Joshua Roshal

Advanced Placement United States History Homework #54 (Textbook Pages 538 548)

2013-01-02

1) The Angry Farmers a) Unhappy farmers had the greatest impact on the nation and its political system between 1887 and 1893. b) Election of Benjamin Harrison in 1888 and Republican control of congress, allowed the party to enact a wide-ranging program of legislative activism. c) Included McKinley Tariff, the Sherman Antitrust Act, and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. d) The tariff law raised rates and the Sherman Act on silver enacted limited government purchases of silver. e) The antitrust act outlawed combinations in restraint of trade lacked enforcement. f) Republican voters were unhappy; Democrats capitalized, used racial issues against rivals, and achieved victory. 2) The Rise of the Farmers Alliance a) 1890 election also brought a new force onto the national political scene b) Candidates identified with the Farmers Alliance made gains in South and West, and won many seats in the House and Senate. c) Crisis in southern agriculture had been building, as productivity increased, prices fell sharply. d) As prices declined, farmers found that debts were now more difficult to pay. e) Railroads seemed to be villains to western and southern crop growers; high rates cut farmer profits, believed to favor big businesses. f) System of money and banking also drew scorn. g) Every dollar in circulation had to have an equal amount of gold behind it to keep the nation on the gold standard, but since international gold production was static, the amount of money in circulation the amount of money in circulation did not keep up with population surges. h) Currency became deflated as the value of the dollar rose. i) Farm prices were low as a result of the expanding acreage under cultivation, one long term solution was the consolidation of small farmers into larger farms, but doesnt occur because small landowners were key to a democratic society. j) Problem of debt was complex, purchased land that was expected to increase in price, but interest rates were not as high, mortgage companies were not as tyrannical. k) Farmers Alliance was formed to stop horse thieves; other alliances started to form to express grievances, and proposed solutions in a three-stage process. i) First Phase farmers looked toward cooperative action. ii) Charles Macune envisioned alliances and exchanges across the South, which could provide farmers with supplies and equipment at lower costs. iii) Cooperatives became very hard to sustain. iv) Problems such as paying to marketing crops at times other than that of harvest, difficult to obtain lower prices. l) Although no economic success was gained, political power of the Alliance grew.

Joshua Roshal

Advanced Placement United States History Homework #54 (Textbook Pages 538 548)

2013-01-02

m) Ideology of cooperative action appealed to farm families who were isolated from each other, Alliance brought them together. n) Alliance saw African American farmers as potential allies. o) Colored Farmers national alliance and Cooperative Union was formed in 1886. Interactions between black and white alliances were uneasy. p) As farm conditions worsened during years of drought and falling crop prices, branches of Alliance spread, Kansas and the two Dakotas joined the national organization. q) Farmers Alliance was soon formed and so was the Industrial Union, allowed all skin colors to join, south continued to exclude black members. r) Macune offered the most important policy proposal conference, the sub treasury plan; he recognized that the major problems were cotton and wheat prices that dropped despite abundance. s) To overcome this, he envisioned a system of government warehouses or sub treasuries where farmers could store crops when prices went up. (Problems if everyone stored their crops and then sold, market would force prices down again, the certificates they received for storing money would represent a form of paper money that fluctuated in value. t) In 1890 Election, protest movement poured its energy into speeches. Alliance allowed female speakers. u) Success of the alliance in south and west led leaders to consider mounting a campaign for presidency goals: sub treasury program, abolition of private banks, regulation of transportation facilities, and free and unlimited coinage of silver. v) Created a third party under the name the Peoples Party (Populists) 3) The Presidential Election of 1892 a) Republicans and Democrats watched the emergence of Populism with bewilderment and apprehension. b) Election left republicans shocked and aware that Harrison was not a good candidate. c) Harrison was re-nominated without much enthusiasm, applauded protective tariff. d) Democrats were confident, candidate Grover Cleveland, promised lower tariffs, and an end to government spending that Repubs were a part off, but Cleveland favored gold standard kept mouth shut due to the fact that Democrats favored inflation. e) One event revealed the social tensions beneath politics. i) Homestead Strike Henry Clay Frick cut wages and refused to negotiate with skilled workers who had unionized their craft, violence broke out when detectives were hired to allow strikebreakers to retake the steel mills. Embodied tensions between capital and labor that was caused by industrialization. f) Populists tried to make a similar argument about the struggle between agriculture and capital.

Joshua Roshal

Advanced Placement United States History Homework #54 (Textbook Pages 538 548)

2013-01-02

g) Thomas Watson emerged as one of the leaders of the Populist cause, elected to Congress in 1890, urged black and white farmers to unite against a common enemy. i) Democrats worked against this, turned to intimidation and violence, rigged the failure of Watsons reelection by stuffing ballot boxes against him, controlled election process, Democrats carried a region for Cleveland. h) After Cleveland gained a second term, Democrats had control of both houses since the Civil War. i) To distract the economic downturn of the nation, the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair was held. 4) Conclusion a) The crisis that was occurring was due to industrialism, the rise of the city, and strains of the farmland. b) With the growth of industrialism, towns and cities swelled with residents and immigrants. c) Transportation pushed outward to provide more mobility. d) In cities, problems of water, power, and living quarters pressed local governments. The urban machine and the city boss addressed these needs. e) The spread of farmland and the increased crops caused prices to drop, with a lack of money, and increased debts, farmers tried political action. f) Farmers Alliance and the Populist Party gave them a voice. g) Country still struggled with discrimination against minorities. h) Fears that were realized during the Panic of 1893 changed the direction of American life.

Joshua Roshal

Advanced Placement United States History Homework #54 (Textbook Pages 538 548)

2013-01-02