1. Unit 2: The American South and Great West PowerPoint #2

2. Daily Essential Questions:
How were the civil and political rights of African Americans changed after Reconstruction?
What problems did southern farmers face and how did they respond?
What led to the rise of the Populist movement, and what effect did it have?

3. How did African Americans lose freedoms after Reconstruction?
EQ #1. How were the civil and political rights of African Americans changed after Reconstruction?
How did African Americans lose freedoms after Reconstruction?
13th – Amendment – No Slavery; 14th – born in US – get equal protection under the law; 15th – all men can vote
The Ku Klux Klan - intimidation and violence toward African Americans who try to vote or gain political power.
The Civil Rights Act of 1875 banned discrimination in public facilities and transportation. BUT ***The Supreme Court, however, ruled in a series of cases decided in 1883 that such decisions were local issues.***

4. 4. Voting was restricted by:
poll taxes – had to pay a tax
literacy tests – pass a reading test
grandfather clauses – could not vote unless your grandfather voted before 1866
and violence by groups like the KKK.
5. Segregation via Jim Crow laws became the norm.

5. Is OK and Does not violate the 14th Amendment
What was decided in 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson Supreme Court Case?
Separate but Equal
Is OK and Does not violate the 14th Amendment
The constitutionality of segregationist Jim Crow laws was upheld by the Supreme Court.
5min

6. How did key leaders protest the treatment of African Americans?
1. Booker T. Washington
Believed that black citizens should build up their own economic resources through hard work, (instead of using those energies to overturn Jim Crow). 6

7. 2. Opposite of Washington, W. E. B
2. Opposite of Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois argued that blacks should demand full and equal rights immediately.
3min W vs D
3min Du Bois bio
3. Another black leader, Ida B. Wells, devoted her life to the crusade against lynching.
two video clips 2min each
2min about lynching 7

8. EQ#2: What problems did southern farmers face and how did they respond?
War damage
Lack of capital to finance new industry led to dependence on northern bankers.
Lack of well trained workers for factory jobs.
Most farmers still depended on cash crops and cotton prices dropped after war.
Railroads were over charging!
Boll Weevils wiped out crops in 1880s.
Responses:
Diversified crops
Supported new industry
Ex: Textile and Lumber Mills
3. New Railroad lines
4. Created alliances – like the Grange

9. 9

10. What was the Grange? 1. An organization for farmers organized in 1867.
Its original purpose was to provide a social outlet and an educational forum for isolated farm families.
But by the 1870s, Grange members spent most of their time and energy fighting the railroads
Their plan was to set up farmers’ cooperatives and teach farmers how to organize and encourage state legislature to regulate railroads

12. What was the Farmers’ Alliance?
1. The Grange gave rise to other organizations, most notably was the Farmer’s Alliance.
The FA worked to negotiate better prices on supplies, freight charges, and loan rates.
It also connected farmers in the South and West.
Included people who sympathized with farmers
Sent lecturers to farm towns to educate farmers about lower interest rates on loans and gov’t control over railroads and banks
Membership grew to 4 million
Most were in the Southern Alliance
About 250,000 were blacks in the Colored Farmers’ National Alliance

13. What were the problems with the railroads?
1. Railroad companies were able to overcharge for shipping and storage.
WHY? BECAUSE THERE WAS NO COMPETITION
2. Union Pacific and Central Pacific partook in a merger –
since there were no other western railroad companies - they could charge whatever price they wanted and the farmers had no other option, so they had to pay
3. In addition – grain brokers and merchants met with railroad companies secretly to determine market prices of crops

14. “The Modern Colossus of Railroads”
Men like Cornelius Vanderbilt took advantage of this system
industrialist who made his fortune in shipping and railroads

16. What laws helped farmers? Granger Laws
1. In 1871 Illinois authorized a commission to “establish maximum freight and passenger rates and prohibit discrimination”
2. The RRs fight back
In 1877 – Case of Munn v. Illinois
Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Granger Laws
States won the right to regulate the RRs for the benefit of farmers and consumers
3. Interstate Commerce Commission – established to regulate RR rates. (But in 1897 Supreme Court ruled that it could not do that.)

17. EQ #3 What led to the rise of the Populist movement, and what effect did it have?
Farmer’s Alliances – Like The Grange in 1867 and it gained a million members. (This is a lot of unhappy farmers!!)
The spread of the Farmers’ Alliances led to the formation of the Populist Party (AKA the People’s Party) in Which called for:
An income tax
Govt. ownership of railroads
Bank regulations
Secret ballots
Restriction on immigration
Election of US Senators by popular vote
Silver coinage
WHY would a political party made up of farmers support these? What were farmers upset about?

19. So, why did the Populist Party and farmers want to have
silver coinage along with gold?
More Stable Economy,
Less Inflation
Farmers thought higher prices would help them make more money.

20. How did the Populist Party do in political elections?
three governors, five senators, and ten congressmen were elected.
2. In 1896, William Jennings Bryan’s speech “A Cross of Gold” pushed “free silver,” moved Democrats to nominate him for President. The Populist Party chose to give him their support.
4min 20

21. You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold."

22. 3. McKinley won against Bryan in 1896 and in 1900.
BUT….
Many of the reforms sought by the Populists eventually became reality.
Ted Ed on Wizard of OZ