Download Unit 2.6 The Grange and Populism

2.6 The Grange,
Regulation & Populism
What is the Grange?
• The farms and farmers represented the
food production for the country called
the Grange
Causes/Problems
• Late 1860s Oliver Hudson Kelly
• Problem: Farmers in debt as crop prices fell and fees
increased
• Farmers borrowed large sums of money to buy
equipment and land
• Problem: Railroads charges large fees to transport
crops and owned grain elevators used for grain
storage
• Smallest farmers charged more than large farmers on
railroads
• Merchants who sold farm equipment, banks,
railroads all became rich
National Grange Movement
• Formed in 1867 by Oliver Hudson Kelly as a
social group
• Purpose: to stimulate self-improvement through
education for Local farmers
• Cooperatives formed to drives prices down to
help limit farm costs
• Campaign to unite/educate farmers nationwide
• To save farms, farmers would have to battle
industry (railroads)
States Create Granger Laws 1870s
• Midwestern State governments (Minnesota,
Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois) attempt to limit
railroad rates, and grain storage fees through
state laws.
• State laws shot down by federal courts- no
regulation of interstate commerce is allowed
except by feds! Supremacy Clause & Commerce
Clause)
Regulation of Industry
• The Grange united with state legislatures to
enact laws regulating railroads and grain
elevators
• Munn v Illinois 1877 Supreme Court ruled that
states can regulate the use of private property
(railroad and grain elevators) when it is used in
the public interest. Grangers won!
• Later, Wabash v Illinois 1886 Only Feds had
power to regulate the railroad between states
• Later, Interstate Commerce Act 1887 : all
railroads must create equal rates and publish
rates to the public
Time Zones
• Created a standard time
• People start working off of clocks not the sun
• 1883 Railroad owners proposed four time
zones for service and safety
• New York school Principal C. F. Dowd was the
first person who proposed dividing the Earth
into time zones as railroads required accurate
time-keeping
• 1918 Congress adopted the time zones
Government Assistance
• Newlands Act
(1901) - federal
Bureau of
Reclamation
set up in
Interior Dept.
to build
interstate
irrigation
projects
Farmers Alliance 1870
• Some states formed (strong) alliances for
protection with prices and competition
• Texas & New York formed Farmers Alliance with 1
million members by 1890
• Southern Farmers Alliance formed (whites only)
• Colored Farmers Alliance for blacks in South 1
million members by 1890
• Problem: all Farmer Alliances wanted the
government to print more money supply
Gold Standard
• 1873 Congress adopted the gold standard which
used gold only to back paper money
• The government promised to redeem any bill for
gold
• Gold had to match paper money!
• This actually reduced the paper money and
angered farmers
• Farmers pressed for silver (cheaper)
Bland-Allison Act 1878
• “Grand Bland Plan” was an act of United States
Congress requiring the U.S. Treasury to buy a
certain amount of silver and put it into circulation
as silver dollars
• Democrats and populists favored
• Republican President Hayes vetoed but Congress
overrode veto and passed
• Bimetallism
• Climax in 1896 election
Populist Party Formed in 1892
• Farmers backed new third party
• Farmers, labor leaders and reformers
• Platform: Income tax, bank regulation,
government ownership of railroad & telegraph
companies
• Silver as standard, not gold
• 1892 Election Democrat Grover Cleveland won
and Populist Party Weaver lost (3rd parties never
won pres.)
1892 Election & Farmers
• During the 1892 election, large numbers of
southern white farmers refused to leave the
Democratic Party and support the Populist Party
because of the racial division in the South made it
difficult for cooperation between whites and
blacks
Panic of 1893 Causes
National economic crisis set off by the collapse of two
of the country's largest employers, the Philadelphia
and Reading Railroad and the National Cordage
Company.
A panic erupted on the stock market. Hundreds of
businesses had overextended themselves, borrowing
money to expand their operations. When the financial
crisis struck, banks and other investment firms began
calling in loans, causing hundreds of business
bankruptcies across the United States.
Panic of 1893
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1893 Economic Depression
Major railroad company failed
Investors pulled money out of stock market
Thousands of businesses collapsed
By 1894 over 3 million people unemployed
Cleveland focused on the Sherman Silver
Purchase Act of 1890; required the government
to pay for silver purchases with gold or silver
• New Colorado silver strike made silver value go
down (high supply=low demand)
• Cleveland asked Congress to repeal the Sherman
Silver Act and they did. Gold standard only!
Results:1890s Economic Depression
• The severe economic depression of the
1890s strengthened the Populists’ argument
that wage earners and farmers alike were
victims of an oppressive economic system!
• Thought: Silver, which is cheaper was
needed to stimulate economy
End of Cleveland
• Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act 1894-lowered the tariff on
imports
• But his policies during the depression were generally
unpopular (1893 Pullman Strike). His party deserted
him and nominated William Jennings Bryan in 1896.
Election of 1896
• Republican William McKinley against Democrat William
Jennings Bryant
• Bryant was against the gold standard and wanted silver
included
• Populists supported Democrats because of silver
• Bryant’s Cross of Gold Speech vowed to resist gold and
called it sacrilegious (used religion)
• Business leaders did not like this and pledged support
for Republican McKinley (Pro-Business)
• McKinley won!
• Inauguration speech, made sure that only gold would
be the standard in America.
Election 1896
• President William
McKinley
• VP Garret Hobart
• Republican
• William J. Bryan
• Democrat
• Populist supported
but lost
1896 End of Populist Party
• Gold Standard won!
• Many platforms that the Populist supported would
however start the groundwork for reforms in the
American future
• Populist ideas transformed into mainstream
political ideas of “for the common ordinary
American”