HIST 106 2nd Edition Lecture 9 Outline of Last Lecture I II III IV V The innovative model T The burgeoning Trusts Managing the machines Part 2 the spirit of progressivism Part 3 Reform in the cities Outline of Current Lecture I Farmers protest inequality II The people s party III IV V Going national Challenges of the depression Appeals for federal action Current Lecture Historical context o In the 1890s social economic and political pressures created a crisis for both the political system and the government Third party challenge generally by agricultural discontent disrupted political parties like never before New developments set stage for political social and economic change in the new century Farmers protest inequality o Intro Economic depression in agriculture at this time brought a lot of hardship to farmers in the US Overproducing on a grand scale but rather than the farmers blaming themselves they targeted the Japanese on the railroads o Credit inequalities Government rules for national banks directed credit into the urbanized north and east Prohibited loans on farm properties and real estate and farmers had to turn to other sources for credit high interest rates In the west farmers borrowed from insurance companies and the declining prices made it hard to repay the debt In the south the credit decline began the sharecropping system trapping many farmers both black and white o Freight rates and tariffs Freight rates were 2x or 3x higher in the south and west and tariffs further raised their already high costs o Farmers organize The Farmers Alliance greatest reform movement originating in Texas spread through the south into the great plains The Colored Farmers Alliance for colored farmers o Cooperative limitations o Ag inequity In the south the alliance pushed the treasury system which called on the government to warehouse farmers cotton and other product and to give credit based on its value In the west the federal government wanted to use farmers land as collateral Proposals were popular but both major parties and congress rejected them The alliance also took up earlier calls for free and unlimited coins of silver so more currency circulation and government control of railroads The people s party o Intro Formed independent third party to achieve things that other parties ignored Many names but all used the word peoples or populous in their party name o Going viral Populaces gained the support of legislation very quickly Victories came at the expense of republicans and had controlled politics for a long time o Tangible Wins With their new power populaces made reforms in the banking system and improved workplace conditions Others made the political system more democratic many more responsive to the will of the people Populaces also strived to make reforms for women o Southern variation The democrats repudiated their pledges and went back to their original views because they did not like governments meddling in their issues Alliance members began organizing their own political parties and would cause a lot of whites to cooperate and work together politically o Few bright spots Some populaces did appeal for race cooperation not really social integration o Entrenched bias Most white southerners recoiled from the idea of unifying racially From the white perspective the blacks did not want to unify with the republicans Unable to turnover black voters populaces in the south really did not work out Going national o Intro context Populaces soon realized that reform would call for national cooperation o Omaha Platform Rejected the lazier fare policy and demanded government ownership of railroads and telegraph systems They wanted to get rid of profiteering and wanted a national currency issued by the national government and not by the banks At this time banks could produce their own currency that people could use at their local bank They wanted government to seize the land owned by real estate speculators and railroads and redistributed to settlers who were actually farming Endorsed electing senators by popular vote and the secret ballot was not in place until the populaces came along o Not in Dixie you don t White southern democrats used violence and fraud to intimidate populace voters o Other consequences The populace party ultimately lost the election but they got a lot of support over a million votes Challenges of the depression o Intro context o Electorate swing Democrats back into office and put Grover Cleveland back in office Delivered a statement that rejected government intervention to help out with internal problems o Depression of 1893 Plunging agricultural prices and not being able to get loans all contributed to this depression Many of the nations railroads went bankrupt and by the end of the year 20 of the nation was unemployed Was very hard for the unemployed people because there was no unemployment relief Charities tried helping out but were overwhelmed at how much help was needed Appeals for federal action o Intro Jacob Coxy proposed a governments worked program to be financed with paper money This would create jobs for the unemployed and create an inflationary effect to counter deflation in the depression o Coxy s Army of unemployment Marched through industrial towns and attracted attention and picked up marchers along the way o The yays and nays There was a lot of anxiety over the depression and unemployment Coxy s army was met with a lot of hatred by the American legal system Coxy was not permitted to even reach congress to tell his statement about government should do to help the depression
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