HIST 2112 1st edition Lecture 11Outline of Previous LectureI. Writing a paper - GuidelinesII. ImmigrantsOutline of Current Lecture I. “The Rectangle of Righteousness?” (Kansas)II. “Agrarian America”III. Industrialism’s Threats to FarmersIV. Forming “Alliances” (Unionized)V. The National Alliance’s Plan – the “Ocala Demands” (1890) and the “Omaha Platform” (1892)VI. 1892-96 – The Populist Party Current Lecture I. “The Rectangle of Righteousness?” (Kansas) Kansas, Nebraska, Midwest, South and other states were one of the hot beds for Populism. The Populist was made up of farmers from the Midwest and south, they were worried about industrialism. They worried about big businesses, banks, monopolies, and railroads. The populist movement was the farmers. They were the second biggest movement against industrialism. They were from the rural area. Extremely popular (Populist Party merged out of this movement) By the time it was all over 80% of Kansas politicians were a part of the Populist party. Populist disappeared as quickly as it appeared. It just flashed in the 1890sII. “Agrarian America” The farmer as an ideal person – their role as a farmer Before industrialism, America mostly ruralo Most people are farmero The farmer is where best of American values reside “Jeffersonian Agrarianism” – farmers as idea lo Thomas Jefferson was the farmers president, he was the most famous of farmer idealsThese 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. Wrote a book and his most famous quote was “Those who tealthe soil are the public’s most virtuous citizens”o What we get from Jefferson on down is this thought of farmers being hero’so The image of the farmer starts to look shaky eventuallyo The farmers are anti-capitalists or opposed to technology but they arescared that industrialism will accumulate all the powero They want a society where power is distributed evenly to the people they don’t want the industry to take overo They want the government to be strong enough to protect the small business owners and farmers from the industrialistsIII. Industrialism’s Threats to Farmers Financial Trouble, debt, etc.o The late 1800s was particularly tough for the farmerso What hurt them was over production. They produced too much food. Because of technology and the soil was amazingly productive so the farmers produced a lot of food which caused the prices to fall. The farmers were then barely able to cover the costs for growing the food which hurt them because they made no extra money. Sometimes it was at the point where the farmers made less than what they spent to grow the crops. Monopolies – railroads and bankso The railroads had monopolies. Where the farmers lived there was only one railroad in their area. So the railroads would make them pay absorbent fees for the farmers to transport there food. If they didn’t pay the railroads ridiculous prices than there food would rot and there work would go to waste. In the populist world no one likes the railroadso When you are in trouble you have to borrow money from the banks. And they don’t have to be nice to you, it’s a business deal. The farmers can’t break out of the debt because prices are so low for theirfood and then they go more in debt because they can’t pay off previous loans. Eventually they go in so much debt the bank would close on farmers and would take everything from them. Often there was only one bank in town so the bank could be asvicious as they wanted. Producerism o The only honest wealth is wealth that is gotten through honest toil. o The farmers believed in earning money honestly which is one of the reasons they disliked the corporations. Not only did the railroads andbanks almost own them and control them but they also made their money dishonestly “Status Anxiety”o Farmers are scared because they are no longer the ideal. It is no longer the American dream to be a farmer. It is scary because the farmers were the hero’s for so long and now they are falling to the bottom.o The farmers were so scared, angry so they formed alliancesIV. Forming “Alliances” (Unionized) 1867-70 – Patrons of Husbandry (Also known as The Grange)o They didn’t do a whole lot 1880s – National Farmers’ Allianceo Starts out in Texas and was really smallo The reason they got so big so quickly was because they were mastery organizers They would send a speaker to towns to talk about the plight ofthe farmero By the time it is all over this was the organization that created the Populist Party. The democrats were a little afraid that they would lose their votes to the Populistso Links to the Knights of LaborV. The National Alliance’s Plan – the “Ocala Demands” (1890) and the “Omaha Platform” (1892) Public ownership of the railroadso The government should run the railroads and it should not be run by one single person that could screw over the working man Direct election of senators/graduated income taxo You can vote for your own senatoro People should be taxes according to their income No protective tariffs for industryo Government should not be able to do special favors for the industry and pass laws to help the industrialists The “Subtreasury” systemo The subtreasury is a combination of a bank and a grain elevatoro When farmers grow crops they store their crops in grain elevators until the railroads came by to pick them up and take them somewhereelse The farmers would store crops in there grain elevators and keep them there until prices start to rise because of scarcitythen they would release the crops from the grain elevator and they would make more money. And then there are the banks that are attached. The farmers would go to the banks and get a government loan that would help them until they release the crops to make money. Free coinage of silvero The farmers are in debto There is not a lot of physical money in the economy because at that time the American money was backed up. They were on the gold standard Gold Standard: Every amount of dollars had an equal amount of gold in the treasury. That was an insurance to make sure money did not lose its value- So there isn’t that much gold out there so there isn’t that much money out there. So paying off debt was really hard
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