Chapter 19:
From Stalemate to Crisis
The AP instructional strategies discussed below for Chapter 19 of American
History: A Survey focus especially, but not exclusively, on the following themes developed by the AP U.S. History Development Committee: American Identity, Politics and Citizenship, and Reform. This chapter, as well as the primary documents selected below, follow some of the content guidelines suggested for the fifteenth and sixteenth topics in the AP Topic Outline - Industrial America in the Late Nineteenth Century and Urban Society in the Late Nineteenth Century.
Top-Ten Analytical Journal.
Defining the chapter terms in their journals will help students better understand the following about late-19th -century America.
· The nature of American party politics.
· The problems of political patronage in the various presidential administrations that led to the passage of the Pendleton Act.
· The circumstances that enabled the Democrats to win the presidency in 1884 and 1892.
· The origins, purposes, and effectiveness of the Interstate Commerce Act and the Sherman Antitrust Act.
· The two major parties’ positions on the tariff question and the trend of tariff legislation in the 1880s and 1890s.
· The rise of agrarian discontent - especially the Granger movement, the Farmers' Alliances, and the populist movement - and the decline of agrarian discontent after 1898.
· The rise of the silver question from the "Crime of '73" through the Gold Standard Act of 1900.
· The significance of the presidential campaign and election of 1896.
Each of the terms below contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the way in which party politics influenced the American political system, the inability of the political system to respond effectively to the nation's rapid social and economic changes, and the agrarian sector’s powerful but unsuccessful challenge to industrial capitalism. As your students define these terms, encourage them to demonstrate why each person, event, concept, or issue is important to a thorough understanding of this chapter.
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Civil War Pension System
Rutherford B. Hayes
Patronage
Election of 1880
James A. Garfield
Chester A. Arthur
Pendleton Act of 1883
Election of 1884
Grover Cleveland
Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890
McKinley Tariff
Interstate Commerce Act of 1887
Grangers
Farmers Alliance
Mary Lease
Populists
Chautauqua
Free Silver movement
Colored Alliances
Depression of 1893
Coxey’s Army
Crime of ’73
Whistle stopping
Election of 1896
William Jennings Bryan
William McKinley
Gold Standard Act of 1900
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Getting students started on their journals. Remind students that they must analyze and synthesize their understanding of these terms in two ways:
· by creating “Top-Ten” lists of their own within their journals at the end of each chapter; and
· by justifying in their journal why their terms are essential to an understanding of “From Stalemate to Crisis.”
Journal entry example. Following is an example of how students might describe “Patronage” and its importance to an overall understanding of “From Stalemate to Crisis.”
Patronage. Patronage is based upon the power to make appointments to government jobs based not on qualifications, but upon party loyalty and political advantage. During the late 19th century, the national, state, and local party leaders were not concerned with political policy but rather, were focused on winning elections and controlling the patronage appointments and jobs that accompanied such a win.
Era 5: “Westward Expansion and Urbanization in an Industrializing Economy” Assignment. Because the students have completed the fifth historical era in their book by reading Chapters 16-19, it is time to come together as a class to synthesize individual student lists into the fifth class “Top-Ten” list. The night before this discussion takes place, assign the following for homework:
Journal Assignment. Examine the 10 terms for each chapter that you have previously identified as necessary to a complete understanding for Chapters 16-19 in the textbook. Then, narrow down your list to a total of ten terms that best describe the era. Be prepared to justify your choices in class tomorrow.
During class, ask students to analyze and debate the importance of terms they have selected and challenge them to create a composite “Top Ten” for the era. Ask a student to put these words on a large poster where it will remain throughout the academic year. Then have the students complete the following homework assignment in their journals:
· Taken as a whole, what does the class “Top-Ten” list tell you about the political, social, economic, and religious issues of this era of American history?
· Are there any terms that you think must be added to the “Top-Ten” list that the class as a whole did not include? If so, explain why you believe they should be added.
