AP U.S. History: Unit 9.

4
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The Political Rise and Fall of the Farmer in the Gilded Age
Use space below
Themes of the Gilded Age:
for notes
 Industrialism: U.S. became the world’s most powerful economy by
1890s; railroads, steel, oil, electricity, banking
 Unions and reform movements sought to curb the injustices of
industrialism.
 Urbanization: America was transformed from an agrarian nation to
an urban nation between 1865 and 1920.
 Millions of "New Immigrants" came from Southern and Eastern
Europe, mostly to cities to work in factories.
 By 1900 society had become more stratified into classes than any
time before or since.
 The "Great West": mining, farming, and cattle frontiers
 Farmers increasingly lost ground in the new industrial economy
and eventually organized (Populism)
 Politics: hard vs. soft money ('70s & '90s); tariff ('80s); corruption
due to political machines, patronage & trusts (throughout late 19th
c.); election of 1896

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HistorySage.com APUSH Lecture Notes Page 2
Unit 9.4: Political Rise and Fall of the Farmer

I. The Money Issue and Tariffs Use space below

A. Panic of 1873 and subsequent depression resulted in deflation during for notes:
the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant
1. Western mining states and farmers sought the introduction of silver
into the money supply to cause inflation (soft money)
2. Conservatives feared inflation and instituted deflationary policies,
such as the Bland-Allison Act (1873), that actually caused the
depression of the 1870s to worsen
3. The money issue emerged as the biggest political issue of the 1870s.
a. New political parties such as the Greenback Labor Party in the
1870s and the Populist party in the 1890s were dedicated to
increasing the money supply by adding massive amounts of silver
to the money supply
b. The climactic election of 1896 would ultimately decide the issue
as those who advocated the unlimited coinage of silver were
soundly defeated

B. Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 (system of bimetallism)

1. Treasury would approximately double the minimum amount of
silver purchased under the Bland-Allison Act of 1873.
2. Western pro-silver advocates agreed to support a protective tariff
in return for eastern support for a silver bill.
a. Mining states hated the “woefully limited” silver purchasing under
the Bland-Allison Act.
b. Easterners were eager to increase tariffs and increase profits but
were concerned about inflation through increased silver purchases
c. Result: Not enough silver flooded the monetary system; thus,
inflation did not occur significantly

C. McKinley Tariff Bill (1890)

1. Republicans’ reward for supporting the Sherman Silver Purchase
Act
2. Raised tariffs to the highest peacetime level in U.S. history: 48%.
3. Reduced the budget surplus by giving a 2-cent subsidy to American
sugar producers, increased pensions to Civil War veterans and
reduced taxes on tobacco.
4. Raised tariffs on agricultural products.
a. Didn’t have much of an effect on U.S. farmers as Europeans could
not compete with American farmers anyway.
b. Some eastern manufacturers raised prices before the law went
into effect.
c. Democratic party used the tariff issue to attack the Republicans
5. Republicans lost the 1890 mid-term elections for Congress.
a. The new Congress included 9 members of the Farmers’ Alliances
b. Tariff issue was replaced by silver issue as the main issue in
1890s.

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HistorySage.com APUSH Lecture Notes Page 3
Unit 9.4: Political Rise and Fall of the Farmer

D. Economic problems plaguing farmers Use space below

1. Farmers were in perpetual debt; many lost their farms to foreclosure for notes:
2. Deflated currency and low food prices were the chief worries
among farmers.
2. Natural disasters caused by freezing temperatures, insects, and
diseases compounded the problems farmers faced
3. Government policies seemed to hurt farmers
a. Farmers’ land was often overvalued, making property taxes
higher.
b. Protective tariffs hurt the South as manufactured product prices
increased
 Farmers’ products were unprotected in the competitive world
market.
4. Agricultural-related trusts gouged farmers: barbed-wire trust,
fertilizer trust, harvester trust, and railroad trust (freight rates)
5. Farmers were underrepresented politically and poorly organized

