CREATING THE COMMONWEAL: COXEY’S ARMY OF 1894, AND THE PATH OF PROTEST FROM POPULISM TO THE NEW DEAL, 1892-1936 by Wesley Bishop A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History West Lafayette, Indiana December 2018 2 THE PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL STATEMENT OF COMMITTEE APPROVAL Dr. Nancy Gabin, Chair Department of History Dr. Susan Curtis Department of History Dr. Tithi Bhattacharya Department of History Dr. Bill Mullen Department of American Studies Approved by: Dr. David Atkinson Head of the Graduate Program 3 To Allison, a friend and partner whose voice has never hesitated to protest an injustice. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS All dissertations begin by admitting sole credit does not reside with the single author listed. This is because all dissertations are the result of not a single author, but instead a community of support. This dissertation is no different. For the past six and a half years, first at Indiana State University and then Purdue University, I have been honored and blessed to have numerous friends, colleagues, and family members support me in my endeavors to complete an advanced degree and begin a career in academics. I first came to Purdue interested in the general concept of how social movements, specifically those movements made up of the working class, interacted in the broader arena of the public sphere, how democratic norms shifted over time to either harm or help said movements, and lastly what a historical investigation of said questions could tell us about the broader concept of the public sphere. My committee members— Professors Nancy Gabin, Susan Curtis, Tithi Bhattacharya, and Bill Mullen— all encouraged me in this endeavor but stressed that to be a historian I would need to ground my questions in the realm of specific events and actors. So I began examining the period of the Gilded Age and Progressive era curious to see what I could find, and almost immediately Coxey’s Army of 1894 presented itself as a perfect topic. What I discovered in the archives challenged many of my previous thoughts and forced me to rethink a number of assumptions I had. Therefore, no matter what number of embarrassing omissions or mistakes I make in the following pages (and as a young historian I have no doubt they exist) I count this project a success. Historical research is often nothing more than an attempt to converse with a different time period and leave that conversation altered in one’s thinking about the present world. I owe Professors Gabin, Curtis, Bhattacharya, and Mullen an immense amount of thanks for teaching me this very important lesson and guiding me through the process. 5 During my time at Purdue I was also involved in a fair amount of political organizing and protesting. I wrote the introduction and outline of the first two chapters of this dissertation while sitting on the floor of Hovde Hall protesting President Mitch Daniels’ unwillingness to condemn white supremacists on campus. I formulated many of my thoughts about the logistics and impact of marches while marching against police violence and xenophobia. I planned my research trips to archives in between attending graduate student government meetings where I advocated alongside survivors of sexual assault the need for a campus center of resources to combat sexual violence. This research examining the history and content of protest politics was done from the vantage point of someone in the twenty-first century deeply interested in how a democratic people could save themselves and reshape society for the better. To that effect I was honored to be a part of the Purdue Social Justice Coalition during my time at Purdue and count among my friends and colleagues Michelle Campbell, Guillermo Caballero, Tiffany Montoya, Fernando Tormos, Dana Smith, Dana Bisignani, Enosh Kazem, Ti’ Riggins, Lauren Murfree, Viviana Tsangaropoulos, Caleb Milne, Allen Chiu, and Malik Raymond. All of them, and many others, taught me so much in terms of what it means to be a scholar activist. I wish them all fruitful careers and many political victories. I was also fortunate to have a number of friends and colleagues in the graduate schools of both Purdue and Indiana State University. These friendships sustained me throughout my studies and whether it was a standing coffee date, a weekly dinner, or an open invitation to bear one’s soul on the “private” messenger app, these friends were always there for me to discuss ideas, debate broader topics, and be a sympathetic ear. Many thanks to Ricardo Quintana Vallejo, Pádraig Lawlor, Ruisheng Zhang, Angela Potter, Lauren Haslem, Kyle Pruitt, Cale Erwin, Michael White, Jason Collins, Daniel Stearns, Lama Sharif, Ed Gray, Andrew McGregor, Hyeseon Woo, Renee 6 Gaarder, Bo Blew, Molly Mersmann, Marc Smith, Valentina Conku, Sascha Angermann, Anshul Mishra, Guillermo Jaramillo Pizarro, Ana Carolina Murcia, Julian Chacon, Andrea Adomako, Kera Lovell, and Stephen and Melissa Horrocks for all you have done for me. The research for this dissertation included many travels to multiple archives and I am deeply indebted to the tireless work of countless librarians and archivists who were always willing to assist in my research. Special thanks to the staff of the archives at the Library of Congress’s newspaper and manuscript division, University of Maryland College Park, Massillon Historical Society, University of Pittsburgh, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, the Iowa State Historical Society, and the Wisconsin Historical Society. I also owe special thanks to a host of other professors throughout my graduate school experience who profoundly shaped the way I think. Many thanks to Richard Schneirov, Lisa Phillips, Dan Clark, John Enyeart, David Atkinson, Harry Targ, Rebekah Klein-Pejsova, Chris Yeomans, Caroline Janney, Yvonne Pitts, Doug Hurt, and James Farr. Likewise, the department’s staff and secretaries at Purdue University, Indiana State University, and Ohio University, although often unsung in their heroic efforts, were vital to my time in school. I thank them all deeply for their commitment to professionalism and dedication to their work. Special thanks to Donna Capezzuto of Ohio University-Eastern, Ellen Knoblett of Indiana State University, and Fay Chan, Rebecca Gwin, and Julie Knoeller of Purdue University. I also owe a special thanks to my friends and colleagues of Marian University’s Department of History and Social Sciences. Bessie Rigakos, Adrianna Ernstberger, Michelle Meer, Deeb Kitchen, Holly Gastineau-Grimes, Amber Nelson, B.J. Bruther, and Emilie Brinkman have all been both wonderful colleagues and dear friends who were incredibly supportive during the final 7 stages of the dissertation process. As a junior faculty member I am incredibly fortunate to have such mentors and colleagues. Finally, but far from the least, my friends and family back home have been vital to this process. My mother and father Gary and Sharon Bishop, brother Wade Bishop, sisters Hannah Maynard and Sarah Bishop, in-laws Ted, Carol, Jon, and Joey, nephew Ezra, and my dearest and oldest friends Ken and Lena Williams and Roger Pickenpaugh, have all been a relentless cheering section, believing in me and encouraging me to continue with my studies. We do not stress this enough, but our work as scholars and activists to learn about and improve the world is really nothing more than an attempt to build a better world to foster these vital connections. It is therefore fitting that every piece of scholarship dedicate the first several pages to celebrating those connections. And to that effect I would be remiss if I did not specially acknowledge and thank the dearest and most important person in my life, the person who more than any other bears more thanks than any other, Allison. For over ten years she has been my dearest friend and partner. She, more than any other person I have ever known, has taught me the most about how to speak truth to power and remain committed to what is fundamentally right regardless of what others say. To her I dedicate this work. 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... 10 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. 12 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 14 CHAPTER 1. PLANNING THE MARCH ................................................................................ 44 1.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 44 1.2 Part One ............................................................................................................................ 47 1.3 Part Two ............................................................................................................................ 58 1.4 Part Three .......................................................................................................................... 65 CHAPTER 2. 1894, THE MARCH AND THE STRIKE .......................................................... 83 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 83 2.2 Part One ...........................................................................................................................