1. The Populist Movement The Grange and Farmers’ Alliances
The People’s Party and the Omaha Platform
William Jennings Bryan and the Election of 1896

2. What Problems Did American Farmers Face in the Late 1800s?
Rising costs (new machinery, etc.)
Falling Prices
Expanding international production
Overproduction
Deflationary economy
High RR rates
Harsh weather
DEBT!

3. Falling Prices for Agricultural Products: How bad was it?
CORN:
$0.78/bushel in 1867
$0.31/bushel in 1873
$0.23/bushel in 1889
WHEAT:
$2.00/bushel in 1867
$0.70/bushel in 1889

4. The Grange Farmers’ social club, originally
Evolved into a political organization that lobbied states for legislation favorable to farmers
800,000 members by 1875
Oliver Kelley

5. “Granger Laws” (1870s)
State laws regulating RR rates passed at the behest of now-politically-organized farmers
“The public be damned.”
-- William Vanderbilt

6. The US Supreme Court Weighs In
Munn v. Illinois (1877)
In a rare victory for government regulation of business, USSC upheld Illinois’ Granger Law
Wabash v. Illinois (1886)
More in line with its tendency to support big business, USSC reversed itself and struck down Illinois’ Granger Law

7. The Federal Government Gets Involved
Interstate Commerce Act (1887)
Required that RR rates be “reasonable and just”
To enforce this provision, it created . . .
Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
America’s first federal regulatory agency
Not very effective, but it was a start

8. Farmers’ Alliances
First formed as Southern Farmers’ Alliance in the 1880s, other alliances popped up around the country until they were absorbed into the National Farmers’ Alliance around 1890.
Lobbied for farmers’ interests

9. The People’s Party a.k.a. – Populist Party
Populists sought to directly influence government by forming their own political party
Took control of Kansas state legislature in 1890
James B. Weaver for president in 1892
Weaver received over 1 million votes

10. Populist Rhetoric
Popular Populist orator Mary E. Lease famously urged farmers to “raise less corn and more hell.”

11. Populist Rhetoric
The soaring rhetoric of Ignatius Donnelly’s Preamble to the Omaha Platform is indicative of the Populist style.

12. Omaha Platform Government ownership of RRs, telephone and telegraph
Direct election of US Senators
Graduated income tax
8-hr. industrial work day
Immigration restrictions
Free Silver – “Free and unlimited coinage of silver in a 16:1 ratio to gold.”

13. Election of 1896 The Republican nominee:
McKinley had the backing of big business and spent more money than any candidate in history on his campaign.
RRs brought voters to McKinley’s home town of Canton, OH free of charge. There, McKinley greeted them from his front porch.

14. William Jennings Bryan
The “Boy Orator of the Platte” won the Democratic nomination at age 36, after giving his famous “Cross of Gold” speech at the party’s convention.

15. Election of 1896

16. L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful World of Oz