II. Political Rise of the Farmer

A. National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry: The Grange
organized in 1867
1. Provided farmers with social & educational activities (picnics,
music, lectures)
a. The initial purpose of the Grange was to help reduce the
isolation many farmers felt in sparsely-populated areas
b. By 1875, the Grange had about 800,000 members, mostly in the
Midwest & South
2. Eventually, the Grange established cooperatives for both consumers
and producers.
a. Grain elevators (to store excess grain), dairies to store & process
products, cooperative stores to purchase supplies (such as seed,
plows, fertilizer, etc.)
b. Politically, the Grange sought to end monopolistic railroad
practices that hurt farmers with high freight rates
c. Its attempt to manufacture harvesting machinery ultimately failed
3. Grangers were politically successful in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa,
and Minnesota.
a. Granger Laws sought gov't control over big business to
benefit the people.
 Regulated railroad rates and storage fees charged by railroads
and operators of warehouses and grain elevators.
b. Munn vs. Illinois (1877): The Supreme Court ruled that private
property was subject to gov't regulation when property was
devoted to the public interest.
c. Many Granger Laws were written badly and overturned by higher
courts who were influenced by wealthy business interests.
 Wabash case (1886): The Court ruled that individual states

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HistorySage.com APUSH Lecture Notes Page 4
Unit 9.4: Political Rise and Fall of the Farmer

don’t have right to regulate interstate commerce (effectively Use space below
overturned Munn decision) for notes
 Supreme Court reverses, especially the Wabash case, reduced
Granger influence in state politics

B. Greenback Labor Party

1. The third party emerged in the 1870s that combined the inflationary
goals of earlier Greenback supporters with a program for
improving conditions for laborers.
 The money issue (soft vs. hard) was perhaps the biggest political
issue of the 1870s.
2. In the election of 1878, the Greenback-Labor party earned over a
million votes and elected 14 members to Congress.
3. Election of 1880, the Greenback Party nominated General James B.
Weaver, a Granger and Civil War veteran.
a. Weaver received only 3% of the total popular vote.
b. He would become the candidate of the Populist party in 1892.

C. Populism -- Rise of Populist Party

1. Farmers’ Alliances in the South (formed in 1877) and Midwest
(1880) increasingly voicing discontent; the Colored Alliance formed
in 1889
a. Like the Grangers, sponsored social events, political action,
cooperatives, and gov't regulation of railroads and
manufacturers.
b. The 3 Alliances met in 1889 and boasted over 3 million members
 Demanded free silver and a subtreasury plan for farmers
(would provide cash advances on a farmers’ future crop)
 Major demand of the Southern Alliance in 1880 was a
subtreasury plan
o Reason: farmers had poor cash flow during much of the year
o Called for federal subtreasury offices alongside warehouses
or grain elevators.
o Farmers could store grain and the subtreasury would loan
them up to 80% of the value of the crop at modest interest
and fees.
c. Many supported or joined the Knights of Labor; saw similar goals
d. Defeat of the subtreasury scheme in Congress in 1890 led to the
Alliances taking political matters into their own hands and
forming a third party.
 Since the Civil War, Greenbackers, Workingmen’s and
Knights of Labor parties, and Farmers’ Alliances saw banking
interests and trusts—“the Eastern Establishment”-- as
monopolistic culprits who exploited workers and farmers.

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HistorySage.com APUSH Lecture Notes Page 5
Unit 9.4: Political Rise and Fall of the Farmer

2. The People’s Party (Populist Party) emerged in the early 1890s Use space below
through the Farmer’s Alliances; party was born in Topeka, Kansas for notes:
a. Attracted recruits from Farmer’s Alliances & disenfranchised
southern whites.
b. Ignatius Donnelly was elected three times to Congress, and was a
major figure in the Populist movement
 He was formerly known as a utopian author (like Henry
George & Edward Bellamy)
c. Mary E. Lease gave numerous speeches in 1890 denouncing the
Eastern Establishment in Wall Street
 Kansas should raise "less corn & more hell."
d. "Sockless" Jerry Simpson, along with Lease, traveled to the South
to get Southern Alliance support for Populist unity.
e. Tom Watson: elected to Congress in 1890, fought for the
subtreasury plan, and fought for Populist unity in 1892
 In 1896, became the Democratic party’s vice presidential
candidate alongside William Jennings Bryan

D. Disenfranchisement and anti-black violence

1. "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman, a Democrat, used his Southern Alliance
influence to become governor of South Carolina and dominate the
Democratic party in that state.
 Tillman succeeded in disenfranchising blacks in the state
constitution
2. Widespread southern fears of blacks in Farmers’ Alliances led
to a major push for disenfranchisement in the 1890s & Jim Crow
laws
 Following South Carolina’s lead, southern states limited black
suffrage in their state constitutions.
3. Voting restrictions were essentially a ruling-class campaign
against lower-class voters in general, not just African Americans.
 Deliberate attempt by the New South’s elite, who were threatened
by the Populists, to destroy party opposition and widespread
political participation.
4. In 1890s white southern hatred toward blacks became almost
genocidal; huge increase in the number of lynchings

III. Election of 1892

A. Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland (had been president four
years earlier)
 Now more conservative than during his first term as his law practice
represented wealthy businessmen.

