LAD #19

Big Business was one of the major problems of the Gilded Age. The populist party was composed primarily of people against big business, most of them angry farmers. They did not fit the catagory of liberal or conservative, but represented themselves through an independent party. Those in the populist party stood against a concentration of wealth among the wealthy elite, and a more stable or fair system of electing officials. The populists were eager to rid monetary indulgences from the office of any politician. The Populist Party wanted to reduce the power of Big Business and its impact on the government, and wanted more power in the comman person's hands. Needless to say, they sided with abused workers who could not afford to buy the products they toiled away making. They wanted to see more wealth go to the workers, and were pro-union. Another main issue was income tax. Populists felt that income tax should be a gradual rate, so that those who could not afford to pay as much were not subjected to the same flat rate, and those who were wealthy did not get away with paying only microscopic portion of their earnings.
The populist party were against immigration, because they made working conditions worse for the common man, in that immigrants would work at a lower standard, for less pay. Like unions, they called for short hours and more pay.

LAD #20

The Cross of Gold speech, at the Democratic National Convention of 1896, was delivered by William Jennings Bryan. It was mainly dealing with the Democrat's desire to make silver the standard instead of gold. Bringing up some forgotten views, Bryan's speech mainly concerned bimetalism, or the integration of both metals. Bryan brings up the fact that the Western people have lest money then those in the east, and therefore cannot afford gold. People in the East have tarrifs and a strong industrial source of income, so they can afford it. Bimetalism would alleviate these problems because a certain value of silver would be in fixed proportion to a certain value of gold. The problem was that these values fluctuated. However, Bryan delivered the speech in defense of the West and in defense of bimetalism in regards to what the dollar is really worth.

LAD #21

The Dawes Act, or the General Allotment Act of 1887, was composed of eleven basic provisions. Firstly, the President may survey the arable tribal land, and divide it up between the individual Native Americans, and their families. The Second provision deals with who will pick allotment for a minor or orphan child. The third requires settlers to certify the allotment, and they must be able to produce a copy of certification. The fourth provision ensures that Native Americans both on and off the reservations are eligible for equal allotment of land. The Fifth states that the government will hold the land in trust for 25 years, before ownership goes to the family. The Sixth states that under the Land Patent process, landholders will be American citizens with full priviledge. The Seventh provision simplifies the distribution of irrigated lands and/or deals with water rights. The Eigth exempts the Five Civilized tribes, and other groups from land allocation. The Ninth section deals with funding of the allotments. The Tenth act ensures that Eminent Domain will be reserved for the government on all allotments. Finally, the last segment contains a provision for Southern Indians, primarily the Ute tribe.

LAD #18

McKinley's War Message was a letter to Congress explaining the current state of relations between the United States and Spain, due to the ongoing Cuban insurrection. He explains that the United States must take action because the neighboring rebellion is causing "effort and expense in enforcing its neutrality laws, [irritation], annoyance, and disturbance among our citizens, and, by the exercise of cruel, barbarous, and uncivilized practice of warfare, shocked the sensibilities and offended the human sympathies of our people."
Next Mckinley states that he had offered many untried resolutions the previous December. These resolutions included recognition of the insurgents as belligerents, recognizing Cuba as independent, forcing a compromise between Spain and Cuba, or finally, intervention in favor of either Spain or Cuba. Annexation, to McKinley, was not an option.
He brought up points from Grant's review of the Cuban insurrection. Grant had found the recognition of Cuban independence to be indefensible. Grant also concluded that recognizing belligerence "was not warranted by the facts according to the tests of public law." Mckinley follows with stating that intervening to find common ground between the two contestants was somewhat rational, and he explained briefly the case in which intervention would be defendable.
He begins to conclude in remembrance of the Maine, saying that its destruction demonstrates the state of things in Cuba. He reccommended the constant shipping of food and supplies to Cuba, but other then that, decided that it should be up to Congress to decide the fate of both the United States' course of action, and the situation on the Cuban island.