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MCKINLEY, WILLIAM (1843—1901)
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See also:MCKINLEY, See also: He also served on the staff of General See also:Rutherford B. See also:Hayes, who spoke highly of his soldierly qualities. He was mustered out with his regiment on the 26th of July 1865. Four years of See also:army See also:life had changed him from a See also:pale and sickly lad into a See also:man of superb figure and See also:health.
After the war McKinley returned to Poland, and See also:bent all his See also:energy upon the study of See also:law. He completed his preparatory See also:reading at the See also:Albany (N.Y.) law school, and was admitted to the See also:bar at See also:Warren, Ohio, in March 1867. On the See also:advice of an See also:elder See also:sister, who had been for several years a teacher in See also:Canton, See also:Stark county, Ohio, he began his law practice in that See also:place, which was to be his permanent See also:home. He identified himself immediately with the Republican party, campaigned in the Democratic county of Stark in favour of See also:negro See also:suffrage in 1867, and took See also:part in the See also:campaign See also:work on behalf of See also: Conditions both in Ohio and in See also:Congress had placed him, and were to keep him for twenty years, in an attitude of aggressive and uncompromising partisanship. His Congressional See also:district was naturally Democratic, and its boundaries were changed two or three times by Democratic legislatures for the purpose of so grouping Democratic strongholds as to cause his defeat. But he overcame what had threatened to be adverse majorities on all occasions from 1876 to 1890, with the single exception of 1882, when, although he received a certificate of election showing that he had been re-elected by a majority of 8, and although he served nearly through the See also:long session of 1883—1884, his seat was contested and taken (May 28, 1884) by his Democratic opponent, See also:Jonathan H. See also:Wallace. McKinley reflected the strong sentiment of his manufacturing See also:constituency in behalf of a high protective See also:tariff, and he soon became known in Congress (where he particularly attracted the See also:attention of James G. See also:Blaine) as one of the most diligent students of See also:industrial policy and question affecting national See also:taxation. In 1878 he took part in the debates over the See also:Wood Tariff See also:Bill, proposing See also:lower import duties; and in the same year he voted for the Bland-Allison See also:Silver Bill. In See also:December 188o he was appointed a member of the Ways and Means See also:committee, succeeding General James A. See also:Garfield, who had been elected president in the preceding See also:month, and to whose friendship, as to that of Rutherford B. Hayes, McKinley owed much in his earlier years in Congress. He was prominent in the debate which resulted in the defeat of the Democratic See also:Morrison Tariff Bill in 1884, and, as minority See also:leader of the Ways and Means committee, in the defeat of the See also:Mills Bill for the revision of the tariff in 1887—1888. In 188g he became chairman of the Ways and Means committee and Republican leader in the House of Representatives, after having been defeated by See also: See also:Reed on the third See also:ballot in the Republican See also:caucus for speaker of the House. On the 16th of See also:April 1890 he introduced from the Ways and Means committee the tariff measure known commonly as the McKinley Bill, which passed the House on the 21st of May, passed the See also:Senate (in an amended See also:form, with a See also:reciprocity clause, which McKinley had not been able to get through the House) on the loth of September, was passed as amended, by the House, and was approved by the president on the 1st of See also:October 1890, The McKinley Bill reduced revenues by its high and in many cases almost prohibitive duties; it
put See also:sugar on the See also:free See also:list with a discriminating See also:duty of Tlyth of one cent a See also:pound on sugar imported from countries giving a See also:bounty for sugar exported, and it gave bounties to See also:American sugar growers; it attempted to protect many " See also:infant " See also:industries such as the manufacture of See also:tin-See also:plate; under its See also:provision for reciprocal See also:trade agreements (a favourite project of James G. Blaine, who opposed many of the " protective " features of the Bill) reciprocity See also:treaties were made with See also:Germany, See also:France, See also:Italy, and See also:Belgium, which secured a See also:market in those countries for American pork. Abroad, where the Bill made McKinley's name known everywhere, there was See also:bitter opposition to it and See also:reprisals were threatened by several See also:European states. In the United States the McKinley Tariff Bill was one of the See also:main causes of the Democratic victory in the Congressional elections of 1890, in which McKinley himself was defeated by an extraordinary Democratic See also:gerrymander of his Congressional district. In See also:November 1891 he was elected governor of Ohio with a See also:plurality of more than 21,000 votes in a See also:total of 795,000 votes See also:cast. He was governor of Ohio in 1892—1895, being re-elected in 1893. His See also:administration was marked by no important events, except that he had on several occasions in his second See also:term to See also:call out the See also:militia of the See also:state to preserve See also:order; but it may be considered important because of the training it gave him in executive as distinguished from legislative work.
