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Urban America
Section 6.4 Populism (Appleby 242-247)
Today’s Agenda
Day 17
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4.3: Plight of the Farmer Slide Show
Day 17 Presentations
Homework
Finish Reading 4.3 in textbook (pages
128-133)
• Unit Test on the Political Spectrum &
Chapter 4.2 & 4.3 Wed.!!!
Homestead Act
What happened to farmers in the 1880s?
• Homestead Acts
– US Gov. gave up to
162 acres for free
• New farming
methods
– use of manure
• New machinery
– McCormick Reaper
• So things were
going well, right?
• NO
What happened to farmers in the 1880s
continued?
• overproduction
– led to falling prices
• High mortgage
payments, high
tariffs, high
transportation prices
• widespread poverty,
natural disasters,
loneliness
What should the farmers do?
What factors may hinder them (that
would not hinder an urban worker)?
Who were the Grangers? (1867)
• Farmers union
• Held mass meetings
• Pooled money together
– purchase supplies,
equipment, negotiate
• Lobbied Midwestern
legislatures for Granger
laws regulating:
– Rates charged by RR
– Rates charged by grain
elevators
Which side of the political spectrum are the Grangers leaning?
What was the Populist (People’s) party?
• Third party
• Coalition of farmers,
laborers, reformers
• Favored:
– Immigration restrictions
– 8 hr. workday
– Income tax
– Gov Ownership of RR,
telegraph system
– Direct election of
senators
– Devalued currency
• Would cause inflation
The Populist Party (begin at 1:39)
What is significant about the Munn
v. Illinois case of 1877? (Not in text)
• Supreme Court upheld right
of Illinois to regulate private
property
– Giant elevators used for
grain
– State CAN set prices
farmers pay for elevators
• Decision restricts railroads
using predatory
(monopolistic) business
practices against small
merchants
– Rebates and discounts for
huge hauls
What does this decision indicate
regarding government’s role in
the economy?
• Are they leaning right, left, in the middle?
• Are they becoming liberal, conservative?
• What element of pure capitalism is
starting to be refuted?
Radical
Liberal
Conservative
Reactionary
What did the Supreme Court decision in
the Wabash case (1886) do to Munn v
Illinois?
• Judicial Review (power of
Supreme Court to review laws)
destroyed it
• Railroad lawyers argued Article I,
Section 8, Clause 3 of the US
Constitution
– That Congress (NOT STATES)
shall have the power:
• To regulate commerce with
foreign nations, and among
the several States, and with
the Indian tribes
Whose side is
the Supreme
Court on in
this case?
What were the results of the Wabash
case?
• Interstate Commerce Commission
(1887) created
– Congress asserts its right to
regulate interstate trade
• A weak law
• Cleveland was laissez-faire
• Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890
– Prohibited monopolies restraints in
trade
• Circumvented by monopolies
• Morphed into “holding
companies”
• Not enforced by courts
What happened to the US economy in
1893?
• Panic of 1893
– 20% unemployment
– Cleveland= laissez faire
• Jacob S. Coxey
– businessman led march of
500 people from Ohio to
Washington
– Wanted to call attention to
high rate of unemployment
– Arrested for walking of grass
What does silver
have to do with
the economy?
Panic of 1893 & Coxey’s Army.
Describe America’s financial policy in the
1890s:
• Tight money policy
– U.S.’s money supply
based on Gold
– Very limited (tight)
supply
– Hurt farmers most
• Food prices had
dropped
• Mortgage
payments
remained the
same
What did the farmers want?
• Bi-metalism & a loose
money policy
– Dollars backed by
gold and silver
– Would increase
supply of money
– Make money
cheaper
– Increase inflation
– Allow them to pay
off their debts
Which money policy did eastern
bankers favor?
• Tight or Gold only
money policy
• Why?
• Less money in supply
means that its worth
more (has more buying
power)
• Farmers owed them a
“fixed” amount of cash
(ex. $1000)
• $1000 gets them more if
less of it is available
What was Grover Cleveland’s attitude towards
the economy?
What other issue affected farmers and
laborers?
• Tariffs
What is a tariff?
A tax on
imported
goods.
Imported
goods=
products
made in
other
countries
What kinds of tariffs are there?
• Protective
– intended to keep
identified foreign
products out of our
country so that
Americans will “Buy
American!”
• Revenue
– designed to raise
money for the country
– calculated to be small
enough so as not to
curtail trade
Revenue Tariff Example: The
United States imposes a five percent
tariff on foreign wine.
Pre tariff price:
$20.00 bottle
After tariff price:
$21.00 bottle
Result: Demand will probably not
drop much for the product and the
imposing country will raise funds.
Protective Tariff Example
An artificial increase in foreign prices
Foreign Steel Cost
With 30% Tariff
$100 per ton
$130 per ton
Domestic Steel Cost
$120 per ton
US
Sales
Foreign
Sales
How does a tariff work?
Farmers
can buy an
American
tractor for
$100 and
English
tractor for
$130
A fledgling
American
factory
makes
tractors to
sell for
$100 each
The US
Gov.
places a
$40 fee
(tariff) on
each
English
tractor
Tractors are
transported
to America.
A steel
mill in
England
makes
tractors
to sell for
$90 each
How will foreign nations react to a
protective tariff?
• retaliate by
imposing tariffs
on our exports.
• IE. Farm
products
Who is hurt and helped by a protective tariff?
Hurt
Consumers
Exporters
Helped
Owners of Protected
Industries
Workers in Protected
Industries
How did protective tariffs hurt farmers?
• Made farm
products more
expensive
overseas
• Cut their sales
in other nations
Election of
1896
Presentation
Describe the Election of 1896:
• Big Issues:
– Bi-metalism
– Tariff
• Candidates
– William Jennings Bryan
• Supported by Democrats,
Populists, farmers
• Great orator/Tireless
campaigner
– 600 speeches in 14 weeks
– Viewed as anti-Catholic by
Eastern immigrants
– William McKinley
• Conservative
• “Full dinner pail”
• Never left front porch
What does Bryan mean by a “cross of gold?”
• Gold only money
policy is crushing
(crucifying) the
farmers
• Used Biblical
imagery in
speech
• Evangelical style
scarred Catholic
immigrants
• McKinley won
decisively
Burn down your cites and leave
our farms, and your cities will
spring up again as if by magic.
But destroy our farms and the
grass will grow in the streets of
every city in the country…you
shall not crucify mankind upon a
cross of gold.”
DBQ
• Explain this political
cartoon.
• Who would support
it? A farmer, a
businessman?
• What does it suggest
about the railroad
industry?
The American
Frankenstein
1874