Chapter #26.

2 Agricultural

Revolution and Populism Big

Picture Themes
1. Miners looking for silver and/or gold fled to Colorado and Nevada seeking quick fortune. A few found it, the vast majority didnt. 2. Cattle became king in Texas as cowboys drove herds north to the Kansas railroads and reaped quick money. 3. Farmers struggled out west due to several problems: weather, insects, high mortgage rates, high railroad shipping rates, and low prices for their crops. 4. The farmers struggles led to the Peoples (or Populist) Party. This party sought cheap money (or silver money) in order to create inflation and thus make it easier to pay off debts. Chapter #26:2 Identifications Joseph F. Glidden Creator of barbed wire and contributed to the fencing-off of the West wehre there was a shortage of wood. James B. Weaver The candidate of the Greenback Labor Party in the 1880 election. He was an old Granger, a favorite of Civil War veterans. Polled only 3% of the popular vote. Oliver H. Kelly Leader of the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry organized in 1867. The Primary objective at first was to stimulate the minds of the farm fold by social, educational, and fraternal activities. Mary Elizabeth Lease Knowned as Mary Yellin and the Kansas Pythoness She made about 160 speeches in 1890. She criticized Wall Street and the wealth, and cried that Kansas should raise less corn and more hell Comstock Lode Lode of gold and silver found in Nevada, prompting a huge influx of miners in 1859. More than 4340 million of gold and silver was mined from 1860-1890. The influx of settlers led to Nevada being prematurely admitted to the Union in 1864.

Long Drive Term for the journey cowboys would make to take their herds to railroad terminals, or cow towns where they could be to the East. Along the way, the cows grazed for free on government grass. Homestead Act

This law provided that settlers could acquire 160 acres of land by living on it and imporving it over 5 years, and paying #30. Or 6 months residence and $1.25 per acre. Patrons of Husbandry As known as Grange. Leader was Oliver H. Kelley. The primary objective a tfirst was to stimulate the minds of the farm fold by social, educational, and fraternal activities. Granger Laws Term for laws passed due to the influence of the Patrons of Husbandry. They were often badly drawn and bitterly fought in high courts. They strove to regulate railway rates and the storage feeds charged by railroads and by the operators of warehouses and grain elevators. Farmers' Alliance These organizations cropped up everywhere in the late 1880s, incorporating North and South, white and black. They organized cooperatives and sought to better the lot of farmers. Populists These people, members of the Peoples party, emerged in the early 1890s. They were zealous and attracted people from the Farms Alliances. Jacob S. Coxey Jacob Coxey demanded that the government create jobs for the unemployed. His group, Coxeys Army marched on Washington, although this group had no effect whatsoever on policy, it did demonstrate the social and economic impact of the Panic of 1893. Williams Jennings Bryan United States lawyer and politician who advocated free silver and prosecuted John Scopes for teaching evolution in a Tennessee High School Bimetallism The use of a monetary standard consisting of two metals, especially gold and silver Free Silver Free silver was advocated by William Jennings Bryan. It was a notion that advocated free silver for people. Depression of 1893 The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the U.S. that began in 1893. Cross of Gold Speech An impassioned address by William Jennings Bryan at the 1896 Democratic Convention, in which he attacked the gold bugs who insisted that U.S. currency be backed only with gold. Chapter #26.2 Guided Reading Questions The Farm Becomes a Factory Know: Montgomery Ward, Combine 1. Explain the statement, "The amazing mechanization of agriculture in the postwar years was almost as striking as the mechanization of industry."

American farmers began to concentrate on growing single cash crops and use profits to buy supplies in the store. Farmers were intimately tied to banking, railroading, and manufacturing Deflation Dooms the Debtor Know: Deflation 2. What problems faced farmers in the closing decades of the 19th century? Bankruptcy fell on lie blight and grain prices depended on the grain. The deflationary pinch on the debtor flowed from the static money supply. Ruinous rates of interest were charged on mortgages farm rather than farm ownership spread fast. Unhappy Farmers 3. How did nature, government, and business all harm farmers? Insects, floods, damaged crops made expensive fertilizer necessary. Land was over assessed and they paid local taxes. The railroad had a hard grip on grain growers. The Farmers Take Their Stand Know: The Grange, Cooperatives, Greenback-Labor Party, James B. Weaver 4. How did the Grange attempt to help farmers? Social, education, fraternal activities, regulate railroads through state legislation. Granger laws Prelude to Populism Know: The Farmers Alliance, Mary Elizabeth Lease 5. What steps did the Farmers Alliance believe would help farmers? Break the grips of the railroads and manufacturers through cooperative. Nationalizing of railroads, institution increasing income tax, creating a new federal sub treaty for the farmers, and the unlimited coinage of silver. Coxeys Army and the Pullman Strike Know: Coxeys Army, Eugene V. Debs, Pullman Palace Car Company 6. Why did President Cleveland send in federal troops during the Pullman Strike? Populist party was strengthened for their argument and ragged armies of the unemployed began marching to protest their plight Golden McKinley and Sliver Bryan Know: Mark Hannah, William McKinley, William Jennings Bryan, Cross of Gold speech 7 Was William McKinley a strong presidential candidate? Explain. William Mckinley of Ohio supported by Mark Hannah. Republicans had the money and leaned toward hard money policies.

Class Conflict: Plowholders versus Bondholders Know: Fourth Party System 8. The free-silver election of 1896 was probably the most significant since Lincolns victories in 1860 and 1864. Explain. Free silver because almost as much as a religious as a financial issue. The smashing republican of 1896 heralded a republican grip on the White House for 16 consecutive years.

Republican Standpattism Enthroned Know: Dingley Tariff Bill 9. Did McKinley possess the characteristics necessary to be an effective president? His cautious, conservative nature caused him to shy away from reform. Moderate inflation took care of the currency needs. Prosperity began to return in 1897. Varying Viewpoints: Was the West Really Won? Know: Frederick Jackson Turner 10. Which criticism of the Turner Thesis seems most valid? Explain What new forces would shape a distinctive American national character, now that the testing ground of the frontier been plowed and tamed? American character was forged in the Western wilderness.