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Explain the contention between U. S. Pres. McKinley's economics and British economics excluding opinion or argument.

The economic contention between U.S. President William McKinley and the British government centered on two conflicting economic systems: American Protectionism and British Free Trade.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these systems clashed over two major issues: import tariffs and the international monetary standard.

1. Trade Policy: High Tariffs vs. Free Trade
The primary point of economic conflict was the use of import taxes (tariffs) to control trade.

The British Economic Position
The British Empire operated on a policy of Free Trade. Because the UK was a mature industrial power with a vast global empire, its economic strategy relied on:
• Eliminating or minimizing import duties.
• Securing open, unrestricted access to foreign consumer markets for British manufactured exports.
• Importing cheap raw materials and food to sustain its domestic population and factories.

The McKinley Economic Position
McKinley was the foremost political architect of the "American System" of economics, which relied heavily on Protectionism. His policy dictated that:
• High tariffs should be placed on foreign manufactured goods to artificially raise their prices inside the United States.
• This price increase would shield young American industries from being undercut by cheaper European (primarily British) competition.
• The domestic market should be preserved for domestic producers.

The Resulting Conflict
As a congressman, McKinley authored the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890, which raised the average duty on imports to the United States to approximately 49.5%. As President, he supported the •Dingley Tariff of 1897, which raised rates further to an average of 52%.

These laws directly targeted industries where Britain held a global monopoly, causing immediate economic shifts:
• The Tinplate Industry: Prior to 1890, South Wales supplied nearly all the tinplate (used for food canning) imported by the U.S. The McKinley Tariff placed a high duty on tinplate, making British imports too expensive for American buyers. Consequently, Welsh export volumes dropped drastically, British factories closed, and a domestic U.S. tinplate industry emerged to fill the market demand.
• Textiles and Iron: British wool, garment, and iron exporters similarly lost market share in the United States as American-made goods became more financially viable under the tariff walls.

2. Currency: The Gold Standard vs. Bimetallism
The second area of contention involved the international monetary system and the backing of global currency.

• The British Position: The UK was committed to a strict monometallic Gold Standard. London was the financial capital of the world, and the British Pound Sterling, backed exclusively by gold, was the dominant currency for international trade settlement.
• The McKinley Position: When McKinley took office in 1897, his party platform sought to address domestic agricultural debt by investigating bimetallism—a system where both gold and silver would back currency at a fixed ratio, effectively increasing the money supply.

The Resulting Conflict
In 1897, McKinley dispatched an official diplomatic mission (the Wolcott Commission) to Europe to negotiate an international bimetallic agreement. The commission requested that British mints in India be reopened to the free coinage of silver to help stabilize global silver prices.
The British financial establishment and the Bank of England rejected the proposal, maintaining that modifying the monetary standard would disrupt the stability of international contracts and British financial dominance. Following Britain's refusal, the McKinley administration abandoned international bimetallism and signed the Gold Standard Act of 1900, legally aligning U.S. monetary policy with the British gold standard.

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