Farmers Flashcards
Farmers
Homestead act 1862
Government gives away western land to encourage settlement. 160 acres per family. Must live on it for 5 years.
Farmers
Exodusters
Named after the exodus where the Jews left Egypt. Reconstruction ended with the Compromise of 1877, republicans get the presidency and then the male vote gets returned in the south. This leads to 25,000 African Americans from Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas by Pap Singleton. Left because of racial discrimination and racism by the Crow laws
Sodbusters
Used iron tools to dig up the soil, making homes out of mud, burning buffalo, there is a lack of materials. West of the 100th meridian has hardly any water and not a lot of cultivating land.
Economic Hardship
Monocropping. Dries out the land. Creates a dependency on the world market, and other industries. Farmers are increasing their debt from deflation and railroad rates.
Westward Expansion
Alaska 1867
William Sweard purchases Alaska fro 7.2 million. in 1896, they find gold, finding that the purchase was a bargain because of what they got out of it.
Westward Expansion
Oklahoma Land Rush 1889
At noon on April 12th, 1889, people were lined up to take a chunk of land for in Oklahoma, but people went the night before and settled first. People felt it was unfair.
Westward Expansion
1890 Census
Declares the frontier is closed and that there is no other land that is uninhabited. Frederick Jackson Turner states that what do they do now since having westward expansion has always been a part of US culture
Farmers Protest
Granger Movement 1870s
Farmers don’t like that they’re being charged so high for railroad rates, but they don’t have an alternative. The Granger group starts out as a social club. They store up the grain to get a hand over the RR companies heads, so they can manipulate the amount of grain out there.
Farmers Protest
Wabash Case 1886
The states can not regulate interstate commerce when the railroads extend throughout other states, and has to be passed federally. This means that the farmers case would have to be federally approved, making it more difficult to enact any kind of legislature passed.
Farmers Protest
Interstate Commerce Act 1887
This attempted to regulate railroads, and prohibited combinations of companies, and secret rebates. This creates the Agency Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate this law This keeps the larger companies in power as the smaller companies cannot gain power.
Farmers Protest
Sherman-Anti Trust act 1890
Manipulated against unions, because it state that you weren’t allowed to make combinations. Many loopholes that allowed big businesses to consider their business their own person and would rip off the judge when it went to court about the commission.
Greenback Labor Party 1870’s
The farmers like the inflation because it creates more currency floating around, although it was worth less. Easier to pay off their debt. They are able to elect 14 members into congress in 1878.
Alliance Movement
like the granger movement, started as a social group, but all wanted a farmer cooperative to buy and farm the produce to hold onto the control of sold and produced grain. Breaks the control of railroads and manufacturers. Didn’t allow African Americans which weakened them.
People’s party (populist party)
Trying to unite farmers and laborers like the Greenback Labor Party. Fight for shorter work day and immigrant restrictions. Want more taxes on the wealthy. Not strong in the south because democrats play the race card, saying that they are in favor of African Americans.
