Getting to California populism – political movement of the 1890s focused on increasing the...

• populism – political movement of the 1890s focused on increasing the political power of farmers

• greenback – money issued by the Union during the Civil War; couldn’t be exchanged for gold / silver (caused inflation)

• Grange – a national farm organization founded for social and educational purposes

• cooperative – pooled members’ crops held them off the market to force the prices to rise and give them more bargaining power with railroads and markets

• People’s Party (Populist Party) – third party to push for political reforms that would help farmers solve their problems

• graduated income tax – one that taxes higher earnings more heavily (the more you make the higher the percentage)

• goldbug – believed the American currency should be based only on the gold standard (should only print as much money as the nation has gold on hand to back up that money)

• silverite – believed in the unlimited coinage of silver to increase the nation’s money supply

Ch 11 Sec 2: Populism

Intro 3

Objective: Describe who joined the Populist Party and what the party’s goals were.

Explain why farmers wanted a greenback currency and why the adoption of the gold standard led to the Farmers’ Alliance.



Chapter ObjectivesSection 2: Populism

• Explain why farmers wanted a greenback currency and why the adoption of the gold standard led to the Farmers’ Alliance.

• Describe who joined the Populist Party and what the party’s goals were.

Section 2-1

Guide to Reading

In the 1890s an independent political movement called populism emerged to challenge the two major parties.

• populism

Main Idea

Key Terms and Names

• greenback • inflation • deflation • Grange • cooperative

• People’s Party • graduated income tax • goldbug • silverite • William Jennings Bryan





Unrest in Rural America• In the 1890s, a political movement called Populism

emerged to increase the political power of farmers and to work for legislation for farmers’ interests.

• The nation’s money supply concerned farmers.

• To help finance the Union in the Civil War, the government issued millions of dollars in greenbacks, or paper currency that could not be exchanged for gold or silver coins.

(pages 372–374)(pages 372–374)Objective: Describe who joined the Populist Party and what the party’s goals were.




Click the mouse button to display the information.Click the mouse button to display the information.

• Some historians suggest that the children’s story “The Wonderful Wizard of OZ” by L. Frank Baum written in 1900 is actually about the Populist movement in the 1890s and the need to get off the gold standard and coin silver.

• Many changes to the book were made for the 1939 movie to take advantage of the new technology of colored film.

Populism in the Wizard of OZ?

Oz = ounces for measuring gold


Located “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” What is at the end of a rainbow?

The Emerald CityRepresents Washington DC as well as the “White City” of the World’s Columbian Exposition at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893.

The green can represent the paper greenbacks that have value because people pretend it is valuable.

• This rapid increase in the money supply without a rapid increase in goods for sale caused inflation–a decline in the value of money.

• The prices of goods greatly increased.

• To get inflation under control, the federal government stopped printing greenbacks and started paying off bonds.

• Congress also stopped making silver into coins.

Unrest in Rural America (cont.)





• As a result, the country did not have a large enough money supply to meet the needs of the growing economy.

• This led to deflation–or an increase in the value of money and a decrease in the general level of prices.

• Deflation forced most farmers to borrow money to plant their crops.

• The short supply of money caused an increase in interest rates that the farmers owed.






The Scarecrow


The Scarecrow was the wise but naïve western farmer.

With formal education not a priority in farming life, the Scarecrow was looking for a brain.

His “fear” is fire, the same as a farmer fearing something from nature (drought, fire or insects).

The Scarecrow was found by Dorothy hanging in the field similar to the farmer in the Puck cartoon.

• Some farmers wanted more greenbacks printed to expand the money supply.

• Others wanted the government to mint silver coins.

• The Grange was a national farm organization founded for social and educational purposes.

• When the country experienced a recession, large numbers of farmers joined the Grange for help.

• The Grange changed its focus to respond to the plight of farmers.






• Grangers put their money together and created cooperatives–marketing organizations that worked to help its members.

• The cooperatives pooled members’ crops and held them off the market to force the prices to rise.

• Cooperatives could negotiate better shipping rates from railroads.






