gold in ’73, the ’93 depression would not have happened.
A Populist leader named William Jennings Bryan seized on this one fact, and hammered if often in his speeches
Populists loved him for it, and the Democrat Party took note as well.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Bryan was a Scripture scholar and part-time preacher
He had a heart for small town America
And he had a sharp sense of injustice.
From Stalemate to Crisis
He said that industrialists’ insistence on “the gold standard” – backing money only with gold – resulted in the “crucifixion of America’s heartland” upon a “cross of gold.”
From Stalemate to Crisis
Populists nominated Bryan as their presidential candidate in 1896
They assumed that both of the major parties would nominate “business-as-usual” candidates
They assumed that the Populist Bryan could win an upset victory
They saw him as the only candidate with appeal to the mass of “ordinary people” voters.
From Stalemate to Crisis
But the Democrats, seeing Bryan’s wild popularity in 1896, nominated him as well
Bryan accepted the nominations of both parties
Neither the Populists nor the Democrats were entirely comfortable with the people this dual-nomination brought into their parties
Some of the party faithful refused to accept Bryan.
From Stalemate to Crisis
And as a result, Bryan lost a very hard-fought campaign in 1896 to William McKinley, who advocated laissez-faire economic policies and a high protective tariff
The popular vote was fairly close (51.1% McKinley - 47.7% Bryan)
4% difference between the candidates But McKinley won the wealthy, large states and
their high electoral vote counts.
William McKinley
William Jennings Bryan
Bryan later argued for the prosecution in the 1925 “Scopes Monkey Trial” against the famed defense attorney Clarence Darrow
He won the case, but the trial put great strain on him
He died five days later
From Stalemate to Crisis
But while economic conservatism prevailed in that election, the Populists did succeed in changing the Democrat party forever in 1896
Democrats continued to widen their appeal to farmers and ordinary working class voters, and eased very slowly into a growing comfort level with the idea of social reform.
From Stalemate to Crisis
But don’t assume that the voices for reform were totally ineffective
Supreme Court decisions during this time show that the efforts toward equality for ordinary people were having some effect, however small.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Bradwell v. Illinois (1872)
Myra Bradwell graduated from law school but was denied the right to practice law in Illinois
From Stalemate to Crisis
The Illinois state supreme court had ruled that men and women traditionally operated in differing “spheres of influence”
The practice of law was not in the woman’s “traditional sphere”
Bradwell appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court
From Stalemate to Crisis
Bradwell’s attorney argued that Illinois’ action violated her rights under the 14th amendment
Illinois counter-argued that the 14th amendment did not specifically include a state’s privilege under the Constitution to grant (or not grant) law licenses
A law license was not a “civil right.”
From Stalemate to Crisis
The Court agreed with Bradwell by a 4-3 vote 3 Supreme Court justices agreed with the that
of Illinois that God did not want women to practice law
Bradwell was admitted to the Illinois bar She eventually won a federal license in 1892 to
practice in the Supreme Court.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Back to the Grange . . . Grange influence was particularly strong in
Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois Political pressure yielded a series of "Granger
laws" designed to give legislative assistance to the farmers
Initially, they were successful
From Stalemate to Crisis
Munn v. Illinois (1877) Munn was one of the so-called Grange cases,
resulting from Grange activism regarding the railroads.
The State of Illinois, acting under pressure from reform groups, had regulated the amount a grain storage facility could charge farmers to store their grain while awaiting shipment via railroad.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Grain storage facilities (called “grain elevators” in those days) were generally owned and operated by railroads
Because railroads didn’t want to do business with farmers because of the high risk of spoilage to this kind of freight, the railroads charged farmers a premium price to store grain until shipment.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Illinois was a farm state where many Populist-minded legislators served in the state legislature
The Illinois legislature in 1876 mandated a maximum storage rate
Munn, who operated a grain elevator, sued the state for “depriving him of his property [potential profit] without due process” – a 14th amendment violation.
From Stalemate to Crisis
The Supreme Court ruled against Munn, and in favor of the Illinois price controls
Grain elevators, said the Court, are widely used by the public and because of that the legislature has a right to regulate them.
Munn was one of the first cases approving government regulation of railroads
From Stalemate to Crisis
Munn is considered a watershed “Watershed” = a turning point, a point after
which everything was different But a counteroffensive by the railroads brought
the Wabash case, which wiped out some of the gains
From Stalemate to Crisis
Wabash, St. Louis, and Pacific Railroads v. Illinois (1886)
This powerful combination of railroad interests in Illinois sued the state in 1886 to protest state regulation of shipping rates on railroads
It might have been expected that the Court would revert to the position it had taken with Munn v. Illinois.
From Stalemate to Crisis
But the Court did not It didn’t overturn Munn, either But it did state that the Wabash case was not
like Munn Munn applied only to grain elevators inside of
the state (intrastate commerce) In Wabash, the shipping rate regulations were
applied to interstate commerce
From Stalemate to Crisis
In other words, the Supreme Court said that Illinois’ regulation of interstate commerce was unconstitutional
Reason: only the Congress could regulate interstate commerce (traffic between states)
You may even remember Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) from Chapter 7
From Stalemate to Crisis
The Wabash decision discouraged any further state attempts to regulate railroads, at least for a while
But the suits that came before the Supreme Court during the Populist era showed that large numbers of people were beginning to demand relief from unfair corporate practices.
From Stalemate to Crisis
Congress responded in 1887 with the Interstate Commerce Act
It created an Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
The ICC had oversight authority over railroads, canals, etc.
And any other public conveyance that was involved in interstate commerce.
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ICC rules were somewhat vague: Shipping rates had to be “reasonable and just,”
but were not specific about just exactly what that meant.
Rates had to be made public Secret kickbacks called rebates were outlawed Prices could not be structured in a way that
discriminated against “small markets.”
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The ICC was given authority to investigate and prosecute suspected abuses and violations
However, Congress did not appropriate enough money for the ICC to do an effective job
From Stalemate to Crisis
President McKinley further weakened the Commission by appointing pro-railroad men to it
Still, the precedent favoring some kind of regulation had begun.