Page images
PDF
EPUB

cratic (free silver), William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, and Arthur Sewall, of Maine; the National Democratic (sound money), John M. Palmer, of Illinois, and Simon B. Buckner, of Kentucky; the Prohibition, Joshua Levering and Hale Johnson; the Socialist Labor, Charles H. Matchett and Matthew Maguire; the Populist, William J. Bryan and Thomas E. Watson; and the Free Silver Prohibition, Charles E. Bentley and James H. Southgate. The total popular vote was 13,930,942, and the electoral, 447, of which the Republican candidates received 7,104,779 and 271, respectively, and the Democratic, 6,502,925 and 176. The Populist ticket received 144,928 votes; National Democratic, 134,731; Prohibition, 123,428; Socialist Labor, 35,306; and Free Silver Prohibition, 13,535.

XXVIII. ADMINISTRATIONS OF WILLIAM MCKINLEY (March 4, 1897-September 14, 1901) AND THEODORE ROOSEVELT (September 14, 1901). Cabinet.-Secretary of State, John Sherman, Ohio, 1897; W. R. Day, Ohio, 1897; John Hay, Ohio, 1898. Secretary of the Treasury, Lyman J. Gage, Illinois, 1897; Leslie M. Shaw, Iowa, 1901. Secretary of the Navy, John D. Long, Massachusetts, 1897; William H. Moody, Massachusetts, 1902. Secretary of War, Russell A. Alger, Michigan, 1897; Elihu Root, New York, 1899; W. H. Taft, Ohio, 1904. Secretary of the Interior, Cornelius N. Bliss, New York, 1897; E. A. Hitchcock, Missouri, 1899. Postmaster-General, James A. Gary, Maryland, 1897; Charles Emory Smith, Pennsylvania, 1898; Henry C. Payne, Wisconsin, 1901. Attorney-General, Joseph McKenna, California, 1897; J. W. Griggs, New Jersey, 1897; Philander C. Knox, Pennsylvania, 1901. Secretary of Agriculture, James Wilson, Iowa, 1897. Secretary of Labor and Commerce, George B. Cortelyou, 1903.

In his inaugural address President McKinley favored the protection of American industries, the restriction of immigration, the promotion of civil-service reform, the establishment of international bimetallism, and the appointment of a commission on currency and finance.

The Administration was concerned chiefly, how ever, with the war against Spain, growing out of the intolerable condition of affairs in Cuba, and with the problems growing out of the war and the acquisition by the United States of the Philippines and Porto Rico. These subjects will be found treated under the titles SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR; CUBA; PHILIPPINES; and PORTO RICO. After the abolition of Spanish sovereignty over Cuba, military government under General Brooke was established by the United States. The Cuban Army was disbanded after an appropriation by Congress for the payment of soldiers. When the volunteers were withdrawn and regular troops substituted, order was fairly well maintained. On December 13, 1899, General Brooke was succeeded by General Wood. Public schools were established, an insular treasury organized, municipal autonomy increased, and other administra tive measures introduced. On November 15, 1900, a convention assembled, and a Constitution, framed on the model of that of the United States, was completed on February 21, 1901. The question of the relation of Cuba to the United States complicated the settlement of the question of the Constitution. The United States proposed: (1) that no foreign Power should be permitted to

secure control in the island; (2) that the United States should have a coaling station there; (3) that the debt-contracting power of the Cuban Government should be limited; and (4) that, when necessary, the United States should interfere with an armed force to maintain the Government and Cuban independence. The proposals met considerable opposition in Cuba, but were finally accepted. On December 31, 1901, a President, Senate, and House were elected, and an executive order from Washington, March 25, 1902, provided for the evacuation of Cuba and the transference of the government to the new authorities on May 20, 1902.

Under the authority of a joint resolution of Congress, Hawaii was annexed to the United States in August, 1898. Five commissioners were appointed to investigate conditions there and recommend legislation. On June 14, 1900, under an act of Congress approved April 30th of that year, the islands were organized into a Territory of the United States. See HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.