B. Republicans renominated President Harrison who championed a new

protective tariff.

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HistorySage.com APUSH Lecture Notes Page 6
Unit 9.4: Political Rise and Fall of the Farmer

C. People’s party (Populists) nominated General James B. Weaver Use space below
1. Delegates from Farmers Alliances, Knights of Labor, Nationalists for notes
(Bellamy Clubs) and Land and Labor parties met in Omaha,
Nebraska
2. Omaha Platform (written by Ignatius Donnelly)
a. Free and unlimited coinage of silver at ratio of 16 to 1 (to
stimulate inflation)
b. A graduated income-tax (redistribute wealth)
c. Gov’t ownership of the telephone and telegraph, and railroads
d. Initiative, referendum and recall
 Initiative: people of a state place a new proposed law on the
ballot and if it passes, it becomes law
 Referendum: people of a state place a proposition to overturn
an existing law on the ballot; if it passes the existing law is
removed
 Recall: people of the state place a proposition on the ballot to
remove an elected official; if it passes the official is removed
e. Postal savings banks (a safe repository run by the gov’t)
f. Giving gov’t land grants to settlers rather than railroads
(influenced by Henry George)
g. Direct election of senators
h. 8-hour work day
i. The subtreasury plan was not included: it had been defeated and
was a Southern idea—many southerners didn’t support Populists
due to racial reasons)
3. James B. Weaver: former abolitionist and general in the Union
Army; had been the Greenback-Labor Party presidential nominee in
1880.

D. The presidential campaign centered on the protective tariff

1. Epidemic of strikes damaged Harrison’s presidency; workers refuted
Harrison’s claim that higher tariffs meant higher wages.
2. Homestead Steel Strike in 1892 led to loss of thousands of
Republican votes.

E. Results
1. Cleveland defeated Harrison 277-145
 Cleveland became the only president in U.S. history to serve two
non-consecutive terms
2. Populists won over 1 million votes and 22 electoral votes for
Weaver.
a. One of the few 3rd parties in U.S. history to win electoral votes.
b. Support came predominantly from KA, CO, ID, and NV
c. 3 governors; 5 U.S. Senators & 10 representatives; 1,500
candidates overall elected to office
3. Indebted white farmers of the "Solid South" refused to desert the

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HistorySage.com APUSH Lecture Notes Page 7
Unit 9.4: Political Rise and Fall of the Farmer

Democratic party for fear of losing political power to blacks who Use space below
claimed more than a million members in the segregated Colored for notes
Farmers’ Alliance.

Memory Aid for Populist Ideas:

Fried Free unlimited coinage of silver
Green Graduated income tax
Gummy bears Government ownership of railroads
Invade Initiative
Really Referendum
Really Recall
Dorky Direct election of senators
Silly Subtreasury plan
People Postal savings banks

IV. President Grover Cleveland: second term in office (1893-1897)

A. Panic of 1893 (depression lasted until 1897)
1. Worst depression of the century
a. First large-scale depression in the new urban and industrial age.
 20% unemployed in winter of 1893-94 (rivaled the Great
Depression of the 1930s)
b. 8,000 business collapsed in within 6 months (including dozens of
railroads.)
2. Causes
a. Immediate cause: collapse of the stock market.
b. Long-term causes:
 Overbuilding of railroads, heavy loans to farmers,
overspeculation
 Reduction of the money supply; Europeans gradually withdrew
their capital from the U.S.
o Free-silver agitation damaged U.S. credit abroad and
European bankers called in their loans
 Numerous labor strikes disrupted economic activities
 An agricultural depression had already existed.
3. A federal budget deficit resulted
a. Gold reserves fell below $100 million (regarded as the safe
minimum to support about $350 million in outstanding paper
money)
 Reason: gov’t had paid out more for silver purchases than it
received for gold with legal tender notes – "endless chain"
activities
b. In response, President Cleveland repealed the Sherman Silver
Purchase Act
a. Democrat William Jennings Bryan argued against the repeal
b. Cleveland thus alienated Democratic silverites and weakened
the party.

