This document summarizes key political and economic developments in the United States from the 1870s to the early 1900s. It discusses the stable two-party system, the agrarian populism movement, economic crises and debates over currency standards in the 1890s. It also covers the Spanish-American War of 1898 that resulted in U.S. control of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, sparking debates over imperialism. The emergence of the U.S. as a world power with overseas colonies is examined.

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19: From Crisis to Empire
Alan Brinkley, The Unfinished Nation, 8th Edition

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The Politics of Equilibrium
• The Party System
– Stability and stalemate
– High voter turnout
– Reasons for party loyalties
• The National Government
– First pension system

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The Politics of Equilibrium (Continued)
• Presidents and Patronage
– Stalwarts and Half-Breeds
– Garfield assassinated
– Pendleton Act

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President Chester A. Arthur
Although originally a Stalwart, Arthur attempted to reform the spoils
system. In this Puck cartoon, he is catching heat from a variety of
Republican factions, including the Stalwarts and Half-Breeds.
The Library of Congress

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The Politics of Equilibrium (Continued, 2)
• Cleveland, Harrison, and the Tariff
– Cleveland elected
– Harrison elected
• New Public Issues
– Sherman Antitrust Act
– McKinley Tariff
– Interstate Commerce Act

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The Agrarian Revolt
• The Grangers
– National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry
• The Farmers’ Alliances
– Social goals of the Farmers’ Alliances
– Ocala Demands
– People’s Party established

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The Agrarian Revolt (Continued)
• The Populist Constituency
– Populism’s limited appeal
• Populist Ideas
– The Populists’ reform program

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The Crisis of the 1890s
• The Panic of 1893
– America’s interconnected economy
– “Coxey’s Army”
• The Silver Question
– “Bimetallism”
– “Crime of ’73”
– “Free Silver” advocates

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Coxey’s Army
Jacob S. Coxey leads his “army” of unemployed men through the town of
Allegheny, Pennsylvania, in 1894, en route to Washington, where he
hoped to pressure Congress to approve his plans for a massive public
works program to put people back to work.
© Photo by Fotosearch/Getty Images

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The Crisis of the 1890s (Continued)
• “A Cross of Gold”
– McKinley nominated
– Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech
– “Fusion” with the Democrats

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Bearing the Cross of Gold
The cartoonist Grant Hamilton created this image of William Jennings Bryan shortly after he
made his famous “Cross of Gold” speech at the Democratic National Convention, which
subsequently nominated him for president. The cartoon highlights two of the most powerful
images in Bryan's speech—a “crown of thorns” and a “cross of gold,” both biblical references and
both designed to represent the oppression that the gold standard imposed on working people.
© Granger, NYC—All Rights Reserved.

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The Crisis of the 1890s (Continued, 2)
• The Conservative Victory
– Birth of modern campaigning
– End of the People’s Party

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The Election of 1896
The results of the presidential election of 1896 are, as this map shows,
striking for the regional differentiation they reveal.

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The Crisis of the 1890s (Continued, 3)
• McKinley and Recovery
– Dingley Tariff
– Gold Standard Act

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Stirrings of Imperialism
• The New Manifest Destiny
– Sources of imperialism
– Sea power and colonies

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Stirrings of Imperialism (Continued)
• Hawaii and Samoa
– Way station for American shipping
– First sugar plantation
– Queen Liliuokalani
– Hawaii annexed
– Samoa divided

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War with Spain
• Controversy over Cuba
– Cuban revolt
– Yellow journalism
– The Maine
– Teller Amendment

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War with Spain (Continued)
• “A Splendid Little War”
– Supply and mobilization problems
– Racial tensions in the military
• Seizing the Philippines
– Dewey victorious

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War with Spain (Continued, 2)
• The Battle for Cuba
– The Rough Riders
– Theodore Roosevelt
– Puerto Rico occupied

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The Spanish-American War
in Cuba, 1898
The military conflict between the United States and Spain in
Cuba was a brief affair. The Cuban rebels and an American naval
blockade had already brought the Spanish to the brink of defeat.
The arrival of American troops was simply the final blow. In the
space of about a week, U.S. troops won four decisive battles in
the area around Santiago in southeast Cuba—one of them (the
Battle of Kettle Hill) the scene of Theodore Roosevelt's famous
charge up the adjacent San Juan Hill.

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War with Spain (Continued, 3)
• Puerto Rico and the United States
– Spanish since 1508
– Foraker Act
• The Debate over the Philippines
– The Philippines question
– Anti-Imperialist League
– Arguments for annexation
– Election of 1900

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Measuring Uncle Sam for a New Suit
In this Puck cartoon, President McKinley is favorably depicted as a tailor, meaning his client for
a suit, Uncle Sam, is large enough to accommodate the new possessions the United States
obtained in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War. The stripes on Uncle Sam's pants bear
the names of earlier, less controversial acquisitions, such as the Louisiana Purchase.
The Library of Congress

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The Republic as Empire
• Governing the Colonies
– Platt Amendment
• The Philippine War
– Emilio Aguinaldo
– The Philippines brutally subjugated
– Gradual shift to self-rule

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The American South Pacific Empire, 1900
Except for Puerto Rico, all of the colonial acquisitions of the United States
in the wake of the Spanish-American War occurred in the Pacific.

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The Republic as Empire (Continued)
• The Open Door
– Hay’s “Open Door notes”
– Boxer Rebellion
• A Modern Military System
– Creation of the modern military

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America in the World
• Imperialism

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Patterns in Popular Culture
• Yellow Journalism

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Consider the Source
• Platform of the American Anti-Imperialist League,
1899

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The Unfinished Nation, 8th Edition
Next: Chapter 20
The Progressives