Populism
Farmers’ Hardships
• High tariffs & new technology hurt farmers
• After the CW, the gov. wanted to limit
inflation
– Stopped printing greenbacks & making silver
into coins
– Started paying off bonds
– Hurt farmers because it caused deflation
• Small money supply increased interest and
lowered prices
•The Grange
– Formed by Oliver H. Kelly
– Recession in 1873 led to drop in farm
income brought Grange membership to over
1 million
– Actions taken:
•Pressured state legislatures to control RR &
warehouse rates
•Joined the Greenback Party
•Created cooperatives, allowed farmers to
combine their crops and sell them for a higher
price to the buyer
Oliver
H.
Kelley
• Strategies of the Grange do not work
– Where RR prices were lowered, RR
companies protested
– Wabash v. Illinois
– Americans did not want paper money
– Easterners would not do business with
cooperatives
The Farmers’ Alliance
• Supported by southerners & people of
the Great Plains
• Organized cooperatives called
exchanges
– Big enough to force farm prices up & make
loans to farmers at low interest rates
• Exchanges ultimately failed
– Loaned out too much money
– Still too small
The People’s Party
• Formed by members of the KS
Alliance
• AKA the Populists
• Leader Charles McCune supported
the subtreasury plan
– Wanted the gov. to build warehouses
to hold large amounts of farm
produce to drive prices up & make
low interest loans to farmers
The Ocala Plan
• Adopted at a meeting in FL of the Farmers’
Alliance
• Demands
– Adoption of the subtreasury plan
– Free coinage of silver
– End to tariffs & national banks
– More gov. control of the RRs
– Direct election of senators
• Alliance members encouraged to only vote for
candidates that supported the Ocala Plan
• Several pro-Alliance candidates elected in the
South & West
• Decided to start their own political party
A Populist for President
• James B. Weaver is nominated at
the Populist Presidential Convention
in 1892
• Platform
– Criticized gov’t’s refusal to coin silver
– Wanted a graduated income tax &
federal ownership of RRs
– Called for an 8-hour work day,
restriction of immigration, and an end to
strikebreaking
• Weaver lost the election but won 22
electoral votes
The Panic of 1893
• Philadelphia and Reading RRs
declared bankruptcy – expanded too
rapidly & could not pay off loans
• Stock market crashed & banks closed
• 1894 – workers on strike & 4.6 million
unemployed
• Caused a crisis for the U.S. Treasury
Goldbugs v. Silverites
• Panic of 1893 caused a crisis for
the U.S. Treasury
– People were cashing in bonds &
silver certificates for gold – draining
the Treasury
– Action split the Democratic Party into
“Goldbugs” & “Silverites”
The Election of 1896
• Republicans – supported gold &
nominated William McKinley
• Democrats – nominated William
Jennings Bryan-supporter of silver
• Populists had to decide whether to
support Bryan or choose their own
candidate
• Decided to support Bryan
McKinley v. Bryan
The Election of 1896
• McKinley – Republican
– Campaigned from his front porch
– Blaming Cleveland for country’s economic troubles
– Supported by business leaders
– Promise of a “full lunch pail” appealed to urban
workers
• Bryan – Democrat
– Campaigned on the road
– Speeches were passionate & demonstrated support
of the silver issue
– City-dwellers did not like his speaking style & did not
care about the silver issue
• McKinley won 95 more electoral votes than Bryan
The Decline of Populism
•Depression ended
•Gold strikes in Alaska, Canada, & South
Africa added to the money supply
•The Gold Standard Act (1900)
•With the popularity of silver coinage
gone, the Populist Party died out