What clues do they think the “Top-Ten” list for this era might provide for an understanding of the next era of U.S. History?
Free-Response Questions.
1. Analyze the issues that divide historians about Populism and the value of mass uprising. Which arguments do you find most persuasive? Least persuasive?
Some things to look for in the student response.
· Possible thesis statement: The various interpretations of populism and the value and impact of insurgent politics have long divided the historical community. On the one hand are historians who mistrust mass uprisings and negatively interpret the goals and actions of the populists. On the other hand are those historians who believe mass uprisings are a healthy resistance to oppressive and exploitive conditions, and who positively interpret the goals and actions of the populists.
· Mistrust of mass uprisings. While no scholarly treatment of populism arose prior to 1931, the prevailing belief was that populists were misguided radicals. This interpretation was not revived until the 1950s when the nation was still reeling from the events of World War II and the threat of communism. Richard Hofstadter claimed Populism was “soft” because it romanticized the nation’s agrarian past and ignored the realities of modern life at the turn of the 19th century. At the same time that farmers proclaimed to hate the capitalist system they felt oppressed them, they remained committed to its values. Populists also had a “dark” side that included anti-Semitism and deep animosities toward intellectuals, easterners, and urban dwellers.
· Support for mass uprisings. John D. Hicks was the first historian to reject the earlier radical interpretation of populism. In his 1931 book, he described populists as providing rational and progressive responses to the economic crisis within agrarian society. To Hicks, populists were a part of the democratic western frontier, where they supported reforms designed to limit the oppressive power of eastern commercial and industrial interests. This view prevailed for several decades and was given further credence by C. Vann Woodward’s two books published in the 1950s. Woodward saw southern populism as a challenge to the power of the old elites and, in some cases, to white supremacy. In the 1960s, a response to Hofstadter’s interpretation arose. Norman Pollack rejected the romantic, soft interpretation and argued instead that the populists recognized and even embraced the realities of industrialization, and in so doing, sought to make it more democratic and equal. Walter T.K. Nugent tackled Hofstadter’s “dark” theory by demonstrating that populists in Kansas were tolerant of and even welcomed Jews and other minorities into their party. In 1976, Lawrence Goodwyn expanded these viewpoints by describing populism as a “cooperative crusade” for truly radical economic change. They were neither the mildly progressive reformers described by Hicks nor the “soft” and “dark” farmers described by Hofstadter. More recently, Michael Kazin’s 1994 book argues that the populist tradition has permeated much of our history for the past 100 years.
· Possible conclusion: The students’ conclusions will vary, depending upon the arguments they find most and least persuasive.
2. Some historians have argued that by the 1890s, the U.S. had entered a national crisis. What was the nature of this crisis?
Some things to look for in the student response.
· Possible thesis statement: For at least two decades after the end of Reconstruction, the nation experienced dramatic changes but did little to address their consequences. These problems grew, festered, and by the 1890s, evolved into a national crisis. This crisis is best illustrated through a discussion of at least three dramatic events that occurred in the last decade of the 19th century: the Depression of 1893; the rise of agrarian dissent and the Populist Movement; and widespread unemployment following by large and sometimes violent labor strikes.
· The rise of agrarian dissent. Trouble began brewing in rural America after the Depression of 1873 when farm prices plummeted. Dissent arose over the dependence on middlemen who kept many farmers in debt. Membership in the Grange, which had previously consisted of farmers interested in self-help and social affiliations, grew to 800,000 with chapters in almost every state. After 1873, they challenged the monopolistic practices of the railroads and warehouses and specifically sought government controls over the railroad industry. Farmers’ Alliances, which became popular in the 1880s, advocated for an end to economic competition and the beginning of mutual, neighborly cooperation. Their concerns grew and helped contribute to the rise of a third party - the People’s Party or the populists. In the 1892 election, the new party demonstrated potential power with the election of almost 1,500 populists to seats in state legislatures, three governors, five senators, and ten congressmen.
