CH.19 RCQ

Pendleton Act

- 1883 law that created a Civil Service Commission and stated that federal employees could not be required to contribute to campaign funds nor be fired for political reasons - required that some federal jobs be filled by competitive written examinations rather than by patronage

William McKinley

- 25th president responsible for Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, and the Annexation of Hawaii, imperialism. Is assassinated by an anarchist. - member of Congress authored the 1890 tariff act, as the party's presidential candidate - polled 271 electoral votes to Bryan's 176 and received 51.1 percent of the popular vote to Bryan's 47.7 - sent a commission to Europe to explore the possibility of a silver agreement with Great Britain and France.

Boxer Rebellion

- A 1900 Uprising in China aimed at ending foreign influence in the country. - - The Boxer Rebellion became an important event for the role of the United States in China. - Chinese territorial integrity survived at least in name, and the United States retained access to its lucrative trade.

Cuban Revolt

- A Nationalist-initiated conflict broke out in Cuba in 1895, the Spanish, remembering the lengthy Ten Years' War, sent 200,000 troops to Cuba. The Cuban insurrectos responded by wrecking Spanish property in hopes that the Spanish would leave, or, at least, hoping for US intervention (since the US had a significant economic investment in Cuba). The insurrectos directed their destructive rampage at both sugar mills and sugar fields.

Emilio Aguinaldo

- Ably led by Emilio Aguinaldo, who claimed to head the legitimate government of the nation, Filipinos harried the American army of occupation from island to island for more than three years - Leader of the Filipino independence movement against Spain (1895-1898). He proclaimed the independence of the Philippines in 1899, but his movement was crushed and he was captured by the United States Army in 1901. - Filipino freedon fighter who helped the US capture Manila in 1898, and later led the rebellion against US rule

Mary E. Lease

- Eloquent Kansas Populist who urged farmers to "raise less corn and more hell" - become fiery Populist orators - Her critics called her the "Kansas Pythoness," but she was popular among populist farmers with her denunciations of banks, railroads, and "middlemen," -

Sherman Antitrust Act

- First federal action against monopolies, it was signed into law by Harrison and was extensively used by Theodore Roosevelt for trust-busting. However, it was initially misused against labor unions - help deflect public criticism but was not likely to have any real effect on corporate power. -

Puerto Rico

- Given to the US by Spain as a payment for the cost of the Spanish-American War

Hawaii

- Hawaii (like the sugar plantations of Barbados in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries) required a vast labor force that the island's native population could not provide. - The islands of Hawaii in the mid-Pacific had been an important way station for American ships in the China trade since the early nineteenth century - Hawaii had developed an agricultural and fishing society in which different islands (and different communities on the same islands), each with its own chieftain, lived more or less self-sufficiently - King Kamehameha I established his dominance, welcomed American traders, and helped them develop a thriving trade between Hawaii and China, from which the natives profited along with the merchants. - The arrival of these merchants, missionaries, and planters was devastating to traditional Hawaiian society - Judd governed Hawaii for over a decade. - United States negotiated a treaty with Hawaii that permitted it to open a naval base at Pearl Harbor. - growing sugar for export to America had become the basis of the Hawaiian economy-as a result of an 1875 agreement allowing Hawaiian sugar to enter the United States duty-free.

The Grange

- It was a farmers' movement involving the affiliation of local farmers into area "granges" to work for their political and economic advantages. The official name of the National Grange is the Patrons of Husbandry the Granger movement was successful in regulating the railroads and grain warehouses - first major farm organization appeared in the 1860s: the Grange. - claimed more than 800,000 members and 20,000 local lodges; it had chapters in almost every state but was strongest in the great staple-producing regions of the South and the Midwest. - most of the Grange enterprises failed, both because of the inexperience of their operators and because of the opposition of the middlemen they were challenging. -

Platt Amendment

- Legislation that severely restricted Cuba's sovereignty and gave the US the right to intervene if Cuba got into trouble - barred Cuba from making treaties with other nations (thus, in effect, giving the United States control of Cuban foreign policy); it gave the United States the right to intervene in Cuba to preserve independence, life, and property; and it required Cuba to permit American naval stations on its territory - The amendment left Cuba with only nominal political independence

Jacob Coxey

- Populist who led Coxey's Army in a march on Washington DC in 1894 to seek government jobs for the unemployed. - Ohio businessman and Populist began advocating a massive public works program to create jobs for the unemployed and an inflation of the currency. - announced that he would "send a petition to Washington with boots on"-a march of the unemployed to the capital to present their demands to the government - "Coxey's Army," as it was known, numbered only about 500 when it reached Washington, D.C., after having marched on foot from Masillon, Ohio. Armed police barred them from the Capitol and arrested Coxey. He and his followers were herded into camps because their presence supposedly endangered public health. Congress took no action on their demands.

