1. Chapter 20 POLITICAL REALIGNMENTS IN THE 1890s

2. Horatio Alger  Author who wrote “rags to riches” stories in the Gilded Age

3. State Regulation  Munn v. Illinois (1877) upheld constitutionality of state regulations of RRs  Interstate Commerce Act designed to regulate the RR industry –RRs rates regulated –created Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) –first federal law to regulate private industry in the US

4. The Election of 1880

5. President Garfield

6. Assassination of Garfield

8. The Election of 1884

9. President Cleveland

11. President Benjamin Harrison

12. “Crime of 73”  The Fourth Coinage Act (1873) embraced the gold standard, demonetized silver  Western mining interests and others who wanted silver in circulation labeled this the "Crime of '73”  Gold became only metallic standard in the United States

13. Bland-Allison Act (1878)  Required U.S. Treasury to buy a certain amount of silver and put it into circulation as silver dollars

14. Tariffs, Trusts and Silver  1890: Sherman Anti-Trust Act regulated big business  1890: Sherman Silver Purchase Act moved country toward bi-metallic monetary system –Gold + silver

15. Rise of the Populist Movement (People’s Party)  Discontented farmers of West and South provided base of support  The National Farmers' Alliance resulted

16. Selected Commodity Prices

17. The Farmers' Alliance: Ocala Demands  System of government warehouses to hold crops for higher prices  Free coinage of silver  Low tariffs  Federal income tax  Direct election of Senators  Regulation of RRs

19. The Panic of 1893  February, 1893: Failure of major railroad sparked panic on New York Stock Exchange  Investors sold stock to purchase gold  Depleted Treasury shook confidence  May, 1893: Market hit record low, business failures displaced 2 million workers  1894: Corn crop failed

20. Coxey's Army  1894: Jacob Coxey led “Coxey’s Army” to Washington to demand relief for unemployed workers

21. A Beleaguered President  Cleveland repealed Sherman Silver Purchase Act to remedy Panic of 1893 –failed to stop depression –made silver a political issue

22. The Presidential Election of 1896  Free coinage of silver the main issue – Boost money supply – Seen as solution to depression  New voting patterns emerged and national policy shifted  William Jennings Bryan (Democratic/Populist) –Free silver promised in "Cross of Gold" speech

24. The McKinley Administration  McKinley took office at depression’s end  An activist president  1900: U.S. placed on gold standard  1900: McKinley won landslide reelection against William Jennings Bryan

25. The Election of 1900

26. A Decade’s Dramatic Changes  September, 1901: McKinley assassinated  Theodore Roosevelt became president