President Grover Cleveland opened the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 by pressing a button that set off an array of fountains and 10,000 light bulbs. This moment began the creation of the fantasy constructed by the fair's managers, but in the real world the United States industrial order was showing signs of strain. The American political system was ill equipped to cope with the economic and social transformations that had occurred over the previous decades, and it was not prepared to cope with the imperialist race that was occurring abroad. By the end of the century, however, the nation's first efforts at political modernization had created a major realignment in the party system and a growing empire abroad.

The Politics of Paralysis

In the last third of the century, national politics became dangerously paralyzed, as the evenly divided Democrats and Republicans fought to win power. Improved organization, rigid party loyalty, and broad ideological similarities left neither side in command. Distinctions did exist, however, between the two major parties. Democrats, centered in the South and also supported by immigrant political machines in the industrial North, believed in states' rights and limited government. Republicans, strongest in northern cities and among business people and the middle class, were the party of national vision and favored industrial development.

Cultural differences also divided the parties. Democrats tended to belong to "ritualistic" religious sects such as Catholicism, Judaism, and more formal brands of Protestantism that did not focus on dictating the conduct of others. As a result, the party adopted a hands-off policy toward both the economy and society at large. Republicans were often "pietistic" Protestants who favored a politics of morality, social control, and energetic government. More zealous reformers often fashioned their own political instruments, whether for temperance, women's suffrage, monetary change, or farm issues.

Congress focused on the well-worn and popular issues of regional conflict, patronage, tariffs, and currency. Meanwhile the presidency, weakened by the impeachment of Andrew Johnson (and constrained by traditional limitations on the office), fell into the hands of a near-anonymous run of caretakers: Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison. The political ferment and innovation that existed came from the states and cities. The era's more successful experiments in public policy included investigative and regulatory commissions, statutes extending public control over shippers and processors, and municipal leagues to promote clean and effective government.

The Revolt of the Farmers

It was the nation's farmers and their supporters who first challenged the politics of paralysis. A host of problems beset farmers: overproduction, declining prices, discriminatory railroad rates, heavy mortgages, and widespread poverty promoted by a "crop-lien" system that shackled them to debt.

In response farmers organized, first in local chapters or "granges" of the Patrons of Husbandry, then in the more economically oriented Farmers' Alliance. In the 1870s, Grangers succeeded in enacting state "Granger laws" regulating shippers and processors, and pressed Congress to create a federal Interstate Commerce Commission (1887). Southern and northern Alliances developed farmer cooperatives and by 1890 were winning local and state elections with their candidates. In 1892 the Alliances convened a national convention of farmers, laborers, and other reformers and nominated candidates for the presidency and vice presidency.

Meanwhile African Americans, although they were sporadically the target of some Populist efforts to form a biracial alliance, generally found themselves the victims of a rising tide of racism. Segregation and disfranchisement undercut black political and social progress. Many poor whites were victimized as well, as conservative Democrats throughout the South fought political insurgence from below. In response, African American leaders debated whether to follow a policy of accommodating white discrimination or fighting it in the courts. In the end most followed the path of accommodation.

The frustrations of farmers now had a national political outlet. At the same time, though, the new Populist party's inherent weaknesses had emerged during this election. Its courtship of black voters appalled many southerners who were working to systematically disenfranchise African Americans through a series of Jim Crow laws and state constitutional amendments. Nor did the Populists gain much support in the North, where working-class voters exhibited few concerns for the problems of farmers. While the success of the Populists revealed the power of a substantial and largely unrepresented segment of the electorate, it also showed how difficult it was to wrest power away from the two dominant parties.

The New Realignment

The depression of 1893 deepened discontent across the United States. Strikes, protests, and masses of unemployed workers—including a rag-tag army led by Jacob Coxey—all revealed the nation's economic strains. The approaching presidential election of 1896 (called the "battle of the standards") brought about a decisive political realignment. The Republicans nominated Senator William McKinley of Ohio and staunchly supported gold as the nation's monetary standard. The Democrats split over this issue, with its northern wing in favor of gold and its southern and western wings in favor of adding silver as a basis for coining money.

In the end, Democrats supported both silver and gold and nominated Nebraska congressman William Jennings Bryan. Populists, who favored silver to increase the supply of money and so ease the terms of credit, faced a quandary. If they nominated Bryan (and thereby fused with the Democrats), they risked losing their political identity. If they nominated anyone else, they risked splitting the vote of silverites and losing the election to the pro-gold Republicans. In the end they nominated Bryan and lost the election. Thereafter, they faded from politics.

In 1896 the Republicans became the dominant party, finally breaking the politics of paralysis with a powerful coalition. Centered in northern industrial cities and the far West, they would dominate national politics for most of the next three-and-a-half decades. Once in power, the Republican party became a powerful governing instrument. Well-organized, with modern techniques of publicity and management, and relying on an executive with a national agenda, they oversaw economic recovery. At the dawn of the new century, deep divisions of race and class still split the nation, but confidence reigned as McKinley guided the country toward a promising future of prosperity at home and empire abroad.

Visions of Empire

After the Civil War, some Americans still considered the idea of annexing either Canada or Mexico—or both. William Henry Seward envisioned growing American links to the Far East strengthened by a canal to be built across Central America, a transcontinental railroad, and island possessions acquired to support an expanded American navy. Supporters of some form of American empire also argued for the economic benefits of such a policy, proclaiming the need for new markets for American products. Still others promoted imperialism as a Christian responsibility to "civilize" the peoples of less developed nations.

The Imperial Moment

The form imperialism would take soon became clear. Unrest in Cuba, played out against the background of severe depression in the United States from 1893 to 1897, led to war with Spain. A series of incidents, peaking with the sinking of the battleship Maine, stirred a war fever President McKinley could not resist. The war had two arenas: the naval war in the Philippines, and a combined naval-military struggle in Cuba. The war opened with Admiral Dewey's smashing victory over the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. After more than three months of fighting, the United States vanquished Spain, liberated Cuba, and took possession of the Philippines, an island nation that proved more troublesome to administer than to conquer. This victory whetted American interest in Asia, leading to an effort to establish an "open door" of free trade in China.