Unrest in Rural America

1
Unrest in Rural America

• In the 1890s, a political movement called
  Populism emerged to increase the political power
  of farmers and to workfor legislation for
  farmers interests. ?

• The nations money supply concerned farmers. ?
• To help finance the Union in the Civil War, the
  government issued millions of dollars in
  greenbacks, or paper currency that could not be
  exchanged for gold or silver coins.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
2
Unrest in Rural America (cont.)

• This rapid increase in the money supply without a
  rapid increase in goods for sale caused
  inflationa decline in the value of money. ?

• The prices of goods greatly increased. ?
• To get inflation under control, the federal
  government stopped printing greenbacks and
  started paying off bonds. ?
• Congress also stopped making silver into coins.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
3
Unrest in Rural America (cont.)

• As a result, the country did not have a large
  enough money supply to meet the needs of the
  growing economy. ?

• This led to deflationor an increase in the value
  of money and a decrease in the general level of
  prices. ?
• Deflation forced most farmers to borrow money to
  plant their crops. ?
• The short supply of money caused an increase in
  interest rates that the farmers owed.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
4
Unrest in Rural America (cont.)

• Some farmers wanted more greenbacks printed to
  expand the money supply. ?

• Others wanted the government to mint silver
  coins. ?
• The Grange was a national farm organization
  founded for social and educational purposes. ?
• When the country experienced a recession, large
  numbers of farmers joined the Grange for help. ?
• The Grange changed its focus to respond to the
  plight of farmers.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
5
Unrest in Rural America (cont.)

• Grangers put their money together and created
  cooperativesmarketing organizations that worked
  to help its members. ?

• The cooperatives pooled members crops and held
  them off the market to force the prices to rise.
  ?
• Cooperatives could negotiate better shipping
  rates from railroads.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
6
Unrest in Rural America (cont.)

• The Grange was unable to improve the economic
  conditions of farmers. ?

• By the late 1870s, many farmers left the Grange
  and joined other organizations that offered to
  help them solve their problems.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
7
Unrest in Rural America (cont.)
How did the Grange try to help farmers?
Some Grangers pressured state legislatures to
regulate railroad and warehouse rates. Others
joined the Independent National Party, or
Greenback Party, to pressure the government into
printing more greenbacks to increase the money
supply. Grangers also formed cooperatives to help
farmers market their crops for higher prices and
negotiate better shipping rates.
Click the mouse button to display the answer.
8
The Farmers Alliance

• The Farmers Alliance was formed in 1877. ?

• By 1890 it had between 1.5 and 3 million members
  with strength in the South and on the Great
  Plains. ?
• The Alliance organized large cooperatives called
  exchanges for the purpose of forcing farm prices
  up and making loans to farmers at low interest
  rates. ?
• These exchanges mostly failed.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
9
The Farmers Alliance (cont.)

• Many exchanges overextended themselves by loaning
  too much money at low interest rates that were
  not repaid. ?

• Wholesalers, manufacturers, railroads, and
  bankers discriminated against the exchanges. ?
• The exchanges were too small to dramatically
  affect world prices for farm products.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
10
The Farmers Alliance (cont.)

• Members of the Kansas Alliance formed the
  Peoples Party, or Populists, to push for
  political reforms that would help farmers solve
  their problems. ?

• Most Southern leaders of the Alliance opposed the
  Peoples Party because they wanted the Democrats
  to retain control of the South. ?
• One Southern leader, Charles Macune, came up with
  a subtreasury plan to set up warehouses where
  farmers could store their crops to force prices
  up.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
11
The Farmers Alliance (cont.)
Why did the exchanges set up by the Farmers
Alliance fail?
Many exchanges overextended themselves by loaning
too much money at low interest rates that were
not repaid. Wholesalers, manufacturers,
railroads, and bankers discriminated against the
exchanges. The exchanges were too small to
dramatically affect world prices for farm
products.
Click the mouse button to display the answer.
12
The Rise of Populism

• In 1890 the Farmers Alliance issued the Ocala
  Demands to help farmers choose candidates in the
  1890 elections. ?

• The demands included the adoption of the
  subtreasury plan, the free coinage of silver, an
  end to protective tariffs and national banks,
  tighter regulation of the railroads, and direct
  election of senators by voters. ?
• Many pro-Alliance Democrats were elected to
  office in the South.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
13
The Rise of Populism (cont.)

• By early 1892, Southern members of the Alliance
  began to realize that Democrats were not going to
  keep their promises to the Alliance and they were
  ready to leave the Democratic Party and join the
  Peoples Party. ?

• In July 1892, the Peoples Party held its first
  national convention where it nominated James B.
  Weaver to run for president.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
14
The Rise of Populism (cont.)

• The Peoples Party platform called for unlimited
  coinage of silver, federal ownership of
  railroads, and a graduated income tax, one that
  taxes higher earnings more heavily. ?

• It also called for an eight-hour workday,
  restriction of immigration, and denounced the use
  of strikebreakers. ?
• Democrats nominated New Yorker Grover Cleveland
  for the 1892 presidential election. ?
• Cleveland won the election.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
15
The Rise of Populism (cont.)

• The Panic of 1893 was caused by the bankruptcy of
  the Philadelphia and Reading Railroads. ?

• It resulted in the stock market crash and the
  closing of many banks. ?
• By 1894 the country was in a deep depression.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
16
The Rise of Populism (cont.)

• President Cleveland wanted to stop the flow of
  gold and make it the sole basis for the
  countrys currency, so he had Congress repeal of
  the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. ?

• This caused the Democratic Party to split into
  the goldbugs and the silverites. ?
• Goldbugs believed the American currency should be
  based only on gold. ?
• Silverites believed coining silver in unlimited
  amounts was the answer to the nations economic
  crisis.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
17
The Rise of Populism (cont.)
What was the Peoples Party platform in the
election of 1892?
The Peoples Party platform called for unlimited
coinage of silver, federal ownership of
railroads, and a graduated income tax, or one
that taxes higher earnings more heavily. It also
called for an eight-hour workday, restriction
of immigration, and denounced the use of
strikebreakers.
Click the mouse button to display the answer.
18
The Election of 1896

• The Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan
  for the presidential election of 1896. ?

• He strongly supported the unlimited coinage of
  silver. ?
• Populists also supported Bryan for president. ?
• The Republicans nominated William McKinley of
  Ohio for president. ?
• He promised workers a full dinner pail.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
19
The Election of 1896 (cont.)

• Most business leaders liked McKinley because they
  thought that unlimited silver coinage would ruin
  the countrys economy. ?

• McKinley won the election of 1896. ?
• New gold strikes in Alaska and Canadas Yukon
  Territory and in other parts of the world
  increased the money supply without needing to use
  silver. ?
• As the silver issue died out, so did the Populist
  Party.

Click the mouse button to display the information.
20
The Election of 1896 (cont.)
Why did William McKinley appeal to workers and
business leaders?
McKinley promised workers a full dinner pail.
Most business leaders liked him because they
thought that unlimited silver coinage would ruin
the countrys economy.
Click the mouse button to display the answer.