AGRARIAN AND IMMIGRATION

AP US HISTORY

Agrarian Stats •Rural Wealth – 1860 – 4 million 1890 – 16 million•Urban Wealth – 1860 – 3 million 1890- 49 million•% National Wealth Agriculture 1860 – 50% 1900 20%•# NATL Income Farming 1860 – 30% 1900 18%•Farms under mortgage 1890 – 27% 1910 – 37%•Farm tenancy 1890 – 25% 1910 – 37%

Farm Prices •1867 – 1869 – it took 1200 bushels of wheat to pay back $1000 mortgage •1886-88 – it took 2300 bushels of wheat to pay back a $1000 mortgage

Major Farm Problems •Overproduction due to technological advances •Outmoded way of life •Political losses •Natural factors • Imperialism •The nature of farming •Exploitation

Overproduction due to technological advances•1839 – ½ hour to prepare and sow one bushel of wheat • 1900 – 2 minutes

•1830 – 61 hours to harvest 20 bushels of grain• 3 hours

•1830 21 hours to harvest a ton of timothy • 1900 – 4 hours

•The result – falling prices –•How can farmers maintain their standard of living in a time period of falling prices - raise more – what does that result in?

Outmoded way of life • Industrialization left farmers feeling like odd man out •Social and physical isolation contribute to this

Political losses •Despite the fact that rural areas remain over represented – they obviously lose power •Bossism and state political machines generally represented urban interests

Natural factors •Severe drought and harsh winters during the 1880s – cattle farmers hit particularly hard •Grasshopper plagues •Marginal rainfall

Imperialism •Foreign (European) expansion increased world agricultural production further lowering prices and closing some world markets for US goods •Brazil, Argentina, Russia, Canada, and Australia all increase agricultural production

Nature of farming •Need for extension of credit • Increasing need to buy improved technology on credit •Effect of panics – foreclosures on mortgages, decreased food consumption

Exploitation • Similarity of the farmers plight to that of antebellum South – they

develop the same need to find a scapegoat • Railroads • Seen as chief enemy – farmers are totally dependent on the availability and price of

transportation to get their crops to market • Individual famers have limited effectiveness in combating abuses of the railroads • If farmers protested, railroads would refuse to ship their produce at any price

• Credit institutions of the East from whom farmers had to borrow money were seen as villians charging excessive interest • Protective tariffs • They sold in a free market which lowered prices • They bought in a protected market which increased prices • Industrial goods were therefore more expensive than they might have been

Attempts at agrarian organization •Think about – consolidation and centralization going on during the time period

Greenbackers 1860s •Sought to increase the money supply through the repeal of the Specie Resumption Act of 1875• In the early days they attempted to lobby for their beliefs but they lacked the clout of big business •1870s – they will offer a third party challenge to the existing parties •1878 they will poll over 1 million votes in state and congressional elections

Greenbackers Platform•Lower tariffs •Personal and corporate income tax – tie to tariff • Increase the money supply through the printing of Greenbacks, later the free and unlimited coinage of silver

Post 1873 Economy – Greenbackers •The post 1873 economic recovery dooms the Greenbackers chances •Vote totals continue to decline as more consolidated organization take up some of their causes

The Grange – Patrons of Husbandry •Founded by Oliver Hudson Kelley - official in the Dept of Agriculture •Purpose – “to keep agriculture in step with the music of the age” • Designed as a self- help organization keeping farmers abreast of changes in technology • Social aspects of Grange – take off – thus it becomes a focal point of farmer discontent • Slow growth – in good times – farmers are individuals – in bad times – they are largely ignored – early attempts tried to locate Granges in cities

Slow growth of Grange •Panic of 1873 causes rapid acceleration in members •1875 – 800,000 – 1.5 m – with 20,000 lodges •Expansion brought a change in focus – though its orginial ideas were never given up totally • Focus shifts to economic matters • Sought to establish cooperatives, stores, grain elevators, warehouses, insurance companies, and factories to produce farm machinery

