FOUNDATION WORK
Write about your day. How do you feel? What assignments do you have due
(except for what is due for me).
16.3: Farming and Populism
PRICE DROP AND BIG BUSINESSES TO BLAME!
1870-1895: Farm Prices Plummeted
• (1870): Cotton sold for 15 cents a pound
• (1895): Cotton sold for 6 cents a pound.
• Corn and wheat prices dropped drastically.
• The cost for farming the crop is more than what it can be sold for.
Farmers blamed big business.
• Deregulated businesses (railroad and banks) causing an Endless Cycle of Poverty (rings any bells?)
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High interest rates with loans pulled from the bank.
Railroad would charge higher rates for more money.
Farmers losing out and capitalists making money (ring any bells?)
US Leaders now have leaders who came from urban industrial states.
• What is more important to the leaders?
SHARECROPPERS FACE PROBLEMS
Black sharecroppers are faced with an added
problem: Another form of deregulation.
• Dealing with dishonest merchants and
landlords who paid less for crops and
charged more for supplies than what was
promised.
A MINUTE TO THINK-PAIR-SHARE:
Why do you think black sharecroppers especially
face greater problems than other farmers?
PICTURE ANALYSIS:
The picture is of a young man farming. Why do
you think this picture particularly interesting?
Get Organized! Farmers Organized and Seek Change
The creation of a network of farmer organizations.
• Oliver H. Kelley (1867): The Grange
• Providing education on new farming techniques
• Regulation of the railroad (Why?)
• Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
• Regulating the railroad, there is LESS likeliness of corruption.
The Southern Farmers’ Alliance & The Colored Farmers’ Alliance
FIVE MINUTE WRITE UP QUESTION (ON A PIECE OF PAPER):
The names of these two alliances bring up an interesting topic for discussion
and to write out. Spend five minutes answering the following question:
Why is it interesting that there were TWO DIFFERENT alliances? What does
this say about the so called, “Farmers’ Alliance?”
POPULISM IS SIMILAR TO… POPULAR
Definition: Populism is a belief in the power of regular people, and in their right to have control over their government
rather than a small group of political insiders or a wealthy elite.
(ON THE SAME PAPER THAT YOU DID YOUR WRITE UP ON):
Read pages 536-539 and answer the THREE checkpoint questions (under Populist Party Demand Reform) AND ALSO,
answer the following question(s):
How does this idea of populism connect to the Farmer’s Organization Movement?
What other “movement” we discussed in class (HINT: Chapter 13).