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WILLIAM M'KINLEY: A CHRONOLOGY
[Twenty-five different men have filled the office of President of the United States. Of these, only eight have been reelected for a second consecutive term, viz : Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Lincoln, Grant, and McKinley. The career of William McKinley has not been accidental or meteoric. His sterling and steadfast qualities were recognized as marking him for high places of responsibility while he was yet a boy. His modest worth as a soldier was known to President Lincoln, and he was cherished as a younger brother by Hayes and Garfield, and esteemed by men like the Sherman brothers. The chronology which follows has been prepared by Mr. George T. Pettengill, of the Review of Reviews staff. - The Editor.
1843. January 29. William McKinley, son of William and Nancy (Allison) McKinley, is born at Niles, Trumbull County, Ohio, being the seventh of a family of nine children.
1852. The McKinley family removes to Poland, Mahoning County, Ohio, where Wiliam studies at Union Seminary until he is seventeen.
1859. Becomes a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Poland.
1860. Enters the junior class in Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa., but poor health prevents the completion of the course. Subsequently teaches in a public school near Poland and later becomes a clerk in the Poland post-office.
1861. June 11. Enlists as a private in Company E of the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
1862. April 15. Promoted to commissary sergeant while in the winter's camp at Fayetteville, W. Va.
1862. September 24. Promoted to second lieutenant, in recognition of services at the battle of Antietam. Wins the highest esteem of the colonel of the regiment, Rutherford B. Hayes, and becomes a member of his staff.
1863. February 7. Promoted to first lieutenant.
1864. July 25. Promoted to captain for gallantry at the battle of Kernstown, near Winchester, Va.
1864. October 11. First vote for President cast, while on a march, for Abraham Lincoln.
1864. Shortly after the battle of Cedar Creek (October 19), Captain McKinley serves on the staffs of Gen. George Crook and Gen. Winfield S. Hancock.
1865. Assigned as acting assistant adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. Samuel S. Carroll, commanding the veteran reserve corps at Washington.
1865. March 13. Commissioned by President Lincoln as major by brevet in the volunteer United States army, "for gallant and meritorious services at the battles of Opequan, Cedar Creek, and Fisher's Hill."
1865. July 26. Mustered out of the army with his regiment, having never been absent from his command on sick leave during more than four years' service.
1865. Returns to Poland, and at once begins the study of law.
1866. Enters the Albany (N.Y.) Law School.
1867. Admitted to the bar at Warren, Ohio, in March. Accepting the advice of an elder sister teaching in Canton, Ohio, he begins the practice of law in Canton, and makes that place his home.
1869. Elected prosecuting attorney of Stark County on the Republican ticket, although the county had usually been Democratic.
1871. January 25. Marries Miss Ida Saxton, of Canton. (Two daughters born to Mr. and Mrs. McKinley, - Katie in 1871, and Ida in 1873, - are both lost in early childhood.)
1871. Fails of reelection as prosecuting attorney by 45 votes, and for the next five years devotes himself successfully to the practice of law, and becomes a leading member of the bar of Stark County.
1872. Though not a candidate, very active as a campaign speaker in the Grant-Greeley Presidential campaign.
1875. Especially active and conspicuous as a campaigner in the closely-contested State election in which Rutherford B. Hayes is elected governor.
1876. Elected member of the House of Representatives by 3,300 majority, his friend Hayes being elected to the Presidency.
1878. Reelected to Congress by 1,234 majority, his district in Ohio having been gerrymandered to his disadvantage by a Democractic legislature.
1880. Reelected to Congress by 3,571 majority. Appointed a member of the ways and means committee, to succeed President-elect Garfield.
1882. The Republicans suffer reverses throughout the
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674 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY REVIEW OF REVIEWS.
country in the Congressional elections, and McKinley is reelected by a majority of only 8.
1884. Prominent in opposition to the proposed "Morrison tariff" in Congress.
1884. As delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, actively supports James G. Blaine for the Presidential nomination.