Grange •Reasons for failure • Periodic prosperity – no one continues to make sacrifices during the good times – these are long range support efforts • Lack of capital • Opposition from within – initial higher cost of goods destroys some efforts •Mismanagement – lack of expertise in management techniques • Opposition from without – big businesses can cut prices to undersell cooperatives- discriminatory rate schedules, etc

Grange – Political arena •Fair success – particularly at state level •Attempted to work through existing parties rather than third party •Gain control of some state legislatures – particularly in the upper MS river and Oh river valleys

Passage of Granger laws •These were designed to regulate the abuses of big business – trusts and monopolies •Munn v IL 1877•Wabash Case 1886

Farmers Alliances•Southern farmers alliance 4.5 million•Northern alliance – 2m (black 1.5) •Goals are similar to those of the Grange • Cooperative stores, banks, processing plants • Similar problems – opposition and mismanagement

Alliances in 1880s•By the late 1880s, they come up with concrete political goals – Ocala Demands • Experience considerable political success in state and congressional elections in 1890 • Claim – 2 legislatures, 6 governors, 3 Senators, 50 Congressmen • Claim are exaggerated because many are duel candidates • Nevertheless, by 1892 – they are ready to launch a third party attempt for the presidency

The Populist Party 1892 – (Omaha Platform)•Strongest in the Rockies, the Great Plains and the South •Weakest in areas were the Grange is the strongest • Appeals most strongly to small, one crop, minimally mechanized, family farm, and tenant farmers – • Characteristic in common – they are obsolete types of farming – they also represent the debtor class

Populist Party • It was unable to attract the labor vote due to lack of common ground • It is unwillingly to appeal to blacks – racism is more entrenched than problems •Leadership is composed of middle class farmers, lawyers, editors

Populist Party•Composed of three basic elements • A concrete program of reform complete with specifics • Vocal denunciation of their enemies – revivalist in style • Establishment of a just and stable society – the elimination of laissez faire – movement toward the new view that the government is responsible for the economic welfare of its citizens

Populist Party – specific planks •Establishment of sub treasury system – govt loans against surplus crops •Elimination of national banks •End of absentee ownership •Direct election of senators – why – ends ties with big business • Initiative and referendum •Government ownership of railroads, telegraph, telephones •Graduated income tax •Currency inflation – increased supply • Free and unlimited coinage of silver

Populist •Nominate James B Weaver – 1892 • Southern problem insurmountable for Populists – how do you win votes from Democrats when your appeal is to the same people?

Populist – Silver issue •1888 – both parties attempt to avoid problems – fear of alienating voter groups • It is increasingly difficult to do so – •Cleveland tried to make the tariff a major issue in 1888 – not wholly successful •Concern is the surplus of 145 million per year •1888 – Harrison defeats Cleveland

Billion Dollar Congress •Congress is controlled by big business – spends money rather than reduce the tariff • Veterans benefits soar – 81m to 135 m – this helped save the tariff by reducing surpluses • Sherman Anti trust Act passed 1890 – j• Sherman Silver Purchase Act – Mckinley Tariff 1890 • Sherman Silver Purchase Act – 4.5 ounces of silver would be purchased each month - paper currency would be issued – redeemable in either gold or silver •McKinley tariff – raised duties to 48.4 • Is this a deal?

1890 Congressional Elections •Democrats gain control of the House in 1890 •Campaign of 1893 relatively clean – Cleveland and Harrison rematch • Cleveland wins again • Tariff reduction becomes one of the first priorities

Wilson Gorman Tariff •Reduced rates by about 10% - originally designed to be more significant –•Established an income tax – 2% on incomes more than 4,000•Quickly ruled unconstitutional 1895 – Pollock v Farmer’s Loan and trust – 5-4 ruling

Panic of 1893 •Hurts Cleveland’s chances of accomplishing much • Caused overspeculation, labor discord, agricultural depression • Cleveland (stubborn) blames the Sherman Silver purchase act

Panic of 1893 •This causes a run of gold • Government attempted to keep 100m in reserve • Reserves of 190m in 1890 dwindled to 100 million in 1893 • By 1894 they fell to 41 m and there was fear that the US would be forced off the gold standard • Cleveland sought repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act – succeeded – caused great bitterness within the party • 1895 – JP Morgan agreed to purchase $65 million in bonds so the government could purchase more gold – made a profit of 7 million

