The Populist Revolt

1. The Populist Revolt 1880-1896

2. Agrarian Anger • Causes of agrarian anger • Between 1870 and 1900 the pop of the U.S. doubled to just over 76 million people • New machines and fertilizers enabled farmers to increase the number of acres under cultivation • As a result, farmers were able to dramatically expand production and feed the nation’s soaring population • However, the law of supply and demand worked against the farmers • The more wheat, corn, and cotton they produced the lower prices fell • For example, the price of a bushel of wheat plummeted from $1.19 in 1881 to just 49 cents in 1894 • Cotton that sold for 15.1 cents a pound in 1870 commanded only 5.8 cents a pound in 1894

3. Agrarian Anger • Causes of agrarian anger • Farmers blamed the railroads for many of their problems • Railroads transported corn, wheat, and cattle to cities and then shipped heavy machinery and supplies to the farms • Most farmers were thus completely dependent upon the railroads • Farmers bitterly complained that the railroads used their monopoly to charge unfair rates • For example, the Burlington line charged its customers west of the Mississippi 4x what they charged customers east of the river • Farmers had to borrow heavily to build houses and buy land and equipment • Following the CW, America experienced a prolonged period of deflation which meant that both prices and the money supply were falling • As a result, a farmer had to pay back loans with dollars that had doubled in value since he borrowed them

4. Agrarian Anger • The Granger movement • Many farmers endured a lonely existence on widely separated farms • Began as a social and educational organization in response to the farmers’ isolation • Membership was 1.5 million people by 1874 • Founded cooperatives through which they sold their crops and bought supplies as a group • They even tried to manufacture farm machinery • Began to fight the railroadsand several states passed “Granger laws” regulating railroad freight rates • Success was short-lived • Many of the cooperatives failed because of mismanagement • Meanwhile, the railroad successfully challenged the state regulations in federal courts • By 1890, the SC ruled that states could not regulate railroads engaged in interstate commerce • These setbacks led to the decline of the Grange after 1876

5. Agrarian Anger • The Farmers’ Alliance • The farmers still had much to complain about • As the Grange lost members, a new organization known as the Farmers’ Alliance grew in size and importance • Founded in Texas in the mid-1870s, the National Farmers’ Alliance quickly spread through the S and Plains’ states • By 1891, the Alliance movement boasted over 1.5 million members • A separate Alliance for black farmers had another quarter-million members • The Alliance movement sponsored an ambitious program of economic and political reform • As a “grand army of reform” it welcomed women members • Many women embraced this opportunity and assumed key leadership roles

6. The Populist Party • The birth of the Populist Party • America’s increasingly militant farmers believed that they had good reasons to organize a 3rd party • Farmers saw themselves as victims of an unjust system that penalized them with low crop prices and predatory railroad rates while rewarding Wall Street financiers with extravagant profits • Populist leader Mary E. Lease captured the farmers’ militant mood when she advised them “to raise less corn and more hell” • The wave of agrarian discontent gave birth to the People’s or Populist Party • In July 1892, 1,300 exhilarated delegates met in Omaha, NE to formulate a platform and nominate a candidate for the fall presidential election

7. The Populist Party • The Birth of the Populist Party • The Populist platform emphatically demanded government control of the railroads • It also called for the free and unlimited coinage of silver • Believed that free silver would increase the money supply and therefore spur inflation • Called for an 8-hr workday, a graduated income tax, and the direct election of senators by voters instead of state legislatures • The Populists nominated former congressman and Union general James B. Weaver of Iowa to run for president • Received just over one million votes, more than any previous 3rd-party candidate • In addition, the Populists elected 10 congressmen, 5 senators, and almost 1500 members of state legislature • Buoyed by their success, the Populists eagerly looked forward to the 1896 presidential election

8. The Populist Party • The Depression of 1893 • Grover Cleveland began his second term as President on March 4, 1893 • Just 2 months later a panic on Wall Street touched off a severe economic depression • A worried advisor warned Cleveland, “We are on the eve of a very dark night” • His gloomy prediction proved to be accurate • In 1893 over 15,000 businesses and 600 banks closed • By the following year, 1/5 of the nation’s workers had lost their jobs

9. The Populist Party • The Depression of 1893 • An Ohio Populist named James S. Coxey urged the fed gov’t to launch a $500 million road-building program to provide unemployed workers with desperately needed jobs • When Congress ignored his proposal, Coxey led a ragtag army of unemployed workers on a protest march to Washington • When “Coxey’s army” finally reached the U.S. Capitol armed police arrested Coxey for walking on the lawn • He was fined $5.00 and sentenced to 20 days in jail • It is interesting to note that Coxey died in 1951 having lived long enough to see his ideas for public works projects enacted during the New Deal

