The Political Rise and Fall of the Farmer in the Gilded Age

Home , Benjamin Tillman, Omaha Platform, William Hope Harvey

AP U.S. History: Unit 6.4 Teacher’s Edition The Political Rise and Fall of the Farmer in the Gilded Age

Themes of the Gilded Age:  Industrialism: U.S. became the world’s most powerful economy by 1890s (exceeding combined output of Britain and Germany; railroads, steel, oil, electricity, banking  Unions and reform movements sought to curb the injustices of industrialism.  Urbanization: America was transformed from an agrarian nation to an urban nation between 1865 (where 50% of Americans were farmers) and 1920 (where only 25% were farmers). (2% today)  Millions of "New Immigrants" came from Southern and Eastern Europe, mostly to cities to work in factories.  By 1900 society had become more stratified into classes than any time before or since.  The “Great West": farming, mining, & cattle frontiers  Farmers increasingly lost ground in the new industrial economy and eventually organized (Populism). In 1880, 25% of those who farmed did not own their land. 90% of African Americans lived in the South; 75% were tenant farmers or sharecroppers.  Politics: hard vs. soft money ('70s & '90s); tariff ('80s); corruption due to political machines, patronage & trusts (throughout late 19th c.); election of 1896

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I. The Money Issue and Tariffs A. The Panic of 1873 and subsequent depression resulted in deflation during the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877). 1. Western mining states and farmers sought the introduction of silver to the nation’s monetary standard in order to create inflation. 2. Conservatives feared inflation and instituted deflationary policies, such as the Bland-Allison Act (1873), that actually caused the depression of the 1870s to worsen. 3. The money issue emerged as the biggest political issue of the 1870s. a. New political parties such as the Greenback Labor Party in the 1870s and the Populist party in the 1890s were dedicated to increasing the money supply by adding massive amounts of silver to the money supply. b. The climactic election of 1896 would ultimately decide the issue as those who advocated the unlimited coinage of silver were soundly defeated.

B. Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 (system of bimetallism) 1. The Treasury would approximately double the minimum amount of silver purchased under the Bland-Allison Act of 1873. 2. Western pro-silver advocates agreed to support a protective tariff in return for eastern support for a silver bill. a. Mining states hated the “woefully limited” silver purchasing under the Bland-Allison Act. b. Easterners were eager to increase tariffs and increase profits but were concerned about inflation through increased silver purchases. c. Result: Not enough silver flooded the monetary system; thus, inflation did not occur significantly.

C. McKinley Tariff Bill (1890) 1. Republicans’ reward for supporting the Sherman Silver Purchase Act 2. Raised tariffs to the highest peacetime level in U.S. history: 48% 3. Republicans lost the 1890 mid-term elections for Congress. a. The new Congress included 9 members of the Farmers’ Alliances. b. The tariff issue was replaced by the silver issue as the main issue in 1890s.

D. Economic problems plaguing farmers 1. Farmers were in perpetual debt; many lost their farms to foreclosure. 2. Deflated currency and low food prices were the chief worries among farmers. 3. Natural disasters caused by freezing temperatures, insects, and diseases compounded the problems farmers faced. 4. Government policies seemed to hurt farmers © HistorySage.com 2014 All Rights Reserved This material may not be posted on any website other than HistorySage.com

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a. Farmers’ land was often overvalued, making property taxes higher. b. Protective tariffs hurt the South as manufactured product prices increased  Farmers’ products were unprotected in the competitive world market. 5. Agricultural-related trusts gouged farmers: barbed-wire trust, fertilizer trust, harvester trust, and railroad trust (freight rates) 6. Farmers were underrepresented politically and poorly organized.