Election of 1896•William McKinley nominated by Republicans •Platform had two primary planks •Maintenance of the gold standard •High protective tariff

Election of 1896•Democrats were unhappy with Cleveland – Sherman Silver Purchase, tariff, panic, 1893 • In mid term elections Republicans had regained control of the House •Convention was held in Chicago – silverites gain the majority but are leaderless

Election of 1896•William Jennings Bryan emerges after his famous “Cross of Gold” speech • Platform • Reduced tariff • Stricter regulation of railroads and industry • Principle of the income tax • Limiting the use of the injunction • Free and unlimited coinage of silver

Populists •Populists are left out in the cold – Options• Nominate a candidate and sacrifice any chance of victory – though they keep their platform in tact • Support Bryan and stand a chance of winning – but sacrifice a major portion of the platform (called Fussionists) • Given these options – most supported Bryan

Republican •Campaign strategy • “McKinley and the full dinner pail” • An orchestrated front porch campaign • “spellbinders” – speeches and pamphlets

Democratic •Campaign strategy • Took to the stump to utilize Bryan’s strength • Travels 18,000 miles, speaks to 5 million people, gives 500-600 speeches (36 in one day) – becomes known as the “Great Commoner” • Covers the entire country

Bryan’s undoing •Employer tools – threats to workers about jobs – bankers threat to foreclose •Revivalist style alienates many Catholics – stress the importance of this as Bryan lost votes in eastern industrial centers •Attracted few Republican farmers (generally prosperous content with laissez faire view) – located in the doubtful states •Price of wheat rises just before election • Inability to sustain emotionalism – campaign lost steam as the election approached •McKinley wins

McKinley Administration •Conservative in outlook – controlled by bosses to a degree •1897 – Dingley tariff enacted – the highest in US history to that date •Gold Standard Act of 1900 – redemption of paper currency in gold only

Return of Prosperity – reasons •Foreign crop failures – 1898 •Full business recovery from the Panic of 1893 •Technology and new discoveries increase the supply of gold – currency inflation – cyanide process

Immigration •1890 – shift in the character of immigration •New immigration v old immigration • Old immigrants – northern and western Europe (Ireland, Germany, England) • New immigrants – southern and eastern Europe (Italy, Russia, and Poland)

•Acceleration in the pace of immigration • 1860 – 1900 – 14 million immigrants came (most in the 1890s) • 1900-1915 – 14.5 million immigrants

Negative Reasons for Immigration •Poverty •Militarism (wars, social unrest, conscription) •Religious persecution •Political tyranny

Positive Factors •Opportunities associated with economic growth •Propaganda from steamship and railroad companies •Recruitments by industry •Glowing accounts of earlier immigrants

Assimilation Factors •Characteristics of Southeast and Northwest Immigrants

NW Immigrant Characteristics •Similar language bases •Similar customs (holidays, etc)•Relative wealth – middle class immigrants allowed the purchase of land and prevented the concentration of immigrants •Similar governmental structure (limited government, democracy, stability) •Higher rate of literacy •Similar religions (mostly Protestant)

Southeast Immigrants • Different language bases • Dissimilar customs (holidays,dress, eating habits) • Object poverty limited their mobility and opportunities and led them to

concentrate in eastern industrial cities • Totalitarian governmental structures (democratic process was foreign to them –

totalitarian governments are not changed through a democratic process but through violent upheaval – thus US citizens were concerned about the threat to democratic institutions • Iliteracy – not only with English but with native tongue – lack of educational

opportunities – nativists associate this with stupidity • Dissimilar religions (Catholic and Jewish)

Movement toward immigration restriction•Existed early with nativist groups like Know Nothings •Accelerated with the shift to SE immigration – why?• American Protective Association – 1887 • Immigration Restriction League – 1894

