monopolies, farming, and populism “what you farmers need to do is raise less corn and more...

Monopolies, Farming, and Populism

“What you farmers need to do is raise less corn and more hell!”

Mary Elizabeth Lease (1890)Populist Organizer

Things to Know About the American West

• Homestead Act: 160 acres, 5 years

• Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)

• Dawes Act: Broke up the reservation system and “Americanized” Native Americans

• Cattle frontier: open range ended with barbed wire

• Mining (especially silver)

Why were farmers experiencing problems?

• Mechanization– New machines=more debt

• New Farm Land– Buy more land=more debt

• Specialization of crops– One crop reliance could lead to problems if not a success

• Disasters– Floods, droughts, boll-weevils, grasshoppers

• Monopolies– Railroads, barbed wire companies, oil

The Grange

• Cooperative movement• Pooled money to make

shared purchases of machinery, supplies, and insurance.

• Worked for pro-farmer laws• Interstate Commerce Act:

regulated rates of the railroads

Also known as the Patrons of Husbandry

Populism

• Political movement that aimed to help the farmers with their problems.

• Grew out of the Farmers’ Alliances.

Populist Party and Free Silver

• Farmers wanted to use both gold and silver coins, increasing the amount of money in circulation.

• Larger money supply=Inflation• Inflation means that prices go up and the

value of the dollar goes down.• Creditors hate inflation while debtors love it.