• The Grange was unable to improve the economic conditions of farmers.

• By the late 1870s, many farmers left the Grange and joined other organizations that offered to help

them solve their problems.






(pages 374–375)(pages 374–375)

The Farmers’ Alliance• The Farmers’ Alliance was formed in 1877.

• By 1890 it had between 1.5 and 3 million members with strength in the South and on the Great Plains.

• The Alliance organized large cooperatives called exchanges for the purpose of forcing farm prices up and making loans to farmers at low interest rates.

• These exchanges mostly failed.





• Many exchanges overextended themselves by loaning too much money at low interest rates that were not repaid.

• Wholesalers, manufacturers, railroads, and bankers discriminated against the exchanges.

• The exchanges were too small to dramatically affect world prices for farm products.

The Farmers’ Alliance (cont.)





• Members of the Kansas Alliance formed the People’s Party, or Populists, to push for political reforms that would help farmers solve their problems.

• Most Southern leaders of the Alliance opposed the People’s Party because they wanted the Democrats to retain control of the South.

• One Southern leader, Charles Macune, came up with a subtreasury plan to set up warehouses where farmers could store their crops to force prices up.






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Dorothy


The everyday American person.

Daydreaming of a “rags to riches” life that is available “Over the Rainbow”.

She is the only character with a “real problem”. She gets led astray and seeks her way back home.

(pages 375–378)(pages 375–378)

The Rise of Populism• Mary Ellen Lease, was

one of the most passionate speakers for the People's Party in Kansas during the 1890 election campaign. Political opponents nicknamed her "Mary Yellin" and criticized the tall and forceful Lease for acting in an "unfeminine" manner by speaking in public.





Mary Yellin’ is Dorothy?


Some see Dorothy as a young “Mary Ellen Lease”, the woman from Kansas who told farmers to “raise less corn and more hell”.

"Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, for the people, by the people, but a government of Wall Street, for Wall Street, and by Wall Street."

Dorothy (other theories)


Some see her as a young “Mary Lease”, the woman from Kansas who told farmers to “raise less corn and more hell”.

Another interpretation notes that the syllables “Dor-o-thy” in reverse are “The-o-dore.” as in Theodore Roosevelt.

Auntie Em and Uncle Henry


Auntie Em may represent Henry Baum’s mother-in-law who was named Matilda Gage but was known as “Aunt M” and was also a leader of the women’s suffrage movement.

Uncle Henry may be Henry Cantwell Wallace, the most famous farmer in America who was known as “Uncle Henry”.

(pages 375–378)(pages 375–378)

The Rise of Populism• In 1890 the Farmers’ Alliance issued the Ocala

Demands to help farmers choose candidates in the 1890 elections.

• The demands included the adoption of the subtreasury plan, the free coinage of silver, an end to protective tariffs and national banks, tighter regulation of the railroads, and direct election of senators by voters.

• Many pro-Alliance Democrats were elected to office in the South.





• By early 1892, Southern members of the Alliance began to realize that Democrats were not going to keep their promises to the Alliance and they were ready to leave the Democratic Party and join the People’s Party.

• In July 1892, the People’s Party held its first national convention where it nominated James B. Weaver to run for president.

The Rise of Populism (cont.)





• The People’s Party platform called for unlimited coinage of silver, federal ownership of railroads, and a graduated income tax, one that taxes higher earnings more heavily.

• It also called for an eight-hour workday, restriction of immigration, and denounced the use of strikebreakers.

• Democrats nominated New Yorker Grover Cleveland for the 1892 presidential election.

• Cleveland won the election.






Where is the support of the Populist Party?

• The Panic of 1893 was caused by the bankruptcy of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroads.

• It resulted in the stock market crash and the closing of many banks.

• By 1894 the country was in a deep depression.






• President Cleveland wanted to stop the flow of gold and make it the sole basis for the country’s currency, so he had Congress repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.

The Cyclone


The cyclone was used in the 1890s as a symbol of revolution and political upheaval.

This may be a metaphor of a political revolution that would transform the drab nation into a land of color and unlimited prosperity.