McKinley had been prominent in national politics even before the passage of the tariff measure bearing his name. In 1888 in the National Republican See also:Convention in See also:Chicago he was chairman of the committee on resolutions (i.e. the See also:platform committee) and was leader of the delegation from Ohio, which had been instructed for See also: Blaine received 182 votes, and McKinley, in spite of his efforts to the contrary, received 182 votes. In 1894 he made an extended campaign tour before the Congressional elections, and spoke even in the South. In 1896 he seemed for many reasons the most " available " candidate of his party for the See also:presidency: he had no See also:personal enemies in the party; he had carried the See also:crucial state of Ohio by a large majority in 1893; his attitude on the coinage question had never been so pronounced as to make him unpopular either with the See also:radical silver wing or with the conservative " See also:gold-See also:standard " members of the party. The campaign for his nomination was conducted with the greatest adroitness by his friend, See also:Marcus A. See also:Hanna, and in the National Republican Convention held in St See also: Hanna was elected), who was succeeded in April 1898 by William R. See also:Day, who in turn was followed in September 1898 by John See also:Hay; secretary of the See also:treasury, Lyman J. See also:Gage, a Gold Democrat; secretary of war, See also:Russell A. See also:Alger, who was succeeded in 1899 by Elihu See also:Root; secretary of the See also:navy, John D. Long; attorney-general, See also:Joseph McKenna, succeeded in January 1898 by John William Griggs; postmaster-general, James A. See also:Gary, succeeded in April 1898 by See also: The See also:regular session of Congress which opened in December was occupied chiefly with the situation in See also:Cuba. President McKinley showed himself singularly patient and self-controlled in the midst of the popular excitement against See also:Spain and the clamour for intervention by the United States in behalf of the Cubans; but finally, on the 23rd of March, he presented an See also:ultimatum to the See also:Spanish See also:government, and on the 25th of April, on his recommendation, Congress declared war upon Spain. During the war itself he devoted himself with. great energy to the mastery of military details; but there was bitter See also:criticism of the war See also:department resulting in the resignation of the secretary of war, Russell A. Alger (q.v.). The See also:signing of a See also:peace See also:protocol on the 12th of See also:August was followed by the See also:signature at See also:Paris on the loth of December of articles of peace between the United States and Spain. After a long discussion the peace treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on the 6th of February 1899; and in accordance with its terms See also:Porto Rico, the Philippine See also:Archipelago, and See also:Guam were transferred by Spain to the United States, and Cuba came under American See also:jurisdiction pending the See also:establishment there of an See also:independent government. Two days before the ratification of the peace treaty, a conflict took place between armed Filipinos under the leadership of Emilio Aguinaldo and the American forces that were in See also:possession of See also:Manila. The six months that had elapsed between the signing of the peace protocol and the ratification of the treaty had constituted a virtual See also:interregnum, Spain's authority having been practically destroyed in the Philippines and that of the IJ:uted States II not having begun. In this See also:period a formidable native Filipino army had been organized and a provisional government created. The warfare waged by these Filipinos against the United States, while having for the most part a desultory and guerilla See also:character, was of a very protracted and troublesome nature. See also:Sovereignty over the Filipinos having been accepted by virtue of the ratification of the Paris treaty, President McKinley was not at See also:liberty to do otherwise than assert the authority of the United States and use every endeavour to suppress. the insurrection. But there was bitter protest against this " imperialism," both within the party by such men as Senators George F. See also:Hoar and See also:Eugene See also:Hale, and Thomas B. Reed and Carl See also:Schurz, and, often for purely political reasons, from the leaders of the Democratic party. In the See also:foreign relations of the United States, as directed by President McKinley, the most significant See also:change was the cordial understanding established with the See also:British