3 - Populism & Progressivism ('90-'12) Flashcards
Populism & Progessivism - Economic Legislation/Events
- Dingley Tariff Act ‘97 - McKinley increased tariffs
- Currency Act 1900 - committed the US to maintaining the gold standard
- Sherman Anti-Trust Act ‘90
- Repeal of the Silver Purchase Act ‘96 - Cleveland’s reaction to the ‘93 depression, began to improve the economy
- Introduced federal income tax & corporation tax ‘09 - later used to fund direct election of senators
- Payne-Aldrich Act ‘09 - Taft failed to lower tariffs
Populism & Progessivism - FP Legislation/Events
- Treaty of Paris ‘98 - end to the S.A.W.
- US introduced Open Door policy ‘99 towards China
- Platt Amendment ‘01, gave US control over Cuban affairs and several naval bases
- Cuban-American Treaty ‘03, imposed new political system on Cuba and made its economy heavily dependent on the US
- Root-Takahira Agreement ‘08, agreed to respect each others interests in China and maintain current situation in the Pacific
Populism & Progessivism - AA Legislation/Events
- Plessy v. Ferguson ‘96
- Cumming v. Board of Education ‘99
- NAACP founded ‘09
Populism & Progessivism - Industrial Legislation/Events
- Department of Labour and Commerce Act ‘03 - Created a new Department of Commerce to identify monopolies and price fixing
- Hepburn Act ‘06 - railroad freight rates could be inspected and lowered
- Pure Food and Drug Act ‘06 - started the end of food adulteration
- The Omnibus Indictment Act, permitted legal banning of strikes
Populism & Progessivism - Presidents
T2(/2) Cleveland (again), ‘93-‘97
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1.5T - McKinley, ‘96-‘01
2T - Teddy Roosevelt, ‘01-‘08
1T - Taft, ‘08-‘12
McKinley strengths & weaknesses
Stengths
* Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush increased the amount of gold in circulation
* Political position strengthened by the Spanish-American War
* Growing economy
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Weaknesses
* Big business friendly policies
* Dingley Tariff Act ‘97 (increased tariffs)
* Currency Act 1900 (committed the US to maintaining the gold standard)
* Strong disagreements with VP TR
* Assassinated Sept ‘01
TR strengths (few sig. weaknesses)
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Anti-trust measures
- Further enforced Sherman Antitrust Act ‘90 - 44 anti-trust prosecutions
- Department of Labour & Commerce Act ‘03 - Created a new Department of Commerce with power to collect data from any business dealing in interstate commerce, identified monopolies & price fixing
- Hepburn Act ‘06 - Established a federal government commission with power to inspect books of railroad companies & lay down max rates they could charge
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Sided with the workers during the Anthracite coal strike ‘02
- Said he would send the army in to work the mines, workers given wage rises & 9hr work limit
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Conservation
- 150M acres of forest placed under Fed. reserve
- Strictly enforced laws on grazing, mining and lumbering
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Consumer protection
- Pure Food and Drug Act ‘06 started the end of food adulteration
- Led to federal meat inspection programme
- Roosevelt brought federal government and presidential office into the domain of economic and social reform
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However,
- Didn’t prevent the progressive-conservative divide in the Republican party
- Split the Rep. vote in ‘12 election due to forming the Bull Moose Party
Taft strengths & weaknesses
Stengths
* Antitrust measures (80 antitrust suits)
* 8hr working day for government employees
* Mine safety legislation
* Interstate Commission to set railroad rates
* ‘09, introduced federal income tax and corporation tax (later used to fund direct election of senators)
Respected rights of congress to oppose his ideas
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Weaknesses
* Lacked TR’s political skill
* Failed to handle Republican Party progressive-conservative divide
* Payne-Aldrich Act ‘09 (failed to lower tariffs)
* Lost the support of TR who considered him too conservative
Populism & its importance
- Agricultural discontent
- Regulation of railways & farm prices
- Improve AA rights
- Graduated income tax
- Direct election of senators
- 8hr working day
- Bimetallism
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Important - Progressives adopted many of the aims of the populist party
- Third party influence of the Populists
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Not important - Collapsed following ‘96 election; short lived
- Had few electoral success (45 member served in Congress 1891-1902)
Causes of Progressivism
- Economic problems
- Depression of ‘93, 12% unemployed in ‘90s, Falling standards of living, Failing small farms vs big agribusiness
- Social problems
- Poor living conditions, 6 day, 72hr working week, No welfare system
