Because of today's snowday, I am willing to blog with you to discuss of this week's topics, which include:
Industrialization
The Gilded Age
The Populist Movement
The Rise of Labor
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19 comments:
what is the populist movement and the rise of labor?
So what's the populist movement about?
The gilded age was when the richest people in history had their businesses, such as Andrew Carnegie and Rockefeller, and it was basically the height for capitalism. although it created labor movements among the poor becasue they felt as though they were not getting paid enough
Okay, let's talk about the Populist Movement for a moment, shall we?
Are folks still there?
yes i have no idea what the populist movement is about.
is the populist movement something we learned recently
As a matter of fact, we are covering the Populist Movement, or Populist Revolt, this week.
Much of our modern thinking about the Populist Movement comes from historian Lawrence Goodwyn's major study of this era, titled The Populist Moment. He calls it a "Moment," not because everything we associate with Populism wasn't a "movement" or a "revolt," but because the movement and revolt itself captured a particular moment in American history when many Americans felt like they were going to redefine American life at that particular moment in time. His title also benefits from the double meaning that the moment, it a sense, was just that; his title has a connotation of disappointment because those concerned with Populist ideals saw their "revolt" last for just a short while, seeing many of its ideas later co-opted by the Democratic Party.
Shall I tell you more?
this new party was a "people's party" and it called for government ownership of railroads, banks, and telegraph lines. they also wanted a graduated income tax (the more you make, the more you are taxed- this favored the farmers) and an eight hour workday and the restriction of immigration. they did not want large landholding companies to have so much control over aspects of the US
hello, can you approve my comment please
yes!!
idealistically, this movement would greatly help the farmers because it would give them a greater say in the economy because they wanted to be able to hold out their goods until they felt they were being pid enough for them
both the republicans and the democrats tried to use the people's party to their advantage: republicans wished to use them to promote local tickets, while democrats threw their support behind the new party in hopes that any republican candidate would not be elected
Right, Smitty, that's be definition the Populist Party. The party itself grew out of an earlier movement, mostly made up of independent farmers in the midwest who decided to become a little less independent. In other words, many of these farmers chose to unite together, creating what we would call co-ops today, or in their day, granges. The "Granger" movement was all about farmers coming together to try to combine their resources to sell their crops on the market place.
Why did these farmers decide to ban together, by, for instance, creating joint storage facilities for their grains? Because they believed that Gilded Age politics was victimizing American farmers. They believed that the US government was taking a hands-off approach to the economy WAY TOO FAR. In the process, farmers felt like they could not sell crops profitably if they had to pay ridicuolous rates to ship their crops to the market place by trust-owned railroads.
A face-off insued. Farmers felt that the prices were their crops were too low on the market place, rates to ship their goods were to high, and they couldn't find competitive shipping rates (like today, you can go FedEx, UPS, or US Postal Service) because of railroad trusts. Railroad interests had no short-term incentive to change their rates, because of a lack of competition, and obvious growing profits.
Who could intervene on the farmer's behalf?
Were the farmers being treated unfairly?
These are questions that arise during the mid 1880s into the turn of the twentieth century. Populism was itself the expression of farmers, those common people Jefferson so often celebrated, that they were the heart and soul of America, now victimized by the forces of capitalism. They eventually sought political candidates that would back their ideals, one of which was to make their loans easier to pay back with debased currency, like silver or greenbacks, which were not backed by gold. This would allow farmers easier access to currency, as long as the government would recognize that silver was valued at some fraction of gold. Easier access to currency meant an easier way to payoff debts, particularly those to merchants and railroad companies that farmers increasingly found themselves in debt to.
they became a major influence in the american party system because they won several of the western states, as well as electing 3 governors, 10 representitives to congress and 5 senators
ooohh that makes so much sense!
the farmers felt that if they could band together, then the government could not have as much control over them and they could be able to determine certain aspects of their job: food pricing, money they needed to borrow, interest rates, etc. they just wanted to be equal with citizens of the US that were not treated so harshly so that they could live a good life
this was their way of attempting to rise up through the social ranks of america
One of the fun ways to remember Populism is the Wizard of OZ story.
A couple years back, their was a bit on controversy over whether or not L. Frank Baum intended his classic tale to be a "populist allegory." Probably not. On the other hand, folks have found the story to be a fun way to recall the aims of the Populists, at least in terms of monetary policy (government policy towards banks, money, and interest rates).
In the story, Dorothy, the farm girl, lives on a threatened farm. She is, of course, transported to another dimension where problems are solved by following a road made of gold. The Populists wanted to free up silver as currency; as you know in the story, Dorothy and her friends follow the gold road to find a poseur problem solver, the Wizard. But Dorothy eventually gets back home, her home sweet farm home, by tapping together her Silver slippers. Silver was the key (they changed it in the movie to ruby slippers).
So, there's a fun way to remember Populist monetary policy.
I'll leave you today with the idea that, though the Populists were influential in getting some leaders to elected office, they never one the BIG prize, the presidency. Eventually, on a national level, several of their ideas are absorbed by the Democrats, which brings us to William Jennings Bryan and his "Cross of Gold" speech.
That is a story for another time. Thank you for participating today, and enjoy the rest of your Snow Day!
I can't say that you should favor one time period over another.
Regionalism is this notion that certain areas of the country developed differently than others because of geography, climate, culture, or political institutions.
Thus far in class, we have concentrated on the North, the South, and Mid-west as distinct regions, with sub-regions including New England, the Midatlantic, and the Chesapeake Region.
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