1. Populism
8-5.6

2. Agriculture
Populism
Ben Tillman
Natural Disasters

3. I. Agricultural Depression
The Conservative gov’t did little to help small farmers.
Sharecroppers and small farmers had taken the place of large plantations.
Cotton was still the dominate crop though.
Crop lien laws made them very poor.

4. II. Cotton Prices Plummet
SC farmers didn’t use machines, but they did begin to use fertilizers.
Cotton yield increased.
Worldwide supply exceeded demand so prices fell.
Farmers couldn’t make a profit or pay off loans.
Drought, boll weevils, and bank foreclosures also hurt farmers.

5. III. Populist Party
The Grange was organized by farmers as a social organization.
It turned into a political organization in the West and Midwest.
SC farmers start Farmers’ Alliances in the 1880s.
There was a white and Colored Farmers’ Alliance.

6. III. Populist Party They wanted:
Unlimited coinage of silver.
Regulation of railroads and banks.
System of federal farm loans.
Popular election of senators.
Secret ballots.
Graduated income tax.
They teamed up with factory workers to ask for 8 hour work days and immigration restrictions.

7. IV. Pitchfork Ben Tillman
Ben Tillman became a leader b/c of his speaking and political skills.
He appealed to common people instead of the elite.
He wasn’t a true Populist b/c he really just wanted to control the Democratic party.

8. IV. Pitchfork Ben Tillman
Tillman was a white supremacist.
He was elected on a platform of white superiority.
He refused to allow AAs to vote & tried to further disenfranchise them.
Violence against AAs increased as whites took out their frustrations.

9. V. Clemson? Tillman supported Clemson as an agricultural college.
He thought USC was too elite.
Clemson was a land grant college.

10. VI. Natural Disasters The 1886 earthquake devastated Charleston.
It was the most deadly earthquake to ever strike east of the Mississippi.
We still use knowledge we gained then to protect us today from future earthquakes.

11. VI. Natural Distasters
The Hurricane of 1893 that hit Charleston wiped out rice fields.
Carolina Gold was no longer profitable.
Tobacco is introduced as a cash crop, but Cotton is still King.