Owing to the disturbances in Samoa following the death of Malietoa, in 1899, the existing joint protectorate was abandoned, and Tutuila (q.v.) and other minor islands passed under the sovereignty of the United States, which took formal possession April 17, 1900.

On January 24, 1902, Denmark ceded to the United States the Danish West Indies for $5,000,000. The treaty was, however, finally rejected by the Upper House of the Danish Legislature, notwithstanding the extension of the time of ratification to July 24, 1903.

McKinley's administration was marked by the growth throughout the country of a strong antitrust movement, which resulted in a large number of State laws regulating the formation and operation of large combinations of capital. In its decision in the case of United States vs. TransMissouri Freight Association, the Supreme Court gave an interpretation of the Sherman AntiTrust Law, which forced the dissolution of a great association and gave a considerable impetus to the anti-trust movement. In political platforms, conferences, and party press a vigorous agitation was carried on against combinations. An Industrial Commission was created on June 18, 1898, for the purpose of investigating questions pertaining to immigration, labor, agriculture, manufacture, and business. The organization of trusts continued with increasing rapidity. During the first four months of 1899 the capitalization of these trusts was $2,000,000, 000, as against $1,000,000,000 in the preceding twelve months. On February 12, 1900, an AntiTrust League was formed at a convention in Chicago. (See TRUSTS.) The administration of McKinley coincided with an unprecedented commercial development.

While the great problems connected with the regulation of trusts and settlement of the de pendencies were under consideration, the campaign of 1900 was inaugurated. At the Republican National Convention held on June 19th, at Philadelphia, President McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt were nominated by acclamation and the principles of 1896 reaffirmed. On July 4th the Democratic Convention at Kansas City nominated William J. Bryan and Adlai E. Stevenson, and declared against imperialism and militarism,

The platform advocated Cuban independence, the preparation of the Philippines for independence, and the renunciation of American dominion over those islands. The free-silver plank was also inserted. The Democratic nominees received the indorsement of the Anti-Imperialist League, the Populist Fusionists, and the Silver Republicans. The election resulted in a complete victory for the Republicans, McKinley receiving 292 electoral votes and Bryan 155. The popular vote was as follows: Republican, 7,206,677; Democratic, 6,374,397; Prohibitionist, 208,555; SocialDemocratic, 84,003; Socialist Labor, 39,537; Union Reform, 5698; Middle of the Road Populist, 50,373; United Christian, 1060.

While receiving the people in the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, President McKinley was shot down by an anarchist, named Czolgosz (q.v.), on September 6, 1901. After eight days of suffering, the President died at Buffalo, and on September 19th was buried at his old home in Canton.

On the day of McKinley's death Vice-President Roosevelt took the oath of office. He retained the Cabinet of his predecessor and announced his intention to continue unaltered the policy of the previous Administration.

Important measures of the two administrations which have not been mentioned above may be briefly summarized. In 1900 a currency law was passed by Congress, which defined the gold dollar as the standard of value in the United States. In the same year a civil code for Alaska was enacted and provision made for the representation of the Territory in Congress. In 1901 the army was reorganized and the 'canteen' (q.v.) abolished. The Fifty-seventh Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Bill, and an act for reclaiming and irrigating arid lands of the West. By a law approved March 6, 1902, the Census Office was made a permanent bureau with increased duties and facilities. In December, 1902, a reciprocity treaty was concluded with Cuba providing for mutual concessions in the customs duties. The Senate, however, ratified it only upon condition that it should not go into effect until approved by Congress. In 1903 a new Department of Labor and Commerce was created, the Secretary being made a regular member of the Cabinet. A Bureau of Manufactures and Corporations was established, with important functions of investigation and regulation, which have not as yet been tested. Laws for the reorganization of the militia and increase of the navy were passed. A general staff for the army was created. The anti-trust movement culminated in the Elkins Anti-Trust Act (1903), which requires common carriers to file tariff rates and forbids rebates, and which includes provisions and appropriations for the purpose of facilitating the prosecution of of fenders.

