1. Populism
Slaughter
“What you farmers need to do is raise less corn and more Hell!” Mary Elizabeth Lease (1890) Populist Organizer

2. Populism:
What?
Political movement that tried to help out the nation’s struggling farmers

3. Sodbusters: Moving out West
Homestead Act
Morrill Act
Influx of movement out West for farmers looking to start over during and after the Civil War.

4. Populist Party: A protest party (People’s Party)
Oppose the “hand-off” paradigm of the Gilded Age.
Lived on farms
Anti-technology/modernity/xenophobic
Conservative
Jeffersonian
Disliked cities/banks/industrialists/capitalists and the railroad tycoons.

5. Populism Why? Mechanization - More machines = more debt
Farmers were in trouble because of...
Why?
Mechanization - More machines = more debt
Less workers necessary
Over-production (prices fall)
2. Everyone producing the same crops

6. Populism
Farmers were in trouble because of......
Why?
Specialization of Crops - Farmers only raise one crop (leads to trouble if that crop has problems and over-production/more competition)
4. Disasters - droughts, floods, boll-weevil, and grasshoppers

7. Populism
Why?
Farmers were in trouble because of...
Corporate Greed Barbed wire trust, Harvester Trust, Fertilizer Trust, and Banks.
"The Iron Horse Which Eats Up The Farmers' Produce.” 1873

8. Populism 6. Railroads -no competition to move crops
Farmers were in trouble because …..
6. Railroads
-no competition to move crops
-charge whatever they pleased
-Credit Mobilier/government would not regulate the railroads.
-Charged more for short than long hauls.
-Silos storage rental fees near the railroad tracks were sky high.

9. HOW DO FARMERS RESPOND? Populism 7. Currency Crisis
Specie backing – money backed by valuable minerals
Not enough gold-money becomes more valuable
Farmers’ cost doubled-have to grow 2x’s the amount of crops to pay back debt.
Idea: Bring back Greenbacks from Civil War.
Nothing being done to help the farmers or workers in factories. Government seems to favor big business.
HOW DO FARMERS RESPOND?

10. National Grange for the Patrons of Husbandry The Grange
What?
Farmer’s Union founded in Minnesota – founded by OLIVER H. KELLEY
Cooperative movement - farmers pooled their money to make shared purchases of machinery, supplies, insurance, limited quantity of produce etc.
How?
Worked for pro-farmer laws
Granger Laws – Laws that attempted to stop discrimination of prices between long and short haul railroad routes
Ex. Interstate Commerce Act - regulated rates of railroads
Pushed for Rural Free Delivery of Mail -- RFD

11. The Grange Vs. the government State (illinois) and federal
Munn v Illinois - In 1877, a grain storage company, Munn and Scott, was found guilty for violating the Illinois granger law, which set a maximum grain storage charge. The case was taken to the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court then ruled that because the company was in a business that affected the public interest, the state government of Illinois could in fact regulate the company.
Wabash v. Illinois - This case overturned Munn v. Illinois created the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, the first federal regulation of business in the United States. This act forced railroad companies to publish their rates with the government and banned railroads from charging different rates for short and long hauls. This 1887 act also created the Interstate Commerce Commission, which regulated the rates of railroads and ensured the rates remained “reasonable and just”.

12. A joining of two forces:
Northern Farmer’s Alliance and the
Southern Farmer’s Alliance – 1870s
______________________________
The Populist Party of 1890
Mary Lease from Kansas: “Kansans should raise less corn and more hell!”
Southern Farmers Alliance did not include black farmers – Racism still running too deep following the Civil War
Black farmers form Colored Farmers Alliance
Farmers Alliance Goals – Establish personal income tax / issue greenbacks (inflationary currency) / regulate the railroads

13. 1892 Presidential Campaign
Omaha Platform – pro farmer / pro Greenbacks (FIAT money) / pro Industrial Union (Knights of Labor)
End the “hands-off” agenda of the U.S. Government – Gilded Age
Government ownership of the railroads (West)
Finance Reform (Eastern Banks)
Enforce Sherman Anti-Trust Act
“16:1 oz” ratio for specie (silver to gold) to devalue currency (Bi-metalism)
Australian Ballot (secret ballot)
Direct election of Senators (not by State Legislature) – eventually passed with the 17th Amendment

14. Populist Party & Free Silver
Why?
Populists believed that this would solve nearly all of the farmer’s problems
What?
They wanted to use both silver and gold coins, which the government would buy -- thus increasing the amount of money in the country
All money would be worthless, a situation that was bad for creditors (big banks) and good for debtors (farmers)

15. Election of 1892 Defeat
Won millions of votes out West, not on the East.
Decide to join forces with the Democratic Party to get their agenda passed.
William Jennings Bryan: “Cross of Gold” Speech: won the nomination.
-Americans were being crucified on a “cross of gold.”
MEANING BIG BUSINESS WAS RUINING THE COUNTRY!!

16. Coxey’s Army Result of the Panic 1893: Like Pullman Strike
Heading to Washington
1894
Worthless waste of time

17. A Populist President?
Ran as a Populist President in 1896 on platform of Free Silver
Tried to attract Industrial workers to no avail.
William Jennings Bryan
Big business opposes his run, Republicans win the White House, & Populists fade 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

18. The Wizard of Oz
Written by Active Populist L. Frank Baum
Most things in the book represent something important to the Populist movement

19. The Wizard of Oz Ruby Slippers Yellow Brick Road Oz Basic Symbols:
- 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)

20. The Wizard of Oz Dorothy Scarecrow Tin Man Characters: - Everyman
- Farmers
Tin Man
- Industrial Workers

21. The Wizard of Oz Lion Toto Wizard Characters:
- William Jennings Byran (a pacifist)
Toto
Temperance Activists (allies of the Populists)
Wizard
- President of the United States

22. Good Witches of North & South
The Wizard of Oz
Places:
- Washington D.C. (in the book, the color came from Green Glasses that everyone wore, a trick)
Emerald City
Good Witches of North & South
- Directions where Populists had friends (Midwest and South)

23. The Wizard of Oz
Wicked Witch of the West – Drought – she was killed with water
Wicked Witch of the East – Bank – Populists wanted government reform of banks. She was killed when the House (Bank) fell on her