13:2 Settling on the Great Plains

RR Expansion helps settle the West

• Federal Land Grants to RR companies• Central Pacific & Union Pacific met at

Promontory, UT-1st Transcontinental RR 1869

Workforce on the RR

• Central Pacific- 90%Chinese• Union-Irish/Civil War Vets• Harsh conditions-avalanches• Low pay

Effect on the Steel Industry

1862 Homestead Act

Federal support for westward settlement–150 acres per family-FREE

                   

Western Cities Grow

• Along RR lines• Become important transportation hubs for

livestock/crops and goods coming out of the east

RR Monopolies

• Wasn’t enough people out there, so in some areas there was only one rail line=high prices

Exodusters

• African Americans moved from post-reconstruction south to farm in KS

OK-The Sooner State

• Major land grants• Thousands of settlers claimed 2 million in 1 day• Some claimed “sooner” than should have

Challenges of living on the Plains

Locust!Flood, fire,blizzards,etc.

Housing

• Soddies• Dugouts

Women Pioneers

• Isolation• Farming, livestock, make clothing, haul water, make

soap, candles, can food, doctoring, schooling, etc .

Barbed Wire 1874

• Joseph Glidden• Ended era of cowboys and wide open plains• Fenced in ranches produced higher grade

livestock

Steel Plow 1837

• John Deere• Made planting more efficient

Mechanical Reaper 1847

• Cyrus McCormick• Made harvesting more efficient

Federal Support for Agricultural Education

• Morrill Land Grant Acts 1862, 1890• Hatch Act 1887

Farmer Debt

• Overproduction = Low wheat prices• High debt-mortgages, equipment• RR-charged high prices to ship crops

Bonanza Farms

• Enormous single crop farms• 15,000-50,000 acres• Died out when drought hit and they couldn’t

diversify as easily as small farms

Railroads effect on farmers

• Charged higher prices to ship in the west than in the east

• Charged more for short hauls than long hauls

13:3 Farmers and the Populist Movement

Farming Becomes Unprofitable

• Falling wheat prices• High mortgages/debt• RR costs

Deflation

• Period of falling prices caused by a decrease in the amount of money in circulation

• Good for consumers=cheap stuff• Bad for farmers-wheat prices too low, aren’t earning enough to

pay debt

“Cheap Money”

• Borrowing money at low interest rates• Puts more money into circulation• Causes prices to rise (inflation)

What do farmers need?

• More money in circulation• Government regulation of the RR

Problems with RR

• Lack of competition=high prices• RR, Grain brokers, and merchants worked

together to manipulate the market price of crops

Farmer Cycle of Debt

Low wheat pricesHigh RR prices

Can’t pay farm bills

Buy more land/supplies on credit (at high interest rates) in order to make more money

Work harder to produce more wheat. (this only causes the price of wheat to drop further)

The Grange

• Oliver Hudson Kelly• Organization that fought for reform

– Sponsor state legislation to regulate the RR

– Set up farmers’ cooperatives to keep wheat prices high

Farmers’ Alliances

• Goals– How to get lower interest rates on loans– Push for Government regulation of RR– Push for Government regulation of banks

• Largest: Southern Alliance• Colored Farmers’ National Alliance

Populist Party/People’s Party

• Economic/Financial Reforms: – Increase money supply– Graduated Income Tax– Federal loan program

Populist Party/People’s Party

• Governmental reforms– Popular Election of U.S. senators– Single terms for President/Vice President– Secret ballot

Populist Party/People’s Party

• Labor Reforms– Eight hour work day– Immigration restriction

Panic 1893

• Causes– Farmers can’t pay debt=banks fail– RRs expanded faster than the market for them=RR

companies fail– People withdraw savings=banks fail– Stock market crashed

1896 Presidential Election

• Republicans-McKinley– Business owners, bankers– Northeast– goldbugs

• Democrats-William Jennings Bryan– Farmers, laborers– South, west– silverites

Most important campaign issue

• Silverites-farmers/laborers supported bimettalism, use both gold and silver to back up paper currency to put more money into circulation and drive up prices

• Goldbugs-bankers/business men supported maintaining the gold standard to back up paper money with only gold to limit the amount of money in circulation and keep the value of the dollar high

William Jennings Bryan Cross of Gold Speech

• Gold Standard is America’s burden

End of Populism

• William McKinley elected• Legacy of Populist Era:

– Downtrodden could organize and have a political impact

– Reforms will be adopted by the Republican party and enacted in the 1900s.