II. Political Rise of the Farmer A. National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry: The Grange organized in 1867 1. Provided farmers with social and educational activities (picnics, music, lectures) a. The initial purpose of the Grange was to help reduce the isolation many farmers felt in sparsely-populated areas. b. By 1875, the Grange had about 800,000 members, mostly in the Midwest and South. 2. Eventually, the Grange established cooperatives for both consumers and producers. a. Grain elevators (to store excess grain), dairies to store and process products, cooperative stores to purchase supplies (such as seed, plows, fertilizer, etc.) b. Politically, the Grange sought to end monopolistic railroad practices that hurt farmers with high freight rates. c. Its attempt to manufacture harvesting machinery ultimately failed. 3. Grangers were politically successful in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. a. Granger Laws sought gov't control over big business to benefit the people.  Regulated railroad rates and storage fees charged by railroads and operators of warehouses and grain elevators. b. Munn vs. Illinois (1877): The Supreme Court ruled that private property was subject to gov't regulation when property was devoted to the public interest. c. Many Granger Laws were written badly and overturned by higher courts who were influenced by wealthy business interests.  Wabash case (1886): The Court ruled that individual states don’t have right to regulate interstate commerce (effectively overturned Munn decision).  Supreme Court reverses, especially the Wabash case, reduced Granger influence in state politics.

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B. Greenback Labor Party 1. The third party emerged in the 1870s that combined the inflationary goals of earlier Greenback supporters with a program for improving conditions for laborers.  The money issue (soft vs. hard) was perhaps the biggest political issue of the 1870s. 2. In the election of 1878, the Greenback-Labor party earned over a million votes and elected 14 members to Congress. 3. Election of 1880, the Greenback Party nominated General James B. Weaver, a Granger and Civil War veteran. a. Weaver received only 3% of the total popular vote. b. He would become the candidate of the Populist party in 1892.

C. Populism -- Rise of the Populist Party 1. Farmers’ Alliances in the South (formed in 1877) and Midwest (1880) increasingly voiced discontent; the Colored Alliance formed in 1889. a. Like the Grangers, they sponsored social events, political action, cooperatives, and gov't regulation of railroads and manufacturers. b. The 3 Alliances met in 1889 and boasted over 3 million members  Demanded free silver and a subtreasury plan for farmers (would provide cash advances on a farmer’s future crop)  A major demand of the Southern Alliance in 1880 had been a subtreasury plan. o Reason: farmers had poor cash flow during much of the year o Called for federal subtreasury offices alongside warehouses or grain elevators. o Farmers could store grain and the subtreasury would loan them up to 80% of the value of the crop at modest interest and fees. c. Many supported or joined the Knights of Labor; saw similar goals d. Defeat of the subtreasury scheme in Congress in 1890 led to the Alliances taking political matters into their own hands and forming a third party.  Since the Civil War, Greenbackers, Workingmen’s and Knights of Labor parties, and Farmers’ Alliances saw banking interests and trusts—“the Eastern Establishment”— as monopolistic culprits who exploited workers and farmers.

2. The People’s Party (Populist Party) emerged in the early 1890s through the Farmer’s Alliances; born in Topeka, Kansas a. Attracted recruits from Farmer’s Alliances and disenfranchised southern whites. b. Ignatius Donnelly was elected three times to Congress, and was a major figure in the Populist movement. © HistorySage.com 2014 All Rights Reserved This material may not be posted on any website other than HistorySage.com

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 He was formerly known as a utopian author (like Henry George and Edward Bellamy) c. Mary E. Lease gave numerous speeches in 1890 denouncing the Eastern Establishment in Wall Street  Kansas should raise "less corn & more hell." d. "Sockless" Jerry Simpson, along with Lease, traveled to the South to get Southern Alliance support for Populist unity. e. Tom Watson: elected to Congress in 1890, fought for the subtreasury plan, and fought for Populist unity in 1892  In 1896, he became the Democratic party’s vice presidential candidate alongside William Jennings Bryan

D. Disenfranchisement and anti-black violence 1. "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman, a Democrat, used his Southern Alliance influence to become governor of South Carolina and dominate the Democratic party in that state.  Tillman succeeded in disenfranchising blacks in the state constitution. 2. Widespread southern fears of blacks in Farmers’ Alliances led to a major push for disenfranchisement in the 1890s and Jim Crow laws.  Following South Carolina’s lead, southern states limited black suffrage in their state constitutions. 3. Voting restrictions were essentially a ruling-class campaign against lower-class voters in general, not just African Americans.  Deliberate attempt by the New South’s elite, who were threatened by the Populists, to destroy party opposition and widespread political participation. 4. In the 1890s white southern hatred toward blacks became almost genocidal; a huge increase in the number of lynchings resulted.

