Some Notable Events, 1905-1908*
March 4, 1905: Charles W. Fairbanks takes the office of President of the United States. General consensus among the Republican Party elite is that he will carry on the legacy of McKinley. He soon bears out this, authorizing the largest peacetime expansion of the US Navy in American history. More modest are expansions in the size of the US standing army, which is still pitifully small by European standards.
April 6, 1905: The New York state Supreme Court invalidates the state's 8 hour day law in the case Lochner v. New York. In a rare show of cooperation, both the local AF of L affiliates and the IWW affiliates agree to a combined protest and strike over the case.
February 28, 1906: Upton Sinclair publishes the novel The Jungle. In spite of the widespread clamor about the conditions of meatpacking plants, little is done by the government about it other than a few minor committee meetings.
April 18, 1906: San Francisco is ravaged by an earthquake on a magnitude unseen in American history. 3000 are killed, and over 200,000 left homeless in one of the worst natural disasters yet witnessed.
July 1907: The United Teamsters of America successfully forms a dual union, defeating the attempts of AF of L president Samuel Gompers to contain industrial unionist insurgency. This defection is a major victory in the IWW's "boring from within" strategy. The craft union International Brotherhood of Teamsters soon dissolves into the UTA after president Daniel J. Tobin resigns.
October 24, 1907: Everything is normal on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange
February 8, 1908: the International Union of United Brewery Workmen of America votes to affiliate with the IWW, in yet another defeat of the increasingly reactionary AF of L.
May 1908: Facing political oblivion, the Populists vote to fold into the surging Socialist Party of America.
The 1908 General Election
The Republican Party nominates Fairbanks to a second term. He faces off agains the Democratic Party's William Jennings Bryan in his third bid for the presidency.
Charles W. Fairbanks (R)...................7,093,132 (321)
William Jennings Bryan (D).................6,032,171 (163)
Eugene V. Debs (S)..........................1,432,400 (0)
Eugene Wilder Chafin (Proh)...............248,482 (0)
Congressional results
Republican Party.............213
Democratic Party.............176
Socialist Party.................1
When the votes are tallied, it becomes very clear that the rules of the game have changed. While the Socialists had earlier been met with scorn by nativeborn elections, this election resulted in a massive influx of new members into the Socialist Party base, as well as dramatic increases in industrial unionization. Notably, the Socialists gain their first entry into the US Congress, with the capture of the newly admitted state of Oklahoma's at-large district in a closely tied three-way race.
The Democratic Party's attempt to appeal to populist sentiments is once again rebuffed, and the party faired poorly outside of its strongholds in the South.
*Sorry, not very exciting I know. But nothing really interesting happened in this time period, even in OTL
March 4, 1905: Charles W. Fairbanks takes the office of President of the United States. General consensus among the Republican Party elite is that he will carry on the legacy of McKinley. He soon bears out this, authorizing the largest peacetime expansion of the US Navy in American history. More modest are expansions in the size of the US standing army, which is still pitifully small by European standards.
April 6, 1905: The New York state Supreme Court invalidates the state's 8 hour day law in the case Lochner v. New York. In a rare show of cooperation, both the local AF of L affiliates and the IWW affiliates agree to a combined protest and strike over the case.
February 28, 1906: Upton Sinclair publishes the novel The Jungle. In spite of the widespread clamor about the conditions of meatpacking plants, little is done by the government about it other than a few minor committee meetings.
April 18, 1906: San Francisco is ravaged by an earthquake on a magnitude unseen in American history. 3000 are killed, and over 200,000 left homeless in one of the worst natural disasters yet witnessed.
July 1907: The United Teamsters of America successfully forms a dual union, defeating the attempts of AF of L president Samuel Gompers to contain industrial unionist insurgency. This defection is a major victory in the IWW's "boring from within" strategy. The craft union International Brotherhood of Teamsters soon dissolves into the UTA after president Daniel J. Tobin resigns.
October 24, 1907: Everything is normal on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange
February 8, 1908: the International Union of United Brewery Workmen of America votes to affiliate with the IWW, in yet another defeat of the increasingly reactionary AF of L.
May 1908: Facing political oblivion, the Populists vote to fold into the surging Socialist Party of America.
The 1908 General Election
The Republican Party nominates Fairbanks to a second term. He faces off agains the Democratic Party's William Jennings Bryan in his third bid for the presidency.
Charles W. Fairbanks (R)...................7,093,132 (321)
William Jennings Bryan (D).................6,032,171 (163)
Eugene V. Debs (S)..........................1,432,400 (0)
Eugene Wilder Chafin (Proh)...............248,482 (0)
Congressional results
Republican Party.............213
Democratic Party.............176
Socialist Party.................1
When the votes are tallied, it becomes very clear that the rules of the game have changed. While the Socialists had earlier been met with scorn by nativeborn elections, this election resulted in a massive influx of new members into the Socialist Party base, as well as dramatic increases in industrial unionization. Notably, the Socialists gain their first entry into the US Congress, with the capture of the newly admitted state of Oklahoma's at-large district in a closely tied three-way race.
The Democratic Party's attempt to appeal to populist sentiments is once again rebuffed, and the party faired poorly outside of its strongholds in the South.
*Sorry, not very exciting I know. But nothing really interesting happened in this time period, even in OTL
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