What is a Populist?

Farmers: Where it all began.

In the late 1800’s farmers were trapped in a vicious economic cycle.

Prices for crops falling.Mortgaged their farms to buy more land and produce

more crops. Could not pay back loans. Sound familiar?

Railroad companies overcharging them for shipping.

It’s the Economy, Stupid.

Civil War, U.S. Govt. issued $500 million in Greenbacks (paper money).

Greenbacks worth less because they could not be exchanged to gold and silver.

So, they retired the greenbacks.

What is wrong with this picture?

If you retire greenbacks, the money in circulation is worth more.

HOWEVER…Our farmer friends who mortgaged their farms now

had to pay back the loans in dollars that were worth more than the dollars they had borrowed.

At the same time, they were receiving less money for their crops.

Meanwhile, farmers paid outrageously high prices to transport grain via railroads.

Farmers Unite!

Oliver Hudson Kelley and the Grange.

1867: Kelley starts the Patrons of Husbandry, an organization for farmers that became known as the Grange.

Farmers Alliances- the Grange gave rise to these alliances that sympathized with farmers and sent lectures from town to town to educate people. Membership soon grew to 4 million!

Power to the People!

Alliances movement needed a political base. In July of 1892 in Omaha, NE, the Populist People’s Party was born.

They demanded a greater voice of the people in government and reforms to lift the farmers burden of debt.

Populist Party Platform

Increase in money supply Graduated income tax Federal loan program Election of U.S. senators by popular vote &

single term for the President. Eight-hour workday Restrictions on Immigration

Panic of 1893

Farmers were overburdened with debt and failed to pay back their loans.

In February 1893, the Philadelphia, Reading, Erie, Northern Pacific, Union Pacific, and the Santa Fe railroads all went bankrupt.

People rushed to exchange their paper money for gold sending the stock market crashing.

By the end of the year, over 15,000 businesses and 500 banks had collapsed! Sound familiar?

By 1894, over one-fifth of the workforce was unemployed.

When the banker says he's brokeWhen the banker says he's broke And the merchant’s up in smoke,And the merchant’s up in smoke, They forget that it's the farmer They forget that it's the farmer who feeds them all. who feeds them all. It would put them to the testIt would put them to the test If the farmer took a rest;If the farmer took a rest; Then they'd know that it's the farmer Then they'd know that it's the farmer feeds them all. feeds them all.

Written by a Farmer at the end of the 19th Century.

Bimetallism vs. the Gold Standard

Gold Bugs Silverites

Who Bankers and businessmen Farmers and Laborers

What 1. Backed by gold only

2. Less money in circulation

1. Back money with silver or gold.

2. More money in circulation

Why Loans would be repaid in stable money

Products would be sold at higher prices

Effects Deflation:

1.Prices would fall

2.Value of money increases

3.Fewer people would have money

Inflation:1.Prices would rise

2.Value of money would decrease

3.More people would have money

William Jennings Bryan

Election of 1896: Republicans elect an

Ohioan, William McKinley. Democratic party elected William

Jennings Bryan, whom the Populists also

supported.

Bryan and the “Gold Cross”

“The humblest citizen in all the land, when clad in armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error…

You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of

thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of

gold!”

Political campaigning has not changed much from 1896 to 2008…

All Good Things Must End

McKinley’s victory over William Jennings Bryan brought Populism to an end.

Why? Many opposing forces like: North vs South Gold vs. silver Farmers vs city dwellers

However… Populism lives on

The movement left two powerful legacies:The oppressed could organize and have a political

impact. An agenda of reforms, many of which would be

enacted in the 20th century.

McCain vs. Obama? Which candidate would earn Populist support?