III. Election of 1892 A. Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland (who had been president four years earlier)  He was now more conservative than during his first term (1885- 1889) as his law practice represented wealthy businessmen.

B. Republicans renominated President Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) who championed a new protective tariff.

C. People’s party (Populists) nominated General James B. Weaver 1. Delegates from Farmers Alliances, Knights of Labor, Nationalists (Bellamy Clubs) and Land and Labor parties met in Omaha, Nebraska.

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2. Omaha Platform (written by Ignatius Donnelly) a. Free and unlimited coinage of silver at ratio of 16 to 1 (to stimulate inflation) b. A graduated income-tax (to redistribute wealth) c. Gov’t ownership of the telephone and telegraph, and railroads d. Initiative, referendum and recall  Initiative: people of a state place a new proposed law on the ballot and if it passes, it becomes law  Referendum: people of a state place a proposition to overturn an existing law on the ballot; if it passes the existing law is removed  Recall: people of the state place a proposition on the ballot to remove an elected official; if it passes the official is removed e. Postal savings banks (a safe repository run by the gov’t) f. Giving gov’t land grants to settlers rather than railroads (influenced by Henry George) g. Direct election of senators h. 8-hour work day i. The subtreasury plan was not included: it had been defeated and was a Southern idea—many southerners didn’t support Populists due to racial reasons) 3. James B. Weaver was nominated as the Populist candidate for president. a. Former abolitionist and general in the Union Army b. Had been the Greenback-Labor Party presidential nominee in 1880.

D. The presidential campaign centered on the protective tariff. 1. An epidemic of strikes damaged Harrison’s presidency; workers refuted Harrison’s claim that higher tariffs meant higher wages. 2. Homestead Steel Strike in 1892 led to loss of thousands of Republican votes.

E. Results 1. Cleveland defeated Harrison 277-145  Cleveland became the only president in U.S. history to serve two non-consecutive terms 2. Populists won over 1 million votes and 22 electoral votes for Weaver. a. One of the few third parties in U.S. history to win electoral votes b. Support came predominantly from KA, CO, ID, and NV c. Elected 3 governors; 5 U.S. Senators and 10 representatives; 1,500 candidates overall were elected to office nationwide 3. Indebted white farmers of the "Solid South" refused to desert the Democratic party for fear of losing political power to blacks who © HistorySage.com 2014 All Rights Reserved This material may not be posted on any website other than HistorySage.com

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claimed more than a million members in the segregated Colored Farmers’ Alliance.

Memory Aid for Populist Ideas: Fried Free unlimited coinage of silver Green Graduated income tax Gummy bears Government ownership of railroads Invade Initiative Really Referendum Really Recall Dorky Direct election of senators Silly Subtreasury plan People Postal savings banks

IV. President Grover Cleveland: second term in office (1893-1897) A. Panic of 1893 (depression lasted until 1897) 1. Worst depression of the century a. First large-scale depression in the new urban and industrial age.  20% unemployed in the winter of 1893-94 (rivaled the Great Depression of the 1930s) b. 8,000 business collapsed within 6 months (including dozens of railroads.) 2. Causes a. Immediate cause: collapse of the stock market b. Long-term causes:  Overbuilding of railroads, heavy loans to farmers, overspeculation  Reduction of the money supply; Europeans gradually withdrew their capital from the U.S. o Free-silver agitation damaged U.S. credit abroad and European bankers called in their loans  Numerous labor strikes disrupted economic activities.  An agricultural depression had already existed prior to the panic. 3. A federal budget deficit resulted a. Gold reserves fell below $100 million (regarded as the safe minimum to support about $350 million in outstanding paper money) b. In response, President Cleveland repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act  Democrat William Jennings Bryan argued against the repeal.  Cleveland thus alienated Democratic silverites and weakened the party.

