Railroads and Farmers
Unit 6B
Power of the Choo-Choo Train
 From 1865 to 1920, what was the most powerful & most
important industry for the United States?
 The US government gave huge land grants and deals to encourage
the expansion of the railroads.
 The railroad would inter-connect the nation and change the way
people lived their lives in many ways – shopping, time, etc.
Railroad Expansion in West
 1st Transcontinental Railroad
 1869 – east and west lines joined
at Promontory Point, Utah with
the “golden spike”
 Much of the construction done
by Chinese and Irish immigrants
 By 1900, four other
transcontinental lines built
Federal Railroad Land Grants
 U.S. Gov’t gave loans and
lands to railroad companies to
build lines out west.
 Helped settlement in the west,
but also fraud.
 One of the causes of the
Credit Mobilier Scandal
(bribes) and the Panic of 1873
 Lands were surveyed before.
 Gen. Henry Washburn after
surveying west, went to
Congress to encourage them to
set some land aside.
 Thus the first National Park -
Yellowstone
Immigrant Recruitment
 1st immigrants were recruited to build the railroads (Irish and
Chinese in particular)
 After the railroads received the lands and built the railroads,
they need people to settle and be customers.
 Many were recruited from Scandinavian countries, Germany
and other areas of Europe in which industrialization had made a
land shortage.
Railroad Effects
 On Nov. 18th, 1883, Time
Zones were started due to
railroads wanting standard
time.
 Professor C.F. Dowd’s plan
 Shows the power of the railroad
in other areas of life.
 Pullman Sleeper Cars
 One new way to travel was
with sleeper cars.
 One of the biggest strikes
in the time period
happened in the Pullman
company town.
Rural Free Delivery
 Prior to RFD, individuals living in more remote homesteads had
to pick up mail themselves at sometimes distant post offices or
pay private carriers for delivery. But Rural Free Delivery
(RFD) was a service which began in the United States in the late
19th century, to deliver mail directly to rural farm families.
 This will open up more national magazines and newspapers as
well as mail-order catalogs.
So what’s happening in the South?
 Jim Crow – Segregation
 1896 – Plessey v. Ferguson – “separate, but equal ruling”
 Nadir of race relations in the South
 Sharecropping, Crop Lien system, and Tenant Farming still common
 Cotton prices down. So what to grow?
 George Washington Carver – as a teacher at the Tuskegee Institute he
worked to find products that were in abundance (like ________).
“New South” Farmers
 Most of the economy of the South was based on natural raw products
 Henry Grady (editor of the Atlanta Constitution) argued for diversity
and self-sufficient southern economy
 But the economy of the South would not truly change until the New Deal
and World War II impacts
 Most land (and gov’t) still controlled by rich (Bourbon Rule)
Opening up new lands
 Railroads sold lands cheap, but still many could not afford it
 Homestead Act – 160 acres (section) for “free”
 1)house, 2)farm 10 acres, 3)live on it 5 years
 Timber Culture Act – similar, 40 acres of trees (was not too successful)
 A great example of giving a person at the chance of “the American Dream”
Life on the Prairie
 Sodhouses / Dugouts
 Isolation
 Life for Women tough
 Western women first for suffrage (Wyoming)
Advancements in Agriculture
 = more productivity per each person farming
 John Deere – Steel Plow
 Cyrus McCormick – Mechanical Reaper
 Also seeders, threshers, and steam engines
 Railroads would bring new equipment to farmers with Rural
Free Delivery (RFD).
 Sears & Roebuck, Montgomery Ward using catalogs
Environmental Effects
 From 1880 to 1920 the population of Tornado Alley increased six-fold.
 The late 1800s saw a period of usually wet years. Advancements helped
more land to be farmed.
 1920s and 1930s saw a dry cycle…thus an environmental disaster with
the Dust Bowl.
Other Agriculture Information
 Morrill Land Grant Colleges
 Teach basics of agriculture
 In Florida -UF and F A&M U
 Bonanza Farms – large farms
owned by corporations.
Established in late 1800s, but
dropping grain prices drove
many out of business.
 Cooperatives – farmers
pool resources in a
community
 How is this much like a
Union which were gaining
strength at the same time?
Farmers major problem #1
 Railroads
 Shipping / Freight charges
 Since most towns only had 1 rail line into town, railroads
controlled grain prices to ship to larger cities (St. Paul)
 Munn v. Illinois (1877) – Supreme Court said states could
regulate businesses
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How does this effect you today
 Interstate Commerce Act will also aid in regulation
Farmers Problem #2
 Banks
 High Interest Rates
 As prices dropped, they would have to grow two or three times
as much to pay off loans.
 Farmers liked Inflation. Why?
 Greenback Party of 1870s supported by farmers
 Would later support bimetallism and Populist (People’s) Party
Farmer Organization
 National Grange Movement
 Patrons of Husbandry , Oliver Kelley organized in 1868
 Started as social organization, but developed into a political one.
 Granger Laws/Cases – against railroads, more gov’t control
 Wabash v. Illinois (1886) – states could not regulate interstate commerce
 Led to Interstate Commerce Act (1886) – U.S. gov’t could regulate it.
 Helped start cooperatives
 Led to Farmer’s Alliance and with Ocala Platform (1890) led to many
future progressive changes.
 Income Tax, Direct Election of Senators, lower tariffs, federal banking system (Fed)
People’s Party – “Populism”
 Grange led to Farmer’s Alliance which led to the
Populist (People’s) Party
 Coalition of farmers in the West & South and loose with northern
factory workers. (anyone see an issue that will split coalition?)
 Biggest Election they were involved in was the 1896 election.
 Women involved too (Mary Lease a leader in the People’s Party)
 Biggest impact will be on Progressive movement in the next decade.
When you hear Grange you think…
 Farmers!
 What were their biggest problems?
 So Granger laws helped who?
 What laws and cases helped them?
A major Election to Know
 1896 Election
 Republicans –William McKinley
 Marcus Hanna was advisor (like a modern day campaign coordinator)
 Front Porch Campaign (used media and money)
 Populist/Peoples – William Jennings Bryan
 Democrats – joined Populists with Bryan (known as Fusion)
 Main issue: Bimetallism (dollar backed by gold and silver)
 Bryan gives famous Cross of Gold Speech
 But McKinley (and goldbugs) win
Wizard of Oz
 The Wizard of Oz was written originally as an allegory about the
bimetallism issue. Can you figure out what and who the different
parts/character represent?
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“Follow the yellow brick road”
(in book, not movie) “silver shoes can take you anywhere”
Wicked witch of the East
Wicked witch of the West
Oz
Dorothy
Scarecrow
Tin Man
Cowardly Lion
Flying Monkeys
Reflection Questions
 1. How did the railroads control things beyond
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transportation?
2. How did the Federal Railroad Land Grants change the
landscape of America?
3. What were the main two challenges that farmers had in the
late 1800s?
4. What did the Grange, Farmer’s Alliance, and People’s
Party try to do to help the challenges of farmers?
5. How did Rural Free Delivery change the economy of the
United States?
Links
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydrq2-j92cU – Cross
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of Gold speech
http://www.indiana.edu/~libsalc/cartoons/1896.html Political Cartoons, 1896 election
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h854.html - grangers
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5354/ - Cross of Gold
info
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nw650q7Z78 – UF
Land Grant Commercial (:30)