Title: Give Me Liberty!
1Chapter 17
Norton Media Library
Give Me Liberty! An American History Second
EditionVolume 2
by Eric Foner
2I. Agrarian revolt
- The farmers plight
- Generally
- Falling agricultural prices
- Growing economic insecurity
- Regional variants
- In trans-Mississippi West equipment debt
- In South declining cotton prices
- Farmers Alliance
- Origins and spread Texas 1870s
- Strategies
- Initial cooperative approach credit exchanges
- Turn to subtreasury plan, political engagement
3I. Agrarian revolt (contd)
- Advent of Peoples (Populist) party
- Scope of following producing classes cotton
wheat belts - Grassroots mobilization
- Guiding vision
- Commonwealth of small producers as fundamental to
freedom (Jefferson) - Restoration of democracy and economic opportunity
- Expansion of federal power
- Omaha platform (1892)
- Ignatius Donnelly (see quote, page 617)
- Proposals direct election of senators, govt.
control of currency, public financing for
farmers, recognition of labor unions, and public
ownership of railroads
4I. Agrarian revolt (contd)
- Populist coalition
- Interracial alliance
- Tom Watson (GA)
- Colored Farmers Alliance
- Involvement of women
- Mary Elizabeth Lease less corn, more hell
- Support for womens 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
5Map 67
6Map 68
7I. Agrarian revolt (contd)
- Prospects for Populist-labor alliance
- Key episodes
- Miners strike at Coeur dAlene, Idaho
- Coxeys Army
- Pullman strike
- American Railway Union
- Attorney General Richard Olney
- Eugene V. Debs
- Populist appeals to industrial workers in 1894
- Some success among miners
- Minimal success among urban workers preference
for Republicans
8I. Agrarian revolt (contd)
- Election of 1896
- Campaign of William Jennings Bryan
- Joint support by Democrats and Populists
- Electrifying rhetoric (see quote, page 605)
- 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
(McKinley Tariff) - National political machine Mark Hanna
9I. Agrarian revolt (contd)
- Election of 1896
- 3. Outcome
- Sharp regional divide (see map)
- McKinley victory
- 4. Significance and legacy
- Emergence of modern campaign tactics
- Launching of Republican political dominance
- Fading of Populism
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
10Map 69
11II. 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
- Black life
- Rural
- Varied prospects around region
- Elusive quest for land
12II. The Segregated South (contd)
- Black life
- 2. Urban
- Network of community institutions
- The black middle class
- Racially exclusive labor markets
- Pockets of interracial unionism
- Kansas Exodus (1879-1880)
- Mass migration of 50,000 blacks
- Benjamin Pap Singleton
- Kansas reality
13II. The Segregated South (contd)
- Decline of black politics
- Narrowing of political opportunity for black men
- Church, law, private business
- 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
- Disfranchisement
- Persistence of black voting following
Reconstruction - Readjuster movement in Virginia
- Mounting alarm over specter of biracial
insurgency - Systematic elimination of black vote how?
- Justifications and motivations (see quote on pp.
612-613)
14II. The Segregated South (contd)
- Disfranchisement
- 5. Effects
- Massive purging of blacks from voting rolls
- 1940 3 of adult southern blacks were registered
- Widespread disfranchisement of poor whites as
well - Emergence of southern white demagogues
- Tom Watsons moral collapse
- 6. The Norths blessing
- Senate
- Supreme Court
15II. The Segregated South (contd)
- Segregation
- Fluidity of race relations following
Reconstruction - Green light from Supreme Court for legal
segregation - Civil Rights Cases (1883)
- Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
- 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
16II. The Segregated South (contd)
- G. Rise of lynching (see table 17.1, page 615)
- Motivations
- Shocking brutality (Sam Hose, Newnan, GA)
- The rape myth
- Ida B. Wellss antilynching crusade
- A distinctly American phenomenon
- H. 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
17III. Contrasting notions of nationhood
- New 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
18III. Contrasting notions of nationhood (contd)
- New nativism
- Against 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
19III. Contrasting notions of nationhood (contd)
- 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
20III. Contrasting notions of nationhood (contd)
- American Federation of Labor and the scaling back
of labors 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
21III. Contrasting notions of nationhood (contd)
- Ambiguities of the womens era
- Widening prospects for economic independence
- Expanding role in public life
- Growing network of womens organizations,
campaigns - Womens Christian Temperance Union
- Growing elitism of womens suffrage movement
- Ethnic
- Racial
22IV. 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
23IV. Becoming a world power (contd)
- C. 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
24IV. Becoming a world power (contd)
- Intervention in Hawaii
- American trade and military agreements
- Economic dominance of American sugar planters
- Over throw of Queen Liliuokalani (1893)
- 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 Hearst and Pulitzer
25IV. Becoming a world power (contd)
- Spanish-American War (The splendid little 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
26Map 71
27IV. Becoming a world power (contd)
- Spanish-American War
- 3. The war
- In Philippines
- Admiral George Deweys victory at Manila Bay
- Landing of American troops
- In Cuba and Puerto Rico
- Landing of American troops
- Naval victory of Santiago
- Theodore Roosevelts Rough Riders legendary
charge up San Juan Hill - Swift defeat of Spain
28Map 70
29IV. Becoming a world power (contd)
- From liberator to imperial power
- Postwar attainment of overseas empire
- Varied arrangements
- Annexation of Hawaii (1898)
- Acquisition of Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam
- McKinleys duty to uplift and civilize
- Qualified sovereignty for Cuba, Platt Amendment
- Value as outposts for U.S. naval and commercial
power - Open Door policy with China (1899)
- 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
30Map 72
31IV. Becoming a world power (contd)
- From liberator to imperial power
- 4. Growing disenchantment in Philippines
- Founding of provisional government by Emilio
Aguinaldo - U.S. failure to recognize insistence on
retaining possession - 5. Philippine war (1899-1903)
- Bloodiness and brutality
- Controversy in United States (precursor to
Vietnam?) - Outcome
- 6. Legacy of poverty and inequality in American
possessions
32IV. Becoming a world power (contd)
- Status of territorial peoples
- Kiplings white mans burden
- 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, or insular territory)
- I. American debate over imperial expansion
- Opponents (Anti-Imperialist League) republic or
empire? - Proponents benevolent imperialism