The Populist Movement Chapter 5, Section 3

Problems Farmers Faced Monetary policies (dealing with the amount of money printed) hurt farmers after 1865 – Farmers want more dollars printed so they have more money to pay back their loans Price of crops dropped Railroads teamed up to charge farmers too much money to ship their crops to the cities

Populism The Grange fought the railroads to get farmers a better deal Other Farmers’ Alliances were formed as well. They focused on educating farmers – Most Farmers’ Alliances were segregated by race

Populism 1892: First Populist Party meeting – Their goals: Govt. prints more money A “graduated” income tax – Means the rich get taxed more than the poor A federal loan program for farmers – So the wouldn’t be ripped off by banks A one-term limit on Presidents Senators voted on by the people (instead of state govts. choosing who to send) Secret ballots during elections

Populism The Populist Party became a successful “3 rd Party” – Won some state elections, many of their goals would later become law five railroads went bankrupt – People panicked and stock prices fell too – This event is called the Panic of 1893 and left around 20% of workers unemployed

Silver and Gold In the 1890s, Republicans in the industrialized northeast wanted to stick to the gold standard – But Democrats in the rural (farm-land) South and West wanted silver to be used as well. – Using silver too would increase the money supply, which was good for poor farmers.

Silver and Gold In 1896, the Republicans nominated William McKinley to stick up for the gold standard – The Democrats teamed up with the Populists to nominate William Jennings Bryan to push the use of both gold and silver

Silver and Gold McKinley won by campaigning from his front porch – people feared bimetallism would create too much inflation (which makes prices go up)