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B. Morgan bond transaction 1. By February 1894, gold reserves had sunk to $41 million. a. The U.S. was now in danger of going off the gold standard. b. Money would be volatile and unreliable; international trade would be crippled 2. 1895, Cleveland persuaded J. P. Morgan and other bankers to lend the gov’t $65 million in gold (bankers received a commission of $7 million).  Half of the gold was to be purchased abroad and deposited in the Treasury. 3. Confidence in the nation’s finances was restored for the short-term.

C. Coxey’s Army (1894) 1. Most famous of the "industrial armies" of the unemployed that came to Washington, D.C. 2. Coxey was a wealthy businessman who curiously sought inflation.  He left the Democratic party for the Greenback-Labor party and later, the People’s Party. 3. Coxey’s platform included a demand for the gov’t to relieve unemployment by an inflationary public works program and an increase in the money supply. 4. Coxey and 500 of his followers were arrested in Washington, D.C. (ostensibly for walking on the grass).

D. Pullman Strike, 1894 (see Industrialism chapter) 1. Eugene V. Debs helped organize the American Railway Union strike that paralyzed the nation’s transportation 2. At the behest of President Cleveland, Attorney General Richard Olney sent federal troops stating that strikers interfered with the transit of U.S. mail. 3. First time the gov’t used an injunction to break a strike 4. Increased worker anger at the government resulted.

E. William Hope Harvey: Coin’s Financial School (1894) 1. "Coin" Harvey was a fictional character parading as fact  The "Little professor" overwhelmed bankers and professors of economics with brilliant arguments for free silver as an answer to economic problems. 2. It fed public feelings of a national and international conspiracy to elevate gold above silver, especially the "crime of 1873."

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V. Election of 1896 (most important election since Lincoln was elected) A. William McKinley, ex-Congressman from Ohio, was nominated by the Republicans. 1. McKinley was Marcus Hanna's candidate: an iron tycoon, who bailed McKinley out of a $100,000 personal debt a. Hanna believed the function of gov’t was to aid business.  He believed that prosperity "trickled down" to the laborer.  Critics lambasted Hanna for this idea b. Hanna raised $3.5 million compared to only $300k for the Democrats. 2. The Republican platform supported the gold standard but advocated bimetallism (world-wide gold-silver standard) a. The proposal was really a sham as all other leading nations would have to agree and they certainly wouldn’t b. Platform also praised the protective tariff.

B. William Jennings Bryan, Democratic nominee 1. Democrats refused to endorse Cleveland for his silver-purchase repeal, Pullman Strike action, and Morgan bond deal.  Cleveland left office an extremely unpopular man. 2. Bryan, a 36-year-old from Nebraska, was the premier orator of his generation  First politician of his generation to lead a major party as a champion of the poor; influenced by the Populist movement 3. Cross of Gold speech given at the Democratic national convention  "We will answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them: ‘You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold." 4. Democratic platform: “free silver” --free unlimited coinage of sliver at ratio of 16 to 1 (16 oz of silver to 1 oz of gold); silver in a dollar would be worth about 50 cents 5. Bryan was also nominated by the People’s party but Bryan did not acknowledge the Populist nomination early enough and the campaign began with uncertainty.  Populists were thus frozen out as the Democratic party absorbed their 16 to 1 platform.

C. Campaign 1. Bryan forced the silver issue to the forefront despite Hanna wanting to focus on the tariff. 2. Hanna waged a high pressure campaign against silver.  Hanna raised the hitherto biggest war chest for an election 3. McKinley remained at his Ohio home waging his "front-porch" campaign. © HistorySage.com 2014 All Rights Reserved This material may not be posted on any website other than HistorySage.com

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 He appealed to middle-class voters and characterized Bryan as threat to their way of life.

D. McKinley defeated Bryan 271-176 1. McKinley won the Northeast and the North; Bryan won the South and the West (except California and Oregon). 2. Most significant election since Lincoln’s victories. a. Last serious effort by a major party to win the White House with agrarian votes.  Farmers no longer constituted a majority of American voters b. Republicans had the White House for 16 consecutive years (28 of the next 36 years) c. Diminished voter participation occurred as the Republican party was seen as party of the rich. d. Beginning of the "4th party system" -- large population centers determined elections; farmers were discouraged and less politically active in subsequent elections. e. African Americans rights were abandoned by Republicans as the African American vote in the South was not important in the 1896 election.

