 | American History: A Survey 10/e Alan Brinkley | |||||
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| American History: A Survey 10/e Alan Brinkley | |||||
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| Online Learning Center | | |||||
Summary
Close elections and shifting control of the White House and Congress characterized the politics of the period from 1876 to 1900. Regional, ethnocultural, and economic factors helped determine party affiliation, and elections often turned on considerations of personality. But there were real issues too. Tariff, currency, and civil-service questions arose in almost every national campaign and dominated key elections. Discontented farmers in the People's Party briefly challenged the Republicans and Democrats, but the two-party system remained intact.
The election of 1896, the great battle between the gold standard and the silver standard, firmly established the Republican Party as the majority party in the United States. Agrarian and mining interests were unable to convince voters that currency inflation through the free coinage of silver would lead the nation out of the depression of the 1890s. By fusing with the Democrats, the Populists ended any chance they might have had to become a major force in American politics. By the end of the nineteenth century, business forces had triumphed. They had secured a gold-based currency and a rigorously protective tariff. Efforts to regulate railroads and trusts had been half-hearted to begin with and were weakened even further by court decisions.
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