(Class 14) On the Eve of the 20th Century

Question 1

Farmers Alliance

Answer 1

• The farm population was approximately 29,414,000
• Almost 50% of the population was still involved in farming
• Farmers tried to stay independent
• As their situation worsened they organized
• Formed Regional Alliances
• The first came together in Lampasas County, Texas

Motto: To Fight “land sharks and horse thieves”

• Movement grew in the 1880s
• Two Regional Alliances formed:
• The Northwestern Farmers’ Alliance – Kansas, Nebraska and the Midwest
• Southern Farmers’ Alliance – By 1890 had >3 million members

Question 2

Southern Farmer’s Alliance

Answer 2

• More radical and inclusive
• Reached out to African-Americans, women, and industrial workers
• Cooperated with the “Colored Farmers’ Alliance” founded in Texas in the 1880s
• Alliances formed Cooperatives among farmers – the heart of the alliance
• Farmers’ cooperatives:
• Bulking things together farmers could get better prices
• Also through cooperation they could avoid using creditors
• But these were often difficult to run
• Had opposition from merchants, bankers, wholesalers and manufacturers
• Credit when needed was very often difficult to obtain

Question 3

Populism

Answer 3

• The “power of regular people” – power to the common man
• Formed People’s Party an agrarian-populist political party in the United States between 1892 and 1896
• Populists demanded economic democracy
• Championed land reform
• Claimed excessive land was granted to greedy railroads
• Also pushed for government ownership of the railroads and telegraph system to put an end to discriminatory rates.
• Supported free silver to increase the nation’s tight money supply
• To empower common people populists called for direct election of senators
• Pushed for other electoral reforms – including the secret ballot and right to recall elected officials
• Supported the 8 hour work day
• By 1896 the People’s Party (for the most part) merged into the Democratic Party

Question 4

Homestead Lockout

Answer 4

• At issue was the right to organize in the Homestead steel mill
• Carnegie resolved to break the Amalgamated Iron and Steel Workers union of the AFL
• Union tried to renew its contract
• Carnegie would not renew union contract – wanted to operate on non-union basis
• Spring of 1892 - Carnegie left for Scotland and left Henry Clay Frick in charge
• Frick was very anti-labor/anti-union like Carnegie
• Frick fired the entire workforce and erected a tall fence around the plant
• He hired 316 Pinkertons as police and strikebreakers

Question 5

Miner’s Strike in Cripple Creek

Answer 5

• Economic depression of 1893 was devastating
• Caused silver mines in the west to fall on hard times
• Mine owners tried to increase workday from 8 to 10 hours to increase profits
• Newly formed Western Federation of Miners (WFM) vowed to strike
• All mines were running more than 8 hour shifts
• Lead to miners strike at Cripple Creek in 1894
• When strike occurred there was much financial support to miners from strike funds
• So they could hold out for their demands while receiving money from union

Question 6

Pullman Boycott

Answer 6

• June 29th – switchmen across the US refuse to handle any train that carried Pullman cars
• Conflict escalated
• In solidarity with Pullman workers entire train crews walked off jobs
• In 3 days (July 2) rail lines all over the country were at a standstill
• Boycott was peaceful
• Debs encouraged all his workers to avoid violence and respect law and order
• Chicago Judges issued injunction against Boycott and Debs refused to honor it

Question 7

Temperance

Answer 7

• Issue of Vulnerability
• Married women and children suffered when money went to drinking by husband and father
• Also the issue of the drunken and abusive husband was very real
• Alcohol and its use by men worked to marginalize women and reduced them to second class citizens
• Women began to speak out to rid the country of alcohol or at least significantly reduce its use

Question 8

Women’s suffrage

Answer 8

• 1869 National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) launched
• Founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
• Demanded the vote for Women
• 1869 American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA)
• Men and Women, more conservative group
• Advocated that Women should stick with the Republican party
• Make suffrage the 16th amendment
• 1890 the two united as National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
• Launched campaigns on the state level to gain women’s vote
• Used “home protection” as argument for the ballot
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton – first president of NAWSA in 1890
• Susan B. Anthony took over in 1892
• Stanton had been instrumental in the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848
• Both in their seventies were coming to end of their careers
• Both had worked on women’s rights since early on – property rights, custody rights, right to education and gainful employment
• Universal women’s suffrage however eluded both of them

Question 9

William McKinley

Answer 9

• Nominated by Republicans for the Election of 1896
• Supported Big Business (gold standard)

Question 10

William Jennings Bryan

Answer 10

• leading proponent of Free Silver – A Populist
• Nominated by Democrats for the Election of 1896

Question 11

Silverites

Answer 11

• US at the time was on Gold Standard
• Gold standard caused deflationary pressures
• This was worsened by the depression
• Free Silver proponents existed in both parties
• Advocates were in favor of an inflationary monetary policy using the “free coinage of silver” as opposed to the deflationary gold standard. Put more money in circulation.

Question 12

Open Door Policy

Answer 12

• In the 1890s China was partitioned into spheres of influence by Britain, Japan, Germany, France and Russia
• To protect American trading interests Secretary of State John Hay on September 6, 1899 wrote an Open Door Note
• Dispatched to the major European powers it advocated an open door policy to ensure trade access with China to all nations on an equal basis and maintain Chinese sovereignty
• Stated that no power should have total control of China and trade
• Note was at first largely ignored by European powers but then all agreed except Russia
• United States with the Open Door policy secured access to Chinese markets and expanded its economic power without direct colonization in Asia

Question 13

Spanish-American War

Answer 13

• Followed the intent of the Monroe Doctrine
• America’s attempt to free Cuba from non-western Spanish control
• Cuban Revolutionaries launched a fight for independence in 1895
• As the conflict continued pressure for America to intervene intensified
• American journalism helped fuel public outrage against Spain
• America’s interests in Cuba were threatened
• $50 million invested in Cuban sugar
• $100 million in trade a year that dropped to zero with the Cuban revolution
• For American expansionists like Teddy Roosevelt more than Cuban independence was at stake

Question 14

Theodore Roosevelt

Answer 14

• Young man, 39 years old, Harvard graduate
• Assistant Secretary of the Navy
• In 1897 orders US fleet to be ready to go to Manila, Philippines
• Should war with Spain erupt he wanted them to be in position to capture the islands
• Would gain a stepping stone to China
• TR envisioned a global conflict with Spain

Question 15

The Rough Riders

Answer 15

• Roosevelt resigned his navy post and formed the Rough Riders to fight in the war
• Composed of Ivy leaguers and western cowboys
• Charged up Kettle Hill
• Decisive battle of San Juan Hill was front page news
• Roosevelt became famous from his role in Cuba and the Spanish-American War
• By the time he sailed home from Cuba he was being considered for greater things