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SU HST 102 - A Call to (F)Arms: The Populist Response
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HST 102 1nd Edition Lecture 4 Outline of Last Lecture II Post Civil War America III Engines of Change a Transcontinental Railroad IV Crash and Burn a Panic of 1873 V Explosions of Discontent a Great Railroad Strike of 1877 b Great Upheaval of 1886 VI Race Nation and Hard times VII Golden Days VIII Shaken and Stirred Outline of Current Lecture IX The Tumultuous Gilded Age A An era of contrasts and disruption X Farmland XI Citadels of Corruption a Railroads b Cities XII Hard row XIII The Grange XIV Greenbackers XV The Farmers Alliance XVI Women in the Populist Movement a Mary Elizabeth Lease XVII Political Turn and Success XVIII Co Opted XIX William Jennings Bryan and The Fall Current Lecture Lecture Week of 1 22 A Call to F Arms The Populist Response These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute The Tumultuous Gilded Age o o An era of contrasts Concentration of wealth Largesse and deprivation Industrial revolution and economic depression An era of disruption Labor strikes Racial violence political violence Redemption in the south moving out of indigenous people Moving of troops when labor strikes occurred Economic rollercoaster with a downward trend Farmland o Farmland explodes in production as the western frontier sees migration o Between 1860 and 1890 farmers begin cultivating more than 421000000 new acres of land o Numbers of farmers in the US triples and population of the plains states explodes o Coupled with a land price boom and speculation Citadels of Corruption o Farmers face two critical antagonists Railroads Individual farmers are easy targets for exploitation extortion Feel powerless in the face of big industries Have to pay expensive amounts and had no way around it because railroads were a monopoly There were no other means of transportation Cities America s cities are growing and urban industries are expanding Urban areas begin to absorb more and more of the population Challenge to fundamental ideas about the identity and sources of strength morally and economically in American society Seen as centers of vice greed and corruption Hard row o Economic turmoil is disproportionately hard on farmers o High interest rates make for tenuous position o Rising debt and a plunge in agricultural prices Wheat 1870 1 00 bushel 1885 0 80 bushel 1890 0 60 Corn 1870 0 45 bushel 1890 0 10 0 30 bushel o Land prices crumble by the 1890s when another found of financial disaster sets in o Drought and pests become more prevalent The Grange o Farmers begin establishing their own organizations shortly after the Civil War to pool resources o Among the earliest is the Patrons of Husbandry aka the Grange o Building class consciousness and breaking down social isolation Working sun up to sun down little transportation so they wanted to bring people together o Claim more than 1 5 mill members by the early 1870s o Lobby for reforms to railroad practices cooperative purchase of equipment o By 1880 membership dwindles to less than 100 000 Greenbackers o Another early movement crystallizes as the Greenback Party 1876 84 o Primarily focuses on monetary policy o Issuing paper money as permanent legal tender Redemption of federal debt with paper money Some social aspects Decrease public salaries Gov t school systems o Run full nation ticket as third party 1876 about 1 of vote 1880 about 3 3 1884 about 1 3 people lost interest less votes than the Prohibition Party The Farmers Alliance o Building off the momentum of these earlier organization efforts the National Farmers Alliance and Industrial Union originates in Texas 1870 80 o Originally a booster group it soon turns to economic activism and organization Large scale cooperatives Lobbying presence in politics Innovative economic policy Widespread educational programs o By 1890 1 2 mill members nationwide o Racially segregated and strongly nativist against immigration o Avoid formal political action third party campaigning etc o Focused mainly on monetary system and finance Women in the Populist Movement o 1890 250 000 women joined the Farmer s Alliance o Drew upon the tradition of shared labors in farming households o Serve as lecturers educators officeholders within the organization o Populist movements of the era support suffrage but not at the national level o Many more women continue to join through the next decade Restrain power of the railroads Mary Elizabeth Lease embraces prohibition women s rights and suffrage most famous lecturer for this movement The Political Turn o Farmers Alliance had relied upon lobbying and influence rather than an independent and political presence o Frustrated by lack of action at the national level various farmers groups hold a series of conferences in 1891 92 o Culminates in the People s Party Convention in Omaha july 1892 o Demanding an expansion of federal role in economic life with concerns about restraint o The Party nominates James Weaver for president in 1892 1892 Election o Weaver wins almost 10 of American population o About 22 electoral votes Political success o People s party governors in CO KS and ND o Balance of power in several state legislatures o 5 senators 10 representatives 1500 state and county officials Co opted o Debate over whether the goal is to remain independent or to align with an existing party o Worried about the disadvantages of independence as a third party o fusion faction wins out and endorses democratic nominee for President William Jennings Bryan o Breaks the peoples party apart William Jennings Bryan o Young congressman from Nebraska o Accomplished and compelling orator o Barnstorms the country to rally support instead of using surrogates o Wins over many populists with a diatribe at the democratic convention against the gold standard The Fall o Within the populist movement dissolved Bryan s loss to William McKinley effectively ends the nation political presence o Push by upper and middle class Americans to marginalize populists as a threat to economic and social order o Opposed by a variety of groups o North bankers business immigrants and upper class South white supremacists large scale farmers But much of the populist program becomes part of the political agenda in coming decades Income tax Direct election of senators Banking reform What does it all mean o Populism offers widespread grassroots reform movement o An early and relatively successful response to the struggles of


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