- Need for political reform
- Growing dissatisfaction with the 2 main parties, Corruption
- Need to regulate big business
- Monopolies and fixed prices, Increasingly hostile to robber barons
- Media influence
- Increase in magazine and newspaper circulation, spreading views and opinions, ‘12, McClure’s magazine sold 1M copies per edition
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Fear of revolution
- Concern about the growth of socialism and radicalism, Growing trade unions and violent strikes
Progressivism goals
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Political aims
- Female suffrage, More democratic election of public officials (e.g. Direct election of senators), Regulation on big business and intervention on the side of the workers
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- Female suffrage, More democratic election of public officials (e.g. Direct election of senators), Regulation on big business and intervention on the side of the workers
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Economic aims
- Regulation of big business
- Legislation to recognise trade unions, regulate working hours & provide compensation for injury at work
- Insurance schemes for unemployed, elderly and sick
- Legislation for consumer protection
- Bimetallism
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Social aims
- Female suffrage, Welfare state, Prohibition, Improved living standards for AAs
Industrial Growth
- Modern oil production started in ‘01
- ‘13, Oklahoma producing 25% nations oil
- ‘04, largest 4% US companies producing 57% of total industry in the US
- US Steel became the world’s first billion-dollar company
Industrial discontent
- Pittsburg Steelworkers’ strike ‘93 - lasted 5 months but collapsed due to lack of funding & no negotiations accepted
- Pullman strike ‘94 - Pullman company cut wages, but not rent of required employee housing, rioting led troops to kill 4, Gov. proved hostile to strikers & strikes outlawed until ‘30s
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Depression of ‘93
- Reading Railroad declared bankruptcy, started financial panic
- ‘Industrial Black Friday’ - 24 businesses collapsed per day in May
- Sparked a 4 year depression (‘93-‘97)
- 15k companies and 600 banks collapsed
- National unemployment reached 20%
- Cleveland passed the Repeal of the Silver Purchase Act ‘96 which began to improve the economy
- Encouraged the rise of progressivism
Mass Immigration
Great Atlantic Migration - 18M Europeans migrated from ‘90-‘17
* 1900, NYC had more Italians than Naples and twice as many Irish as Dublin
* ‘14, 1.4M of NYC’s 4.7M population were Jewish
* ‘90, 10% San Francisco population was Chinese
Expansionist foreign policy causes
- Accidental empire
- Empire came about unintentionally die to several unrelated political moves
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Progressive imperialism
- Motivated by a desire to improve the lives of non-americans (Cuba, Phillipenes taken from Spanish Empire in S.A.W.)
- Need for markets
- Hawaii was a stopping off point for trade to Asia, Hawaii & Cuba for sugar
- The end of westward expansion
- Westward expansion was a form of imperialism and and after the end of the frontier, it was inevitable that American attention would move abroad
- Turner Thesis
- Preclusive imperialism
- Taking colonies to prevent other countries doing so (Alaska in prevention of Britain, Hawaii in prevention of Japan, Britain, Spain, Germany etc.)
- Monroe Doctrine 1823
- Roosevelt Corollary ‘04
- US intervened in Latin America if there is ‘wrong doing’
FP in Latin America
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Cuba
- S.A.W.
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Panama Canal
- ‘03, Panamanians stage a revolt for independence from Colombian rule
- Revolt supported by US, sent a battleship and a regiment
- Panama achieves independence
- Accepts US offer of $10M for a 16km wide strip of land to build the Panama Canal through
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Puerto Rico
- Originally Spanish owned
- US invaded in ‘98 during Spanish-American War
- Ruled to belong to US under Organic Act of 1900
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Venesuala
- US intervened during ‘95 British-Venezuelan dispute over border in Guiana
FP in Pacific
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Samoa
- Strong German and Britain interest as a trading post
Samoan Civil War in ‘98
‘99, Samoan monarchy abolished
US established a protectorate in the east and the west became a German colony
- Strong German and Britain interest as a trading post
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Hawaii
- To use as a stopping station on the way to China and Japan as well as the economic advantage of Hawaiin sugar
- ‘90s, large american presence in Hawaii and Pacific Naval Base and Pearl Harbour
- ‘91, Hawaiian queen leads a rebellion. Marines arrived and rebels surrendered in three days.
