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Part Eighty-Four: A Decade of Change Begins

American Imperialism: The presidency of Grover Cleveland saw the beginning of true American imperialism overseas. While there had been previous expeditions such as those of William Walker, few of these were actually sanctioned by the United States government and the country as a whole had remained isolationist within a global context. During the 1890s, however, the United States increased its commercial and political interests in overseas colonies. In early 1893, Congress and President Cleveland approved a decision to have the United States attend the Congo Conference in Paris as advocates for American businesses with interests in the Congo River.

Cleveland's appointed representative at the conference was a former Confederate general and staunch Democrat, John Tyler Morgan[1]. Morgan was a senator from Alabama who had just been reelected to a third term in the Senate, and was a strong supporter of American expansion abroad. During the negotiations, Morgan attempted to gain the United states some land in the Congo. The Morgan Report sent to Washington after the conference stated that this was to secure land in which American businesses could operate and benefit from the trade on the Congo. Some modern historians, however, suggest that Morgan's motivation was to enable another movement of blacks to the African continent similar to the colonization of Liberia in the early 19th century.

Morgan was able to gain the United States a foothold on the African continent when it was decided that the mouth of the Congo River would be given to a country neutral to European interests. An area at the mouth of the Congo River was given to the United States, which created the Unincorporated Congo Territory to administer it. Frank Seiberling was appointed the first governor of the Congo Territory in 1894 and gave many concessions to businesses for extraction of rubber and other tropical resources. The biggest company to take advantage of the new Congo Territory was the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company[2], which contributed to the automobile boom in the Old Northwest.


Census of 1890: During the 1880s, the population of the United States continued the pattern of monumental growth in the 19th century. Over the decade, the country's population increased from 63 million to over 78 million. Most of this increase came from natural growth of the United States population. Due to the Silver Depression, the decade saw a smaller than normal number of immigrants arriving in the United States. However, those that did immigrate included the first significant migration of people from East Asia, especially from China, the Philippines, and Korea.

Along with the growing national population, the populations of the states also changed dramatically during the 1880s. In 1880, only New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio had over three million people. By 1890, there were eight states with over three million people, primarily in and around the Old Northwest[3]. This reflected the movement of people up from the South looking for work or better pay, as well as industrial booms that arrived with the combination of coal coming from the Appalachians, iron from Marquette, and the Indiana Gas Boom. Even so, New York remained the largest state in the Union at 7.8 million people, over ten percent of the country's population. Finally, Kootenay and Oregon had each reached over 60 thousand people and were admitted as states in 1891.


Election of 1892: The continuation of the Silver Depression through the end of the 1880s caused the economy to once again be at the forefront in the 1892 election. The Democratic nomination was not an easy one for Grover Cleveland. While the party was unified on its economic platform, there was a deep divide when it came to foreign policy. Cleveland and those supporting him opposed American expansion and intervention abroad, but many others in the Democratic Party wanted to embrace imperialism and expand American influence. These Eagle Democrats as they were known rallied around Ohio senator William McKinley in his attempt to gain the nomination instead of Cleveland. However, Cleveland won the nomination at the Democratic convention in Chicago after seven ballots with his appointment of Eagle Democrat John Tyler Morgan to the Congo Conference and retained Bayard as his Vice Presidential candidate.

For the Republicans, there were many politicians who were considered potential candidates. The main contenders going into 1892 were New Jersey governor Leon Abbett, former Indiana governor Benjamin Harrison, and former Attorney General Robert Todd Lincoln. In early 1892, Abbett officially bowed out of the race for the nomination, stating that he felt his efforts would be best focused at the state level. However, at the Republican national convention in Baltimore, Abbett officially endorsed Harrison, pushing Harrison to the nomination on the second ballot. The convention nominated Henry Dawes of Massachusetts as Harrison's running mate.

The campaign of 1892 largely focused on the economy and the cause of the Silver Depression. Harrison and the Republicans put the blame for the depression on the Democratic resistance to regulating businesses and allowing for unnecessary speculation, especially in Western lands and in the railroad companies. Cleveland and the Democrats blamed the coinage of silver and the falling silver prices for devaluing the United States dollar. In hindsight, both parties were correct in part and there were a number of causes to the Silver Depression. However, at the time, many Americans in the east and south sided with the Democrats on the reasons for the depression. Although blaming the silver movement alienated the Democrats in Oregon Country and in the West, the beginning of the recovery and the division of opposition voters between the Republican Party and the Populist Party gave the Democrats a slight advantage on election day. Cleveland barely won a second term with 198 electoral votes, one more than what was needed for a majority[4]. The 1892 election also gave the Populist Party its first electoral showing, with 14 electoral votes from winning Colorado, New Mexico, and Demoine.

Cleveland/Bayard: 198 EVs
Harrison/Dawes: 180 EVs
Weaver/Stevenson: 14 EVs


[1] As part of a compromise between Cleveland and the Eagle Democrats to avoid the party looking divided during an election year.
[2] Charles Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber ITTL too, so as in OTL, a rubber company is named for him.
[3] New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Massachusetts, and Cuba.
[4] And the Democrats narrowly won Calhoun and Cuba thanks to the Progressives siphoning off some Republican votes.