E. The 1896 election and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum) -- Oz can be used as a parable for the election (in reality it is most- likely coincidental) 1. Dorothy – represents everyman of the west; seen as pure and likeable 2. Yellow Brick Road = gold standard 3. Dorothy’s silver slippers = soft money (no one knows how to use their power) 4. Scarecrow = Midwestern farmers (seen as stupid but actually have wisdom) 5. Tin Man = eastern labor victimized by the Wicked Witch of the East 6. City of OZ = Eastern Establishment 7. Wizard = McKinley, or perhaps any Gilded Age president who is powerless to carry out promises 8. Cowardly Lion with a big roar and no bite = William Jennings Bryan 9. Wicked Witch of the East = corporations of eastern finance 10. OZ = An ounce of gold or silver 11. Flying monkeys = Plains Indians once free but now subdued by the Wicked Witch of the West 12. Wicked Witch of the West = harsh frontier environment (drought, tornados) 13. Water = boon that will thwart drought (kills the Wicked Witch of © HistorySage.com 2014 All Rights Reserved This material may not be posted on any website other than HistorySage.com

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the West)

F. Legacy of Populism 1. Populism failed as a third-party cause but it had a political influence for 25 years after its defeat in the 1896 election. 2. Populist ideas carried forward during the Progressive Era (1900-1920): a. railroad legislation b. graduated income tax c. direct election of Senators d. initiative, referendum and recall e. postal savings banks f. subtreasury plan 3. Populist ideas were geared to rural life. Yet, many of its ideas appealed to urban progressives by 1900.

POPULISM PROGRESSIVISM NEW DEAL (1890-1896) (1900-1920) (1933-1938)

Terms to Know

Panic of 1873 Ignatius Donnelly The Grange election of 1892 Granger Laws President Grover Cleveland Munn v. Illinois, 1877 Panic of 1893 Wabash case, 1886 Morgan Bond Transaction Greenback Labor Party Coxey’s Army Farmers’ Alliances Pullman Strike, 1894 subtreasury plan Coin’s Financial School, William Hope The People’s Party (Populist Party) Harvey “Pitchfork” Benjamin Tillman Election of 1896 Omaha Platform William McKinley “free silver” Marcus Hanna graduated income tax bimetallism government ownership of railroads William Jennings Bryan initiative, referendum and recall “Cross of Gold Speech” direct election of senators “4th Party System” postal savings banks

Essay Questions

Note: This unit is the highest probability area for the AP exam! In the past 10 years, 9 questions have come wholly or in part from the material in this Unit. This sub-unit is a high probability area for the AP exam. In the past 10 years, 3 questions have come wholly or in part from the material in this sub-unit. Below are some questions that will help you study the topics that have appeared on previous exams.

1. Analyze the factors that led to the rise of the Populist movement

2. To what extent were the Populists successful in achieving their goals by 1900?

3. Why might the election of 1896 be considered the most important election since the Civil War?

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Bibliography: College Board, AP United States History Course and Exam Description (Including the Curriculum Framework), 2014: History, New York: College Board, 2014 Foner, Eric & Garraty, John A. editors: The Reader’s Companion to American History, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991 Hofstadter, Richard: The Age of Reform, New York: Random House, 1955 ______, The American Political Tradition, New York: Alfred Knopf, 1948 Littlefield, Henry: "The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism, American Quarterly 16 (Spring, 1964) Kennedy, David M., Cohen, Lizabeth, Bailey, Thomas A., The American Pageant (AP Edition), 13th edition, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006 Nash, Gary : American Odyssey, Lake Forest, Illinois: Glencoe, 1992 Painter, Nell Irvin, Standing at Armageddon: The United States, 1877- 1919, New York: W. W. Norton 1987 Rice, Richard B., Bullough, Wiliam A., Orsi, Richard J.: The Elusive Eden: A New History of California, Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1988 Schultz, Constance G., The American History Videodisc Master Guide, Annapolis: Instruction Resources Corporation, 1995