Agrarian revolt• The farmers’ plight– Generally

• Falling agricultural prices• Growing economic dependency

– Regional variants• In trans-Mississippi West• In South

• Farmers Alliance– Origins and spread– Strategies

• Initial cooperative approach; “exchanges”• Turn to “subtreasury plan,” political engagement

Agrarian revolt (cont’d)

Advent of People’s (Populist) party– Scope of following– Grassroots mobilization– Guiding vision• Commonwealth of small producers as fundamental to

freedom• Restoration of democracy and economic opportunity• Expansion of federal power

– Omaha platform

Agrarian revolt (cont’d)Populist coalition

– Interracial alliance• Extent• Limits

– Involvement of women• Mary Elizabeth Lease• Support for women’s suffrage

– Electoral showing for 1892

Prospects for Populist-labor alliance– Context

• Economic collapse of 1893• Resurgence of conflict between labor and capital• Sharpening of government repression of labor

Agrarian revolt (cont’d)

Prospects for Populist-labor allianceKey episodes• Miners strike at Coeur d’Alene, Idaho• Coxey’s Army• Pullman strike

Populist appeals to industrial workers in 1894• Some success among miners• Minimal success among urban workers; preference for

Republicans

Agrarian revolt (cont’d)Election of 1896

– Campaign of William Jennings Bryan• Joint support by Democrats and Populists• Electrifying rhetoric• Themes

– “Free silver”– Social Gospel overtones– Vision of activist government

• National tour to rally farmers and workers

– Campaign of William McKinley• Insistence on gold standard• Massive financial support from big business• National political machine; Mark Hanna

– Outcome• Sharp regional divide• McKinley victory

– Significance and legacy• Emergence of modern campaign tactics• Launching of Republican political dominance• Fading of Populism

The Segregated South

• Redeemers in power– Dismantling of Reconstruction programs– Convict lease system

• Failures of the New South– Limits of economic development– Persistence of regional poverty

The Segregated South (cont’d)

• Black life– Rural

• Varied prospects around region• Elusive quest for land

– Urban• Network of community institutions• The black middle class• Racially exclusive labor markets• Pockets of interracial unionism

– For black men– For black women

• Kansas Exodus

The Segregated South (cont’d)Decline of black politics– Narrowing of political opportunity for black men– Shifting of political initiative for black women• National Association of Colored Women• Middle-class orientation• Pursuit of equal rights and racial uplift• Range of activities

The Segregated South (cont’d)Disfranchisement– Persistence of black voting following Reconstruction– Mounting alarm over specter of biracial insurgency– Elimination of black vote, state by state– Justifications and motivations

Effects• Massive purging of blacks from voting rolls• Widespread disfranchisement of poor whites as well• Emergence of southern white demagogues

The North’s blessing• Senate• Supreme Court

The Segregated South (cont’d)

Segregation– Fluidity of race relations following Reconstruction– Green light from Supreme Court for legal segregation

• Civil Rights Cases• Plessy v. Ferguson

– “Separate but equal” doctrine– Justice Harlan dissent

– Spread of segregation laws across South– Unreality of “separate but equal”– Segregation as component of overall white domination– Social etiquette of segregation– Effects on other “non-white” groups

The Segregated South (cont’d)

Rise of lynching– Motivations– Shocking brutality– The “rape” myth– Ida B. Wells’s antilynching crusade– A distinctly American phenomenon

Uses of historical Memory– Civil War as “family quarrel” among white Americans– Reconstruction as horrible time of “Negro rule”– Erasure of blacks as historical actors

Contrasting notions of nationhoodNew nativism

– Against “new immigrants” from southern and eastern Europe• Depictions of “new

immigrants”– As lower “races”– As threat to American

Democracy

• Campaigns to curtail– Immigration Restriction

League– Efforts to bar entry into

United States– State disfranchisement

measures

Contrasting notions of nationhood (cont’d)

• New nativismAgainst immigrants from China

• Congressional exclusion of Chinese women

• Congressional exclusion of all Chinese– Passage in 1882– Renewal in 1892, 1902

• Discrimination and violence against Chinese-Americans

• Uneven positions of Supreme court on rights of Chinese– Yick Wo v. Hopkins– United States v. Wong Kim Ark– Fong Yue Ting

• Precedent for legal exclusion of other groups

Contrasting notions of nationhood (cont’d)

Booker T. Washington and the scaling back of black demands– Background on Washington– 1895 Atlanta address– Washington approach• Repudiation of claim to full equality• Acceptance of segregation• Emphasis on material self-help, individual

advancement, alliance with white employers

American Federation of Labor and the scaling back of labor’s outlook

– Rise of the AFL, Samuel Gompers

– AFL-Gompers approach• Reproduction of broad reform

vision, political engagement, direct confrontation with capital

• Emphasis on bargaining with employers over wages and conditions; “business unionism”

• Narrower ideal of labor solidarity– Concentration on skilled labor

sectors– Exclusion of blacks, women, new

immigrants

Contrasting notions of nationhood

Contrasting notions of nationhood (cont’d)

