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Chapter 31

Chapter 31. The Nation’s Bone and Sinew Agriculture and Agrarians 1865–1896. Success Story. Between 1870-1914 land farmed and production increased greatly Still good land in Midwest and parts of South Real Estate Market Government had opened more land

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Chapter 31

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  1. Chapter 31 The Nation’s Bone and Sinew Agriculture and Agrarians 1865–1896

  2. Success Story • Between 1870-1914 land farmed and production increased greatly • Still good land in Midwest and parts of South • Real Estate Market • Government had opened more land • Homestead Act offered 160 acres of free land • Some start up costs but not a great deal of money

  3. Farming the Great Plains • Land • Very different from Eastern Woodlands • Less precipitation • Higher altitude • Different soils – grassland • Needed more than 160 acres • Built sod houses • Farmers plow deeper to conserve moisture • Water and plains farming • Inadequate rainfall for farming plains • Rivers inadequate for irrigation • Wells, windmills expensive, risky

  4. Farming the Great Plains (cont.’d) • Living in the Great Plains • Few trees on Great Plains • Build houses out of sod • Use barbed wire for fencing • Machines on the land • Chilled steel plow • Machines plant, shuck, thresh, bind • Machines make farmers more productive • Bonanza farms of large scale farming

  5. Hard Times • Lived isolated, especially hard for women • Patrons of Husbandry formed as social group • Younger people fled to cities • Hayseeds • Farmers losing status in society, economy • Urban culture saw farmers as “hayseeds” • Hamlin Garland, Main Traveled Roads • Garland saw farm life as dreary • Machinery expensive • Farmers get deeper in debt • Deflation makes debts harder to repay • Many farmers lose farms, financial security

  6. Southern Farmers • Sharecroppers • Many Southerners worked as tenant farmers • Sharecropping replaced slavery • Tenant paid for land, house with share of crop • Sharecropping worked as production system • Debt Bondage • Declining prices meant severe Southern poverty • Sharecroppers survived on credit sat local store • Crop seldom enough to make ends meet • Debt legally bound sharecropperto land

  7. The Populists • Alliance leaders look to form new party • Populists start as state party in Kansas • Most unwilling to part with Democrats, Republicans • Political events weaken party loyalties • Omaha Convention • Farmers start Populist Party, 1892 • Run James B. Weaver for president • Democrats win, but Populists do well • Party has strong religious fervor

  8. The Populists (cont.’d) • Populist programs • Direct election of Senators, secret ballot • Initiative, referendum recall • Postal savings banks • Graduated income tax • Government owned railroads, telegraphs • Free and unlimited coinage of silver

  9. Silver and Gold • Money: token that represents value • Makes exchange of goods and services easier • Value of money can change • History of Money • Most nations use gold, silver as money • U.S. Mint produces coins • Originally only silver coins then adds gold in 18302 • 1877 Congress sets value of silver to gold at 16.1 • Banks issue paper money redeemable in gold

  10. Silver and Gold(cont.’d) • Silver to the fore • 1873 Coinage Act • Government no longer mints silver coins • US on gold standard • Miners, debtors decry Act as “Crime of ’73” • Bland-Allison Act offers compromise

  11. Silver and Gold(cont.’d) • Sherman Silver Purchase Act • Silver dollar back, but not bimetallism • Value of silver continues declining • Sherman Silver Purchase Act, 1890 • President favors gold standard; no bimetallism • Cleveland and the Populists • Major depression begins in 1893 • Gold shortage; Sherman Act repealed • Unrest builds as depression worsens • Coxeys’ Army • Cleveland becomes increasingly unpopular

  12. Discussion Questions • What were the difficulties of farming in the Great Plains? In what ways did farmers overcome these difficulties? • How were conditions different for farmers in the South, compared to farmers in the West? • How did the Populist political moment grow out of the farm alliances? What impact did the Populists have on American politics? • Explain the monetary issues in the U.S. How did Populist politics become entangled in these issues?

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