In 1876 Samuel J. Tilden was nominated by the Democrats and Rutherford B. Hayes by the Republicans. The election was hotly contested and when the ballots were counted the result was still in doubt. Twenty electoral votes were in dispute — one from Oregon and the re mainder from South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana. Tilden had received, undeniably, 184 votes and needed but one to have the requisite majority. The situation, fraught with manifest danger, was without precedent, and one for which there was no adequate constitutional pro vision. By agreement between the Republican Senate and the Democratic House, an Electoral Commission was created, which determined the contest in favor of Hayes. The Democrats, with true patriotism, accepted the result with calmness. The new President, a man of sound judgment and fine character, by his frank and friendly conduct helped in the restoration of a better feeling at the South. The Federal troops, as we have already said, were withdrawn from the Southern States, and at the end of the ad ministration much of the bitterness between the sections, which had lasted for a generation, had disappeared. The Republicans were again suc cessful in 1880, electing James A. Garfield as President and Chester A. Arthur as Vice-Presi dent. The administration had scarcely begun when Garfield was shot, and he died in Sep tember 1881. Arthur succeeded to the Presi dency and performed its duties with conserv atism and good judgment. The administration was, on the whole, uneventful; the country was prosperous; the policy of resumption of specie payments had been adopted some time before and had been carried quietly into execution at the day set (1 Jan. 1879); the monetary basis of industry was good, even if not perfect; the im mense debt entailed by the war had been largely reduced; the revenue of the government was so large that a surplus had been created which pre sented its own difficulties. The foundation of better government was provided for by the es tablishment (1883) of a Civil Service Commis sion. In 1884 the Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland and the Republicans, James G. Blaine. There was considerable defection in the ranks of the latter party, for, while many persons gave the candidate enthusiastic support, others were unwilling to vote for him and announced their preference for Cleveland, who by his vig orous administration as governor of New York had won confidence and respect. The disaffec tion of the as the dissatisfied Republicans were called, proved to be a matter of some importance, for Blaine was defeated and the Democrats, for the first time since the election of Buchanan in 1856, placed their can didate in the Presidential chair. During Cleve land's term, and in a large measure because of the influence of the President himself, the tariff issue became paramount. The Republicans strenuously adhered to the doctrine of protec tion and discountenanced all efforts to reduce the revenue by a lowering of duties, while their opponents, declaring all unnecessary taxation unjust taxation, attacked the high tariff as un wise and harmful. This was the main question, therefore, in 1888, when Benjamin Harrison, the Republican candidate, was successful over Cleveland. Four years later, however, on a platform not very different from that of 1888, the Democrats, having nominated Cleveland for the third time, were successful. The years that followed were full of interest. A serious wordy altercation with Great Britain concerning the boundary of Venezuela was finally settled. In Harrison's administration a revolution had oc curred in Hawaii and a treaty of annexation had been framed, but not ratified. Cleveland withdrew this treaty from the consideration of the Senate and announced that the American protectorate which had already been set up in the islands was at an end. The tariff question was the subject of much discussion and Con gress passed, after much trouble, the Wilson bill, reducing the tariff in some degree, hut sat isfying neither party. In the spring of 1893 there were the beginnings of a disastrous finan cial panic; the monetary condition of the coun try was bad. In 1873 silver had been demone tized, but a few years later (1878) the Bland Allison Act had provided for the government's put chasing and coining a limited amount of silver; in 1890 the Sherman Act was passed, by the terms of which silver bullion was to be bought periodically and paid for in treasury notes. The government thus was a heavy holder of silver, and there was doubt as to the ability of the government, under the circum stances, to adhere to the gold standard. In 1893, under the pressure of the panic, the Sher man Act was repealed, but trouble continued and not for some years was there a return of busi ness prosperity. The hard times were doubt less, like the difficulties of 1837 and 1873, not altogether due to the state of the money of the nation, but to many other causes as well. In 1896 the silver question was thoroughly debated. William J. Bryan of Nebraska was nominated by the Democrats on a platform demanding the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the ratio of 16 to 1. William McKinley was selected as the Republican candidate on a plat form declaring opposition to the free coinage of silver except by international agreement. The
campaign awakened great interest among all classes of voters and resulted in the election of McKinley by a large popular and electoral majority. In the course of the administration a new tariff law was passed and also an import ant act for the establishment of the monetary system. But of course, most important of all was the war with Spain, which ended in the in dependence of Cuba and the annexation of Porto Rico and the Philippines. The Hawaiian Islands, also, were annexed while the war was in progress. (See UNITED STATES — SPANISH AMERICAN WAR). McKinley and Bryan were again in 1900 the candidates of their respective parties, and the former was again successful. McKinley was shot by an anarchist at Buffalo in September 1901, after his second inaugura tion, the third of our Presidents to meet death from assassination.