After long and vexatious negotiations, a final convention on the Isthmian question was ratified by Great Britain and the United States on December 16, 1901. The United States was given the right to construct and police the canal; Great Britain withdrew her claim to participation in the maintenance of neutrality upon the condition that free navigation on the basis of the Suez stipulations should be guaranteed. (See HAY-PAUNCEFOTE TREATY.) On June 28, 1902, an act of Congress was approved empower

ing the President to acquire the rights and property of the Panama Canal Company at a cost not to exceed $40,000,000. It authorized him to purchase from the Republic of Colombia the necessary territory and to cause the construction of the canal at a cost not to exceed $130,000,000. If unable to secure a satisfactory title for this route, the President was instructed to build a canal by the Nicaragua route at a cost of not more than $189,000,000. Negotiations have been carried on with Colombia according to this act. The HayHerran Treaty, stipulating the terms on which the canal was to be constructed, was rejected by the Congress of Bogota in August, 1903. October 18th Colombia proposed that the United States should pay her $25,000,000, and at the same time leave her in possession of the territory. The affair was complicated by the Isthmian revolution of November 4, 1903, which resulted in the declaration of independence of the State of Panama. The new republic was immediately recognized by the United States.

On

The commercial prosperity of the period was accompanied by a number of strikes, a most noteworthy occurrence in this connection being the appointment by the President in October, 1902, of a commission to arbitrate the differences between the striking anthracite miners and their employers.

In 1899 the inability of the Chinese Government to restrain the anti-foreign movement on the part of its subjects and to maintain internal order endangered the interests of the United States, as well as those of other Powers. The United States joined the other Powers in the work of restoring the Chinese Government and procuring indemnity for losses incurred. The policy of the United States throughout was the preservation of Chinese territorial and administrative unity and the maintenance of fair and impartial trade conditions. See CHINA.

On October 20, 1899, a modus vivendi in connection with the Alaskan boundary controversy was arranged with Great Britain. After futile negotiations, in January, 1903, Secretary Hay and the British Ambassador signed a convention providing for the reference of the dispute to a tribunal of six impartial jurists. On October 17, 1903, the tribunal decided the main points of the controversy in favor of the United States, the decision being signed by the three American arbitrators, Lodge, Root, and Turner, and by the English arbitrator, Lord Alverstone. refusal of the two Canadian members to agree with the majority was strongly approved in Canada, where the decision was received with marked evidences of dissatisfaction.

The

BIBLIOGRAPHY. GENERAL WORKS AND PHYSICAL FEATURES. Reclus, Nouvelle géographie universelle, vols. xv.-xix. (Paris, 1890-94); Whitney, The United States Physical Geography (Boston, 1889); MacCoun, Historical Geography of the United States (New York, 1892); Sievers. Amerika, eine allgemeine Landeskunde (Leipzig, 1894); Shaler, United States of America (New York, 1894); id., Nature and Man in America (ib., 1897); Gannett, North America-United States (London, 1898); Dawson, North America (ib., 1897); Judson, The Growth of the American Nation (ib., 1897); The Physiography of the United States, ten monographs (New York, 1898); Russell, Lakes of North America (Bos

ton, 1895); id., Rivers of North America (ib., 1898); Dupont, Notions de géographie générale et géographie physique, ethnographique, politique et économique du continent americain (Paris, 1900); Tarr and McMurry, North America (New York, 1900); Wilson, The New America (London, 1902); Brigham, Geographic Influences in American History (Boston, 1903); National Geographic Magazine (Washington, 1888 et seq.); United States Geological and Geographical Surrey Reports (Washington, 1867-90); American Geographical Society Bulletin (New York, 1859 et seq.); United States Hydrographic Office Publications (Washington, 1867 et seq.).