· The Depression of 1893. The buying power of farmers was already badly weakened when two corporate failures in 1893 triggered a collapse of the stock market. The resulting depression occurred with the loss of foreign markets and the withdrawal of gold by foreign investors who had suffered in an earlier European depression; and with the overexpansion of many industries, coupled with less domestic and international demand for their goods. Unemployment reached 20 percent of the labor force; 8,000 businesses, 159 railroads, and 400 banks collapsed; and the loss of prosperity triggered widespread social and labor unrest.
· Unemployment and strikes. The labor turmoil that arose from Coxey’s demands for a federal program to create jobs for the unemployed and from the Homestead and Pullman strikes made many middle class Americans fearful that a revolution led by labor radicals was brewing.
· Possible conclusion: At least three factors led to and heightened the crisis of the 1890s: agrarian dissent, the depression of 1893, and widespread unemployment and subsequent strikes. The crisis came to a head in the Election of 1896 during which the agrarian hero, William Jennings Bryan, challenged the conservative Republican backed by eastern commercial groups, William McKinley. While McKinley’s election marked the end of the populist challenge, it did not resolve the problems and grievances that had produced the crisis of the past several decades.
3. Why do you think that voter turnout was substantially higher for presidential elections that occurred between 1860 and 1900 in comparison with more recent elections of the 20th and 21st centuries?
Some things to look for in the student response.
· Possible thesis statement: Voter turnout was much higher in the latter part of the 19th century. Between 1860 and 1900, voter turnout averaged over 78 percent of all eligible voters. These figures decreased dramatically for elections in the 1980s and 1990s, in which only about 50 percent of those eligible voted. The reasons for high voter turnout are many.
· The party system was quite stable during this period. The electorate was divided almost evenly between the Democrats and Republicans. Fourteen states were solidly and consistently Democratic, 16 were Republican, and only 5 fluctuated. Congress was balanced with the Republicans generally in control of the Senate and the Democrats in control of the House.
· People were loyal to their party, not because of their political positions - which were similar among Democrats and Republicans - but because of their region. White Southerners were solidly Democrats, while northerners - both black and white - were loyal Republicans.
· Religion and ethnicity influenced party loyalty. Catholic voters, most of the recent immigrants, and most of the poorer workers, voted with the Democrats. Northern Protestants, the middle class, and families of the old stock largely voted Republican. Republicans supported measures to restrict immigration and support temperance, while Democrats supported the views of many immigrants and Catholics.
· Possible conclusion: During the latter part of the 19th century, people largely identified with their political party, not because of their political platforms, but because of their cultural identifications, their regional affiliation, or their religious convictions. These values encouraged many Americans to passionately support their parties at the voting booth. One hundred years later, Americans largely cast their vote with the party that best met their economic interests and their political beliefs. There was little party loyalty demonstrated. Regional and religious values, however, did play big roles in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.
Historians, Historical Detection, and DBQs.
The following DBQ and its primary documents will help students gain a better understanding of the development and effectiveness of three key Congressional Acts passed at the end of the 19th century. Remind your students that when scoring the AP exams, the readers will expect to see a coherent essay that includes two required components: key pieces of evidence from all or most of the documents and a well-organized narrative drawing on knowledge from textbook readings and classroom discussion.
DBQ: Using your knowledge of the political climate in late- 19th century America, discuss the reasons for passage of the Pendleton Civil Service Act, the Interstate Commerce Act, and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Based on your interpretation of the language in the three acts, what did they seek to accomplish? How successful was each act in meeting Congressional goals?
Documents:
1. The Pendleton Act of 1883 (PSI Document. An Act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United States, January 16, 1883; Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789-1996; General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives.
“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President is authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, three persons, not more than two of whom shall be adherents of the same party, as Civil Service Commissioners, and said three commissioners shall constitute the United States Civil Service Commission …
SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of said commissioners:
FIRST. To aid the President, as he may request, in preparing suitable rules for carrying this act into effect …SECOND. And, among other things, said rules shall provide and declare … as follows: