Chapter 5 Flashcards
What happened to farmers?
They were trapped in a vicious economic cycle
What was happeneing to the prices of the crops
They kepts rfalling
What were railroads doing?
Taking advantage of farmers
What were the paperbacks?
They were paper money that could not be exchanged for gold or silver. It was worth less then hard money
What happened to the greenbacks
they were taken out of circulation
What did retiring the greenbacks mean to farmers/
That they had to pay back more then the loans that they took out, even though they were being payed less
What did farmers pay outragesly for?
Transportation of grain. The Lack of competition among the rails meant that the prices would vary
How were farmers able to pay for all of this?
They mortgaged their farms to buy seed and supplies. Soon, they caught in a cycle of credit which meant more debt
IN 1867 Oliver Hudson Kelley started the
Patrons of Husbandry
What did this organization become popularly known as?
Grange
What was the orginial purpose of the grance?
To provide a social outlet and an educational forum for isolated farm families
By the 1870s, what were members of the Grange doing?
Fighting the rialroads, setting up farmers coops, and sponnsoring state legislation
What was another group that came. What did it do?
Farmers Alliances. It included many others who sympathized with farmers. They educated people about important topics. ad tried to control banks and railroads
How much did membershiip grow tO
4 million
What was populism?
The movement of the pople. Or the peoples party
What was the purpose of the Populist party?
To lift the burden of farmers
What was the platform?
increase in money supply, rise in prices, graduated income tax, federal loan program, election of senators, only one term for presidents, and 8 hour work day
What was the Panix of 1893?
Farmers had too many debt. Railroad construction had expanded faster then markets. Railroads went bankrupt.. Prices of stocks fell and investments dropped
Republicans were in the North. South and West were Democrats
What was bimettalism?
It was monetary system in which the government would give citizens either gold or silver in exchange for paper currency or checks
What was the gold standard?
Backing dollars with gold
The populists joined forces with William Jennings Bryandid he win the 1896 election
No, William McKinley won
Populists did not like Arthur Sewall as the VP canidate so they nominated
Thomas Watson
Why did Bryan not win?
He had megar funds, bu
How many votes did McKinley get>
7 million vs. 6.5 million