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HistorySage.com APUSH Lecture Notes Page 8
Unit 9.4: Political Rise and Fall of the Farmer

B. Morgan bond transaction Use space below

1. By February 1894, gold reserves had sunk to $41 million for notes
a. U.S. was now in danger of going off the gold standard
b. Money would be volatile and unreliable; international trade would
be crippled
2. 1895, Cleveland persuaded J. P. Morgan and other bankers to lend
the gov’t $65 million in gold (bankers received a commission of
$7 million).
 Half of the gold was to be purchased abroad and deposited in the
Treasury
3. Confidence in the nation’s finances was restored for the short-term.

C. Coxey’s Army (1894)

1. Most famous of the "industrial armies" of the unemployed that
came to Washington, D.C.
2. Coxey was a wealthy businessman who curiously sought inflation
 He left the Democratic party for Greenback-Labor party and later,
the People’s Party.
3. Coxey’s platform included a demand for gov’t to relieve
unemployment by an inflationary public works program and an
increase money supply
4. Coxey and 500 of his followers were arrested in Washington, D.C.
(ostensibly for walking on the grass).

D. Pullman Strike, 1894 (see Industrialism chapter)

1. Eugene V. Debs helped organize the American Railway Union
strike that paralyzed the nation’s transportation
2. At the behest of President Cleveland, Attorney General Richard
Olney sent federal troops stating that strikers interfered with the
transit of U.S. mail.
3. First time gov’t used an injunction to break a strike
4. Increased worker anger at the government.

E. William Hope Harvey: Coin’s Financial School (1894)

1. "Coin" Harvey a fictional character parading as fact
 "Little professor" overwhelmed bankers and professors of
economics with brilliant arguments for free silver as an answer to
economic problems.
2. Fed public feelings of a national & international conspiracy to
elevate gold above silver especially the "crime of 1873."

V. Election of 1896 (most important election since Lincoln was elected)

A. William McKinley, ex-Congressman from Ohio, was nominated by
the Republicans.
1. McKinley was Marcus Hanna's candidate: an iron tycoon, who
bailed McKinley out of a $100,000 personal debt

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HistorySage.com APUSH Lecture Notes Page 9
Unit 9.4: Political Rise and Fall of the Farmer

a. Hanna believed the function of gov’t was to aid business. Use space below
 He believed that prosperity "trickled down" to the laborer. for notes
 Critics lambasted Hanna for this idea
b. Hanna raised $3.5 million compared to only $300k for
Democrats.
2. The Republican platform supported the gold standard but advocated
bimetallism (world-wide gold-silver standard)
a. The proposal was really a sham as all other leading nations would
have to agree and they certainly wouldn’t
b. Platform also praised the protective tariff.

B. William Jennings Bryan, Democratic nominee

1. Democrats refused to endorse Cleveland for his silver-purchase
repeal, Pullman Strike action, and Morgan bond deal
 Cleveland left office an extremely unpopular man.
2. Bryan a 36-yearr-old from Nebraska was the premier orator of
his generation
 First politician of his generation to lead a major party as a
champion of the poor; influenced by the Populist movement
3. Cross of Gold speech given at the Democratic national convention
 "We will answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to
them: ‘You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this
crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of
gold."
4. Democratic platform: “free silver” --free unlimited coinage of sliver
at ratio of 16 to 1 (16 oz of silver to 1 oz of gold); silver in a dollar
would be worth about 50 cents
5. Bryan was also nominated by the People’s party but Bryan did not
acknowledge the Populist nomination early enough and the
campaign began with uncertainty
 Populists were thus frozen out as the Democratic party absorbed
their 16 to 1 platform.

C. Campaign
1. Bryan forced the silver issue to the forefront despite Hanna wanting
to focus on the tariff.
2. Hanna waged a high pressure campaign against silver.
 Hanna raised the hitherto biggest war chest for an election
3. McKinley remained at his Ohio home waging his "front-porch"
campaign.
 He appealed to middle-class voters and characterized Bryan as
threat to their way of life.