Ambiguities of the “women’s era”– Widening prospects for economic independence– Expanding role in public life• Growing network of women’s organizations,

campaigns• Women’s Christian Temperance Union

– Growing elitism of women’s suffrage movement • Ethnic• Racial

Becoming a world power

• The new imperialism– Traditional empires– Consolidation and expansion of imperial powers– Cultural justifications for imperial domination

• Abstention of United States from scramble for empire before 1890s– Continuing status as second-rate power– Confinement of national expansion to North American continent– Minimal record of overseas territorial acquisition– Preference for expanded trade over colonial holdings– Leading advocates

Becoming a world power (cont’d)

Emerging calls for American expansion– Leading advocates

• Josiah Strong (Our Country)• Alfred T. Mahan (The Influence of Sea Power Upon History)

– Themes• Moral

– Global application of manifest destiny– Uplift of “inferior races”

• Economic– Expanded markets for American goods– Protection of international trade

• Strategic

– Influence

Becoming a world power (cont’d)Intervention in Hawaii

– American trade and military agreements

– Economic dominance of American sugar planters

– Over throw of Queen Liliuokalani

Rise of assertive nationalism– Contributing factors

• Depression-era quest for foreign markets• Concern over economic and ethnic

disunity

– Manifestations• Rituals

– “Pledge of Allegiance”– “Star-Spangled Banner”– Flag Day

• Yellow journalism

IV. Becoming a world power (cont’d)

Spanish-American War – Background• Long Cuban struggle for independence from Spain• Renewal of struggle in 1895

– Harsh Spanish response– Growing American sympathy for Cuban cause

– Toward intervention• Destruction of battleship Maine• War fever, fanned by yellow press• U.S. Declaration of war; Teller Amendment

Becoming a world power

Spanish-American War• In Philippines

– Admiral George Dewey’s victory at Manila Bay– Landing of American troops

• In Cuba and Puerto Rico– Landing of American troops– Naval victory of Santiago– Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders; legendary charge up San Juan Hill

• Swift defeat of Spain

SPANISH AMERICAN WAR

"The war of the United States with Spain was very brief.

Its results were many, startling, and of world-wide meaning." --Henry Cabot Lodge

War with Spain

• Increased overseas possessions • US gained recognition as a “world power”• Americans became convinced they had a

special destiny•The World of 1898: The Spanish-American War Home Page

A War for PrincipleTIMELINE

• February, 1895-- rebellion in Cuba

• "Yellow press" whips up U.S. sentiment to favor Cuban independence

• McKinley gains Spanish concessions

• February, 1898--explosion of the Maine

• April 19--Congress declares Cuba independent, passes "Teller Amendment“

APRIL 25: US declares WAR with Spain

"A Splendid Little War"

• U.S. regular army small, ill-prepared • Problems of equipment and supply

– regulars possess latest Krag-Jorgensen rifles– Guard units possess old Springfield rifles

• Most soldiers fight in National Guard units

“Smoked Yankees”• African Americans serve in army Guard units• Black troops resist segregation• African American soldiers win 26 Certificates of

Merit, 5 Congressional Medals of Honor

Pacific Theater

May 1--Commodore George Dewey captures Manila BayAugust 13--Philippines surrender

Caribbean Theater

June--Cuba invadedJuly--Santiago surrenders, Puerto Rico occupied

Acquisition of Empire• Fate of the Philippines was the thorniest

issue at the peace negotiations• December 1898--Treaty of Paris– Debate over annexation of the Philippines – Opponents formed the Anti-Imperialist League– February, 1899--ratification of peace treaty

makes U.S. a colonizing nation

American Empire, 1900

World Colonial Empires, 1900

Becoming a world power (cont’d)

From liberator to imperial power– Postwar attainment of overseas empire

• Varied arrangements– Annexation of Hawaii– Acquisition of Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam– Qualified sovereignty for Cuba, Platt Amendment

• Value as outposts for U.S. naval and commercial power

– Open Door policy (http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h908.html )

– Initial welcome in former Spanish colonies for U.S. forces• As agent of expanded trade and social order• As agent of social reform and national self-rule

Becoming a world power (cont’d)

From liberator to imperial powerGrowing disenchantment in Philippines

• Founding of provisional government by Emilio Aguinaldo• U.S. failure to recognize; insistence on retaining

possession

Philippine war• Bloodiness and brutality• Controversy in United States• Outcome

Legacy of poverty and inequality in American possessions

Analyzing a Political Cartoon

Becoming a world power (cont’d)

Status of territorial peoples– Limits on claims to American freedom

• Forakaer Act• Insular Cases

– Divergent futures for American territories• Hawaii (statehood)• Philippines (independence)• Guam (“unincorporated” territory)• Puerto Rico (commonwealth)

American debate over imperial expansion– Opponents (Anti-Imperialist League): “republic or empire?”– Proponents: “”benevolent” imperialism

America at dawn of twentieth century