Election Day

1
Election DayNovember 4, 2014

• First Tuesday after the first Monday in November
• Local, county, state representation and issues
• Every even year, vote for representatives for
  U.S. Congress (and maybe a Senator)
• National election is every four years (for
  President)
• Other elections are special or primary elections
  held in the spring

2
Progressive Era Populism Vocabulary(see p.
138-146)

• 7. Grover Cleveland
• 8. Coxeys Army (notes)
• William Jennings Bryan
• 10. Interstate Commerce Act
• 11. Cross of Gold Speech

1. Gold standard
2. Fiat money
3. Depression of 1893 (p.144)
4. The Grange
5. Populist Party
6. Inflation

3
PopulismHow does food affect Politics?

1. Finish Progressive Era and review terms
2. Populisma part of the Progressive Era
3. Vocabulary
4. Power point notes with 1-8
5. Printed Notes with more information, details, and
   cartoon
6. Film as allegory with symbols
7. More questions and documents

4
Populism BackgroundInventions for the Farmer

• Cotton Gin, 1794
• Battery,1800
• McCormick Reaper, 1831
• Corn Planter,1834
• Combine Harvester, 1835
• Revolver, 1836
• Steel Plow, 1838
• Grain Elevator, 1842
• Mercerized Cotton, 1844
• Barbed Wire, 1873
• Steam Turbine, 1884
• Tractor, 1904

5
Gold Standard

• Adopted in 1870s
• Gold BugsRepublicans and Northern Democrats like
  Grover Cleveland
• England was on the gold standard
• As U.S. became imperialistic, world markets were
  becoming more important
• Good for business but not for farmers

6
Main Ideas

• How did new machines and new land lead to
  problems for American farmers?
• How did crop specialization lead to problems?
• Name three natural threats to the farmer.
• List five monopolies and trusts that hurt the
  farmer with high fixed prices.
• Describe The Grange in three ways.
• Why did farmers support the Free Silver Movement?
• What third party represented Free Silver?
• What led to the demise of The Populist Party?

7
Populism
8
Populism

• Political movement that tried to help out the
  nations struggling farmers

9
Populism
Farmers were in trouble because of...
1. Mechanization - More machines more debt
2. New Farm Land More land (on credit) more
debt
10
Populism
Farmers were in trouble because of...
3. Specialization of Crops - Farmers only raise
one crop (leads to trouble if that crop has
problems)
4. Disasters - floods, boll-weevil, grasshoppers
11
More problems

• Fire
• Birds
• Tornadoes
• Drought
• Windstorms
• Locusts
• Blizzards

12
Populism
Farmers were in trouble because of...
5. Corporate Greed Barbed wire trust, Harvester
Trust, Fertilizer Trust, Banks, and Railroads
"The Iron Horse Which Eats Up The Farmers'
Produce. 1873
13
The Grange
What?

• Farmers Union founded by Oliver Kelly (MN)

• Cooperative movement - farmers pooled their money
  to make shared purchases of machinery, supplies,
  insurance, etc.

How?

• Worked for pro-farmer laws
• Ex. Interstate Commerce Act - regulated rates of
  railroads

14
What about African American Farmers?

• Most farmers in the South were sharecroppers and
  tenant farmers who did not own the land but
  leased it from white farmers
• Jim Crow laws of segregation did not encourage
  political activism
• The Populists tended toward Nativism and many
  were members of the Ku Klux Klan
• Other Populists tried to bring African Americans
  into the Populist movement but with little success

15
Populist Party Free Silver

• Why?

• Populists believed that this would solve nearly
  all of the farmers problems

What?

• They wanted to use both silver and gold coins,
  thus increasing the amount of money in the country

• All money would be worth less, a situation that
  was bad for creditors (big banks) and good for
  debtors (farmers)

16

• President Grover Cleveland supported the gold
  standardcalled a Gold Bug
• Coxeys Army was a group of farmers and
  unemployed Americans who marched to Washington to
  ask the President for help
• The President refused to see them

17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20
A Populist President?

• William Jennings Bryan

• Ran as a Populist President in 1896 on platform
  of Free Silver

• Big business opposed his run, Republicans won the
  White House, Populists faded away

You shall not press down upon the brow of labor
this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify
mankind upon a cross of gold -- W.J. Bryan
21
The Democrats embraced the Populist cause and
candidate in 1896
22
Notice the donkey in the lion skin
23
Election of 1896
24
Election of 1896

• Men, vote as you please, but if Bryan is
  electedthe whistle will not blow Wednesday
  morning.
• --Factory Owner, 1896

25
Election of 1896
26
(No Transcript)
27
The Wizard of Oz

• Written by active Populist L. Frank Baum

• Most things in the book represent something
  important to the populist movement.

28

• Books written in early 1900s
• Film made in 1939 during the Great Depression and
  The Dust Bowl which affected farmers harder than
  any other group
• Film was one of the first ones in color
• Message of Populism in characters and plot

29

• See film clips and identify the symbols on your
  list.
• Number 1-18

30
The Wizard of Oz

• Basic Symbols

Ruby Slippers
- In the book, were actually Silver Slippers
(magic of Free Silver)
Yellow Brick Road
- Gold many dangers for regular people (like
Dorothy)
Oz
- Abbreviation for Ounce (way gold is measured)
31
The Wizard of Oz

• Characters

Dorothy
- Everyman
Scarecrow
- Farmers
- Industrialization or mines
Tin Man
32
The Wizard of Oz

• Characters

Lion
- William Jennings Byran (a pacifist)
Toto
-Temperance Activists (allies of the Populists)

• Weak president Grover Cleveland

Wizard
33
The Wizard of Oz

• Characters

• Eastern business losing power
• West- water killed her

Bad Witches of East West
- Directions where Populists had friends (Midwest
and South)
Good Witches of North South
34
The Wizard of Oz

• Places/ events

Emerald City
- Washington D.C. (in the book, the color came
from Green Glasses that everyone wore, a trick)
Tornado
Great Plains
Munchkins
The Little People--Labor
35

• So, what is the take away about the Populist
  movement?
• List three things we can take away including
  the following terms
• farmers
• Third Party
• money standard

36
STAAR Practice

• During the late 1800s, farmers supported free and
  unlimited coinage of silver mainly because they
  believed that it would lead to
• a)Establishment of government farm price supports
• b)Lowering of rates charged by railroads
• c)Lower prices for consumer goods
• d)Higher prices for farm products

37

• The Populist Party was formed mainly to express
  the
• a)Desire of workers to form labor unions
• b)Opposition of nativists to further immigration
• c)Desire of business to increase overseas
  investments
• d)Discontent of many famers with their ongoing
  economic problems

38

• In the late 19th century, farmers desired cheap
  money policies because farmers believed that
  rising prices for their crops would
• a)Enable them to pay back their loans more easily
• b)Require banks to lend them more money at
  reduced interest rates
• c)Force manufacturers to reduce the prices of
  manufactured goods purchased by farmers
• d)Cause the price of undeveloped farmland to drop

39

• The success of the Populist Party of the 1890s
  can best be measured by which development?
• a)Party gained support among big business leaders
• b)Two Populists won the Presidency
• c)Several of the partys reforms were made into
  laws
• d)The Populists replaced one of the major parties