CLIMATE. Bell, Climatology and Mineral Waters of United States (New York, 1885); Greely, American Weather (ib., 1888); United States Weather Bureau Report (Washington, 1891 et seq.); Monthly Weather Review (ib., 1891 et seq.).

FLORA. Synoptical Flora of North America (New York, 1878); Meehan, The Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States (Boston, 187880); Goodale, The Wild Flowers of America (ib., 1887); Beal, Grasses of North America, vol. ii. (London, 1886 et seq.); Michaux, North American Silva (Boston, 1887); Newhall, The Trees of Northeastern America (New York, 1891); id., The Vines of Northeastern America (ib., 1897); Sargent, The Silva of North America (Boston, 1891 et seq.); Britton and Brown, Illustrated Flora of Northern United States (New York, 1896-98); Heller, Catalogue of North American Plants (Lancaster, 1900); many articles in United States War Department Reports of Exploration to the Pacific (Washington, 1856); United States Division of Botany Report (ib., 1893 et seq.).

FAUNA. Audubon, Birds of America (New York, 1840-44); Agassiz, Contributions to Natural History of United States (Boston, 1857); Cassin, Baird, and others, The Birds of North America (Salem, 1870); Wallace, Geographical Distribution of Animals (New York, 1876); Goode, American Fishes (ib., 1888); Coues, Key to North American Birds (Boston, 1887); Maynard, Manual of North American Butterflies (ib., 1891); id., Wild Fowl of North America (ib., 1898); Jordan and Evermann, Fishes of North and Middle America (Washington, 1901-02); Apgar, Birds of the United States (New York, 1890); Ridgeway, The Birds of North and Middle America (Washington, 190102); Howard, The Insect Book (New York, 1901); Dyar, List of North American Lepidoptera (Washington, 1902); Stone and Cram, American Animals (New York, 1902).

GEOLOGY. Tarr, Economic Geology of the United States (New York, 1894); Geikie, The Great Ice Age (ib., 1895); Powell, Canyons of the Colorado (ib., 1895); Russell, Volcanoes of North America (ib., 1897); id., Glaciers of North America (Boston, 1898); Weeks, "Bibliography and Index of North American Geology," in United States Geological Survey Bulletin 130 (Washington, 1892-93); United States Geological Survey Bulletins (ib., 1884 et seq.); United States Geological Survey Monographs (ib., 1890 et seq.); Journal of Geology (Chicago, 1893 et seq.); also Dana's Manual of Geology, 4th edition; American Geologist (Minneapolis); Bulletin of Geological Society of America.

MINING. Mineral Resources of the United States (annual, Washington); Rothwell, The Mineral Industry, Its Statistics, etc., in the United States and Other Countries (annual, New York); Kemp, The Ore Deposits of the United States (New York, 1893). AGRICULTURE. Report of the Department of Agriculture (Washington); Oetkin, Die Landwirtschaft in den Vereinigten Staaten (Berlin, 1893); Levasseur, L'Agriculture aux Etats-Unis (Paris and Nancy, 1894); Rousiers, La vie américaine; ranches, fermes et usines (Paris, 1899). FORESTS. Mayr, Die Waldungen von Nordamerika (München, 1890); Bruncken, North American Forests and Forestry (New York, 1900). MANUFACTURES. Bagnall, Textile Industries of the United States (Boston, 1893); Wright, The Industrial Evolution of the United States (Meadville, Pa., 1895); Wright, The Industrial Evolution of the United States (London, 1897); Rocheleau, Great American Industries (Chicago, 1898); United States Industrial Commission Reports (Washington, 1900 et seq.); Jeans, American Industrial Conditions and Competition (London, 1902); Lawson, American Industrial Problems (Edinburgh, 1903); Goldberger, Das Land der unbegrenzten Möglichkeiten (Berlin, 1903); Taussig, Tariff History of the United States (New York); Reports of the Commissioner of Labor (annual, Washington).

