The Progressive era.

The Progressive era

Stalwarts vs. Moderates
Two opposition groups split the Republican Party. They were the Stalwarts, led by Senator Roscoe Conkling, and the “Half-Breeds” or moderates, led by Senator (and former Speaker of the House) James Blaine. The Stalwarts were heavily in favor of the spoils system and machine politics. The Stalwarts had wanted President Grant to run for a third term; the moderates favored Blaine. The House of Representatives passed a bipartisan measure (233-18) about the anti-dictatorial nature of the two-term presidential tradition. The two groups struck a compromise to nominate James A. Garfield as the Republican presidential candidate for 1880; Chester A. Arthur, a Stalwart and personal friend of Conkling, would be the vice presidential nominee.

The Presidential Election of 1880
James A. Garfield He was a sitting representative in the House (the only sitting representative to ever become president).The main issue was the tariff. Grant was almost nominated to a third term. Winfield S. Hancock

Results Candidate Popular Vote Percentage of Popular Vote
Electoral Vote Garfield (Republican) 4,453,337 48.3% 214 Hancock (Democrat) 4,444,267 48.2% 155 Weaver (Greenback) 306,135 3.3% Dow (Prohibition) 10,269 0.1% Phelps (American) 631 0.01% This marked the 6th consecutive presidential election victory for Republicans, lagging only behind the 7 consecutive wins by the Democrats from

The Garfield Assassination
Disappointed and mentally deranged office seeker named Charles J. Guiteau shot President Garfield in the back in the summer of Garfield and Blaine were walking through the Sixth Street Station of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad in Washington, D.C. When arrested, he reportedly said, “I am a Stalwart. Arthur is now president.”

President Chester A. Arthur
Arthur was a member of the Stalwart faction He made James Blaine his Secretary of State.

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
On May 6, 1882, President Arthur signed into law a bill prohibiting all further immigration of Chinese laborers for a period of 10 years. It also prohibited Chinese immigrants from becoming U.S. citizens. West Coast Americans blamed unemployment and declining wages on Chinese immigrant laborers. It was not repealed until the 1943 Magnuson Act.

The Pendleton Act of 1883 On January 16, 1883, President Arthur signed into law the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, requiring government jobs to be merit-based. The law originally only covered 10% of federal employee positions.

Mugwumps Just as a group of Republicans had split with the party during the 1870s, becoming the Liberal Republican Party, a group of Republicans left the Republican Party during the 1884 election. They chose to support Grover Cleveland against James Blaine. They opposed political patronage. Ironically, Blaine had been the leader of the Half-Breeds, but Cleveland seemed more open to reform.

Grover Cleveland had been the Governor of New York, and he was a leader of pro-business “Bourbon” Democrats. He opposed a high tariff, imperialism, and subsidies. He championed a gold standard and political reform, and he was able to get the Mugwumps to cross the aisle, switching parties. James Blaine had served in the House, the Senate, and as Secretary of State. He supported high tariffs (as Secretary of State, he had supported free trade) and a more expansionist foreign policy.

Electoral Vote Cleveland (Democrat) 4,914,482 48.9% 219 Blaine (Republican) 4,856,903 48.3% 182 St. John (Prohibition) 147,482 1.5% Butler (Greenback/Anti-Monopoly) 134,294 1.3% Why did Blaine lose? He lost because of the Mugwumps and because of his failure to politically distance himself from the bigoted statements of a supporter.

Moral Issues and Mudslinging
The campaign focused primarily on moral issues. Each candidate’s personality and living was held up to special scrutiny; each candidate had scandals and skeletons in the closet with which each of them needed to deal, and which were used by the opposition to much effect. “Ma, ma, where’s my Pa? Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha!”

“Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion”
A Blaine supporter, Samuel D. Burchard, gave a speech in which he attacked the Democratic Party as the party of “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion.” Blaine’s failure to distance himself from these words, or to condemn them, led to Irish Americans siding with Cleveland against him, possibly costing him the state of New York (by just over 1,000 votes) and, thus, the election.

