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Thinking the People

Thinking the People. The Problem of Inequality. Was concentrated economic power a threat to freedom and democracy? Ex: railroads, financiers, monopolies, “robber barons” Was American Dream an illusion?. Doubts about Democracy. Poor could vote to take from the rich Political corruption

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Thinking the People

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  1. Thinking the People

  2. The Problem of Inequality

  3. Was concentrated economic power a threat to freedom and democracy? • Ex: railroads, financiers, monopolies, “robber barons” • Was American Dream an illusion?

  4. Doubts about Democracy • Poor could vote to take from the rich • Political corruption • Danger of regulation (8 hour workday) • “Social Darwinism”

  5. The Courts Agree • Lochner v. New York (1905) • Made limits on work hours illegal • Coppage v. Kansas (1915) • OK’d “yellow dog” contracts • Issues injunctions to break strikes

  6. The “Labor Question” • Economic mobility no longer possible? • Permanent class of factory workers? • Unionization?

  7. The Knights of Labor • 800,000 members at height (1886) • First union to include skilled and unskilled, blacks, women, etc. (except Asians) • Capitalists=the new “slave power”

  8. The War in the Streets • 1886: 350,000 rally for 8-hour day • Ironworkers strike in Chicago • Police kill strikers

  9. The Haymarket Massacre

  10. The Haymarket Massacre • Bomb attack during protest • Police again open fire • Activists raided and arrested • 8 anarchists convicted on thin evidence

  11. What’s the Matter with Kansas? • Farmers unhappy too • Growing debt • To pay for fertilizer, equipment, etc., esp. in West • Declining prices for crops • Competition from abroad

  12. The Chickens Are Restless • Farmers’ Alliance • Founded in TX, late 1870s • Biggest movement of 19th century • Wanted farmers not to depend on banks • Finance and market their own crops

  13. The People’s Party • aka the “Populists” • Establishes newspapers, sends speakers throughout countryside • Traditional vision of the small producer

  14. “Cyclone” Davis Mary Elizabeth Lease “raise less corn and more hell”

  15. The Pops’ Platform (1892) • Direct election of Senators • Graduated income tax • Public ownership of railroads • Right to unionize

  16. The Populists’ Challenge • Break two-party system • Attempt to unite urban workers and rural farmers • Black and white farmers in the South vs. white supremacist Democrats

  17. The Cross of Gold • Populists join w/ Dems to support William Jennings Bryan for President in 1896 • Famous speech: • “You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”

  18. The Money Issue • Populists and Dems rally behind “free silver” • Republicans and big business support William McKinley and “sound money”/gold standard • Republicans win big

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