Election Day—November 4, 2014
First Tuesday after the first
Monday in November
Local, county, state
representation and issues
Every even year, vote for
representatives for U.S.
Congress (and maybe a
Senator)
National election is every
four years (for President)
Other elections are special
or primary elections held in
the spring
Progressive Era: Populism Vocabulary
(see p. 138-146)
1.Gold standard
7. Grover Cleveland
2.Fiat money
8. Coxey’s Army (notes)
3.Depression of 1893 (p.144)
9. William Jennings
Bryan
4.The Grange
5.Populist Party
10. Interstate Commerce
Act
6.Inflation
11. Cross of Gold
Speech
Populism—How does food affect Politics?
1. Finish Progressive Era and review terms
2. Populism—a part of the Progressive Era
3. Vocabulary
4. Power point notes with 1-8
5. Printed Notes with more information,
details, and cartoon
6. Film as allegory with symbols
3
7. More questions and documents
Populism Background:
Inventions for the Farmer
Cotton Gin, 1794
Battery,1800
McCormick Reaper, 1831
Corn Planter,1834
Combine Harvester, 1835
Revolver, 1836
Steel Plow, 1838
Grain Elevator, 1842
Mercerized Cotton, 1844
Barbed Wire, 1873
Steam Turbine, 1884
4
Tractor, 1904
Gold Standard
Adopted in 1870s
Gold Bugs—Republicans and Northern
Democrats like Grover Cleveland
England was on the gold standard
As U.S. became imperialistic, world markets
were becoming more important
Good for business but not for farmers…
5
Main Ideas
1.How did new machines and new land lead to problems for
American farmers?
2.How did crop specialization lead to problems?
3.Name three natural threats to the farmer.
4.List five monopolies and trusts that hurt the farmer with high fixed
prices.
5.Describe The Grange in three ways.
6.Why did farmers support the Free Silver Movement?
7.What third party represented Free Silver?
8.What led to the demise of The Populist Party?
6
Populism
Populism
•Political movement that tried to
help out the nation’s struggling
farmers
8
Populism
Farmers were in trouble because of...
1. Mechanization More machines =
more debt
2. New Farm Land
More land (on credit)
= more debt
9
Populism
Farmers were in trouble because of...
3. Specialization of
Crops - Farmers only
raise one crop (leads
to trouble if that crop
has problems)
4. Disasters floods, boll-weevil,
grasshoppers
10
More problems…
Fire
Birds
Tornadoes
Drought
Windstorms
Locusts
Blizzards
11
Populism
Farmers were in trouble because of...
5. Corporate Greed
Barbed wire trust,
Harvester Trust,
Fertilizer Trust, Banks,
and Railroads
12
"The Iron Horse Which Eats Up The Farmers'
Produce.” 1873
The Grange
What?
•Farmer’s Union founded by Oliver Kelly (MN)
•Cooperative movement - farmers pooled their money to make
shared purchases of machinery, supplies, insurance, etc.
How?
•Worked for pro-farmer laws
•Ex. Interstate Commerce Act - regulated rates of railroads
13
What about African American Farmers?
Most farmers in the South were sharecroppers and
tenant farmers who did not own the land but
leased it from white farmers
Jim Crow laws of segregation did not encourage
political activism
The Populists tended toward Nativism and many
were members of the Ku Klux Klan
Other Populists tried to bring African Americans into
the Populist movement but with little success
14
Populist Party & Free Silver
Why?
•Populists believed that this would solve nearly all of the
farmer’s problems
What?
•They wanted to use both silver and gold coins, thus
increasing the amount of money in the country
•All money would be worth less, a situation that was bad for
creditors (big banks) and good for debtors (farmers)
15
President Grover Cleveland supported the
gold standard—called a “Gold Bug”
Coxey’s Army was a group of farmers and
unemployed Americans who marched to
Washington to ask the President for help
The President refused to see them
16
17
18
19
A Populist President?
William Jennings Bryan
•Ran as a Populist
President in 1896 on
platform of Free Silver
•Big business opposed his
run, Republicans won the
White House, & Populists
faded away
20
“You shall not press down upon the
brow of labor this crown of thorns.
You shall not crucify mankind upon a
cross of gold” -- W.J. Bryan
The Democrats embraced the Populist
cause and candidate in 1896
21
Notice the donkey in the lion skin
22
Election of 1896
23
Election of 1896
“Men, vote as you
please, but if Bryan
is elected…the
whistle will not blow
Wednesday
morning.”
--Factory Owner,
1896
24
Election of 1896
25
26
The Wizard of Oz
•Written by active Populist L. Frank Baum
•Most things in the book represent
something important to the populist
movement.
27
Books written in early 1900s
Film made in 1939 during the Great Depression
and The Dust Bowl which affected farmers
harder than any other group
Film was one of the first ones in color
Message of Populism in characters and plot
28
See film clips and identify the symbols on
your list.
Number 1-18
29
The Wizard of Oz
Basic Symbols:
Ruby Slippers
Yellow Brick Road
Oz
30
- In the book, were
actually “Silver
Slippers” (magic of
Free Silver)
- “Gold” many
dangers for
regular people
(like Dorothy)
- Abbreviation for
Ounce (way gold is
measured)
The Wizard of Oz
Characters:
Dorothy
Scarecrow
Tin Man
31
- Everyman
- Farmers
Industrializati
on or mines
The Wizard of Oz
Characters:
Lion
- William
Jennings
Byran
(a pacifist)
Toto
-Temperance
Activists
(allies of the
Populists)
-Weak
president
Grover
Cleveland
Wizard
32
The Wizard of Oz
Characters:
Bad Witches
of East & West
-Eastern
business
losing power
-West- water
killed her
Good Witches
of North &
South
33
- Directions
where Populists
had friends
(Midwest and
South)
The Wizard of Oz
Places/ events:
Emerald City
- Washington D.C. (in
the book, the color came
from Green Glasses that
everyone wore, a trick)
Tornado
Great Plains
Munchkins
“The Little
People”--Labor
34
So, what is the “take away” about the Populist
movement?
List three things we can “take away” including
the following terms:
farmers
Third Party
money standard
35
STAAR Practice
1. During the late 1800s, farmers supported
free and unlimited coinage of silver mainly
because they believed that it would lead
to:
a)Establishment of government farm price
supports
b)Lowering of rates charged by railroads
c)Lower prices for consumer goods
d)Higher prices for farm products
36
2. The Populist Party was formed mainly to
express the
a)Desire of workers to form labor unions
b)Opposition of nativists to further immigration
c)Desire of business to increase overseas
investments
d)Discontent of many famers with their
ongoing economic problems
37
3. In the late 19th century, farmers desired “cheap
money” policies because farmers believed that
rising prices for their crops would
a)Enable them to pay back their loans more easily
b)Require banks to lend them more money at
reduced interest rates
c)Force manufacturers to reduce the prices of
manufactured goods purchased by farmers
d)Cause the price of undeveloped farmland to drop
38
4. The success of the Populist Party of the
1890s can best be measured by which
development?
a)Party gained support among big business
leaders
b)Two Populists won the Presidency
c)Several of the party’s reforms were made
into laws
39
d)The Populists replaced one of the major
parties