The Presidential Election of 1888 “Superfight I”
Benjamin Harrison, grandson of the 9th president, William Henry Harrison, was a Civil War colonel and later U.S. Senator. He supported a high tariff. Grover Cleveland continued to support lowering the tariff and encouraging cheaper foreign imports.

Electoral Vote Harrison (Republican) 5,443,892 47.8% 233 Cleveland (Democrat) 5,534,488 48.6% 168 Fisk (Prohibition) 249,819 2.2% Streeter (Union Labor) 146,602 1.3% Cowdrey (United Labor) 2,818 0.02% Curtis (American Party) 1,612 0.01% Lockwood (National Equal Rights)

Political Football A political football is a topic or issue
that different factions/parties make into a bigger deal than it actually is. Civil service reform became a serious political football during the presidency of Benjamin Harrison.

New States State Date of Admission North Dakota (39) 11/2/89
South Dakota (40) Montana (41) 11/8/89 Washington (42) 11/11/89 Idaho (43) 7/3/90 Wyoming (44) 7/10/90

1890 Dependent and Disability Pension Act

The Billion Dollar Congress
51st United States Congress ( ). Received the name “Billion Dollar Congress” as a criticism of its spending habits. It was the first time since the Grant administration that one party controlled the presidency as well as both houses of Congress. Since the Republicans had this political monopoly, they could get more things into law.

The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890
On July 2, 1890, Senator John Sherman’s brainchild, the Sherman Antitrust Act, became law. It outlawed uncompetitive business practices similar to monopolies. Trusts would involve such things as shareholders of different companies putting their shares into a mutual trust; whoever controlled the trust had a de facto monopoly in the particular area of business. The law targets artificial price-raising by restriction of trade or supply. Congress has constitutional authority over interstate commerce; since much economic activity involves such commerce, the federal government is able to get involved.

The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890
On July 14, 1890, Congress passed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.

Land Revision Act of 1891 Created America’s national forests.

The Homestead Strike of 1892
From June 30, 1892 to July 6, 1892, an industrial lockout and strike occurred at the Homestead Steel Works in Homestead, PA. One of the biggest disputes in American labor history. The AA (Amalgamated Association of Iron), formed in 1876, had been successful in previous strikes and negotiations. Andrew Carnegie was encouraged by Henry Clay Frick to “break” the union. He ordered excess inventory made so as to weather a possible strike. Carnegie normally supported labor unions but thought AA was 1) inefficient and 2) unrepresentative of most workers (only 800 of 3,800).

Grandfather Clause An element of the Black Codes, the “grandfather clause” exempted from literacy tests and other restrictions those whose ancestors (specifically, grandfathers) had been eligible to vote prior to the Civil War. It was an indirect way of excluding black political participation. Poor and illiterate whites could still vote. Grandfather clauses would later be found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1915 in Guinn v. United States. Yet all this accomplished was the disenfranchisement of poor and/or uneducated Southern whites.

The Presidential Election of 1892 “Superfight II”
Grover Cleveland Benjamin Harrison

Electoral Vote Cleveland (Democrat) 5,553,898 46% 277 Harrison (Republican) 5,190,819 43% 145 Weaver (Populist) 1,026,595 8.5% 22 Bidwell (Prohibition) 270,879 2.2% Wing (Socialist Labor) 21,173 .2%

William McKinley William Jennings Bryan

Electoral Vote McKinley (Republican) 7,111,607 51% 271 Bryan (Democrat) 6,509,052 46.7% 176 Palmer (National Democratic) 134,645 1% Levering (Prohibition) 131,312 Matchett (Socialist Labor) 36,373 .3% Bentley (National Prohibition) 13,968 .1%

New State: Utah

Annexation of Hawaii

The Fourth Party System (1896-1932)
Historians and political scientists refer to as the period of the Fourth Party System, replacing the Third Party System which had dominated from s (Republican Party vs. Democratic Party). The Fourth Party System continued the rivalry between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party and was a period of Republican dominance. It is basically the same as the Progressive Era.

