Populism and ProtestThe Plight of the Farmers

Section 4.3

What was the Populist (People’s) party?

• Third party• Coalition of farmers,

laborers, reformers• Favored:

–Immigration restrictions

–Shorter workday–Bimetalism (Both gold

and silver coins)

Homestead Act

What happened to farmers in the 1880s?

• Homestead Act

• New farming methods

• New machinery

• So things were going well, right?

• NO

What happened to farmers in the 1880s, continued…

• overproduction – led to falling prices

• heavy mortgages, high tariffs, high transportation prices

• widespread poverty, natural disasters, loneliness

What should the farmers have done?What factors might hinder them (that would not hinder an urban worker)?

Who were the Grangers? (1867)• Farmers union

• Held mass meetings

• Pooled money together – purchase supplies,

equipment, negotiate

• Lobbied Midwestern legislatures for Granger laws regulating:

– Rates charged by RR,

– Grain operators

To which side of the political spectrum are the Grangers leaning?

What is significant about the Munn v. Illinois case of 1877? (Not in text)

• Supreme Court upheld right of Illinois to regulate private property– Giant elevators used for

grain • Decision restricts railroads

from using predatory (monopolistic) business practices against small merchants– Rebates and discounts for

huge hauls

What does this decision indicate regarding government’s role in

the economy?

• Are they leaning right, left, in the middle?

• Are they becoming liberal, conservative?

• What element (main concept) of pure capitalism is starting to be changed?

Radical Liberal Conservative Reactionary

What did the Supreme Court decision in the Wabash case (1886) do to Munn v

Illinois?• Judicial Review destroyed it• Railroad lawyers argued Article I,

Section 8, Clause 3 of the US Constitution– That Congress (NOT STATES)

shall have the power:• To regulate commerce with

foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes

Whose side is the Supreme Court on in this case?

What were the results of the Wabash case?

• Interstate Commerce Commission (1887) created

– Congress asserts its right to regulate interstate trade

• A weak law

• Cleveland was laissez-faire

• Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890

– Prohibited monopolies restraints in trade

• Circumvented by monopolies

• Morphed into “holding companies”

• Not enforced by courts

Class work/Homework• Explain this political

cartoon.• Who would support

it? A farmer, or a businessman?

• What does it suggest about the railroad industry?

The AmericanFrankenstein1874