1. Chapter 5 Part 4

2. Review Farmers’ Problems Railroad Rates: discrimination Falling farm prices Falling land values High Interest rates from Eastern Banks Tariff No government representation Needed inflation

3. 1873 The Greenback Party Farmers needed inflation to get out of debt and get higher prices for their crops BUT Greenbacks issued during the Civil War (whose value ws not pegged to the value of gold) were replaced with gold certificates…so no inflation

4. 1878 Bland-Allison Act Forced the government to purchase 2 to 4 million dollars worth of silver each month Was not enough to help inflate the economy Creditors did not want inflation

5. Railroad Rates Farmers NEEDED to use RRs to get their goods to market Fewer RRs in the West and South so these RRs charged high prices to hall agricultural goods to make up for their losses in the East Rate Discrimination

6. The Grange and Farm Alliances The Grange was founded by Oliver Kelly He was concerned about the isolation of the American farmer Was a social organization at first But as farmers gathered, they decided to work together to improve their conditions

7. Women in the Grange Women WERE real partners in the family on the Plains They were respected and active in the Grange…Often gave speeches

8. Mary Elizabeth Lease “Farmers ought to raise less corn and more hell!”

9. Alliances Worked much like the Grange but at a local level Farm Cooperatives The Wheel, the Southern Alliance Black farmers not welcome. Formed their own alliances: The Colored Farmers National Alliance

10. 1890 The Ocala Demands Representatives of the Grange and Farmers Alliances met together at Ocala Florida and came up with a list of demands The Ocala Demands became the Populist Party Platform

11. The Ocala Demands Railroad Regulation Curb the power of monopolies A lower Tariff Direct Election of Senators Income Tax Inflation through Free Silver An 8-hour Day (why?)

12. The Economy Panic of 1873 and depression Panic of 1893 and Depression Gold Drain Cleveland and J.P. Morgan From the Civil War to the election of 1892 the main issue was the Tariff. Reps liked high, Dems wanted low

13. Cleveland was a Democrat And the whole country hated him! Deal with J.P. Morgan “Vacation” on the Presidential yacht Coxey’s Rebellion Democrats needed a new cause

14. Democrats Stole the inflation issue from the Populists The Problem…should the Populists join with the Democrats and abandon their party and other issues? Or should the Populists hang together and lose the election for sure?

15. The Populists joined the Democrats William Jennings Bryan (Democrat) a great speaker The Cross of Gold Speech (metaphor)

16. The Cross of Gold Speech “…you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”

17. The Election of 1896 McKinley (Republican) Bryan (Democrat) John Bell (Gp;d Democrats) The Democrats split! McKinley won! The U.S. Went on the gold standard! The Poor farmers!

18. The Wizard of Oz Frank Baum An allegory The Wizzard, Cowardly lion, Scarecrow, wicked witch of the East, the West, the yellow brick road, Emerald City, Dorothy’s shoes, those weird flying monkeys, the munchkins

19. The Writers The Turner Thesis F. J. Turner A Century of Dishonor H.H. Jackson Mark Twain…Roughing It, Tom Sawyer, etc Willa Cather My Antonia (Prairie Trilogy) Bret Harte The Outcasts of Poker Flat Wister The Virginian