Farming and Populism

Growth in the West1860-1900

Chapter 19, Section 4

Essential Questions:

• What factors should determine the cost of something?

• Are advances in technology helpful or hurtful?

• When citizens are faced with problems, what are some of their options for creating solutions?

Push and Pull Factors For Immigration (1865-1900)

Olaf Olsson

• “We do not dig gold with pocket knives, we do not expect to become… rich in a few days or a few years, but what we aim at is to own our own homes… The advantage which American offers is not to make everyone rich at once, without toil or trouble, but… that the poor… can secure a large piece of good land almost without cost, that they can work up little by little.”

Olaf Olsson, The Swedish Americans, by Allyson McGill

The Homestead Act (1862)

• Offered 160 Acres of Land Out West

to Anyone for FREE!!!

• Deal Was, “You Had to Live On and Improve the Land for 5 Years”

• Any Idea What 160 Acres in NY Costs Today?

Lands Available!!!

The Exodusters• African Americans Who

Fled West After the Civil War in Hope of A Fresh Start

• Compared Themselves to the Ancient Hebrews Escaping Egypt (The Book of Exodus)

• Over 50,000 African Americans Settled in Kansas, Missouri, Indiana & Illinois

The Exodusters

Exodusters

European Immigration• Swedes, Germans,

Norwegians, Ukrainians and Russians Immigrated to the Great Plains for FREE Land (Homestead Act)

• Learned Of the Homestead Act from Traveling American Railroad Salesman

• Advertising in Europe!!!

• Why Do Railroad Companies Want Settlers to Go Out West and Get Free Land?

U.S. Government Assists Railroad Companies Settle the

West• U.S. Government Gave

Millions of Acres of Land to Railroad Companies for FREE

• Wanted Railroad Companies to Build Tracks Out West (Help Encourage Settlement)

• Railroad Companies Resold the Land to Settlers on Both Sides of the Tracks Built (New Customers for the Railroads $$$)

Sodbusters• Settlers Faced Many

Problems on the Great Plains:– No Trees (How to

Build a House?)– No Firewood (Had to

Use Buffalo Chips)– No Water (Had to Dig

Wells 280 Feet +)– Weather (Blizzards,

Fires, Tornadoes, Hailstorms, Drought

– Life Was Miserable on the Great Plains

New Inventions Help Farmers

• New Inventions Helped Farmers:– Steel Plow (Invented

by John Deere, Sliced Through Tough Sod)

– Windmills (Pumped Water From Wells)

– Barbed Wire (Fence in Land and Livestock)

– Reapers (Make Harvesting of Crops Easier)

– Threshers (Separated Grain/Seed from Straw

Overproduction

• Too Much Production = Lower Prices!!!

The Laws of Supply and Demand

• Demand = The Amount of People Who Want a Product

• Supply = The Amount of Products Produced

• How Much Would Someone Pay for Playstation 4?

• Playstation 2?

4 Problems Farmers Faced (1870’s)

• Overproduction – Farmers Were Making Too Much! Prices Dropped!

• New Farm Inventions Were Very Expensive!

• Railroad Rates to Carry Crops to Market Were Very Expensive $$$

• Railroads Owned Grain Elevators to Store Crops – Charged Farmers High Rates to Store Crops!!!

Grain Elevators

Grange Movement(Patrons of Husbandry)

• Farmers Gathered Together to Protest Against Economic Problems

• Farmers Were Angry!

– Political Movement• Demanded Government Regulation• Wanted the Government to Interfere and Pass Laws

to Help Farmers

– Aligned Against the Railroad Companies• Transportation Costs Too High• Storage Costs Too High (Grain elevators)

Grange Movement Formed Cooperatives

• Cooperatives are Organizations Owned & Run by its Members

• Farmers Joined Together Too:– Buy Their Own Grain

Storage Elevators– Sell Their Crops

Directly Too Merchants (Their Own Stores)

– Share Farming Equipment

– Made More $$$, But Not Enough!!!

Grange Movement• Farmers Continued to

Pressure the Government for Help!

• Asked States to Have Railroad Companies Lower Their Storage and Freight Rates

• Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa Helped the Farmers!

• Railroad Companies Were Angry! Sued the State Governments!

Munn vs. Illinois (1877)• #3 of the 7 Supreme

Court Cases You MUST Know!!!

• Railroad Owner Munn Sued the State of Illinois (1877) for Lowering Railroad Rates to Farmers

• Claimed that Private Companies/Businesses Can Charge Whatever Price They Want! (It’s a Private Company)

Munn vs. Illinois (1877) Ruling

• U.S. Supreme Court Disagreed!

• Court Ruled that States and the U.S. Government Can Regulate Railroad Rates Because it was in “THE PUBLIC’S BEST INTEREST!”

• A Victory for the Farmers!

The Populist Party• A.K.A. = The People’s

Party

• Wanted the Free Silver Policy

• Wanted the U.S. to Make ALL $$$ Out of Silver (Not Gold) and Make More of It!

• Wanted to Cause Inflation (The Rise of Prices)

Time Out!!!

• One Major Problem That We Have in this Country is Homelessness!

• In Your Groups, You Have 5 Minutes to Brainstorm and Come Up With a Solution to this Problem!!!

What is $$$ Made Out Of?

Solution???• Why Don’t We Just

Cut Down A Bunch of Trees and Print Up More $$$?

• We Can Replant the Trees!!!

• Give Everyone in the United States $10 Million Dollars Each!!!

• Good Idea?

What Costs $1

Inflation• What is the Cost of a

Pretzel in the Cafeteria Today?

• What Would be the Price of that Pretzel if Everyone Received $10 Million?

• Why So Much?

• What Happened to Value of Your Original $1?

Free Silver Policy• Farmers Wanted to

Make ALL $$$ Out of Silver

• Wanted to Put More $$$ Into Circulation

• Wanted to Cause Inflation to Raise Prices of Their Crops

• Problem is, What Happens to the Value of the $$$?

The Gold Standard• Government Backs

Every Dollar with a Certain Amount of Gold

• Gold is Limited Less $$$ in Circulation

• Protects the Value of $$$. Keeps Prices Down!!!

Election of 1892• Usually Republicans vs.

Democrats in Elections

• Populist Party is a 3rd Party that Runs for Election:– Want Free Silver Policy– Want Government

Ownership of Railroads– Want Shorter Working

Hours

– Populist Party Loses But Puts Up a Good Showing!!!

Election of 1896• William McKinley was

the Republican Candidate

• William Jennings Bryan was the Democratic Candidate

• Populist Party Combined with the Democratic Party

• Republicans Won! Populist Party Collapsed!

The Closing of the Frontier

• By 1889, No More Frontier Left – No More Land!!!

• In Oklahoma, About 2 Million Acres of Indian Territory Was Left

• Thousands Rushed Out to Grab What Was Left!

Essential Questions:

• What factors should determine the cost of something?

• Are advances in technology helpful or hurtful?

• When citizens are faced with problems, what are some of their options for creating solutions?