President William McKinley William Jennings Bryan John G. Woolley Eugene V. Debs Wharton Barker Joseph F. Malony

Election Results Candidate Popular Vote Percentage of Popular Vote
Electoral Vote McKinley (Republican) 7,228,864 51.6% 292 (65.3%) Bryan (Democrat) 6,370,932 45.5% 155 (34.7%) Woolley (Prohibition) 210,864 1.5% Debs (Social Democratic) 87,945 .6% Barker (Populist) 50,989 .4% Maloney (Socialist Labor) 40,943 .3%

The Roosevelt Corollary
President Roosevelt added a corollary to the 1823 Monroe Doctrine; it authorized the United States to engage in preventative intervention to keep Europe out of Latin America.

Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt Alton B. Parker Eugene V. Debs Silas C. Swallow Thomas E. Watson Charles Hunter Corregan

Electoral Vote Roosevelt (Republican) 7,630,457 56.4% 336 Parker (Democrat) 5,083,880 37.6% 140 Debs (Socialist) 402,810 3% Swallow (Prohibition) 259,102 1.9% Watson (Populist) 114,070 .08% Corregan (Socialist Labor) 33,454 .3%

Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905
Russia had wanted to gain ice-free ports in Chinese Manchuria. Japan saw the Russian presence in Manchuria and Korea as a threat to its security and engaged in a surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur.

Roosevelt the Peacemaker
President Roosevelt received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his role in ending the Russo-Japanese War. But: Russia felt the U.S. had cheated them of military victory Japan felt the U.S. had cheated it of sufficient compensation Japan did gain control over Korea and annexed it in 1910

William Howard Taft William Jennings Bryan Eugene V. Debs Eugene V. Chafin Thomas L. Hisgen Thomas E. Watson August Gilhaus

Electoral Vote Taft (Republican) 7,678,395 51.6% 321 Bryan (Democrat) 6,408,984 43% 162 Debs (Socialist) 420,852 2.8% Chafin (Prohibition) 254,087 1.7% Hisgen (Independence) 82,574 .6% Watson (Populist) 28,862 .2% Gilhaus (Socialist Labor) 14,031 .1%

The Mid-term Elections of 1910
Due to the Conservative-Progressive split in the Republican Party caused by Teddy Roosevelt, the Republicans lost badly in the congressional elections. Republicans Democrats House 228 161 Senate 51 41

Woodrow Wilson, nominated at the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore, MD, ran on a strong progressive platform called the “New Freedom” program. It emphasized stronger antitrust legislation to protect small businesses from monopolies, banking reform, and tariff reductions. Rather than engage in “trust-busting,” Wilson focused on positive ways of increasing competition, causing him to fare better with big business. Theodore Roosevelt wrote to seven state governors in February of 1912 that he was willing to accept the Republican nomination. He felt that Taft had broken with his policies. In June of 1912 Taft won the Republican nomination and Roosevelt decided to start his own third party: the “Bull Moose” or Progressive Party. His platform involved “New Nationalism”: Roosevelt pushed for stronger regulatory agencies to ensure that trusts and labor unions operated not just for private gain, but also to serve the public interest. William Howard Taft

Eugene V. Debs Eugene W. Chafin Arthur E. Reimer

Electoral Vote Wilson (Democrat) 6,296,284 41.84% 435 Roosevelt (Progressive/Bull Moose) 4,122,721 27.4% 88 Taft (Republican) 3,486,242 23.2% 8 Debs (Socialist) 901,551 6% Chafin (Prohibition) 208,156 1.4% Reimer (Socialist Labor) 29,324 .2%

Woodrow Wilson Charles E. Hughes

The Progressive era.

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