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Period: to
The Crisis of the 1890s
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"The Great Commoner"
William Jennings Bryan was a leading politician from the 1890's to his death. He was the closest ever populist to make a serious run for presidency.
He stood as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate 3 times and served as the 41st Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson. He was a leader of the silverite movement in the 1890's. -
Sherman Silver Purchase Act
This did not authorize the free and unlimited coinage of silver that the Free Silver supporters wanted. However, it increased the amount of silver the government was allowed to purchase on a recurrent monthly basis to 4.5 million ounces.
Under the Act, the federal government purchased millions of ounces of silver, wwith issues of paper currency, it became the second-largest buyer in the world. -
Joe Coe Lynching
Joe Coe, a worker in Omaha was swarmed by approximately 10,000 white people. He was taken from his jail cell, beaten, and lynched.
Reportedly 6,000 people visited Coe's corpse during a public exhibition at which pieces of the lynching rope were sold as souvenirs. This was common for this time period. -
Homestead Strike
The conflict of Homestead arose at a time when the fast-changing American evonomy had stumbled and conflicts between labor and management had flared up all over the country.
Labor declared a general strike in New Orleans. Coal miners struck in Tennessee, as did railroad switchmen in Buffal, New Tork and copper miners in Idaho. -
The Populist Convention of 1892
The Omaha Platform, set out the basic tenets of the populist movement. The movement had emerged out of the cooperate crusade organised by the Farmer's Alliance in the 1880's. -
The Depression of 1893
The Philadelphia an dReading Railroad declared bankruptcy and two months later, so did the National Cordage Company. Thogether, these tow coporate failures triggered a stock market collapse.
New York banks were heavy investors in the market so they soon began to close down. Within six months, more than 8,000 businesses, 156 railroads, and 400 banks failed. Up to 1 million workers, or 20% of the labor force, lost their jobs. -
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Reorganization
The Reading Company was created to serve as a holding company for the Reading's rail and coal subsidiaries. After the Panic of 1893, the Reading Railroad was forced to reorganize under suspicions of monopoly. -
Free Silver
Free Silver was a central american policy issue in the late 19th century. Its advocates were in favor of using the "free coinage of silver" as opposed to the less inflationary gold standard. They promoted the use of both silver and gold as a ratio of 16 ounces of silver to one ounce of gold.
The actual ration was 32 to 1 but they were afraid that the cheap silver would drive the gold out of the market. -
Cripple Creek Strike
The owners of Cripple Creek mine, J. J. Hagerman, David Moffat and Eben Smith, announced a lengtening or the work-day to ten with no change to the daily wage. When workers protested they took the hours back down to eight but decreased their wage by fifty cents. This caused the workers to go on strike.
The strike had an immediate effect. Every smelter in Colorado was either closed or used part-time. -
Coxey's Army
A group of unemployed men, marched to Washington D.C. during the depression of 1894. Led by Jacob S. Coxey, it left Massillon, Ohio, with about 100 men and arrived in Washington on May 1 with about 500.
Coxey hoped to pursude Congress to authorize a vast program of public works to provide jobs for the unemployed. It proved unsucessful when Coxey and some of his followers were arrested for trespassing on the lawns at the Capitol. -
Pullman Strike
3,000 Pullman workers went on a "wildcat" strike, which is without authorization of their union. Many of the strikers belonged to the American Railroad Union (ARU) founded by Eugene V. Debs.
Debs became a railroad fireman and became aware of the harsh working conditions of his fellow laborers. He was determined to make things better. -
Cuban War of Independence
Three ships set sail for Cuba from Fernandina Beach, Florida, loaded with soldiers and weapons. Two of the ships were seized by US authorities in early January, but the proceedings went ahead. -
The Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus Affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890's. It involved a conviction for treason in November 1894.
The conviction was of Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent. -
The Gongche Shangshu Movement
Over 1300 Juren, signed a setition requesting reforms by the emperor. The emperor was the main organizer of the movement.
Later in the year, thousands of Beijing scholars and citizens protested against the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The emperor would respond with the Hundred Days' Reform. -
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention was the scene of William Jennings Bryan's nomination as the Democratic presidential cantidate.
Bryan secured teh nomination on the fifth ballot over Richard P. Bland. Bryan declined to choose a specific Democratic vice presidential nominee and left the decision to his fellow delegates. -
Cross of Gold Speech
The speech was delivered by William Jennings Bryan at the Democratic National Convention. He supported "free silver" which he belived would bring the nation prosperity.
He decried teh gold standard, concluding the speech, "you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold". This speech helped catapult him into the Democratic race. -
Walter Breuning
Walter Breuning was born on September 21, 1896. He is on of only six verified men to reach age 114.
He lived to be the oldest man in the world at the time of his death.
"We're all going to die. Some people are scared of dying. Never be afraid to die. Because you're born to die" -
Republican Realighnment
The 1896 election helped realign the Republican party. In this, William McKinley won over Democrat, William Jennings Bryan.
After the election, the Republicans held 36 years of straight presidency only interrupted by Woodrow Wilson's two terms. -
First Campaign for the White House
It was Republican William McKinley vs. Democrat William Jennings Bryan. Bryan held an early lead in everywhere but the northeast.
The Republicans retaliated by saying that Bryan was a madman and a religous fanatic. McKinley won by a slim margin. -
Spanish-American War
The war was a conflict between Spain and the United States. It was a result of American intervention in the Cuban War of Independence.
American attacks on Spains's Pacific possessions led to involvement in the Philippine Revolution and ultimately to the Phillippine-American War. -
Treaty of Paris
An agreement in 1898 that resulted in Spain surrendering control of Cuba and ceding Puerto Rico, [arts of the West Indies, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States.
The cession of the Philippines involved a payment of $20 million to Spain by the U.S. -
Hundred Days' Reform
A failed 104-day national cultural, political, and educational reform movement from June 11 to September 21, 1898. It was undertaken by the young Guangxu emperor and his reform-minded supporters. The movemt proved to be short-lived, ending in a coup detat. -
Philippine-American War
Fighying erupted between U.S. and Filipino forces and quickly escalated into the Battle of Manila. On June 2, 1899, the First Phillipine Republic officially declared war on the U.S. -
Progressive Era
A period of social activism and political reform in the U.S. that started in the 1890's. One main goal of the movement was purification of the government. -
Battle of Manila
The Battle of Manila was the first and largest battle fought during the Philippine-American War. It was two days and the Americans were outnumbered 15,000 to 12,000.
Armed conflict broke out when American troops, fired upon an encroaching group of Filipinos. It ended in American victory, although minor skirmishes continued on for several days afterward.