Upon the death of McKinley (14 Sept. 1901), the Vice-President, Theodore Roosevelt, as sumed the Presidency. He had held official po sition of some prominence before this time, but he was still young, full of energy, enthusiasm and determination. All through the early years of the century he was a conspicuous and forceful influence in American life. His influ ence was in some ways more strongly personal than official, but, whatever the character or the source, it was marked. The years of his ad ministration (1901-1909) coincided with a new comprehension of civil duty and of the tasks of government. Foreign complications were not particularly embarrassing, but, possibly because of their inherent importance, and possibly be cause of the open public way in which they were treated by the President and his able Secretaries of State, John Hay (to 1905) and Elihu Root (1906-09), people at large took an unwonted interest. Matters of social and political reform also received new attention; purely party con troversy and animosity, at least among the peo ple at large, appeared to drop into the back ground, while the essential problems of civil improvement came forward with new force. We should be guilty of an exaggeration and see things in a false perspective if we should declare that in the first 10 years of the cen tury men first came to see the responsibilities begotten by the tremendous industrial develop ment of the years since the Civil War, and we should likewise be misleading if we. should assert that only then did they see the social problems that resulted from the immensity of production, the concentration of industry and the great in crease of wealth; but certainly during those years men in general first gave serious thought to problems of this nature. There was deep and widespread interest in social reform and in political improvement.
The new interest and new discontent re sulted in legislation affecting political methods and industrial conditions. The direct primary, which was first adopted as legal for all nomi nations by Wisconsin in 1903, was soon put into operation in many other States. Woman suf frage was also widely taken up and adopted, and the agitation was actively carried on throughout the country. The movement for a national income tax, which had been advocated for some decades, resulted in the adoption of the 16th Amendment in 1913, authorizing the government to levy a tax on incomes with out apportionment among the States. The dis cussion of the desirability of relieving the State legislatures of the task of electing United States senators ended by the adoption of the 17th Amendment in 1913, giving the power to the people, one of the results of a widespread belief that the people should have more immediate participation in their own gov ernment. The same general tendency was shown in the adoption of the initiative and ref erendum; some form of direct legislation was introduced into a number of the States, espe cially those of the West, and it appeared for a time as if the system would become almost uni versal. The recall of officials was also provided for in a few States, chiefly in the Far West. This method of controlling government by pop ular action was not, however, quite so favor ably viewed as were the initiative and referen dum, and there was specially deep-rooted objec tion to the recall of judges; in 1912 Mr. Roose velt advocated the "recall of judicial decisions,° the adoption of a system whereby the people could by some simple method "decide whether or not a judge's interpretation of the constitu tion is to he sustained." Proposals to improve conditions of work ingmen were widely discussed, and something was done in the way of legislation: the old common-law rule as to the liability of employ ers for injuries to workmen appeared to be un just and wasteful as applied to conditions of modern industry ; and compensation acts were established providing for payment in case of injury or death, even when the accident was due to fault or negligence of the workman. Plans for old age pensions for workers also received attention, but as yet little or nothing has been done by governmental action, though some of the larger corporations have volun tarily established pension systems. Serious consideration was given not only to factory conditions but to hours of labor, and laws were passed in some States limiting hours, espe cially those of women and children.