1. Populism: Who, what, where, why, and how?
Who—farmers, what—to increase political power, to help resolve economic issues (interest
rates, lack of currency), where—in the American Midwest, West, and South, why—because
they were in the midst of an economic crisis, felt they were being victimized by railroads and
banks, technology had increased production causing prices to fall, high tariffs made it hard for
farmers to sell goods overseas, rising interest rates, shortage of currency, how—by referring to
the decision to stop coining silver money as the “crime of ‘73”, by organizing into political
groups such as the Grange and the Farmers’ Alliance, by working together to form cooperatives.
2. The U.S. money supply during the Civil War
Money supply expanded through the issuing of greenbacks—paper currency with no value in
bullion. The printing of greenbacks would cause inflation—a decrease in the value of money.
3. The U.S. money supply after the Civil War
No more greenbacks. Paying of bonds. No making silver money. All of these would lead to
deflation and a decrease of prices. Interest rates climbed and this was bad for farmers. Farmers
claimed there was a lack of currency. They blamed the decision to stop minting silver, an event
known to them as “the crime of ‘73”.
4. The Grange
Founded by Oliver H. Kelly as the National Grange Order of the Patrons of Husbandry in 1867,
the Grange was the first national farm organization. The Grange was active in politics, lobbied
state legislatures for lower shipping rates, and organized cooperatives. The Grange would
eventually fail because they were never widespread enough to have the effect that they desired
and because of their likeness to unions.
5. Agricultural cooperatives (farmers’ co-op)
These are marketing organizations that try to increase prices and lower costs for the farmers who
are members. Essentially, it was like a pool for farm goods. Recall, a pool only works if
everyone agrees not to lower prices (and then actually doesn’t). Early cooperatives were
organized by the Grange. Later, the Farmers’ Alliance organized larger co-ops known as
exchanges. Co-ops never had the effect that farmers wanted them to simply because agricultural
markets are so huge.
6. Wabash v. Illinois, 1886
Several states passed “Granger laws” that set a maximum shipping price that railroads could
charge. Railroads resisted these limits until the case went to the high court. In Wabash v.
Illinois, the Supreme Court ruled that states could not regulate interstate commerce.
7. The Farmers’ Alliance
As the Grange began to fail, a new farm organization began to take its place. The Farmers
Alliance, like the Grange, was made of several people from the Midwest and the South. Also
like the Grange the Alliance organized cooperatives, except that the FA cooperatives were very
large and called exchanges. The large cooperatives were initially successful but would
eventually fail because as large as they were, they were still too small to affect farm product
markets.
8. The Peoples’ Party (Populists)
Political party formed largely by current and former members of the Farmers’ Union a lot of
whom were formerly members of the Grange. The Peoples’ Party was popular throughout the
Midwest, and in the South to a lesser extent, where the Democrats had enjoyed uncontested
control. The Populists would begin to decline after endorsing the unsuccessful William Jennings
Bryant in the Election of 1896.
9. The Subtreasury Plan
Farmers’ Alliance leader Charles Macunes’ idea to try to “win over” Southern Democrats.
Under this plan, the government would establish subtreasuries—warehouses where farmers
could store their crops while they accepted low-interest loans from the government (with the
crop as collateral). Macune believed holding the crops off the market would force their prices
up.
10. The Election of 1892
Prior to the election the Populists met in Omaha, NE to nominate their first candidate for
president. They nominated James B. Weaver who would finish with 9% of the popular vote after
running a campaign based on the coinage of silver, federal ownership of railroads, and a
graduated income tax. Democrat Grover Cleveland would go on to win the election.
11. The Election of 1896
The Populists did not run a candidate for president in 1896. Instead, they chose to support
William Jennings Bryan, a Democrat who supported silver coinage. The Republicans would
nominate William McKinley from Ohio. In nominating him the Republicans were able to split
the Midwestern vote, carry the North, and win the presidency.
12. William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan ran an ambitious campaign for president in 1896. In fact, he would
speak on 600 different occasions in the fourteen weeks leading up to the election.
