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The Agrarian Movement

United States History

The Progressive Era

Late 1800s

Farmers Problems

Problems of the Farm Land

Farmers in the late 1800s had a boom in farming techniques

Fertilizer helped more crops grow

Machinery made it easier to farm the land

These advances made it easier to work the land...but it came at a price - Farmers would try to farm more land which would drive prices down.

Overproduction

Overproduction

The Farmers grew more and more crops, they had too much.

Too many crops, the market is flooded with more and more crops....

The prices bottomed out and farmers lost more and more money

Railroads

When farmers shipped their goods, the railroad gave them a standard rate if it was a long haul

If it was a short haul, the railroads would DOUBLE or TRIPLE the rate

Debt

Farmers regularly put crop futures up as collateral to take out loans

If the crop failed....they were in heavy debt

Even the farm was put up as collateral to secure a loan for seed, fertilizer, or equipment

Natural Disasters

it would only take one drought, one tornado, one wildfire to wipe a farmer's livelihood away.

Natural Disasters

The Granger Movement

The Granger Movement

The Granger Movement began as a social movement for farmers

They made it their goal to help farmers with isolation and spread new information about farming techniques

When their numbers reached 1.5 million members, they got political

CO-OPs

Cooperatives

The Granger Movement started creating "Granger Cooperatives"

These would allow farmers to collectively sell their goods without a middle man

Farmers could directly sell their crops at decent prices and would also get discounts on buying equipment

The Interstate Commerce Act

The ICC

1887 - The ICA was passed to stop the unfair practice of the Railroads

This law created the Interstate Commerce Commission that investigated complaints of unfair RR practices

Farmers won a huge legal and financial battle

The Rise of Populism

Populism

Populism can be defined as "a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups."

The Populist Party

The Populist Party

The Populist Party got its start in 1892 and it rapidly grew

The main issue was "help the common man"

This included Farmers, Workers, and Miners

Women and persons of other races were welcomed in some areas

What they Stood For

Populism Beliefs

The populist party was convinced that the "elites" had a stranglehold on the US Government

They wanted the Gov't to take a stronger, and larger, role in American Society

Reform was the key word for the Populist Party

Populist Party Platform

Populist Platform

Unlimited Coinage of Silver

Direct Election of Senators

Graduated Income tax

Immigration restrictions

8 hour work day

secret balloting

These items drew many people to the populist party and membership grew

Unlimited coinage of Silver

The US Dollar was backed by gold in the late 1800s - this restricted the amount of money in supply because of the limited supply of gold

Switching to silver, which was more plentiful, meant MORE money in circulation, and would lessen the burden of farmers...or so they thought.

Gold v Silver Standard

William Jennings Bryant

Bryan was the most outspoken populist in this era who fought against the "elites"

Who is he?

Bryan rose to fame by his "Cross of Gold Speech"

The summary of his speech is as follows:

- The Common man was the heart of this country

- Bankers and the Elites were crucifying mankind with their corruption

- The US needed to use Silver instead of Gold to back our money

The Cross of Gold

Cross of Gold

Bryan was nominated three times to be president - once as a populist, twice as a Democrat

He narrowly lost the election by less than 5% of the popular vote

The populist party started to decline rapidly after the losses

Presidential run

Presidential Nomination

The End of the Populist Party

Like most 3rd party groups, the populist party fell apart

The Democratic and Republican parties absorbed many ideas the populist party ran on

This is pretty much how it works today in American for third parties

Decline

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