Post on 30-Dec-2015
Chapter 18, Section 3
The Grange Movement• An early national farm organization
in the United States• Worked for mutual welfare• AKA the Patrons of Husbandry
• Organized by Oliver Kelley
The Grange Movement
Problems of
Farmers
Overproduction
• New technology produced more• Drives prices down too much• Farmers not making any money
High Costs
• Railroads charging high prices to transport goods
• Storage facilities charging to much to store products
Natural Disasters
• Cannot control the weather• Sever draughts ruin crops
Debt
• Farmers need money so they borrow from banks
• They do not make enough money to pay the bank back
• Now their at the mercy of the interest rate
The Vicious Cycle
Problems of
Farmers
Debt
Natural Disasters
High Costs
Overproduction
What did they do???• Got laws passed that fixed
maximum freight & passenger rates
• Forbade railroads to discriminate between places or shippers
• Attempted to regulate monopolies of such farmer necessities as grain elevators and warehouses (Munn v. Illinois 1877 )
Munn v. Illinois
• Court ruled that the Constitution recognized a state’s right to a “police power” that permitted regulation of private property “affected with a public interest.”
CHANGES ON THE WESTERN FRONTIER
Great Plains IndiansHorse – Travel farther & hunt more
efficiently; led to more wars
Buffalo – Provided basic needs & was central to surviving
Treat at Fort Laramie
Assimilation
• Native Americans would give up their beliefs & way of life & become a part of white culture
Dawes Act
• Gave 160 acres of land to Indians for individual farms
• On probation for 25 years
Destruction of buffalo
• Tourists and white settlers shot buffalo for sport
Battle of Wounded Knee
• 7th cavalry rounded up 350 starving & freezing Sioux
• Shots fired, 300 dead
Whites Settle the Great Plains
Homestead Act– 160 acres of free land; have to farm it
within 5 years
Exoduster– African Americans who moved from
post-Reconstruction South to Kansas
Oklahoma Land Rush– 1889 – 2 million acres claimed in a
dayhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFrVoG-edFc
THE POPULIST PARTY
What is a third party?
A political party organized as opposition to the existing parties in a two-party system
THE POPULIST PLATFORM
Voting Work DaySenatorsGov’t
OwnershipOf:
Money ImmigrationPresidencyTax
Money
• Wanted to inflate the currency by either printing paper money or coining silver
vs
Tax
• Wanted a graduated federal income tax
• It would take a higher proportion of large incomes than of small incomes
• “The more you make the more you pay”
Presidency
• Wanted a single term for the President and Vice-President
• Backed candidate William Jennings Bryan
Immigration
• Restrict immigration • Too much overproduction already
Voting
•A secret ballot to end vote fraud
•Wanted to institute initiative, recall & referendum
Initiative– Would enable the people to introduce
bills in Congress & in state legislatures by petition
Recall– Would enable voters to remove
elected officials from elected positions before their terms were completedReferendum
– Would allow the people to vote on bills after they had been passed by a legislature
Government Ownership
• Called for government ownership & operation of the railroads, & the telegraph and telephone systems
Senators
• Wanted direct election of Senators instead of by state legislatures
Work Day
• 8-hour workday• Bread & Butter Issues (needed to
attract more than just farmers if they wanted to be successful)
Gold vs. SilverBUSINESS FARMERS
Bankers & businessmen
Farmers & laborers
Gold Standard; Less money in circulation
Bimetallism;More money in circulation
Loans would be repaid in stable money
Products would be sold at higher prices
DEFLATION:•Prices fall•Value of & increases•Fewer people have $
INFLATION:•Prices rise•Value of $ decreases•More people have $
Who They Were
What They Wanted
Why
Effects