10. The Populist Party • The Populists and free silver • Unemployed workers and debt-ridden farmers called for an immediate solution to end the depression • Populist leaders believed that the depression underscored the urgent need for the free coinage of silver • The Populists believed that there was a direct relationship between the amount of money in circulation and the level of economic activity • Strict adherence to the gold standard reduced the supply of money in circulation and thus limited economic activity • This policy benefited bankers and creditors while punishing debtors • The free and unlimited coinage of silver would bring back prosperity by putting more money in circulation and thus increasing business activity

11. The Populist Party • The Populists and Free Silver • One Populist summed up the case for free silver by explaining that, “It means the reopening of closed factories, the relighting of fires in darkened furnaces; it means hope instead of despair; comfort in place of suffering; life instead of death” • Populist leaders believed that free silver offered a compelling solution to the depression • With the 1896 election fast approaching, Populists prepared for a climatic battle with the Reps and Dems that many believed would determine the nation’s future for generations to come

12. The Election of 1896 • The candidates • The Reps correctly sensed that the depression weakened Cleveland and the Dems • They nominated William McKinley • The Rep platform supported tariffs and forthrightly state that “the existing gold standard must be maintained” • Pro-silver delegates controlled the Dem convention in Chicago • The Silverites promptly repudiated Cleveland and wrote a platform demanding the free coinage of silver • The Dems now had an issue but still lacked a candidate • That changed when William Jennings Bryan, a 36 year-old former congressman from NE, addressed the convention • Bryan thundered defiance as he reached his free silver conclusion: “You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!” • Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech electrified the cheering delegates • The next day euphoric delegates wearing silver badges and waving silver banners nominated Bryan for President

13. The Election of 1896 • The candidates • The Dem’s decision to nominate a pro-silver candidate presented the Populists with a difficult choice • Nominating their own candidate would divide the silver vote and ensure McKinley’s election • Endorsing Bryan would mean giving up their identity as a separate party • After much debate, the Populists chose to support Bryan

14. “You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!”

15. The Election of 1896 • The campaign • Bryan ignored tradition and launched a whirlwind campaign that crisscrossed the country • The “Boy Orator” conveyed boundless energy and an almost evangelical enthusiasm as he delivered over 600 speeches praising the benefits of free silver • While Bryan campaigned across the country, McKinley stayed at home in Canton, Ohio and ran a “front porch” campaign skillfully managed by his close friend Mark Hanna • Friendly railroads provided reduced fares enabling over 750,000 people to visit Canton and hear McKinley earnestly promise “good work, good wages, and good money” • Hanna’s strategy cleverly allowed McKinley to maintain an image of decorum and dignity • The president of a New England woman’s club approvingly noted, “He does not talk wildly, and his appearance is that of a President”

16. The Election of 1896 • The results • McKinley’s well-financed campaign overwhelmed Bryan • McKinley won the popular vote by 7.1 million to 6.5 million and the electoral vote by 271 to 176 • The S and much of the thinly populated W supported Bryan • McKinley captured all of the NE and the upper MW, including the crucial swing states of OH and IL

17. The Election of 1896 • The results • As expected, industrialists and the middle class solidly endorsed McKinley • However, McKinley surprised Bryan by also winning a majority of votes from urban workers • Despite the pro-labor planks in their platform, the Dems were unable to build a rural-urban coalition • Bryan’s obsession with the silver issue diverted attention from labor’s traditional focus on wages, hours, and working conditions • Many labor leaders feared that free silver would inflate the value of the dollar and thus shrink the real value of their wages • Industrial workers also approved the Rep support for high tariffs • They believed tariffs would protect American industries and thus save working-class jobs

19. The Election of 1896 • The consequences • The election of 1896 led to the swift collapse of the Populist Party • The silver issue melted away as gold strikes in South Africa, the Yukon, and Alaska enlarged the money supply and reversed the deflationary spiral • In addition, crop failures in Europe led to an increase in U.S. grain exports • As commodity prices rose, farmers entered a period of renewed prosperity that lasted until the end of WWI • The return of prosperity did not end the spirit of reform • A new generation of Progressive reformers successfully fought for many of the Populist reforms • The election of 1896 began a generation of almost unbroken Rep dominance that lasted until the election of Franklin Roosevelt in 1932

20. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

21. 1964: Henry Littlefield’s “Thesis?”

22. “Parable of the Populists?” • Tornado  ? • Dorothy  ? • Toto  ? • Kansas  ? • Wicked Witch of theEast  ? • Tin Woodsman  ? • Scarecrow  ? • Cowardly Lion  ? • Yellow Brick Road  ? • Silver Slippers  ? • Emerald City  ? • Oz  ? • The Wizard  ? • Munchkins  ? • Wicked Witch of the West  ? • Flying Monkeys  ?