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Warm Up

Warm Up. Is political power even among the classes (upper, middle and lower classes)? How do you know?. People Move Out West. Homestead Act ( 1862)  160 acres of free land! Pay a small fee I mprove the land (5 yrs) Land could be purchased for $1.25 per acre However: Drought

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Warm Up

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  1. Warm Up Is political power even among the classes (upper, middle and lower classes)? How do you know?

  2. People Move Out West • Homestead Act (1862) 160 acres of free land! • Pay a small fee • Improve the land (5 yrs) • Land could be purchased for $1.25 per acre • However: • Drought • extreme cold or heat • 160 acres wasn't enough to sustain a family.

  3. Political Problems out West • Gilded Age farmers faced major problemslack of voting cohesion and national influence. • Banking problems still couldn’t get credit • ContractionNo money! • Railroadsno control, exploiting farmers • Huge crop failures because of drought and other natural disasters

  4. Populism in the West

  5. Birth of the Populists No more millionaires, and no more paupers; no more gold kings, silver kings and oil kings, and no more little waifs of humanity starving for a crust of bread. We shall have the golden age of which Isaiah sang and the prophets have so long foretold; when the farmers shall be prosperous and happy, dwelling under their own vine and fig tree; when the laborer shall have that for which he toils. . . .When we shall have not a government of the people by capitalists, but a government of the people, by the people. • Mary Elizabeth LeaseMember of “the Grange”

  6. The Grange (Patrons of Husbandry) • Founder: Oliver Hudson Kelley • Cooperative purchasing to lower prices on farm equipment and supplies • Create an early form of credit union • Tried to manufacture farm equipment (demise of the Grange)

  7. The Grange’s Effectiveness • Tried to regulate railroads:"Granger Laws." • Wasbash case which said the states could not regulate interstate trade • 1878, elected 14 members of Congress • 1880, the “Greenback Party” Granger James B. Weaver on got 3% of the vote

  8. Populist Party Created • Fight Wall Street. • Nationalize railroads, telephone, and the telegraph. • Graduated Income Tax • “Sub-treasury" to give loans to farmers. • Unlimited coinage of silver. • Limit Immigrants ability to own land • Secret Ballots • Term Limits for President

  9. Election of 1896 • Republicans: William McKinley. • pro-tariff, Civil War record, Congressional record • Mark Hanna helped. • Democrats: William Jennings Bryan. • From the West • Cross of Gold Speech • Gold/silver issue the top issue in the election. • Soft vs. Hard Money

  10. Quotes from the Election of 1896 • “Men vote as you please, but if Bryan is elected…the whistle will not blow Wednesday morning” –Factory Owner, 1896

  11. Results

  12. Election Results: Class Division • McKinley's had $16 million/Bryan's had $1 million. • McKinley Won Easily • gold was the basis of money • victory for business, conservatives, and middle class • Republican presidents for the next 16 yrs.

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