THE RISE OF THE FARMER & THE MOVE OVERSEAS

1. THE RISE OF THE FARMER & THE MOVE OVERSEAS

2. Also called the General Allotment Act, it tried to dissolve Indian tribes by redistributing the land. • Designed to forestall growing Indian poverty, it resulted in many Indians losing their lands to speculators.

3. Dawes Severalty Act, 1887

4. American historian who said that humanity would continue to progress as long as there was new land to move into. • Frontier Thesis—The frontier provided a place for homeless and solved social problems.

5. Frederick Jackson Turner

6. Proposed by Frederick Jackson Turner to explain America's unique non-European culture, held that people who couldn't succeed in eastern society could move west for cheap land and a new start. • Another name for the Frontier Thesis.

7. Safety Valve Thesis

8. Rich deposits of silver found in Nevada in 1859, it was the richest mine in US history. • The Mother Lode

9. Comstock Lode

10. Referred to the coinage law of 1873 which eliminated silver money from circulation. • Name given by people who wanted silver in circulation.

11. "Crime of 1873"

12. 1878 - Authorized coinage of a limited number of silver dollars and "silver certificate" paper money. • First of several government subsidies to silver producers in depression periods. • Required government to buy between $2 and $4 million worth of silver. • Created a partial dual coinage system referred to as "limping bimetallism." • Repealed in 1900.

13. Bland-Allison Act

14. 1890 - Directed the Treasury to buy even larger amounts of silver than the Bland-Allison Act and at inflated prices. • The introduction of large quantities of overvalued silver into the economy led to a run on the federal gold reserves, leading to the Panic of 1893. • Repealed in 1893.

15. Sherman Silver Purchase Act

16. Use of two metals, gold and silver, for currency as America did with the Bland-Allison Act and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. • Ended in 1900 with the enactment of the Gold Standard Act.

17. Bimetallism

18. The thesis of his Coin's Financial School is that London arranged the end of the free coinage of silver in 1873 because they had gold cornered and thus the large Civil War debt became payable in gold instead of silver. • Coinage Act of 1873 demonetized silver by allowing repayment of all debts in gold or silver at the option of the holder of the debt. • The deflation resulting from the immediate removal of half the nation's money supply destroyed agriculture and main street America along with it.

19. William "Coin" Harvey

20. Movement for using silver in all aspects of currency. Not adopted because all other countries used a gold standard.

21. Free Silver

22. Profits dwindled, businesses went bankrupt and slid into debt. • Caused loss of business confidence. • 20% of the workforce unemployed. • Led to the Pullman strike.

23. Depression of 1893

24. 1893 - Group of unemployed workers led by Jacob Coxey who marched from Ohio to Washington to draw attention to the plight of workers and to ask for government relief. • Government arrested the leaders and broke up the march in Washington.

25. Coxey's army

26. 1893 - Act repealed by President Cleveland to protect gold reserves.

27. Sherman Silver Purchase Act

28. Movement which focused on cooperation between farmers. • They all agreed to sell crops at the same high prices to eliminate competition. • Not successful.

29. Farmer's Alliance

30. The decline of the gold reserves stored in the U.S. Treasury fell to a dangerously low level during the Panic of 1893. • This forced President Cleveland to borrow $65 million in gold from Wall-Street banker __ in order to support the gold standard.

31. JP Morgan

32. 1890 - The leaders of what would later become the Populist Party held a national convention in Ocala, Florida and adopted a platform advocating reforms to help farmers.

33. Ocala Demands

34. Officially named the People's Party, but commonly known as the __, it was founded in 1891 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

35. Populist Party

36. Free coinage of silver and paper money • National income tax • Direct election of senators • Regulation of railroads • Sub-treasury Plan • Other government reforms to help farmers

37. Populist Party Omaha platform

38. Running for president-James Weaver, vice president-James Field

39. Populist Party, 1892

40. A leader of the Populist Party in the South. • He tried to unite the agrarians across class lines, overcoming racial divides. He also supported the right of African American men to vote. • As his own personal wealth grew, he denounced socialism. He became an anti-Semite and anti-Catholic crusader, and advocated reorganizing the Ku Klux Klan.

41. Tom Watson

42. He was the Populist candidate for president in the election of 1892; received only 8.2% of the vote. He was from the West.

43. James B. Weaver

44. A senator from South Carolina, he compared Cleveland's betrayal of the Democratic party to Judas' betrayal of Jesus.

45. "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman

46. A speaker for the Populist Party and the Farmer's Alliance. • She believed that big business had made the people of America into "wage slaves.“ • “Raise less corn and more hell”

47. Mary Ellen Lease

48. In 1889, he was nominated as the Populist Party's candidate for Congress from Kansas. • His Republican opponent was J. R. Hallowell, an attorney. He denounced Hallowell as a son of wealth whose feet were "encased in fine silk hosiery." • Hallowell fired back that having silk socks was better than having none at all. • With the help of populist campaigner Mary Ellen Lease, he won a new nickname and an 8,000-vote margin of victory in the race.

49. "Sockless" Jerry Simpson

50. Three-time candidate for president for the Democratic Party, nominated because of support from the Populist Party. • He never won, but was the most important Populist in American history. • He later served as Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of State (1913-1915). • The Great Commoner