Political Tensions + Corruption

Question 1

How long was the Republican dominance?

Answer 1

1896 (McKinley) —> 1912 (Wilson = democrat)

Question 2

What new political forces were rising?

Answer 2

• populism brought change + divisions in the Democratic Party
• progressivism deeply influenced + divided the Republican Party - especially under Theodore Roosevelt
• by 1912 Progressivism became a central issue in American politics - a new National Progressive Party was formed

Question 3

How was the political nation completed by 1890?

Answer 3

• between 1867 + 1912 - 12 new states were added to the Union
• 6 of these were added 1889-90
• these new states contained important new voters, with new political priorities
• this required the main political parties to adapt + change

Question 4

Who supported Democrat?

Answer 4

• core support still in the Solid South - since the civil war the democrats won the South in every election except Al Smith 1928 - shows continuity
• this gave segregationists southerners a stranglehold on the party
• also relied on support from industrial northeast - from businesses, blue collar workers + recent immigrants —> republicans believed in laissez faire policy = no workers rights
• during 1890s democrats won a lot of support from small farmers in the western states

Question 5

Changing point in parties in 1890s?

Answer 5

• in the ‘era of weak presidents’ the political balance was very even - shown by the close election battles between Cleveland + his Republican rival Benjamin Harrison in 1884, 1888 + 1892
• there was relatively little difference between them in policy + ideology - both supported financial policies backed by the gold standard (ensuring sound money)
• 1890s were turbulent years - financial panic, economic depression, strikes + rise of populism
• Democratic Party became more radical + divided = Republican Party came to power in ‘turning point election’ of 1896

Question 6

When did the populist party rise?

Answer 6

• first appeared as a political party at state level in 1890
• quickly got strong support in the south, the western plains + the Rocky Mountains
• 1892 - set out a manifesto - Omaha Platform
• populists did well in the 1892 elections + gained even more support in the mid-term elections of 1894

Question 7

What was the Omaha Platform?

Answer 7

• populist (People’s party) political manifesto set out in 1892
• theme was the need to fight corruption in govt. + legal system
• to save the nation from ‘moral, political + material ruin’

Question 8

What did the populists demand?

Answer 8

• government ownership of railroads
• currency that wasn’t controlled by private bankers
• ‘free silver’
• opportunity for settlers + farmers to acquire land from corporations + foreigners

Question 9

What’s ’free silver’?

Answer 9

• the end of the gold standard which populists viewed as the main reason for the depressed rural economy
• they wanted more money to be available more cheaply, to make loans more available + debts easier to pay
• economists denounced the ideas but they attracted mass support in the 1890

Question 10

What helped grow the populist party?

Answer 10

• their charismatic leader = William Jennings Bryan, a lawyer from Omaha that gained a national reputation as a rising political star
• 1890 - elected to the House of Representatives as a democrat
• the support of populists allowed him to win the democratic presidential nomination in 1896 - but lost narrowly
• he ran for president twice more in 1900 + 1908 but lost again
• was Secretary of State for Wilson in 1913

Question 11

Impact of the Panic of 1893

Answer 11

• weakened the Democratic Party + became more divided after its poor showing in the 1894 mid-term elections
• Cleveland + his probusiness allies stuck to traditional laissez faire economics
• 1895 - Cleveland got financial support from wallstreet - banker JP Morgan lent the government $62 million to prop up its gold reserves + keep the gold standard

Question 12

How did populism end?

Answer 12

• unable to defeat populism, the Democratic Party joined forces with it
• the Democratic Party adopted the cause of free silver into its programme + William Jennings Bryan was the presidential nomination
• the populists endorsed Bryan + the democrats to strengthen their chances
• 1896 - Bryan was defeated + the cause of free silver went down with him
• the populism party never really recovered it momentum + was swallowed by the democrats

Question 13

How had the Republican Party changed since Lincoln?

Answer 13

• after the failure of reconstruction there were far fewer AA voters + the south became a lost cause
• the main blocks of support came from big businesses + urban workers who did well out of the rise of industrialisation
• Republicans usually supported high tariffs + protectionist policies

Question 14

What caused the ‘turning point election’ of 1896?

Answer 14

• contrast in campaigning style - William Jennings Bryan relied on his tour + 600 speeches to enthusiastic crowds
• Bryan repeatedly demanded free silver + denounced the gold standard
• McKinley used money instead with Mark Hanna by his side -> his campaign spent around $7 million + had more than a thousand volunteers sending letters to voters in key states from onion to Wisconsin
• McKinley had the advantage of a divided Democratic Party
• the eastern conservatives who had backed Cleveland were not as supportive
• outside the south + west people were suspicious about free silver + not fully convinced it would work
• McKinleys straightforward promise of high protective tariffs + keep gold standard was better received then Bryan’s mixture of unorthodox policies

Question 15

What replaced populism?

Answer 15

Progressivism