It was a string of unfortunate events, to put the build-up to the Third Anglo-American War in simple terms. The roots of this unnecessary conflict can be found in an old border dispute between Venezuela and the United Kingdom over the Guyana Essequibo region in British Guyana, and in the occupation of a small port city in Nicaragua. Though Venezuela claimed this territory for itself, Britain was the one who directly controlled the land, and refused to give it up. Taking matters into his own hands, an American lobbyist for the Venezuelan government, William L. Scruggs, argued that Britain's conduct violated the Monroe Doctrine, and collaborated with a congressman from Georgia to introduce a House resolution recommending that the boundary dispute be settled by arbitration (preferably American-led). After its unanimous passage by both Houses of Congress, President Cleveland signed H.R. 252 into law on February 22nd, 1895. A little over two months after the signing of H.R. 252, British gunboats occupied the Nicaraguan port of Corinto after several British citizens had been arrested by the local government after Nicaragua had occupied the British-controlled Mosquito Coast. Though the U.S. Secretary of State, Walter Gresham, felt the British demands of a $15,000 indemnity ought to be paid, the American public disagreed, furious that the British had so flagrantly disregarded America's sphere of influence. Then, in July, the new Secretary of State, Richard Olney, dispatched a lengthy missive to the British government, demanding that the British adhere to the Monroe Doctrine. In their response, the British government refused to acknowledge the Monroe Doctrine's relevance to the border dispute, and declined American arbitration. With tensions escalating, President Cleveland dispatched the USS Chicago, one of the new protected cruisers, to Caracas harbor to monitor the situation. Shortly after arriving in late August, the Chicago was rocked by a blast from its coal bunkers, tearing it in two and killing over a hundred crew. The explosion was immediately blamed on the British by American news media, and all at once the public began clamoring for war. This placed President Cleveland in an uncomfortable decision - he was aware that starting a war with the British could ruin the economy even more than its present state, and the states of the army and navy were not conducive to war with a major power. But, pushed and prodded by most Democrats and even many Republicans, Cleveland requested a declaration of war from Congress, asking them to "free the Nicaraguan people from a heinous invasion and aid the Venezuelan people in reclaiming occupied territory". The United States of America thus voted to declare war on the United Kingdom, despite significant opposition from the Republican Speaker, Thomas B. Reed.
The war began well enough, with US troops capturing Vancouver and cutting off the Pacific Railway in Alberta. However, by June of 1896, the tide was turning. A US army was decisively defeated just south of Toronto, while an attempt to seize New Brunswick was similarly defeated. The US met with further defeats on the ocean, as the small American fleet was forced to flee back to port after a devastating loss off the coast of Boston, leaving America's port cities vulnerable. Despite the actions of brave blockade-runners, America's economy was cut off from world markets, worsening an already bad recession. Wages went down as companies had to pay more for raw materials, leading to strikes that were bloodily suppressed. British ships shelled New York, Boston, Norfolk, Baltimore, Charleston, and New Orleans with abandon. In July, as convention season officially began, Nelson A. Miles was forced to retreat from the Ontario peninsula, though he successfully prevented the fall of Detroit. News of the American captures of Regina and Calgary, as well as the fall of Edmonton, did little to assuage public fears of foreign invasion, and a people that had welcomed the beginning of the war now demanded its swift conclusion.
Thus, all eyes were on the Republican party as it held its convention. The initial frontrunner, former Ohio governor William McKinley, was rejected by many party bosses because of his support of expansionism, which was at that point an unpopular policy. However, Speaker Reed saw his initial burst of support fade over concerns of his electability, and fears that he wouldn't win enough western and mid-western states. Thus, the convention settled on an unusual candidate, who had up until then been enjoying his political retirement. Former President Benjamin Harrison was reluctant to run against Cleveland again, but ultimately agreed, convinced by the convention leaders that he was the only one of the Republican candidates who would restore peace and prosperity. Thus, Benjamin Harrison was nominated on the fourth ballot, and William McKinley was nominated as his running mate to appease Mark Hanna's faction of the party. A platform proposing moderate bimetallism, balancing labor and business,
The Democrats saw a frenzied and chaotic convention. President Cleveland initially refused to put his name on the ballot, leaving Matthew Pattison the frontrunner. However, after a few ballots, William Jennings Bryan, a populist, began gaining ground, worrying Cleveland. Seeking to unite the bourbon Democrats to deny the populists control of the party, Cleveland persuaded all of them to withdraw and endorse him, enabling him to win on the sixth ballot, while Vice President Stevenson was easily renominated. Furious, Bryan and the populists walked out of the convention. A pro-gold, pro-war platform was passed soon after.
This left the Populist convention. Initially deadlocked over a nominee, the arrival of Bryan and the silver Democrats made their choice much easier. He was nominated unanimously and Thomas E. Watson was nominated for Vice President. The Populist platform was a full-throated condemnation of the war, of Cleveland's labor policies, and his economic policies, especially his pro-gold, anti-silver policies.
Cleveland was incredibly unpopular. Not only was America experiencing a nasty recession, but Cleveland had embroiled the nation in a mismanaged, disastrous war that was the cause for the rubble and fires of New York and Boston. In fact, the President and Congress evacuated inland to St. Louis in October when British marines led a raid in Norfolk to burn a naval arsenal. The Republicans criticized the radicalism of Bryan and his proposed policies, while furiously castigating Cleveland's "reckless policies" of war and economics. Harrison wanted limited silver coinage and balanced industry and labor, gaining him the support of industrial workers who might have otherwise supported the Populists. In fact, the Republicans and Populists spent more time criticizing each other than they did attacking the Democrats. Though many Americans respected Cleveland's personal integrity, they were furious for the "splendid mess" of a bad economy and crippling blockade that they were facing.
In the end, the result wasn't even close, though Bryan outperformed expectations. Harrison, in a repeat of his 1888 performance, swept the north mid-west, and Pacific west, even winning Democratic states like West Virginia, and more Populist states like Montana, though this time he also decisively won the popular vote. In addition to the plains and mountain west states, Bryan won Alabama (though four of its electors voted for Cleveland), Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Texas, all solidly-Democratic states up until then. Cleveland came in last in both the electoral and popular votes, and, in an even more humiliating turn of events for America's oldest party (at that time), were reduced to the third-largest party in Congress, with the Populists surpassing them, making Milford W. Howard, a Populist, the new House minority leader. The Republicans expanded their majorities in both Houses, as vote-splitting and a collapse in northern support for Democrats aided Republican candidates.
Thus, Benjamin Harrison became the second, and to date last, person to ever serve non-consecutive terms as President. Together with his Secretary of State, John Hay, President Harrison negotiated the 1897 Treaty of Rochester, which 'revised' the Webster-Ashburton Treaty to cede some of northern Maine to Britain, while America annexed British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan from Canada. All-in-all, the Third Anglo-American War, sometimes referred to as the 'War of the Doctrine', is regarded as an unnecessary war that, while America gained vast new territories, plunged it into a decade of isolationism even from the nations of the Americas, that only ended with the rise of Theodore Roosevelt and his two-ocean navy plan.
