Wliiiam Mckinley

1 Pages 358 Words

William McKinley was born on January 29,1843 in Niles, Ohio. He died on September 14, 1901 in Buffalo, New York. He was a lawyer, a congressman, and a governor for the state of Ohio. His term was from 1896 to 1901.
The Spanish-American war was the most significant event during McKinley’s presidency. He hated the brutality involved in Spain’s efforts to suppress the insurrection in Cuba. McKinley wanted to give Spain every opportunity to leave the island without American interference. He pressed Spain to reform Cuba, then to grant autonomy, and then to give it freedom. Spain denied to do America’s bidding. Finally convinced that Spain would not free Cuba, McKinley asked congress in April for authority to intervene. Congress approved a declaration of war on April 25. The Spanish-American war was brief, but successful. After the war the U.S. received the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico from Spain. Cuba became free.
The rest of William McKinley’s presidency was mainly focused on taxes and tariffs. He called a special session of congress to revise the tariff upward. In 1896 customs duties earned $160 million in revenue for the U.S., the largest component of government income. Various internal revenue duties brought in approximately $145 million. Alcohol taxes earned $114.5 million, tobacco taxes brought $30.7 million, and stamps brought $260,000. McKinley increased tariff income both as a means of encouraging the expansion of domestic industry and employment of American workers.
Through most of 1897, the McKinley administration pursued an international agreement to include silver, along with gold, as an acceptable backing for the major European currency. McKinley said that he would use silver only if England, France, Russia, and Italy would go along. It failed in late 1897. In 1900, he signed the Gold Standard Act, which formally placed U.S. money on gold standard. All currency was fully backe...