Chapter 13 Section 3 Farmers and the Populist

Chapter 13 Section 3 Farmers and the Populist Movement

Closing the Frontier • Land is decreasing • The need to protect land • • wilderness arises Yellowstone National Park created in 1872 By 1880 there was 19 million acres of government owned land The Frontier was disappearing, the U. S. was no longer unique https: //www. youtube. com/wat ch? v=3 t 0 srw 8 LHP 8

Problems for Farmers • Prices for crops were falling • Mortgaged their homes to afford more land for more crops • Good land was little • Banks foreclosing mortgages that the farmers had made • RR charging excessively

Changes in Economics • New currency of $500 million issued during the Civil War called greenbacks • More was printed than the government had in stock to back it up • They could not be exchanged for silver or gold and were not worth much • Government begins to take them out of circulation now the war is over • Now that this substitute is being removed the value of the money began to increase (if you borrowed $10 ten years ago you have to

Organizations for Farmers • Oliver Hudson Kelley founds Patrons of Husbandry in 1867 • The organization was strictly for farmers (Grange organization) • The Farmers Alliance also forms • Were created to educate people in town on government interest rates and control on RR and banks • Leads to an increased amount of organizations expanding from south to west

The Populism Party • Considered the movement of the people • The goal was to pass reforms the lifted the burden of debt from farmers and other workers giving them a greater voice than the government

The Populism Party Platform • Increase the money supply • Graduated income tax • Federal loan program elections • Direct election of U Senators • Vote by secret ballot • Single terms for President 8 hr. work day Restrictions on immigration The had some success in the 1892

The Panic of 1893 • • Farmers overextended in debt RR construction had expanded faster than the market could handle Government gold reserves were running very thin Philly RR goes bankrupt then the Erie RR Northern pacific and then Union Pacific and the Santa Fe • People panicked and traded their bills for gold • Caused a collapse

Silver and Gold • • Political parties become divided over the money issue Which metal would be the nations currency? Bimetallism was a suggestion of having both silver and gold “Gold Bugs” favored the gold standard, currency backed by gold (less of it favored by businessman) • There was more silver, if there is more silver to back the bills then more bills can be produced (farmers favored)

Election of 1896 • William Mc. Kinley (Republican) vs. William Jennings Bryan (democrat) • WJB believes in free silver (unlimited coinage of silver) and delivers the “Cross of Gold Speech” • Speech said “you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold” • Mc. Kinley wins election • Populism dies after the election and the economy begins to show improvement • https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=bd. Kjm. Ne. Vg. KI

Closing of the Frontier • 1872, gov’t creates Yellowstone National Park • By 1880 there are 19 million gov’t owned acres, an attempt to preserve some wilderness • Frontier was what had made US unique and it was disappearing • Frederick Jackson Turner “The Significance of the Frontier of American History”…. worried about closing of frontier, it played a major role in the development of the US