DOCUMENT H |
|
Source: (DEM) The "Cross of Gold"
Speech, |
DBQ QUESTION |
| What were the basic differences in the approaches of the Republican and Democratic Parties to the domestic/foreign policy problems of the 1890's? Which approach did most Americans choose and why? |
DOCUMENT A |
|
... The amount of money annually exacted, through the
operation of present laws, from the industries and
necessities of the people largely exceeds the sum
necessary to meet the expenses of the Government... ... Our scheme to taxation, by means of which this needless surplus is taken from the people and put into the public Treasury, consists of a tariff or duty levied upon importations from abroad and internal-revenue taxes levied upon the consumption of tobacco and spirituous and malt liquors.... ... Our present tariff laws, the vicious, inequitable, and illogical source of unnecessary taxation, ought to be at once revised and amended... ... It is not proposed to entirely relieve the country of this taxation... ... But it is notorious that this competition is often strangled by combinations quite prevalent at this time, and frequently called trusts.... ...The radical reduction of the duties imposed upon raw material used in manufacturies, or its free importation is of course an important factor in any effort to reduce the price of these necessaries.... |
Source: (DEM) Cleveland's Tariff Message of 1887 |
DOCUMENT B |
| ... We accept and welcome, therefore, as
conditions to which we must accommodate ourselves, great
inequality of environment, the concentration of business,
industrial and commercial, in the hands of a few, and the
law of competition between these, as being not only
beneficial, but essential for the future progress of the
race.... ... The Socialist or Anarchist who seeks to overturn present conditions is to be regarded as attacking the foundation upon which civilization itself rests, for civilization took its start from the day that the capable, industrious workman said to his incompetent and lazy fellow, "If thou dost not sow, thou shalt no reap," and thus ended primitive Communism by separating the drones from the bees.... |
Source: (REP) Andrew Carnegie, Wealth (1889) |
DOCUMENT C |
| .... it
becomes apparent that the immense tide of immigration
into the Unites States is a continually disturbing
factor. The immigrants come from many countries, a very
large proportion of them being of the classes which, in
their old homes from time out of mind, have been
governed. Arriving in America, they shortly become
citizens in a society which undertakes to govern itself. However well-disposed they may be as a rule, they have not had experience in self-government, nor do they always share the ideas which have expressed themselves in the Constitution of the United States.... |
Source: (REP) Seth Low: American City Government, 1891. |
DOCUMENT D |
| ....
The overthrow of the monarchy was not in any way
promoted by this Government... .... The influence of the United States in the islands must be increased not diminished. Only two courses are now open- one the establishment of a protectorate by the United States, and the other annexation full and complete. I think the latter of course, which has been adopted in the treaty, will be highly promotive of the best interests of the Hawaiian people, and is the only one that will adequately secure the interests of the United States. These interests are not wholly selfish.... |
Source: (REP) The Annexation of Hawaii, message
of President Harrison |
DOCUMENT E |
| ... I
conceived it to be my duty, therefore, to withdraw the
treaty from the Senate for examination, and meanwhile to
cause an accurate, full, and impartial investigation to
be made of the facts attending the subversion of the
constitutional Government of Hawaii and the installment
in its place of the Provisional Government.... .... Fair-minded people, with the evidence before them, will hardly claim that the Hawaiian Government was overthrown by the people of the islands or that the Provisional Government had ever existed with their consent... ... it has been our practice to recognize revolutionary governments as soon as it became apparent that they were supported by the people... .... The United States could not, under the circumstances disclosed, annex the islands without justly incurring the imputation of acquiring them by unjustifiable methods, I shall not again submit the treaty of annexation to the Senate... |
Source: (DEM) Cleveland's Withdrawal of Treaty
for Annexation of Hawaii, |
DOCUMENT F |
| ... We
denounce the present Democratic tariff as sectional,
injurious to the public credit and destructive to
business enterprise... ... Protection builds up domestic industry and trade and secures our own market for ourselves; reciprocity builds up foreign trade and finds an outlet for our surplus... ... The Republican party is unreservedly for sound money... ... Our foreign policy should be at all times firm, vigorous and dignified, and all our interests in the Western hemisphere carefully watched and guarded... |
Source: The Republican Platform, Adopted at St. Louis, June 18th,1896 |
DOCUMENT G |
| .... We
demand the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and
gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1.... .... We declare that it is the duty of Congress to use all the constitutional power which remains after that decision, or which may come from its reversal by the court as it may hereafter be constituted, so that the burdens of taxations may be equally and impartially laid, to the end that wealth may bear its due proportion of the expenses of the Government.... ... The absorption of wealth by the few, the consolidation of our leading railroad systems and the formation of trusts and pools require a stricter control by the Federal Government of those arteries of commerce... ... We extend our sympathy to the people of Cuba in their heroic struggle for liberty and independence... |
Source: The Democratic Platform, Adopted at Chicago, July 9th, 1896 |
DOCUMENT H |
|
Source: (DEM) The "Cross of Gold"
Speech, |
DOCUMENT I |
| ....
The forcible intervention of the United States as a
neutral to stop the war,..., is justifiable on rational
grounds... ... First. In the cause of humanity and to put an end to the barbarities, bloodshed, starvation, and horrible miseries now existing there,... ... Second. We owe it to our citizens is Cuba to afford then that protection and indemnity for life and property which no government there can or will afford,... ... Third. The right to
intervene may be justified by the very serious injury to
the commerce, trade, and business of our peopleand by the
wanton destruction of property and devastation of the
island. |
Source: (REP) McKinley's War Message, April 11, 1898. |
