1. Rise of Farmers
Populism

2. Rural unrest and the national grange
From the population of the United States doubled.
At the same time the number of farms tripled.

3. Rural unrest and the national grange
Many farmers needed to borrow money to buy their land and machinery.
With new machinery, farmers could produce crops much faster.
The result of more farms and greater productivity
= Overproduction.

4. rural unrest and the national grange
Overproduction= Lower prices for crops.
Since farmers were making less money, many found it difficult to pay their bills.
Many of those farmers lost their land and machinery.
Many of the farmers began to blame business people.

5. The national grange
As conditions grew worse, they began to organize like factory workers had done.
The National Grange was founded.
National Grange: organization dedicated to improving farmers’ lives
Membership grew quickly.

6. Fighting the railroads
The National Grange decided to focus on politics and support candidates who supported farmers.
The Grange also wanted to regulate the railroads, which would benefit farmers when shipping crops.

7. Fighting the railroads
In 1887 the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was created.
This ensured that railroads charged fair rates and did not favor big business.

8. The free silver debate
In addition to the railroads, farmers were also concerned with money issues.
Since the 1700’s the US had been following free coinage -meaning that both gold and silver were made into coins. Paper money was worth a specific amount of gold or silver.
In 1873, it changed to the gold standard under which only gold could back US money.

9. The free silver debate
Farmers favored coining silver to create inflation- an increase in the money supply and rise in prices.
They wanted the price of crops to rise because they thought this would increase their income.
One politician, William Jennings Bryan supported free silver coinage.

10. The Free silver debate Result of the free silver debate….
Congress increased the amount of silver the government used for coinage, but the money supply did not increase enough to satisfy silver supporters.

11. The populist party
Many farmers formed their own political parties to increase their power.
These groups became known as the Farmers’ Alliances.
The Alliances became known as the Populist Party.

12. Populist Party Goals: Populist party
End power of big business over government
Government ownership of railroads, telephone, and telegraph systems
Free and unlimited coinage of silver
Supported 8 hour work day (to win support of workers)

13. Election of 1896
The Populist Party decided to nominate William Jennings Bryan who swept crowds of people with his “Cross of Gold” speech.
He believed in free silver coinage, which the farmers supported.
Despite the effort, William McKinley won the election and this ended the Populist Party.