government, to which much was contributed by his secretary of state, John Hay, appointed to that See also:portfolio when he was See also:ambassador to the court of St James, and which was due to some extent to the friendliness of the British See also:press and even more markedly of the British navy in the Pacific during the Spanish War. Other important foreign events during McKinley's administration were: the See also:annexation of the Hawaiian Islands (see See also:HAWAII) in August 1898, and the formation of the Territory of Hawaii in April 1900; the cessation in 1899 of the tripartite (See also:German, British, and See also:French) government of the Samoan Islands, and the annexation by the United States of those of the islands See also:east of 171°, including the See also:harbour of Pago-Pago; the participation of American troops in the march of the See also:allies on See also:Pekin in August 1900, and the part played by McKinley's secretary of state, John Hay, in securing a See also:guarantee of the integrity of the See also:Chinese See also:empire. In 1900 McKinley was unanimously renominated by the National Republican Convention which met in See also:Philadelphia on the loth of June, and which nominated See also:Theodore See also:Roosevelt, governor of New York, for the vice-presidency. The Republican convention demanded the See also:maintenance of the gold standard, and pointed to the fulfilment of some of the most important of the pledges given by the Republican party four years earlier. The intervening period had been one of very exceptional prosperity in the United States, foreign See also:commerce having reached an unprecedented See also:volume, and agriculture and manufactures having made greater See also:advancement than in any previous period of the country's history. The tendency towards the concentration of See also:capital in great industrial corporations had been active to an extent previously undreamt of, with incidental consequences that had aroused much See also:apprehension; and the Democrats accused President McKinley and the Republican party of having fostered the " See also:trusts." But the campaign against McKinley and the Republican party was not only " See also:anti-See also:trust " but " anti-imperialistic." William Jennings Bryan, renominated by the Democratic party in July (and in May by the See also:Fusion People's party) on a free silver platform, declared that imperialism was the " See also:paramount issue " and made a second vigorous campaign; and the opposition to McKinley's re-election, whether based on opposition to his economic or to his foreign policy, was not entirely outside of his own party. - As the result of the polling in November, 292 Republican presidential See also:electors were chosen, and 155 Democratic electors, elected in Colorado, See also:Idaho, See also:Montana, See also:Nevada, and the See also:Southern states, represented the final strength of the Bryan and See also:Stevenson ticket. The Republican popular See also:vote was 7,207,923, and the Democratic 6,358,133. Since 1872 no president had been re-elected for a second consecutive term. In the term of Congress immediately following the presidential election it was found possible to reduce materially the war taxes which had been levied on the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. Arrangements were perfected for the termination of the American military occupation of Cuba and the inauguration of a Cuban See also:Republic as a virtual See also:protectorate of the United States, the American government having arranged with the Cuban constitutional convention for the retention of certain See also:naval stations on the Cuban See also:coast. In the Philippines advanced steps had been taken in the substitution of civil government for military occupation, and a governor-general, See also:Judge William H. See also:Taft, had been appointed and sent to Manila. Prosperity at home was great, and foreign relations were free from complications. The problems which had devolved upon McKinley's administration had been far advanced towards final See also:settlement. He, retained without change the cabinet of his first administration. After an arduous and -anxious term, the president had reached a period that promised to give him See also:comparative repose and freedom from care. He had secured, through the co. operation of Congress, the permanent reorganization of the army and a very considerable development of the navy. In these circumstances, President McKinley, accompanied by the greater part of his cabinet, set forth in the See also:early summer on a tour to visit the Pacific coast, where he was to See also:witness the launching of the battleship " Ohio " at See also:San Francisco. The route chosen was through the Southern states, where many stops were made, and where the president delivered brief addresses. The heartiness of the welcome accorded him seemed to See also:mark the disappearance of the last vestige of sectional feeling that had survived the Civil War, in which McKinley had participated as a See also:young man. After his return he spent a month in a visit at his old home in Canton, Ohio, and at the end of this visit, by previous arrangement, he visited the See also:city of See also:Buffalo, New York, in order to attend the See also:Pan-American exposition and deliver a public address. This address (See also:Sept. 5, 1901) was a public utterance designed by McKinley to affect American See also:opinion and public policy, and apparently to show that he had modified his views upon the tariff. It declared that henceforth the progress of the nations must be through See also:harmony and co-operation, in view of the fast-changing conditions of communication and trade, and it maintained that the time had come for wide-reaching modifications in the tariff policy of the United States, the method preferred by McKinley being that of commercial reciprocity arrangements with various nations. On the following day, the 6th of September 1901, a great reception was held for President McKinley in one of the public buildings of the exposition, all sorts and conditions of men being welcome. See also:Advantage of. this opportunity was taken by a young man of See also:Polish parentage, by name See also:Leon Czolgosz, to shoot at the president with a revolver at See also:close range. One of the two bullets fired penetrated the See also:abdomen. After the world had been assured that the patient was doing well and would recover, he collapsed and died on the 14th. The See also:assassin, who, it was for a time supposed, had been inflamed by the editorials and cartoons of the demagogic opposition press, but who professed to hold the views of that See also:branch of anarchists who believe in the assassination of rulers and persons exercising political authority, was promptly seized, and was convicted and executed in October 1901. McKinley's conduct and utterances in his last days revealed a loftiness of personal character that everywhere-elicited admiration and praise. Immediately after his See also:death Vice-President Roosevelt took the See also:oath of See also:office; announcing that it would be his purpose to continue McKinley's policy, while also retaining the cabinet and the See also:principal See also:officers of the government. McKinley's funeral took place at Canton, Ohio, on the ,9th of September, the occasion being remarkable for the public manifestations of See also:mourning, not only in the United States, but in Great See also:Britain and other countries; in Canton a memorial See also:tomb has been erected. Though he had not the personal See also:magnetism of James G. Blaine, whom he succeeded as a leader of the Republican party and whose views of reciprocity he formally adopted in his last public address, McKinley had great personal suavity and dignity, and was thoroughly well liked by his party colleagues. As a politician he was always more the people's representative than their leader, and that he " kept his See also:ear to the ground" was the source of much of his See also:power and at the same time was his greatest weakness: his address at Buffalo the day before his assassination seems to See also:voice his appreciation of the change
in popular sentiment regarding the tariff See also:laws of the United States and is the more remarkable as coming from the foremost See also:champion for years of a form of tariff legislation devised to stifle international competition. His apparently inconsistent See also:record on the coinage question becomes consistent if considered in the same way, as the expression of the gradually changing views of his constituency. And it may not be fanciful to suggest that the obvious growth of McKinley in breadth and power during his term as president was due to his being the representative of a larger constituency, less See also:local and less narrow-minded. He was an able but far from brilliant campaign speaker. His greatest administrative See also:gift was a See also:fine See also:intuition in choosing men to serve him. McKinley's private life was irreproachable; and very fine was his devotion to his wife, See also:Ida Saxton (d. 1907), whom he had married in Canton in 1871, who was throughout his political career a confirmed invalid. He was from his early manhood a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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