1884. Reelected to Congress by a majority of 2,000 although his district had again been gerrymandered against him.
1886. Reelected to Congress by a majority of 2,550.
1888. Leads the minority opposition in Congress against the "Mills tariff bill."
1888. Delegate-at-large to the national convention in Chicago that nominates Benjamin Harrison, and serves as chairman of the committee on resolutions. Many delegates wish McKinley to become the nominee, but he stands firm in his support of John Sherman.
1888. Elected to Congress for the seventh successive time, receiving a majority of 4,100 votes.
1889. At the organization of the Fifty-first Congress, is a candidate for Speaker of the House, but is defeated on the third ballot in the Republican caucus by Thomas B. Reed.
1890. Upon the death of William D. Kelley, in January, McKinley becomes chairman of the ways and means committee and leader of his party in the House. He introduces a bill "to simplify the laws in relation to the collection of the revenues," known as the "customs administration bill." He also introduces a general tariff bill. The bill becomes a law October 6.
1890. As a result of gerrymandered Congressional district, and the reaction against the Republican party throughout the country caused by the protracted struggle over the tariff bill, McKinley is defeated in the election for Congress by 300 votes in counties that had previously gone Democratic by 3,00.
1891. November 3. Elected governor of Ohio by a plurality of 21,511, polling the largest votes that had ever been cast for governor in Ohio. His opponent is the Democratic governor, James E. Campbell.
1892. As delegate-at-large to the national convention at Minneapolis, and chairman of the convention, McKinley refuses to permit the consideration of his name, and supports the renomination of President Harrison. The roll-call results as follows : Harrison, 535; Blaine, 182; McKinley, 182; Reed, 4; Lincoln, 1.
1892. Death of William McKinley, Sr., in November.
1893. Unanimously renominated for governor of Ohio, and reelected by a plurality of 80,995, this majority being the greatest ever reocrded, with a single exception during the Civil War, for any candidate in the history of the State.
1896. June 18. At the Republican National Convention in St. Louis, McKinley is nominated for President on the first ballot, the result of the voting being as follows : McKinley, 661 1/2; Reed, 84 1/2; Quay, 60 1/2 ; Morton, 58 ; Allison, 35 1/2; Cameron, 1.
1896. November 3. Receives a popular vote in the Presidential election of 7,104,779, a plurality of 601,854 over his Democratic opponent, William J. Bryan. In the Electoral College, later, McKinley receives 271 votes against 176 for Bryan.
1897. March 4. Inaugurated President of the United States for the twenty-eighth quadrennial term.
1897. March 6. Issues proclamation for an extra session of Congress to assemble March 15. The President's Message dwells solely upon the need of a revision of the existing tariff law.
1897. May 17. In response to an appeal from the President, Congress appropriates $50,000 for the relief of destitution in Cuba.
1897. July 24. The "Dingley tariff bill" receives the President's approval.
1897. December 12. Death of President McKinley's mother at Canton, Ohio.
1898. Both branches of Congress vote unanimously (the House on March 8 by a vote of 313 to 0, and the Senate by a vote of 76 to 0 on the following day) to place $50,000,000 at the disposal of the President, to be used at his discretion "for the national defense."
1898. March 23. The President sends to the Spanish Government, through Minister Woodford, at Madrid, an ultimatum regarding the intolerable condition of affairs in Cuba.
1898. March 28. The report of the court of inquiry on the destruction of the Maine at Havana on February 15 is transmitted by the President to Congress.
1898. April 11. The President sends a message to Congress outlining the situation, declaring the intervention is necessary, and advising against the recognition of the Cuban Government.
1898. April 21. The Spanish Government sends Minister Woodford his passports, thus beginning the war.
1898. April 23. The President issues a call for 125,000 volunteers.
1898. April 24. Spain formally declares that war exists with the United States.
1898. April 25. In a message to Congress, the President recommends the passage of a joint resolution declaring that war exists with Spain. On the same day both branches of Congress pass such a declaration.