- ‘98, US annexed Hawaii
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Phillipenes
- US purchased from Spain for $20M as part of Treaty of Paris ‘98
- 3 reasons - US could ‘civilise’ through democracy and christianity, Prevent being taken over by Britain, Germany or Japan, Islands ‘incapable’ of ruling themselves
- Strong resistance by Filipinos resulting in 4 year war of subjugation
FP in Asia
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China
- No interest in expanding territorially into China
- ‘99, US introduced Open Door Policy
- Later extended to state that the US government would protect the lives and property of US citizens living in China
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Japan
- US helped negotiate end to the Russo-Japanese War of ‘04-‘05
- Root-Takahira Agreement ‘08, agreed to respect each others interests in China and maintain current situation in the Pacific
- US agreed to Japanese right to annex Korea
Causes of Spanish American War/S.A.W.
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Yellow Press
- Sensationalist and patriotic press campaigns inflamed public opinion
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President McKinley
- Had a strong interest in protecting cuban sugar and was fairly open to war
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Cuban Rebellion ‘95-‘98
- Declining economy and increasing resistance in Cuba
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Monroe Doctrine
- Cuba was in America’s sphere of influence but under Spanish rule
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Economic interest
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The ‘Maine’ incident
- US battleship Maine exploded, killing 266 crew
- They blamed the Maine on Spain (even if it was just an internal accident)
- TR ordered a blockade of Cuba
Effects of Spanish American War/S.A.W.
Short Term
* Ended with a peace settlement, ‘Treaty of Paris ‘98’.
* Cuban independence recognised but the US was allowed possession of Guantanamo Bay
* Spain seceded Guam and Puerto Rico to the US
* US purchased the Philippines from Spain for $20 million
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Long Term
* Platt Amendment ‘01, gave US control over Cuban affairs and several naval bases
* Cuban-American Treaty ‘03, imposed new political system on Cuba and made its economy heavily dependent on the US
* US forces occupied Cuba 3 times from ‘98 to 1912
* Phillipenes
* US could ‘civilise’ through democracy and christianity
* Prevent being taken over by Britain, Germany or Japan
* Islands ‘incapable’ of ruling themselves
* Strong resistance by Filipinos resulting in 4 year war of subjugation
Populism & Progressivism - AA life in the South
Segregation
* ‘87, a railroad company in Florida was the first to introduce segregated carriages
* This spread to other train companies and public places
* Plessy v. Ferguson ‘96
* Plessy - light-skinned man but 1/8th black - challenged Louisiana state law by refusing to leave a white only train carriage
* 7/8 SC judges ruled segregation legal provided it was ‘separate but equal’
* Cumming v. Board of Education ‘99
* ruled ‘seperate but equal’ could also apply to education
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Voting Rights
* By ‘10, there was near elimination of black vote in the South, with diff states introducing diff laws to stop AA voting
* ‘98, Louisiana introduced the ‘grandfather clause’: ppl could only vote if their father/grandfather had voted before 1867 (when AA gained the right to vote)
* ‘90, Mississippi introduced a literacy test
* Some states ruled only those who owned their own homes could vote
Populism & Progressivism - Brooker T. Washington & W.E.B Du Bois
Brooker T. Washington
* Born a slave in Virginia, later went to college and became a teacher
* ‘81, set up the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to provide vocational training for AA
* Helped set up National Urban League to help AA adjust to industrial life and work
* Speech in Atlanta ‘95
* Suggested AA focus on education and economic advancement
* work with the system rather than take it apart
* Critics called this ‘the Atlanta Compromise’ & claimed it was too accommodating
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W.E.B. Du Bois
* A lecturer in philosophy, advocated for more active resistance to discrimination
* Helped found the Niagara Movement in ‘05
* More active resistance, some argued it was too academic & it lacked funds
* Helped found the NAACP in ‘09
Populism & Progressivism - Strengths & weaknesses of AA situation
Strengths
* Chance of receiving a formal education increased
* Increasing migration north
* Civil Rights movement began to develop: NAACP in ‘09
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Weaknesses
* No AAs in Congress of state legislatures
* State laws in South stopped AA voting
* Lost the right to serve on juries
* Segregation laws were formalised
Populism & Progressivism - ‘96 election
- Populist Party had a divisive say in the nomination of the Democrat candidate, William Jennings Bryan
- Mark Hanna (senator & buisnessman) spent $3M supporting McKinley & sent 1.5k speakers to swing the vote in undecided areas
- Bryan travelled over 28,000km and gave 600 campaign speeches
- McKinley won 7M votes to Bryan 6.4M
Populism & Progressivism - Panic of ‘93
Causes
* Western & Southern farmers had:
* Low credit
* Poor harvests; no surplus to sell overseas
* Banks gave less credit out so many farmers began failing
* Industrial Depression
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Effects
* estimated100k men looking for jobs
* Banks, Businesses, Railways & Ordinary people lost savings and homes
* Contributed greatly to the rise of Populism
