Preparing for the "Turn of the Century"

Social movements in the late 1800s also occurred, preparing the nation for the turn of the century (that is, the beginning of the 20th century):

• Women's rights: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was pro-life, founded National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869 and, before that, led the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. This foreshadowed the women's suffrage movement in the early 20th century.

• Women in government: The Hull House was founded by Jane Addams in Chicago in 1889, and it grew into a city-based social movement that argued for reform of city government by the involvement of women. It is still active today.^[12]

• City government: The National Municipal League was founded in 1894 in order to make city government more honest, efficient and effective. It is active today under the new name of the National Civic League.

• Self-improvement: the Chataugua Movement, founded in New York in 1874, was a part of a "knowledge revolution" devoted to promoting adult education (along with some entertainment!). This foreshadowed the adult learning programs of the 20th century.

• Hawaii: the United States dethroned the Hawaii leader Queen Liliuokalani in 1893, because she recognized only natives on the islands and opposed joining the United States. Nearly 50 years later an attack on Hawaii by the Japanese would put America into World War II.

• Imperialism: Alfred Thayer Mahan wrote books beginning in 1890 on American sea power, urging a strong navy and imperialism by United States. This foreshadowed American imperialism around 1900.

• Racial accommodation: Booker T. Washington, a self-taught former slave, urged an approach of self-help and accommodation in order to improve conditions for African Americans. He founded the Tuskegee Institute for research and gave a famous speech in 1895 to the Atlanta Exposition, in which he urged a racially diverse audience to cooperate and accommodate each other. This foreshadowed a later division in the African American community between a conciliatory approach and a confrontational approach.

• Prohibition (of alcohol): the Women's Christian Temperance Union was founded in 1874 by women in order to combat the problems that alcohol caused in their families and society. The WCTU sought nationwide "prohibition" (of alcohol), and eventually obtained it early in the 20th century (for a while). Even today there are some regions of the country (such as some rural counties) that are "dry" (do not allow any alcohol to be sold there).

Election of 1896

Recall from our prior lecture that William Jennings Bryan won the Democratic nomination in 1896 with a stirring, but perhaps misguided, speech entitled the "Cross of Gold" (which advocated use of silver). He united the Populist Party with the Democratic Party by opposing high tariffs, and he ran and lost for president in 1896, 1900 and 1908. Despite losing repeatedly, he was the single most influential person in the Democratic Party for two decades, and helped secure the Democratic nomination (and election) for Woodrow Wilson in 1912. Bryan then served as the Secretary of State under Wilson, until Bryan became the first and only Secretary of State to resign entirely based on principle: his moral opposition to World War I.

Bryan is someone who might be called a "fundamentalist" today. He adhered to the teachings of the Bible, he supported Prohibition (the banning of alcohol), and he opposed teaching in public schools that man had evolved. Bryan also opposed U.S. imperialism. He had many opponents in the more liberal newspapers, particularly later in life, but no one doubted that he was a man of strong principles. We will return to his career in one more lecture when we discuss the 1920s.

The Populist Party no longer exists today but it had an enormous influence on the development of the United States. Its platform included demands for the secret ballot, the direct election of senators, the right of citizens to have referenda or initiatives to change their state laws directly (many states, including New Jersey, just held these on Election Day on Tuesday), reforms of banks, and a "graduated" income tax that charges a higher percentage of wealthy people than of poor people. All of these ideas eventually became law. The Populist Party was also pro-silver and argued for a government takeover of the railroads. Many farmers supported the Populist Party, which reached its zenith in the 1890s. It disappeared because economic conditions improved and because it took an unpopular position against the Spanish-American War (note how wars often end the life of political parties!).

The Republican Party recaptured the White House in 1896, as a Republican from Ohio named William McKinley was elected. His Irish name helped attract support of large numbers of Scotch-Irish immigrants. McKinley favored the gold standard. After being reelected in 1900, he was assassinated in 1901 by an unemployed anarchist. Teddy Roosevelt, his Vice President, then became President and served until 1908.