Part IV: Farmer Protest

Written by a Farmer at the End of the 19c When the banker says he's broke And the merchant’s up in smoke, They forget that it's the farmer who feeds them all. It would put them to the test If the farmer took a rest; Then they'd know that it's the farmer feeds them all.

Problems Faced by Farmers  Specialized crops  Modern machinery  Larger farms  International markets  Debt  Railroads

Price Indexes for Consumer & Farm Products:

Farmers begin to organize

Founder of the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry (1867)

Gift for the Grangers : The Farmer Pays for All! Gift for the Grangers : The Farmer Pays for All!

The Grange Movement  First organized in the 1870s in the Midwest, the south, and Texas.  Set up cooperative associations.  Social and educational components.  Succeeded in lobbying for “Granger Laws.”  Rapidly declined by the late 1870s.

Farmers' Declaration of Independence. (July 4, 1873) "When, in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a class of the people, suffering from long continued systems of oppression and abuse, to rouse themselves from an apathetic indifference to their own interests, which has become habitual... a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to a course so necessary to their own protection." Then comes a statement of "self-evident truths," a catalogue of the sins of the railroads, a denunciation of railroads and Congress for not having redressed these wrongs, and finally the conclusion: "We, therefore, the producers of the state in our several counties assembled... do solemnly declare that we will use all lawful and peaceable means to free ourselves from the tyranny of monopoly, and that we will never cease our efforts for reform until every department of our Government gives token that the reign of licentious extravagance is over, and something of the purity, honesty, and frugality with which our fathers inaugurated it, has taken its place. "That to this end we hereby declare ourselves absolutely free and independent of all past political connections, and that we will give our suffrage only to such men for office, as we have good reason to believe will use their best endeavors to the promotion of these ends; and for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

Supreme Court Decisions  Munn vs. Illinois (1877)  Wabash, St. Louis, & Pacific Railroad Company vs. Illinois (1886)

Interstate Commerce Act (1887) Actions “Reasonable & just” Rate Schedules Rebates Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)

Warm –Up Review last night’s document analysis with the person next to you…. What was the questions asking? Which documents were difficult?

The Farmers Alliances  Begun in the late 1880s (Texas first  the Southern Alliance; then in the Midwest  the Northern Alliance).  Ocala Platform***  Built upon the ashes of the Grange.  More political and less social than the Grange.  Ran candidates for office.  Controlled 8 state legislatures & had 47 representatives in Congress during the 1890s.

United We Stand, Divided We Fall  In 1889 both the Northern and Southern Alliances merged into one—the Farmers’ Alliance.

The Populist (Peoples’) Party  Founded by James B. Weaver and Tom Watson.  Omaha, NE Convention in July,  Got almost 1 million popular votes.  Several Congressional seats won. James B. Weaver, Presidential Candidate & James G. Field, VP

Omaha Platform of System of “sub-treasuries.” 2. Abolition of the National Bank. 3. Direct election of Senators. 4. Govt. ownership of RRs, telephone & telegraph companies. 5. Government-operated postal savings banks. 6. Restriction of undesirable immigration hour work day for government employees. 8. Abolition of the Pinkerton detective agency. 9. Australian secret ballot. 10. Re-monitization of silver. 11. A single term for President & Vice President.

Platform of Lunacy

1892 Election  Candidates:  Benjamin Harrison- Republican  **Grover Cleveland- Democrat** (Winner)  James B. Weaver- Populist  Problems faced by Populists:  Democrats played “black rule”  Weaver failed to attract urban workers  Positives  Gained substantial support  Won State & local elections

1892 Election