US History since 1865

1
US History since 1865

• Populism

2
Origins of Populism

• i. decline of commodity prices ii. increasing
  supply of farm products--hungry because of too
  much bread and poorly-clad because of too much
  cloth iii. railroad and middlemen iv. high
  tariffs v. inadequacy of currency

3
Difficulties in Farmers' Unionization

• i. farmers dealing with bankers, railroad barons,
  middlemen, grain-elevator operators and world
  market
• ii. ingrained tradition of individualism
• iii. physical isolation

4
Phases of Populism

• i. The Granger Movement, 1867, promoting
  cooperatives for buying and selling ii. Farmers'
  Alliance formed first in 1877 in Texas and had
  1.5 million members by 1890 iii. proposed
  subtreasury plan farmers be allowed to store
  their crops in government warehouses and secure
  government loans for up to 80 percent of their
  crops valued at 1 percent interest iv. forming
  the Populist party in 1892 and adopting the Omaha
  Platform, fielding presidential candidate James
  Weaver of Iowa polled over a million popular
  votes v. the election of 1896 dilemma, either
  to name their own candidate or endorse the
  democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan the
  Populist endorsed Bryan and named its own VP
  candidate Tom Watson of Georgia lost to the
  Republican Party

5
Populist Agenda

• i. graduated income tax ii. nationalization
  of railroads, telephone and telegraph iii.
  unlimited coinage of silver iv. initiative and
  referendum v. direct election of senators vi.
  prohibition of foreign ownership of land vii.
  closing door on immigrants vii. support for the
  ex-Union soldiers

6
Causes of the Failure of the Populist Movement

• i. regional South, Midwest and West ii.
  provincial, anti-business, anti-Catholic and
  Negrophobic iii. rural and monistic, radical and
  revolutionary iv. scared many middle-class
  sympathizers and never gained respectability

7
Significance of the Populist Movement

• i. first modern political movement in the U.S.
  calling for federal regulation ii. putting
  democratic reform on the agenda iii. making
  political parties more responsive to the people

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The Haymarket Riot, Harpers Weekly, May 15,
1886
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The Pullman Strike, 1893-1894 socialist leader
Eugene V. Debs arrested
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Sioux drawing, The Battle of Little Bighorn, 1876
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Photograph, the burial of the Sioux killed at the
Wounded Knee, 1890
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A Populist family from Nebraska
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Which Will Win? New York Graphic, 1973
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Populist unity
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Cartoon about Silver and Gold Standard
controversy, Houston Daily Post, 1896
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William Jennings Bryan Swallowing the Democratic
Party, Judge, 1896
17
Election map of 1896 - republican candidate,
William McKinley wins