APUSH Plight of the Farmer

Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

National regulation of the railroads

Problems of the Greenback-Labor Party

Race was a problem and the party split into the Southern Alliance and the Colored Farmers' Alliance

The Omaha Platform

1. Free and Unlimited Silver coinage (16:1) 2. Graduated Income Tax 3. Government Ownership of RRs, telegraph, and telephone 4. Direct election of Senators 5. Initiative and Referendum 6. 8 hr day and Immigration Restriction 7. Sub-treasury Plan

Historic Position of American Farmers

1. Jeffersonian Ideal - selfless profession 2. After 1865 New Ideal - businessmen (ultra wealthy)

William McKinley (R) vs. William Jennings Bryan (D)

1. McKinley - hard money 2. Bryan - free silver (west & south) 3. McKinley wins 4. Populist Party fizzles out

Problems and complaints of farmers in the late 19th century

1. Prices of agricultural commodities decline by 50% 2. Debt and high interest rates 3. High Railroad rates 4. Middlemen take a cut of farmers' profits 5. Protective Tariffs

The Panic of 1893

1. caused unemployment and wage cuts 2. attracts more workers to Populism 3. Congress reduced silver coinage (repealed Sherman Silver Purchase Act) 4. Populists decide to focus on the "free silver" issue at the expense of the rest of the Omaha Platform

Roots of the Populist Party (Farmers' Alliance Movement)

Greenback-Labor Party ('70s-'80s) : wanted "fiat money" which was unbacked paper money which would work better than gold since gold has no intrinsic value

Munn v. Illinois (1877)

Supreme Court ruled in favor of the farmers and against the railroads (railroads could be regulated because they operate in the public interest)

The Grangers successes

The "Granger laws" were state laws regulating the rates of railroads

Political Problems for the Populists in 1892 election

The racial divide (black southerners can't vote)

The 1896 Democratic Party Convention

William Jennings Bryan (D) was endorsed by populists

The Grangers goals

cut out the middlemen, control the different levels of the agricultural industry, get railroad regulation passed

The Grangers tactics

electing pro-farmer representatives in the state legislatures and pressuring these legislatures to pass railroad regulations

The 1892 Election

populists nominated James Weaver and he received 22 electoral votes

Wabash v. Illinois (1886)

railroads argued that they couldn't be regulated by state law because railroads are interstate commerce (railroads win)