The Tin Woodsman


Symbolized the dehumanized American worker.

With the mind numbing work he was asked to do he was in search of a heart.

He had a hex put on him by the Witch of the East (who represents Eastern industrialists and bankers) that leaves him rusted.

The rust he is discovered with may represent the Industrial Depression of 1893. Also showed America’s growing dependence on Rockefeller’s oil.

The Tin Woodsman and the Scarecrow


The Tin-man is able to function again with the help of the Scarecrow, representing the Farmer-Labor coalition that was attempted in the 1890s.

Emerald Palace


The White House – once inside, Dorothy has to pass through seven halls and climb three flights of stairs, a possible reference to the “Crime of ’73”, which was a congressional act that eliminated the coinage of silver and made many Populists believe that Congress worked for the banks and not the people.

• This caused the Democratic Party to split into the goldbugs and the silverites.

• Goldbugs believed the American currency should be based only on gold.






• Silverites believed coining silver in unlimited amounts was the answer to the nation’s economic crisis.






Daily Focus Skills Transparency 2

The Silver Slippers


Though in the movie they are Ruby Red slippers, in the book they are silver. Their power represents the Populist viewpoint that “the free and unlimited coinage of silver” was the solution to the nation’s problems.

The Yellow Brick Road


Represents the “gold standard” and all of the dangers involved in following it. And ultimately where the gold leads to (The Emerald City).

Poppy Fields


Could be a reference to the Lion and Dorothy falling asleep and not being able to move forward.

Also allows people to forget the issue of silver.

Could also be a reference to the opium poppies in China and the Boxer Rebellion of 1899.

The Power of the Silver Slippers


At the end of the movie Dorothy is told that she had the power to solve her problems all along with her silver slippers (coinage of silver), she never really needed to go down the Yellow Brick Road (gold standard).

Toto


Represents the Prohibitionist Party (also known as “Teetotalers”).

They were strong allies in the pro-silver coalition.

(pages 378–379)(pages 378–379)

The Election of 1896• The Democrats

nominated William Jennings Bryan for the presidential election of 1896.

• He strongly supported the unlimited coinage of silver.

• Populists also supported Bryan for president.





The Cowardly Lion


The Cowardly Lion may represent all of the Presidents of the Gilded Age that never stood up to big business (the cartoon below is of Grover Cleveland).

He may represent the Populist Presidents that feared entering the Spanish-American War.

He may also of represented William Jennings Bryan (“a great roar with no bite”), the Democrat who ran for President in 1896.

(pages 378–379)(pages 378–379)

The Election of

1896• The

Republicans nominated William McKinley of Ohio for president.

• He promised workers a “full dinner pail.”





Wicked Witch of the West


Many feel this represented President William McKinley although he was known as a “Wizard” for his political skills.

The 1897 cartoon shows McKinley as a witch with a Toto like dog as Uncle Sam.

Wicked Witch of the East


Could be Eastern industries and banks that controlled the money (as well as Munchkinland).

Others feel that the Witch represents Grover Cleveland.

Good Witches of the North and South


Could be a reference to the factory workers of the North and the farmers of the South.

In contrast to the wicked Industrialists of the East or the Rail Barons of the West.

The Munchkins


Represent the “Little People” or ordinary citizens.

The Lollipop Guild


Represents child labor

The Wizard


Could represent the Presidents of the Gilded Age. “A little bumbling old man, hiding behind a façade….. able to be everything to everybody”

Could make easy fixes of the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion but struggled to solve Dorothy's “real problem”.

or

Mark Hanna – campaign manager of William McKinley.

• Most business leaders liked McKinley because they thought that unlimited silver coinage would ruin the country’s economy.

• McKinley won the election of 1896.

• New gold strikes in Alaska and Canada’s Yukon Territory and in other parts of the world increased the money supply without needing to use silver.

• As the silver issue died out, so did the Populist Party.

The Election of 1896 (cont.)





The Flying Monkeys


Used in cartoons to ridicule politicians.

They may represent Pinkerton agents that were hired by Trusts to harass and break up labor unions.

