1. Politics and Populism/1898 & White Supremacy (New South)

2. POLITICS AND POPULISM By the 1880s, farmers had begun organizing and protesting, laying the blame for their economic struggles at the feet of industrialists and railroads By the 1890s, farmers were joining with industrial workers to create the People’s Party or “Populist” Party, which briefly became a force in American politics.

3. THE RISE OF POPULISM The first organized effort to address general agricultural problems was by the Patrons of Husbandry, a farmer’s group popularly known as the Grange movement. Launched in 1867 by employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Granges focused initially on social activities to counter the isolation most farm families encountered. Women’s participation was actively encouraged. During the 1870s, a few states passed “Granger laws,” limiting railroad and warehouse fees. By 1880 the Grange was in decline and being replaced by the Farmers’ Alliances, which were similar in many respects but more overtly political. Working with sympathetic Democrats in the South or small third parties in the West, the Farmers’ Alliances made a push for political power. A third political party, the People’s (or Populist) Party, emerged.

4. FINANCIAL PANIC OF 1893 The financial panic of 1893 heightened the tension of this debate. Bank failures abounded in the South and Midwest; unemployment soared and crop prices fell badly. The crisis and President Grover Cleveland’s defense of the gold standard sharply divided the Democratic Party. Democrats who were silver supporters went over to the Populists as the presidential elections of 1896 neared Republican candidate William McKinley was Democrat nomination. In 1898 the Spanish-American War drew the nation’s attention further from Populist issues. Populism and the silver issue were dead. Many of the movement’s other reform ideas, however, lived on.

5. ELECTION OF 1898 ( CONTINUES) In the years leading up to the election there were three active political parties. After the Civil War, the Republican Party rose to power in North Carolina. Many former Confederates were prohibited from voting, while newly enfranchised African Americans and whites who had sympathized with the Union flocked to the Republican Party, still viewed as the party of Abraham Lincoln and emancipation. As former Confederates and Whigs began to come back into the political process, they formed the Conservative Party, which opposed federal intervention in state affairs and spoke out against the so-called “radical” reconstruction policies of the U.S. Congress. would later change their name to the Democratic Party took control of the North Carolina General Assembly in 1870 began to reverse some of the changes enacted by Reconstruction-era Republicans

6. In 1894, the Republicans and Populists negotiated an agreement in which, instead of running competing candidates for statewide offices, they would divide the ticket between the two parties. This cooperative arrangement was known as “fusion.” The fusion candidates defeated the Democrats throughout the state, winning a majority in the legislature. After two successful campaigns, cracks in the fusion relationship began to show. Although the Republicans and Populists shared common interests in electoral reform and local self-government, these issues had already been addressed, and some Populists were uncomfortable joining with a party that did not support increased coinage of silver and was so closely associated with African Americans. Populist and Republican leaders realized that the only way they could continue to hold power was through fusion and they agreed to run together again.

7. “WHITE SUPREMACY CAMPAIGN” Democrats repeatedly stated that only white men were fit to hold political office The Democrats referred to themselves as the “white man’s party” and appealed to white North Carolinians to restore them to power. Toward the end of the campaign, the Democrats increasingly resorted to the threat of violence. At several rallies in southeastern North Carolina, large groups of men dressed in red shirts and openly brandishing weapons rode through predominantly African American neighborhoods in an effort to scare potential Republican voters away from the polls. The “Red Shirts” were a campaign strategy borrowed from South Carolina Senator Ben Tillman. On election day, November 8, 1898, the Democrats were returned to power.

8. THE WILMINGTON RECORD EDITORIAL http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist- newsouth/4363

9. THE SUFFRAGE AMENDMENT Every male person born in the US, and every male person who has been naturalized, twenty-one years of age resided in the State of North Carolina for two years, in the county six months No person who has been convicted, or who has confessed his guilt in open court upon indictment of any crime, the punishment of which now is, or may hereafter be, imprisonment in the State prison, shall be permitted to vote unless the said person shall be first restored to citizenship in the manner prescribed by law. Be able to read and write in the English Language Paid all previous year taxes by March All elections by the people shall be by ballot

10. 3 TYPES OF POLITICAL PARTIES DEMOCRATIC After the Civil War, became essentially the only party in the South as African Americans were increasingly prevented from voting. In the North and West, support continued from farmers, workers, and Catholic immigrants as well as some businessmen who had opposed the Civil War. Continued to support a low tariff and economically conservative policies. Tended to oppose reforms such as Prohibition. After the Civil War, controlled at the national level by Northern businessmen.

11. REPUBLICAN Adopted much of the antebellum Whig platform, supporting industry and urban growth, education, and division of western lands into homesteads for farmers. Strongly nationalist, supporting unity and expansion of national interests. More likely to support moral reform, including Prohibition. Supported by a coalition of northern businessmen, skilled craftsmen, professionals, commercial farmers, and African Americans.

12. PEOPLE’S (POPULIST) Supported mainly by farmers in the South and West. Tried but largely failed to build a coalition with industrial workers. Advocated government ownership of railroads and regulation of commerce. Best known for supporting expansion of the money supply, by printing “greenbacks” and ending the gold standard. Elected representatives to Congress, but failed to win a national election. Supported a “fusion” ticket with Democrats in 1896 and 1900.