1898. May 25. The President issues a call for 75,000 additonal volunteers.
1898. June 29. Yale University confers upon President McKinley the degree of LL.D.
1898. July 7. Joint resolution of Congress providing for the annexation of Hawaii receives the approval of the President.
1898. August 9. Spain formally accepts the President's terms of peace.
1898. August 12. The peace protocol is signed. An armistice is proclaimed, and the Cuban blockade raised.
1898. October 17. The President receives the degree of LL.D. from the University of Chicago.
1898. December 10. The Treaty of Peace between Spain and the United States is signed at Paris.
1900. March 14. The President signs the "Gold-Standard Act."
1900. June 21. The Republican National Convention at Philadelphia unanimously renominates William McKinley for the Presidency.
1900. June 21. The President's amnesty proclamation to the Filipinos is published in Manila.
1900. July 10. The United States Government makes public a statement of its policy as to affairs in China.
1900. September 10. Letter accepting the Presidential nomination and discussing the issues of the campaign is given to the public.
1900. November 6. In the Presidential election, William McKinley carries 28 States, which have an aggregate of 292 votes in the Electoral College, his Democratic opponent, William J. Bryan, carrying 17 States, having 155 electoral votes. His popular plurality is also larger than in the election os 1896.
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Christmas, 1899 SCOTLAND'S RUINED ABBEYS. By Howard Crosby Butler, A.M., sometime Lecturer on Architecture in Princeton University, and Fellow of the American School of Classical studies in Rome. Fully illustrated. Square 8vo. Cloth extra, gilt top. $3.50. A two-fold purpose has produced this valuable work - a desire to supply, in convenient form,an accurate guide to the ruined abbeys of Scotland, and to furnish a trustworthy history of their building and description of architectual features. The author does not confine himself to those buildings which have long beem familiar to tourist and student, but furnishes descriptions of many ruins almost wholly unknown. Such description is not only of interest but of distinct value to the student of architecture and the occasional traveler.
MELROSE ABBEY FROM THE SOUTHEAST.
The book opens with an account of the beginnings of Gothic style in Scotland, and a general survey of Scottish eccesiastical architecture. Chapters follow on the principal Abbeys, including Iona, Dunfermline, Holyrood, Melrose, Dryburgh, and numerous others. The architectural features of each are described by the trained observer, and into his text is also woven much of interest concerning Scottish history and tradition. The illustrations have been prepared by the author with great care, and his Sketches of architectual details are of very unusual excellence. There are also plans of the principal buildings mentioned. Altogether the volume makes one of the handsomest of the season's publications in its own field.
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Christmas, 1899.
DRAKE AND HIS YEOMEN: A True Accounting of the Character and Adventures of Sir Francis Drake, as told by Sir Matthew Maunsell, his Friend and Follower. Wherein also is set forth much of the Narrator's Private History.
BY JAMES BARNES, author of "Yankee Ships and Yankee Sailors," "For King or Country," "A Loyal Traitor," etc. Colored frontispiece and eight full-page illustrations, by CARLTON T. CHAPMAN. Crown 8vo. Cloth. $2.00
Mr Barnes tell the personal story of a young Englishman, born during the latter years of the reign of Bloody Mary. Although his father is an English baronet, his mother is Spanish, and she escapes to her native
[image: from a painting of sailing ships at sea]
country upon the ascension of Queen Elizabeth to the throne. Here the boy, Matthew Maunsell, is brought up amid surroundings and a condition of affairs that are distasteful to him. He has numerous adventures, and becomes a Protestant. Upon the death of his mother he is returned to a relative of his father's, a Romanist and close adherent of Mary Queen of Scots, who determines to use him for furthering the Romish cause in England and the overthrow of Elizabeth.
All that follows is a matter of absolute record in history. All the persons named actually existed, and were followers of Drake, his Yeomen, as he called them. The young hero becomes Drake's constant companion, and is by his side at Nombre de Dios and in several hand-to-hand conflicts. Drake becomes his ideal, and he makes records of his doings and sayings, and much of his personal bravery and leadership.
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