The Flying Monkeys (another theory)


Since they worked for the Wicked Witch of the West, maybe the monkeys represented the Native Americans of the West. In the book, the leader of the Winged Monkeys in the West told Dorothy,

"Once..we were a free people, living happily in the great forest, flying from tree to tree, eating nuts and fruit and doing just as we pleased without calling anybody master... This was many years ago, before Oz came out of the clouds to rule over this land."

The yellow Winkies


The enslaved yellow Winkies that guarded the castle of the Witch of the West, may have been referring to McKinley not granting immediate independence to the people of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War.

Section 2-25

Checking for Understanding

__ 1. the loss of value of money__ 2. a piece of U.S. paper money first

issued by the North during the Civil War

__ 3. a person who believes that American currency should be based on a gold standard

__ 4. a decline in the volume of available money or credit that results in lower prices, and, therefore, increases the buying power of money

__ 5. a person who believes that coining silver in unlimited quantities would solve the nation’s economic crisis

A. deflation

B. greenback

C. inflation

D. goldbug

E. silverite

Define Match the terms on the right with their definitions on the left.

B

D

C

A

E





Chapter Assessment 10

Analyzing Graphs What happened to prices of crops between 1865 and 1895?

The trend for wheat and corn is downward. The price of cotton remained relatively constant during the period after an initial fluctuation.

Economics and History (cont.)

Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the answer.





Reviewing Key Facts (cont.)

How did the Grange attempt to solve farmers’ problems in the late 1800s?

It pooled resources to create cooperatives, pressured legislatures to regulate railroad and warehouse rates, and encouraged the government to print more money.


Critical Thinking

Analyzing Themes: Economic Factors Why was the type of currency used in the United States an important issue to farmers in the late 1800s?

Without greenbacks and silver coins, the money supply could not meet the needs of the growing economy. The value of money increased, and crop prices began to fall.

Section 2-11

How did the Grange try to help farmers?Some Grangers pressured state legislatures to regulate railroad and warehouse rates. Others joined the Independent National Party, or Greenback Party, to pressure the government into printing more greenbacks to increase the money supply. Grangers also formed cooperatives to help farmers market their crops for higher prices and negotiate better shipping rates.









What were some of the difficulties that settlers encountered as they settled the Great Plains?

Possible answers: Isolation, tornadoes, destructive insects, harsh weather, and dust storms were some of the difficulties that settlers encountered.

Analyzing Visuals



Examine the photograph of David Hilton and his family with an organ they rescued from a collapsed sod house. Why do you think it was so important for them to rescue the organ?

The organ was one of the few sources of entertainment for the family.

Section 2-27

Reviewing Themes



Economic Factors What economic problems caused farmers to support populism?

Deflation, falling farm prices, high tariffs, and high rail shipping rates caused farmers to support populism.

Section 2-28

Critical Thinking



Analyzing How did the Farmers’ Alliance contribute to the rise of a new political party?

Some Alliance members wanted to form a new party to get their programs passed.

Section 2-15

Why did the exchanges set up by the Farmers’ Alliance fail?

Many exchanges overextended themselves by loaning too much money at low interest rates that were not repaid. Wholesalers, manufacturers, railroads, and bankers discriminated against the exchanges. The exchanges were too small to dramatically affect world prices for farm products.






Section 2-21

What was the People’s Party platform in the election of 1892?The People’s Party platform called for unlimited coinage of silver, federal ownership of railroads, and a graduated income tax, or one that taxes higher earnings more heavily. It also called for an eight-hour workday, restriction of immigration, and denounced the use of strikebreakers.






Section 2-26

Checking for Understanding (cont.)



List the issues that the Democrats endorsed in the 1896 presidential election.

Democrats supported farmers and silver as a monetary base.

Section 2-24

Why did William McKinley appeal to workers and business leaders?

McKinley promised workers a “full dinner pail.” Most business leaders liked him because they thought that unlimited silver coinage would ruin the country’s economy.

The Election of 1896 (cont.)





End of Chapter Assessment

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