13. The Front Porch Campaign
In contrast to Bryan’s outgoing campaign, McKinley did the opposite. He let people come to his
home in Canton, OH where he would assure them that the economy would improve under his
leadership. His strategy worked as he won the election of 1896
14. Sharecropping
After the Civil War many freed slaves were forced to turn to sharecropping, and unfortunately,
the nature of sharecropping had much in common with the institution of slavery. Sharecropping,
by definition, is when a tenant farmer farms their landlord’s land, paying them with a majority
share of the crop that they harvest. Depending on prices, sometimes sharecroppers actually lost
money after their expenses were added up. Many sharecroppers were driven deep into debt.
15. The Exodusters
Seeing no way to get ahead through sharecropping, and not willing to live among racists, many
African Americans decided to leave the South and go west. The most popular destination for
these migrants was Kansas. There, they established communities where they could live a much
more enjoyable life without constant fear.
16. Colored Farmers’ National Alliance
The sharecroppers who stayed in the South would come together in 1886 to form the Colored
Farmers’ National Alliance. The organization, modeled after the Farmers’ Alliance, caught on
quickly as its membership swelled to 1.2 million in 1890. As the members of the CFNA began
to turn towards Populism as their white counterparts had, the (white) Southern Democrats feared
that they were losing power. To help to keep the poor white vote, Democrats appealed to racism
and likened Populist rule to the Reconstruction politics. They also did everything they could to
disenfranchise African Americans.
17. Poll taxes
A tax that must be paid prior to voting. Poll taxes were used in the South to disenfranchise
African Americans. While poll taxes were paid by everyone (where they were enacted) they
effected poor African American voters most.
18. Literacy tests
Several southern states required registrants to pass a literacy test prior to voting. The test could
come in several forms; from reading, to writing, to “understanding”. All of the tests, however,
were nothing more than a formality that election officials could use to disenfranchise African
American voters.
19. Grandfather clauses
As a final, most extreme means of disenfranchising African Americans, some Southern states
enacted grandfather clauses. A grandfather clause was meant to disenfranchise African
Americans while granting suffrage to whites by allowing any man whose ancestor had voted
prior to a certain year (almost always prior to 1870) vote. Recall, that 1870 was the year that the
Fifteenth Amendment was ratified, giving African Americans the right to vote.
20. Jim Crow Laws
Southern laws that enforced discrimination. Usually these laws applied to extreme cases of
segregation. The Supreme Court defended segregation in 1883 when they issued an opinion that
said “no state” may deny equal protection but that private organizations (and citizens) could.
21. Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896
In 1892 Homer Plessy was convicted of riding a “whites only” railcar in Louisiana. He appealed
the conviction and his case made it all the way to the Supreme Court. There, in 1896, the high
court upheld the Louisiana law so long as the accommodations that were offered to everyone
were equal to those offered to whites alone. “Separate but equal” would be the new doctrine for
justifying segregation in the South for the next half century.
22. Ida B. Wells
In the late 1800s and in response to an increase in lynching (to put to death without legal
authority), Ida B. Wells began a public campaign denouncing the act. Wells demanded that the
accused be protected under due process of the law, as was their Constitutional right.
23. Mary Church Terell
Terell was an early civil rights activist who was very much against lynching, but took it a step
further by also advocating for ends to racism and sexism. Terell was a leading African American
voicein the Women’s Suffrage movement. She would found or co-found several organizations
focused on equal treatment, pay, and voting rights.
24. Booker T. Washington
Washington was a very well known, highly respected educator and political activist.
Washington advocated for economic equality for African Americans over social equality. Many
agreed that Washington’s idea that African Americans should have the opportunity to work and
make a living was much more important about where African Americans could go and where
they could sit. Washington was the leading black voice in the Atlanta Compromise.
25. The Atlanta Compromise
An understanding between Southern leaders, both black and white, that African Americans
would not be denied jobs or education and that African Americans would not cause social unrest
in their pursuit of civil rights.
26. W.E.B. Du Bois
A staunch opponent of the Atlanta Compromise, Du Bois felt that African Americans should
actively and continuously strive for civil rights. Du Bois would spend a lifetime advocating for
voting right for African Americans all while remaining active in the NAACP
27. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Later on, Du Bois would go on to help found the NAACP. The NAACP would be a leading
voice in advocating for equal rights for African Americans throughout the 20th century. The
NAACP is still very much active at this time.