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The Populist Movement
How does the
Populist
Movement plan
to rescue
America?
New Farming Technology
•Morrill Act will help farmers by giving states money to start agricultural
college – new technology develops, more crops in less time
2)
barbed
wire
1) steel tipped plow
4) steel
windmill
3) Reaper (cuts crops when ripe)
Farming Problems
$2.00
1. Crop prices fall
-Corporations buying small farms and
creating large single crop bonanza farms
2.
Farmer’s debt increases
-Small farms borrowing to keep up
with bonanza farms
3.
Retirement of Greenbacks
-Temporary money printed in Civil War taken
out of circulation, regular money rises in value,
farmers owe more than they borrowed
68¢
4.
Railroad shipping rates
-RR co’s have monopoly, raising rates esp. for short hauls
•Farmers organize the Grangers, Grange leader Oliver Hudson Kelley
able to get state laws passed that regulate RR rates
Munn v. Illinois
•RR Cos challenge Granger Laws, go to Supreme Court.
•Sup. Court rules in favor of Grangers saying states can regulate
RR for public benefit
•Problem: What if a train crosses from one state to another?
•Supreme Court rules states can’t regulate railroads
crossing state lines (interstate commerce)
•Solution: Congress passes Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 to
allow ICC to regulate RR between states
The year is 1886. You live in
Nebraska. You are a farmer. You
grow corn. You love corn. Corn is
your life. Corn is what you know.
Life used to be simple, but good.
Now you’ve got a lot of problems.
You are struggling to make ends
meet. Your have six young children
and they can sense the worry in
your voice. Your wife/husband
spends a lot of time crying
Problems: 1) Can’t compete with Big Bonanza farms volume
2) Price of corn is dropping 3)Railroad Co has raised rates
4) You have missed two mortgage payments 5)Heavy debt
6) Big Bonanza will buy your farm for $1K (you paid 10K)
- Come up with a list of three short-term solutions to your problem
& one long term solution to your problem.
Farmers’ Alliances
•Grangers & other groups form Farmer’s Alliance
•FA wants political changes, sent lecturers from town to town, topics:
banks, government, the railroad
•Great speakers like Mary Elizabeth Lease get message spread
"raise less corn
and more hell,"
Populists (People’s Party)
•New political party called Populists formed, goal is to help farmers &
workers w/ drastic changes to govt
•William Jennings Bryan made Populist mainstream and saw the cause as
“righteous” (Cross of Gold)
“We seek to restore the government of
the Republic to the hands of the ‘plain
people’…We assert our purposes to be
identical with the purposes of the
National Constitution.” –People’s Party
platform
Populist Party Platform
1) Increase money supply by backing it with gold OR silver
(bilmetalism/free silver movement helps farmers w/ debt & prices)
2) Senators directly elected by people (power to people)
3) President/VP serve one term
4) Eight hour work day
5) Graduated tax – those who make more pay more
Populist results in their 1st election
-10% of pop vote, 5% elec vote
-5 senators
-3 governors
-1,500 state legislators
Panic of 1893
Causes:
1)Over-expansion of railroads
(some not needed)
2)Shrinking federal
gold reserve
3) Everyone tries to get
their money out of banks
Depression of 1893:
- Panic of 1893, leads to a depression
Results:
1)Six major BANKRUPT
railroads
2) 500 banks COLLAPSED
3) 3 million jobs
LOST
Presidential Election 1896
-Republicans back gold standard & high
tariffs on foreign goods
Candidate: William McKinley
-Democrats back bimetallism & low tariffs
Candidate: William Jennings Bryan
-Populists support bimetallism & no tariff
Want William Jennings Bryan but not his VP, so they
nominate their own candidate
Result: McKinley wins, Why? Dems & Populists split vote