And other third parties of the late 1800s
What was Populism?
• A movement to increase farmers’ political
power and work for legislation in their
interest.
– B/c of new technology, farmers were
producing more crops, but not getting high
prices
– Tariffs (on manufactured goods) made it
difficult for farmers to buy products and sell
products outside of the US
Money Problems
• To help during the Civil War, the US
treasury issued greenbacks (millions of
dollars worth)
– Could not be exchanged for gold or silver
coinage
• Increase in money caused inflation
(decline in the value of money) & prices of
goods increased
• After CW, 3 types of money in the US
(greenbacks, gold & silver coins, and
national bank notes)
• To control inflation, govt. stopped printing
greenbacks and stopped making silver into
coins.
– Deflation started, increase in the value of
money and prices began to fall.
Deflation & Farmers
• Farmers, which
borrowed $$ for
supplies, were in
trouble.
– Money was in short
supply and interest
rates rose
– Farming prices began
to fall
• Farmers were making
less money, but still had
to pay the same loan
payments.
The Grange Movement
• Founded in 1867 by Oliver H. Kelley
– Farmers were so isolated from each other,
needed to come together to for social and
educational issues
• Grangers wanted:
– Regulation on RR and warehouse rates
– Create cooperatives-marketing organizations
that worked for the benefit of the members
Granger Laws
• Railroads were forced to charge less for
shorter hauls
– RR responded by ending service in some areas
– Wabush v. Illinois states have no authority to
regulate railroad rates for interstate commerce
• Granger co-ops failed b/c they were too
small & Eastern businesses refused to do
business with them (saw co-ops as unions)
Effects of the Grange Movement
• Allowed women
– Suffrage for women
• Children became
involved
– Future Farmers of
America
The Farmers’ Alliance
• Leader was Charles W. Macune, began in
TX
• Very popular in the Midwest (including SD)
• Organize large cooperatives-exchanges
– Force up farm prices
– Give loans to farmers at low interest rates
• The decline
– Loans were overextended, some never repaid
People’s Party
• Formed because
many members
wanted to push for
political reforms
• aka as the Populist
Party
• Nominated
candidates for state
legislature and
Congress
• Subtreasury Plan
– Government would set
up warehouses
– Provide low-interest
loans to farmers
– Macune wanted
farmers to be able to
hold onto their crops
and force up the prices
Populism becomes popular
•
•
•
•
•
Adopt the subtreasury plan
Free coinage of silver
End to protective tariffs & national banks
Regulate railroads
Direct election of senators
– Who elected senators??
• Populist party took control of KS & NE state
legislatures and held power in MN & SD
SD Populist Governor
• Andrew E. Lee (Vermillion)
– Jan. 1, 1897-Jan. 8 1901
• Issues as governor
– eliminate inefficiency and
mismanagement in state
govt.
– organize and return of the
state militia that served in the
Philippines during the
Spanish-American War
Sherman Silver Purchase Act
• Increased the amount of silver the government
was required to purchase every month.
• Treasury would buy the silver with notes that
could be redeemed for either silver or gold.
• That plan backfired, as people turned in their
silver Treasury notes for gold dollars, which
depleted the government's gold reserves
A Populist
President?
• James B. Weaver
– Elected at the
Populist/People’s Party
convention in Omaha in
1892
• Platform
– Denounced the govt.
lack to coin silver
– Increase the money
supply
– Federal ownership of
RR
– Graduated income tax
– Make the government
more responsible to the
people
When votes were
counted, the Democrats
stayed strong in the North
& South
Candidates:
Democrat-Grover
Cleveland
Republican-Benjamin
Harrison
Populist (Peoples’)Weaver
Prohibition-John Bidwell
Cleveland won with 46% of
popular vote
Panic of 1893
• Worst economic crisis
– Philadelphia and Reading RR went bankrupt
– Too many people were trying to redeem notes
for gold
– Banks began to fail
– Businesses failed also
• 4.6 million workers were unemployed
(18% of workforce)
• Pres. Cleveland believed that gold should
be used as the basis for currency
• Congress called to a special session,
Sherman Silver Act was repealed
– Goldbugs & Silverites & Bimetallists
• William Jennings
Bryan was nominated
as the Democrat
candidate
– Attacked the gold
standard
– Supporter of the ‘plain
people of the country’
• Bryan traveled the
country
• William McKinley (R)
– Raised $$ & had
supporters campaign
1896 Election
Populism’s Legacy
• McKinley won 1896 & 1900
• Graduated income tax, regulation of RR & flexible
monetary system (like Progressives of early 20th cent.)
Dorothy is Baum's Miss Everyman. She is one of us,
levelheaded and human, and she has a real problem.
Dorothy represents America—honest, kindhearted and
plucky.
Oz. is the abbreviation for both gold and silver
OR author’s filing cabinet
KS-Baum only briefly visited KS, he lived in
Aberdeen, SD. KS was a strong Populist state
Tin Man represents
industrial workers.
He was rusted,
many workers had
lost their jobs
Scarecrow
represents
Midwestern
farmers
Represents William Jennings Bryan, who made the
first of three unsuccessful bids for the presidency
Farmers who joined the Populist
movement embraced the idea of "free
silver" as a way of easing the money
supply and giving them greater access
to credit.
Represents the gold standard,
Populists regarded the gold
standard as unfair. Dorothy,
not knowing the power of her
slippers, take trek down the
YBR-which had many pitfalls,
like the gold standard
The Emerald City, represents
Washington DC. In the book, the
Emerald City is not a lustrous
green, but a dull gray. It appears
to people to be emerald because
all people have to put on emerald
colored glasses when they enter
the city
The wicked witches are from the east and
west, while the good witches are from the
north and south. The good witches are
from those parts of the country where the
Populists had the greatest influence
Wicked Witch of the West represents
the difficult physical environment in
which farmers on the Great Plains
were trying to make their living.
The Wizard is the President-Populist did
not trust politicians. The Wizard, in the
book, appear differently to each character
Plains Indians Remember the mid-western
view of farming, and having to deal with
the Indians; they were not bad people but
could be swayed by good and evil.
Wicked Witch of
the East-Bankers
who have
nothing for
farmers
Munchkins---Little people of
society; middle class and
below