Populism
United States History II
Deflation

Prices for crops declined precipitously, 1866-1900
Experts blamed overproduction
 Farmers sold at harvest, when prices were low; processors
sold in winter, when prices were higher


Appreciating currency exacerbated problem
GNP increased from $9.1 billion to 35.4 billion, 1869-1901
 Amount of currency in circulation per capita declined from
$30.20 in 1865 to $27.06 in 1890
 “Crime of 1873” – Congress ended coinage of silver
 Resumption Act of 1879 – greenbacks brought to parity
with gold dollars

Railroads
 Large
shippers got
rebates & discounts
 Charged more for
short hauls than long
hauls
 Stock watered down
to benefit Eastern
creditors
Other Grievances
 Trusts
fixed prices on commodities farmers
bought
 Farmers heavily mortgaged to Eastern banks
 Land,
houses and equipment often mortgaged
 Kansas: over 11,000 foreclosures, 1889-93
bore brunt of taxation – couldn’t hide
or undervalue assets like corporations
 Farmers
The Grange
Patrons of Husbandry (Grange) had 1.5 million
members by 1874
 Lobbied state governments successfully:

Munn v. Illinois (1877) - Supreme Court upheld right of
state gov’ts to regulate private property when clothed with
a public interest
 Wabash Railroad v. Illinois (1886) - Supreme Court ruled
states couldn’t regulate railroads


Congress created Interstate Commerce
Commission (1887) in response
Regulated railroad rates & outlawed rebates & pools
 Only limited effectiveness, however

The Farmers’ Alliance
Farmers’ Alliance had 1.5 million members, Colored
Alliance 1 million members by 1890
 Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890):

Treasury required to buy 4.5 million ounces of silver each
month
 Issued certificates redeemable in silver or gold at 16:1 ratio


Sub-Treasury Plan:
Farmers could store harvested crops in gov’t warehouses
 Would get gov’t loans for up to 80% of value at 1%
interest in new legal-tender notes

Populist Hymn
My Party Led Me, by S. T. Johnson
Tune: “All The Way My Saviour Leads Me”
All the way my party led me.
And they robbed me ev'ry day.
But I did not see my folly
Till my home was took away.
Mortgaged farmers, wives and children,
Rally to the Alliance call,
For, if you should longer tarry,
Money kings will have it all.
For if you should longer tarry,
Money kings will have it all.
Source: Irwin Silber, Songs America Voted By
The People’s Party
Founded at Omaha Convention in 1892
 Leader & platform writer was Ignatius Donnelly
 Candidate James B. Weaver had been Greenbacks’
candidate in 1880 election
 Tried to appeal to all reformers, urban and rural:
called for free silver, greenbacks, gov’t ownership of
railroads & communication, graduated income tax,
direct election of U.S. Senators, 8-hour day, &
immigration restriction
 Reached out to blacks & labor, esp. Western miners

The Omaha Platform (1892)
Copyright 2000, Bedford/St. Martin’s
Copyright 2000, Bedford/St. Martin’s
The Democratic-Populist Fusion,
1896



Democrats
nominated William
Jennings Bryan &
platform called for
“Free Silver”
Populists nominated
Bryan, too
“Gold Bug”
Democrats joined
Republicans in voting
for William
McKinley
Bryan addressing the
Democratic Convention
1896 Political Cartoon
1896 Political
Cartoon
Copyright 2000, Bedford/St. Martin’s
Why the Populists Failed
 Despite
1896 fusion with Democrats, southern
states ran Populist-Republican fusion tickets:
led to confusion
 Attacked by opponents as cranks & hicks
 Too naive and too diverse - constituencies
easily picked off, as with all third parties
 However, many of the reforms they advocated
were adopted within 20 years