Changes

The central domestic issues concerned government regulation of railroads and large corporations (called "trusts", hence the [[Antitrust]] movement), the protective tariff, the role of labor unions, child labor, the need for a new banking system, corruption in party politics, primary elections, direct election of senators, racial segregation, efficiency in government, woman suffrage, and control of immigration.  In foreign policy the main issues involved the [[Spanish-American War|War of 1898 with Spain]], imperialism in the Philippines, the [[Mexican Revolution]], [[World War I]] in Europe, and the creation of the [[League of Nations]].  Dominant personalities included presidents [[William McKinley]], [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and [[Woodrow Wilson]], and three-time presidential candidate [[William Jennings Bryan]].

The central domestic issues concerned government regulation of railroads and large corporations (called "trusts", hence the [[Antitrust]] movement), the protective tariff, the role of labor unions, child labor, the need for a new banking system, corruption in party politics, primary elections, direct election of senators, racial segregation, efficiency in government, woman suffrage, and control of immigration.  In foreign policy the main issues involved the [[Spanish-American War|War of 1898 with Spain]], imperialism in the Philippines, the [[Mexican Revolution]], [[World War I]] in Europe, and the creation of the [[League of Nations]].  Dominant personalities included presidents [[William McKinley]], [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and [[Woodrow Wilson]], and three-time presidential candidate [[William Jennings Bryan]].

==Beginnings==

==Beginnings==

The period began with the realignment of 1894-1896. The overwhelming [[History of the United States Republican Party|Republican]] victory in 1896 over [[William Jennings Bryan]] and his [[U.S. Democratic Party, history|Democratic Party]], repeated in 1900, restored business confidence, inaugurated a long epoch of prosperity (shown in the table), and swept away most of the issues and personalities of the Third Party System.  Most voting blocs continued unchanged, but some realignment took place, giving Republicans dominance in the industrial Northeast and new strength in the border states. Thus the way was clear for the [[Progressive Movement]] to impose a new way of thinking and a new agenda for politics.

The period began with the realignment of 1894-1896. The overwhelming [[Republican Party|Republican]] victory in 1896 over [[William Jennings Bryan]] and his [[U.S. Democratic Party, history|Democratic Party]], repeated in 1900, restored business confidence, inaugurated a long epoch of prosperity (shown in the table), and swept away most of the issues and personalities of the Third Party System.  Most voting blocs continued unchanged, but some realignment took place, giving Republicans dominance in the industrial Northeast and new strength in the border states. Thus the way was clear for the [[Progressive Movement]] to impose a new way of thinking and a new agenda for politics.

[[Image:COIN1894.JPG|thumb|left|400px|''Coin's Financial School'' (1894), a famous silverite book; Coin is a boy who outsmarts all the economics professors by showing the wisdom of "bimetallism" (i.e. free silver) and refuting the fallacies about gold]]

[[Image:COIN1894.JPG|thumb|left|400px|''Coin's Financial School'' (1894), a famous silverite book; Coin is a boy who outsmarts all the economics professors by showing the wisdom of "bimetallism" (i.e. free silver) and refuting the fallacies about gold]]

==Women's suffrage and feminism ==

==Women's suffrage and feminism ==

[[Image:Cleanup1.jpg|image|300px|Women promised that if they had the vote they would clean up the political mess]]

[[Image:Cleanup1.jpg|thumb|300px||right|Women promised that if they had the vote they would clean up the political mess.]]

Gustafson (1997) shows that women vigorously define their role in political parties from the 1880s to 1920. Traditionally viewed as nonpartisan, women generally formed auxiliaries to the Republican and Democratic parties. The formation of the [[Progressive Party]] in 1912 offered women a chance for equality. Progressive party supporter [[Jane Addams]] openly advocated women's partisanship. After the Progressive Party loss in 1912, partisan women continued to form auxiliaries in the major parties. After 1920, inclusion and power in political parties persisted as issues for partisan women.  Suffragists shifted from an emphasis on their right to vote to a new emphasis on the need for women to purify politics and guide policy toward education. The suffrage movement gained strength during World War I, and at the end women received the vote, in a major change in the rules of the game.

Gustafson (1997) shows that women vigorously define their role in political parties from the 1880s to 1920. Traditionally viewed as nonpartisan, women generally formed auxiliaries to the Republican and Democratic parties. The formation of the [[Progressive Party]] in 1912 offered women a chance for equality. Progressive party supporter [[Jane Addams]] openly advocated women's partisanship. After the Progressive Party loss in 1912, partisan women continued to form auxiliaries in the major parties. After 1920, inclusion and power in political parties persisted as issues for partisan women.  Suffragists shifted from an emphasis on their right to vote to a new emphasis on the need for women to purify politics and guide policy toward education. The suffrage movement gained strength during World War I, and at the end women received the vote, in a major change in the rules of the game.

[[Image:Suffragemap1917.jpg|thumb|240px|left|women campaigned state by state, starting in the west; the South held out longest]]

[[Image:Suffragemap1917.jpg|thumb|240px|left|women campaigned state by state, starting in the west; the South held out longest]]