COMMERCE: TRANSPORTATION. Poor, Manual of the Railroads of the United States (London, 1868 et seq.); Ringwalt, Development of Transportation Systems in the United States (Philadelphia, 1888); Depew, 1795-1895, One Hundred Years of American Commerce (New York, 1895); Vanderlip, The American Commercial Invasion of Europe (ib., 1903); United States Treasury Department Report on Commerce and Navigation (Washington, 1844 et seq., 1888 et seq.); Ünited States Inter-State Commerce Commission Report (ib., 1888 et seq.); United States Special Consular Reports (ib., 1890 et seq.); United States Foreign Commerce Bureau Report (ib., 1856 et seq.).

GOVERNMENT. Tocqueville, On Democracy in America, trans. by H. Reeve (London, 1889); Bryce, The American Commonwealth (ib., 18931895); Scudder (editor), American Commonwealths (Boston, 1884 et seq.); Howard, Local Constitutional History of the United States (Baltimore, 1885); Giddings, Democracy and Empire (New York, 1900); Ostrogorski, Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties (ib., 1902); Zueblin, American Municipal Progress (London, 1902); Thetar, The State (revised first issued 1878.

FINANCE. The best work on the history of the United States finances is Dewey, Financial History of the United States (New York, 1903). Consult also Bullock, Finances of the United States, 1775-1789 (Madison, 1895), and Noyes, Thirty Years of American Finance (New York, 1898). For statistics, consult Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, 17891849, and Report on the Finances, issued annually, beginning with 1849. Statistics of the finances may also be conveniently obtained from the Statistical Abstract of the United States, first issued, 1878.

DEFENSE. Nelson, The Army of the United States (London, 1897); Annual Reports United States War Department (Washington, annual);

Kelly, The American Navy (ib., 1897); Spears,
History of Our American Navy (New York, 1897-
99); Morris, The American Navy (London,
1898); Marvin, American Merchant Marine (ib.,
1902); Long, The New American Navy (New
York, 1903); United States Navy Department
Annual Reports (Washington, 1822 et seq.) ;
United States War Department Annual Reports
(ib., 1845 et seq.).
IMMIGRATION. Report of Commissioners of
Immigration (Washington).

EDUCATION. Boone, Education in the United States (New York, 1889); Butler, editor, Education in the United States (Albany, 1900); Four American Universities (New York, 1895); Gilman, University Problems in the United States (ib., 1898); United States Commissioner of Education Reports (Washington, 1867 et seq.). HISTORY. For more or less elaborate bibliographies, consult: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America (Boston, 1886-89); Larned (ed.), The Literature of American History. A Bibliographical Guide (Boston, 1902); Channing and Hart, Guide to the Study of American History (ib., 1896); and Adams, Manual of Historical Literature (New York, 1889).

Standard works are the histories by Bancroft [to 1789] (revised ed., New York, 1883-85); Hildreth [to 1821] (revised ed., ib., 1882); Bryant and Gay (last ed., ib., 1896); Winsor (supra); McMaster [from the Revolution to the Civil War] (New York, 1883-); Schouler [to 1865] (ib., 1899); Rhodes [from the Compromise of 1850] (ib., 1893-); Henry Adams [during the administrations of Jefferson and Madison] (ib., 1889-91); Von Holst, The Constitutional and Political History of the United States (new ed., Chicago, 1899); Curtis, Constitutional History of the United States (New York, 188996); Thorpe, The Constitutional History of the American People 1776-1850 (Chicago, 1898); Wilson, History of the American People (New York, 1902); vol. vii. of the Cambridge Modern History (Cambridge, 1903); and the works of Parkman (q.v.), and of John Fiske (q.v.).

