The effects of the political equilibrium of the Democratic and Republican parties during the late nineteenth century, and the origins of this equilibrium in differing regional and sociocultural bases
The inability of the political system and a limited national government to respond effectively to the nation's rapid social and economic changes, particularly the advent of large corporations and industrial capitalism
The powerful but unsuccessful challenge mounted by the troubled agrarian sector to the new directions of American industrial capitalism, and how this confrontation came to a head during the crises of the 1890s and the election of 1896
The evolution of the old continental concept of Manifest Destiny to justify a new expansion of America across the seas
The initial forays of American imperial power into places such as Hawaii and Samoa
The role of the Spanish-American War in catalyzing these imperialist stirrings into a full-fledged American empire
The attitudinal, political, and military adjustments forced on the nation in its new role as a major world power
The American imperial experience in the Philippines and China, and what lessons American leaders took from both
A thorough study of Chapter Nineteen should enable the student to understand the following:
The nature of American party politics in the last third of the nineteenth century
The problems of political patronage in the administrations of Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, and Chester A. Arthur that led to the passage of the Pendleton Act
The circumstances that permitted the Democrats to gain control of the presidency in the elections of 1884 and 1892
The origins, purposes, and effectiveness of the Interstate Commerce Act and the Sherman Antitrust Act
The positions of the two major parties on the tariff question, and the actual trend of tariff legislation in the 1880s and 1890s
The rise of agrarian discontent as manifested in the Granger movement, the Farmers' Alliances, and the Populist movement
The historical controversy surrounding the origins and character of agrarian populism
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
The reasons for the decline of agrarian discontent after 1898
The new strand of Manifest Destiny, and its roots in the old Manifest Destiny philosophy
The objectives of American foreign policy at the turn of the century with respect to power in Western Hemisphere
The relationship between American economic and military interests and imperial developments in Hawaii, Samoa, and Puerto Rico
The causes and events leading up to and through the Spanish-American War
The military and political problems encountered in fighting the Spanish and, subsequently, the Filipinos
The motives behind the Open Door notes and the Boxer intervention
The nature of the military reforms carried out following the Spanish-American War
American imperial ambitions in comparison with broader global trends in imperialism at the turn of the century
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