Reasons for Movements •Labor unions tended to favor them – competition for jobs and control of unions – old immigrants don’t wish to give up control •Republican party – immigrants tended to align themselves with the Democrats •Racism – KKK – fear of the mongrelization of American race and character •Relate to frontier thesis – has a distinctively American character developed or is this merely a rationalization for basic social and economic motives

Path of formal restriction •1882 – paupers, criminals, convicts excluded •Later polygamists, insane, prostitutes, alcoholics, anarchists •1882 Chinese Exclusion Act •1885 – contract labor immigration prohibited •1917 – Literacy test – in foreign language

1920s Quota System imposed •1921 Emergency Quota Act (Johnson Act) • Limited immigration to 3% of the foreign born living in the US in 1910 • 1921 – 805,228 immigrants • 1922 – 309,556 immigrants

National Origins Act •1924 – •Limited immigration to 2% of the foreign born living in the US in 1890 •Maximum total allowed 164,000 – 1927 reduced t o150,000 •Specifically designed to limit southern and eastern Europeans •Great Britain and Ireland 65,721 – Italy 5802

Restrictions •First year in which emigrants outnumber immigrants •1952 – McCarren Walter Act – slight adjustments to the quota system (Red Scare) •1965 – Immigration Act of 1965 – eliminates quota system

Urban expansion •The Effect of Transportation •“walking cities” – old style • Characterized by compactness • Mixture of classes •Horse drawn (later electric) streetcars, trolley, and subways – revolutionize cities • Those with means moved outside the crowded center city • Thus residential patterns of class developed • Poor – center city (slums and ghettos) • Middle class – apartment fringes and suburbs • Wealthy – suburbs

•Mobility between cities (job mobility)

Major urban problems •Policing the city •Government •Poverty •The Physical city

Policing the city •Drunkeness fuels the prohibition movement • Immigrant gangs •Police forces had been in existence and merely had to deal with new types of problems created by urbanization and industrialization

Government •Rapid expansion led to increased opportunities for graft and corruption •Boss politics – machine politics – Tammany Hall and Tweed Ring •Relied on patronage to survive

Poverty •New organizations formed to deal with it (YMCA, YWCA, Salvation Army) •The Social Gospel• Designed to awaken middle class church goers to the plight of the urban poor – the true Christian fights social injustice where he finds it • Assumed responsibility because of the brotherhood of man

Settlement House Movement • Jane Addams, Lillian Wald •Stressed environmental causes for poor conditions •Combination of self-help, child care, language training, legal aid and health care •1895- 50 settlement houses •Not always successful because they ignored local leadership

The Physical City – City Beautiful Movement • Parks and public places – Frederick Olmstead, Andrew Jackson Downing • Richard Morris Hunt – neoclassical art • City planning • Boston’s Back Bay • Broad avenues, uniform height • Louis Sullivan and the skyscraper (elevator, fireproofing, internal metal frame)

• Movement favored the rich and well borne • Tied architecture to social order • Tenements – dumbbell buildings • Problems with sanitation• Typhoid, smallpox, diphtheria • Sewerage and water major problems

Social setting/women and blacks •1870-1900 the number of women working outside the home tripled • Unskilled jobs in industry • Impact of technology – typewriter, telephone •Work outside the home was nevertheless seen as temporary

Decreasing family size •Class differentiation •Middle class v farmers and working class

Cult of domesticity (cult of true womanhood) – women’s sphere

•Women’s ideal in the 19th century was not to have to work (class status) • Ideal role for women was as director of the household •Create an uplifting cultural environment

Role of Victorian manners and morals•Behavior became class status •Sobriety, industriousness, and self-restraint •Social graces separated higher from lower classes

Blacks continued as 2nd class citizens in segregated south • Jim Crow laws •Plessy v Ferguson – separate but equal

Debate over black goals •Booker T Washington and the Atlanta Compromise • Emphasized delaying social and political equality • Saw the achievement of economic equality as a precursor of these • The role of vocational training – Tuskegee

W.E.B. DuBois – Niagara Movement •Forerunner of the NAACP •Believed in full citizenship •Emphasized classical education for the talented tenth •Background = differences •Rise of social Darwinism – survival of the fittest in society •Mass production and mass marketing •Art and leisure