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HistorySage.com APUSH Lecture Notes Page 10
Unit 9.4: Political Rise and Fall of the Farmer

D. McKinley defeated Bryan 271-176

1. McKinley won the Northeast and North; Bryan won the South &
West (except California and Oregon)
2. Most significant election since Lincoln’s victories.
a. Last serious effort by a major party to win the White House with
agrarian votes.
 Farmers no longer constituted a majority of American voters
b. Republicans had the White House for 16 consecutive years (28 of
the next 36 years)
c. Diminished voter participation occurred as the Republican party
was seen as party of the rich.
d. Beginning of the "4th party system" -- large population
centers determined elections; farmers were discouraged and less
politically active in subsequent elections.
e. African Americans rights were abandoned by Republicans as
African American vote in the South not important in 1896
election

E. The 1896 election and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum)
-- Oz can be used as a parable for the election (in reality it is most-
likely coincidental)
1. Dorothy – represents everyman of the west; seen as pure and
likeable
2. Yellow Brick Road = gold standard
3. Dorothy’s silver slippers = soft money (no one knows how to use
their power)
4. Scarecrow = Midwestern farmers (seen as stupid but actually have
wisdom)
5. Tin Man = Eastern Labor victimized by the Wicked Witch of the
East
6. City of OZ = Eastern Establishment
7. Wizard = McKinley, or perhaps any Gilded Age president who is
powerless to carry out promises
8. Cowardly Lion with a big roar and no bite = William
Jennings Bryan
9. Wicked Witch of the East = Corporations of Eastern Finance
10. OZ = An ounce of gold or silver
11. Flying monkeys = Plains Indians once free but now subdued by the
Wicked Witch of the West
12. Wicked Witch of the West = Harsh frontier environment
(drought, tornados)
13. Water = boon that will thwart drought (kills the Wicked Witch of
the West)

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HistorySage.com APUSH Lecture Notes Page 11
Unit 9.4: Political Rise and Fall of the Farmer

F. Legacy of Populism
1. Populism failed as a 3rd Party cause but had a political influence
for 25 years after its defeat in the 1896 election.
2. Populist ideas carried forward during the Progressive Era
(1900-1920):
a. railroad legislation
b. graduated income tax
c. direct election of Senators
d. initiative, referendum and recall
e. postal savings banks
f. subtreasury plan
3. Populist ideas were geared to rural life. Yet, many of its ideas
appealed to urban progressives by 1900.

POPULISM PROGRESSIVISM NEW DEAL

(1890-1896) (1900-1920) (1933-1938)

Terms to Know

The Grange Homestead Steel Strike

Granger Laws Election of 1892
Munn v. Illinois, 1877 President Grover Cleveland
Wabash case, 1886 Panic of 1893
Greenback Labor Party Morgan Bond Transaction
Farmers’ Alliances Coxey’s Army
subtreasury plan Pullman Strike, 1894
The People’s Party (Populist Party) Coin’s Financial School, William Hope
“Pitchfork” Benjamin Tillman Harvey
Omaha Platform Election of 1896
“free silver” William McKinley
graduated income tax Marcus Hanna
government ownership of railroads bimetallism
initiative, referendum and recall William Jennings Bryan
direct election of senators “Cross of Gold Speech”
postal savings banks “4th Party System”
Ignatius Donnelly

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HistorySage.com APUSH Lecture Notes Page 12
Unit 9.4: Political Rise and Fall of the Farmer

Essay Questions

Note: This unit is the highest probability area for the AP exam! In the past
10 years, 9 questions have come wholly or in part from the material in this Unit.
This sub-unit is a high probability area for the AP exam. In the past 10 years, 3
questions have come wholly or in part from the material in this sub-unit. Below are
some questions that will help you study the topics that have appeared on previous
exams.

1. Analyze the factors that led to the rise of the Populist movement

2. To what extent were the Populists successful in achieving their goals by

1900?

3. Why might the election of 1896 be considered the most important election
since the Civil War?

Bibliography:
College Board, Advanced Placement Course Description: History -- United States, College
Entrance Examination Board, published annually
Foner, Eric & Garraty, John A. editors: The Reader’s Companion to
American History, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991
Hofstadter, Richard: The Age of Reform, New York: Random House,
1955
________________, The American Political Tradition, New York:
Alfred Knopf, 1948
Littlefield, Henry: "The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism, American
Quarterly 16 (Spring, 1964)
Kennedy, David M., Cohen, Lizabeth, Bailey, Thomas A., The American Pageant (AP Edition),
13th edition, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006
Nash, Gary : American Odyssey, Lake Forest, Illinois: Glencoe, 1992
Painter, Nell Irvin, Standing at Armageddon: The United States, 1877-
1919, New York: W. W. Norton 1987
Rice, Richard B., Bullough, Wiliam A., Orsi, Richard J.: The Elusive
Eden: A New History of California, Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1988
Schultz, Constance G., The American History Videodisc Master Guide,
Annapolis: Instruction Resources Corporation, 1995

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