On the Colonial period consult, besides several of those already mentioned, Doyle, The English in America (London, 1882-87); Lodge, Short History of the English Colonies in America (New York, 1881); Tyler, History of American Literature 1607-1765 (rev. ed., New York, 1897); Palfrey, Compendious History of New England to the First General Congress of the Anglo-American Colonies (Boston, 1865-73). For further references see bibliographies under the titles of the various States. On the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812: Fiske, The American Revolution (1891); Botta, History of the War of the Independence of the United States (8th ed., New Haven, 1840); Trevelyan, The American Revolution (London, 1899); Carrington, Battles of the American Revolution (New York. 1876); Roosevelt, The Naval War of 1812 (ib., 1882); and Maclay, History of the United States Navy from 1774 (ib., 1897-1900). Further references are given under titles of different battles, and of men prominent in the two wars.

For further references to works on the history of the United States, see the bibliographies to special articles, such as LOYALISTS; MEXICAN WAR; CIVIL WAR; CONFEDERATE STATES OF

AMERICA; RECONSTRUCTION, etc.; and the bibliographical notes appended to articles on the various States, and to biographical sketches of prominent men.

Of

UNITED STATES, EXTENSION OF THE TER-
RITORY OF THE. Prior to 1781 only six of the thir-
Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and
teen original States, viz. New Hampshire, Rhode
the remaining seven States, some claimed to ex-
Delaware, had exactly defined boundaries.
tend to the Pacific Ocean and others to the Mis-
sissippi River. The States with inexact bound-
daries ceded to the General Government their
claims to lands west of their present limits in
succession, as follows: March 1, 1781, New York;
March 1, 1784, Virginia, the cession including the
territory which now forms the State of Kentucky
and the parts of the States of Ohio, Indiana,
and Illinois which lie south of the forty-
this cession for military-bounty lands the entire
first parallel, Virginia, however, reserving from
territory, 6570 square miles, between the Scioto
Ohio River; April 19, 1785, Massachusetts, in-
and Little Miami rivers, from their sources to the
cluding her claims to territory west of the pres
Connecticut, the cession being the territory west
ent boundary of New York; September 14, 1786,
of the Alleghanies between the parallels of 41°
directly west of Pennsylvania retained for the
and 42°, except a strip 120 miles in length lying
benefit of her public schools and later known as the
Western Reserve (q.v.), which she ceded to the
United States in 1800; August 9, 1787, South
Carolina, the territory ceded being a strip of
land about 12 miles wide, south of the thirty-
fifth parallel and extending along the southern
boundaries of North Carolina and Tennessee to
the Mississippi; February 25, 1790, North Caro-
lina, the territory ceded constituting what is
ceiving that part of the cession of South Carolina
now Tennessee; June 16, 1802, Georgia, after re-
lying within her present limits, ceding all be-
sissippi, and between the South Carolina cession
tween her present western boundary and the Mis-
and the thirty-first parallel, embracing a large
part of what is now Mississippi and Alabama.
The foregoing cessions secured to the General
Government nearly all territory ceded by Great
Britain, not included in the original thirteen
States, as in the main now bounded. On Novem-
ber 25, 1850, the State of Texas ceded all her
claims to lands west of the twenty-sixth meridian
west of Washington (103d Greenwich) and be-
tween latitudes 32° and 36° 30'.

September 3, 1783, with Great Britain the west-
CESSIONS BY FOREIGN POWERS. In the treaty of

ern limits of the United States were declared to be
the Mississippi River to the thirty-first parallel.
On April 30, 1803, by treaty with France, the
'Province of Louisiana' was acquired. (See LOUISI-
ANA PURCHASE.)
ly adjusted, February 22, 1819, by treaty with
Its western boundary as final-
Spain, ran up the Sabine River, to and along the
seventeenth meridian (94th Greenwich), to and
along the Red River, to and along the twenty-third
meridian (100th Greenwich), to and along the
Arkansas River, to and along the Rocky Moun-
tains, to and along the twenty-ninth meridian
(106th Greenwich), to and along the forty-second
parallel, to the Pacific Ocean. Its northern boun-
dary conformed to the boundary established

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
« PreviousContinue »