Anti- Imperialist league

- Powerful names (Carnegie, Train, Bryan, etc.) against imperialism in Philippines - Group that battled against American colonization of the Philippines, which included such influential citizens as Mark Twain and Andrew Carnegie - group of antiimperialists that advocated for isolationism

Stalwarts

- Republicans fighting for civil service reform during Garfield's term; they supported Cleveland. - led by Roscoe Conkling of New York - favored traditional, professional machine politics

Panic of 1893

- Serious economic depression beginning in 1893. Began due to railroad companies over-extending themselves, causing bank failures. Was the worst economic collapse in the history of the country until that point, and, some say, as bad as the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Alfred Thayer Mahan

- The ablest and most effective apostle of imperialism was Alfred Thayer Mahan, a captain and later admiral in the U.S. Navy - Mahan's thesis, presented in The Influence of Sea Power upon History (1890) and other works, was simple: countries with sea power were the great nations of history; the greatness of the United States, bounded by two oceans, would rest on its naval strength. - Mahan feared the United States did not have a large enough navy to play the great role he envisioned. But during the 1870s and 1880s, the government launched a shipbuilding program that by 1898 had moved the United States to fifth place among the world's naval powers, and by 1900 to third

Yellow Journalism

- The success of Pulitzer's World marked the birth of what came to be known as "yellow journalism," a phrase that reportedly derived from a character in one of the World's comic strips: "the Yellow Kid." Color printing in newspapers was relatively new, and yellow was the most difficult color to print; so in the beginning, the term "yellow journalism" was a comment on the new technological possibilities that Pulitzer was so eagerly embracing. Eventually, however, it came to refer to a sensationalist style of reporting and writing that spread quickly through urban America and changed the character of newspapers forever. - One of the causes of the Spanish-American War (1898) - this was when newspaper publishers like Hearst and Pulitzer sensationalized news events (like the sinking of the Maine) to anger American public towards Spain.

Farmers Alliances

- The successor to the Grange as the leading vehicle for agrarian protest began to emerge even before the Granger movement had faded. As early as 1875, farmers in parts of the South (most notably in Texas) were banding together in so-called Farmers' Alliances. - had more than 4 million members; a comparable Northwestern Alliance was taking root in the plains states and the Midwest and developing ties with its southern counterpart. - Alliances were principally concerned with local problems - established stores, banks, processing plants, and other facilities for their members-to free them from the hated "furnishing merchants" who kept so many farmers in debt. - This was the first "national" organization of the farmers, which led to the creation of the Populist party. The Farmers' Alliance sponsored social gatherings, were active in politics, organized cooperatives, and fought against the dominance of the railroads and manufacturers.

The Philippines

- The war in Cuba continued after the capture of the Philippines. - Although the annexation of Puerto Rico produced relatively little controversy, the occupation of the Philippines created a long and impassioned debate. - Spanish colony in the Pacific whom the US helped free from the Spanish, but soon after took as their colony

William Jennings Bryan

- United States lawyer and politician who advocated free silver and prosecuted John Scopes (1925) for teaching evolution in a Tennessee high school (1860-1925) - the congressman from Nebraska already well known as an effective orator, mounted the podium to address the convention - defended "free silver" in what became one of the most famous political speeches in American history. - Convention voted to adopt a pro-silver platform. And the following day, Bryan (as he had eagerly and not entirely secretly hoped) was nominated for president on the fifth ballot. - became the first presidential candidate in American history to stump every section of the country systematically, to appear in villages and hamlets, indeed the first to say frankly to the voters that he wanted to be president.

Spanish American War

- War fought between the US and Spain in Cuba and the Philippines. It lasted less than 3 months and resulted in Cuba's independence as well as the US annexing Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.

imperialism

- a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force - John W. Burgess, the founder of Columbia University's School of Political Science, gave a stamp of scholarly approval to imperialism - The ablest and most effective apostle of imperialism was Alfred Thayer Mahan, a captain and later admiral in the U.S. Navy. Mahan's thesis, presented in The Influence of Sea Power upon History (1890) and other works, was simple: countries with sea power were the great nations of history; the greatness of the United States, bounded by two oceans, would rest on its naval strength.

Foraker Act

- ended military rule and established a formal colonial government: an American governor and a two-chamber legislature (the members of the upper chamber appointed by the United States, the members of the lower elected by the Puerto Rican people). - The Foraker Act, officially the Organic Act of 1900, is a United States federal law that established civilian (limited popular) government on the island of Puerto Rico, which had been newly acquired by the United States as a result of the Spanish-American War

"Free Silver"

- idea of permitting silver to become, along with gold, the basis of the currency so as to expand the money supply

Populism

- the political doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite - The result of their frustrations was the emergence of one of the most powerful movements of political protest in American history: what became known as Populism.

Half- Breeds

- two groups-the Stalwarts, led by Roscoe Conkling of New York, and the Half-Breeds, captained by James G. Blaine of Maine-were competing for control of the Republican Party. - Half-Breeds favored reform - Favored tariff reform and social reform, major issues from the Democratic and Republican parties. They did not seem to be dedicated members of either party

populist (people's) party

-A political group which began to emerge in 1891. They gained much support from farmers who turned to them to fight political unfairness. They used a progressive platform. James B. Weaver ran as their presidential candidate in 1892. They had an impressive voter turnout. They were also known as the People's Party.

Farmers' Alliance

A Farmers' organization founded in late 1870s; worked for lower railroad freight rates, lower interest rates, and a change in the governments tight money policy

"Open Door" Policy

A policy proposed by the US in 1899, under which ALL nations would have equal opportunities to trade in China.

Interstate Commerce Act

Established the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) - monitors the business operation of carriers transporting goods and people between states - created to regulate railroad prices - which banned discrimination in rates between long and short hauls, required that railroads publish their rate schedules and file them with the government, and declared that all interstate rail rates must be "reasonable and just"-although the act did not define what that meant - enforced and narrowly interpreted by the courts-had little practical effect.

Half-Breeds

Favored tariff reform and social reform, major issues from the Democratic and Republican parties. They did not seem to be dedicated members of either party.

"Free Silver"

Movement for using silver in all aspects of currency. Not adopted because all other countries used a gold standard.

Foraker Act

This act established Puerto Rico as an unorganized U.S. territory. Puerto Ricans were not given U.S. citizenship, but the U.S. president appointed the island's governor and governing council.