Progressive Era Flashcards
The Grangers Grievances: Definition
Definition: Grangers formed the Grange, resenting formation of monopolies (particularly railroad monopolies), economic stressors brought on by a decline in farm goods’ prices, and the need to find community in isolated rural America.
The depression of 1873 further exacerbated their grievances, boosting Granger membership.
The Grangers Grievances (Significance)
Significance: Their grievances were widespread among farmers, leading over 20,000 Granger chapters to form by 1875.
Grangers in the Midwest had legislative influence, passing laws that restricted monopolistic railroads until the courts quashed them.
Mary Lease (Definition)
Definition: Orator of the Farmers’ Alliances, well known for encouraging farmers to “raise less corn and more hell.” She believed farmers needed to work to take a stand against monopolistic injustices and fight for their economic security.
Mary Lease (Significance)
Significance: The Farmers’ Alliance often gave women the right to vote on the Alliances’ matters, gave them leadership positions, and supported them as lecturers. Women also used the Grangers’ platform to promote Temperance.
The Peoples/Populist Party (ideas/platform) (Definition)
Definition: The People’s Party formed in 1892 with the help of Northwestern Alliance members and Southern Alliance members such as Tom Watson of GA and Leonidas L. Polk of N.C..
Popularists were generally small, impoverished farmers of the Midwest and the South who supported the Party because it protected farming interests against expanding monopolies and the increasingly mechanized, organized economic system.
The Popularists also provided community for its members, who often felt isolated in rural areas.
Peoples/Populist Party (Significance)
Significance: The Popularist Party tried to include workers in its platform, advocating for restrictions on immigration, the 8-hour workday, and the illegalization of the use of detectives as strikebreakers.
However, the Popularist Party failed to include these groups due to the fact that farmers and laborers often had opposing interests due to their opposing experiences with industrialization.
“Free Silver” (Definition)
Definition: Popularists had a lot of support in the Far West’s Rocky Mountain states. In these regions, Popularists argued that in addition to being backed by silver, U.S. currency should be backed by gold to increase currency avaliablity. Miners of the region would benefit from such a transition.
“Free Silver” (Significance)
Significance: The “Free Silver” concept increased Popularist support, drawing laborers into the party who were miners in the Far West and could therefore find common ground with them.
