McKINLEY 



3571 



McKINLEY 



arbitration to settle disputes between employ- 

 ers and employees. In general his administra- 

 tion was such as to make him more than ever 

 jfore a national figure. 



At the Republican National Convention at 

 it Louis in 1896 McKinley received 661 % 

 )tes out of 906 on the first ballot, and thus 

 the nomination for President. Although 

 was at one time an advocate of the free 

 )inage of silver, he now quieted the fears of 

 of his supporters by a vigorous campaign 

 favor of the gold standard. McKinley re- 

 vived a popular vote of 7,104,779 and an elec- 

 vote of 271, as against 6,502,925 and 176 

 spectively for Bryan. The campaign was 

 Bmarkable for the contrast in the methods 

 iopted by the two candidates. Bryan, the 



nothing came of its investigations. Far more 

 important were the international problems of 

 a political nature which the President then had 

 to face. The annexation of the Hawaiian 

 Islands had long been debated, both in and 

 out of Congress, and was finally effected in 

 1898. The islands were organized into a terri- 

 tory of the United States on June 14, 1900. 

 About the same time disturbances in Samoa 

 made it advisable to end the joint protectorate 

 which had extended over this group, and in 

 1900 Tutuila and several smaller islands be- 

 came the property of the United States. 



Spanish-American War. By far the out- 

 standing feature of McKinley's administration, 

 however, is the war with Spain (see SPANISH- 

 AMERICAN WAR). In his inaugural address 



1896 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION MAPS 1900 



The states indicated by shaded lines gave their electoral votes to McKinley ; those in solid black 

 were carried by Bryan electors, and the two which are crosslined divided their votes between the 

 two men. The white areas represent nonvoting territories. 



Democratic nominee, made a personal canvass 

 of the entire country, whereas McKinley re- 

 mained at his home at Canton, Ohio. During 

 the course of the campaign, however, the latter 

 delivered about 300 speeches from the porch 

 of his house. This unusual form of campaign- 

 ing was adopted largely because of the illness 

 of Mrs. McKinley, an invalid. The devotion 

 of McKinley to his wife was one of the finest 

 things in his life. After his election to the 

 Presidency he continued to show the same af- 

 fectionate regard for her, and whenever she 

 was too ill to leave her room he had his desk 

 moved in, so that he might be near her. 



The Administration of William McKinley 

 (1897-1901). One of McKinley's first acts as 

 President was to call Congress in extra session 

 to revise the tariff. The result was the Dingley 

 a strongly protective measure which be- 



ime a law on July 24, 1897 (see TARIFF). In 

 ipril the President appointed a commission to 

 ivestigate international money standards, but 



President McKinley had advocated noninter- 

 vention in Cuba, and for a year labored to 

 avert war. Public indignation, however, was 

 aroused by the attitude of the Spanish officials, 

 and the destruction of the battleship Maine on 

 February 15. The President at length sub- 

 mitted the questions at issue to Congress, which 

 in April declared unhesitatingly that the Cu- 

 bans were free and demanded the withdrawal 

 of Spanish troops from the island. 



The war which followed was not a great war, 

 measured either by wars which preceded or fol- 

 lowed it, but it brought an entirely new set of 

 problems to the President and Congress. The 

 war marks an epoch in the history of the 

 United States. It made the United States a 

 world power in a new sense, for it brought the 

 country into new contact with international 

 politics. At the same time it drew attention 

 to new commercial possibilities, and particu- 

 larly, by the acquisition of the Philippine Is- 

 lands, gave the United States a vital interest 



