World Class Education
www.kean.edu
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Topic 9
Farmers and Their Discontent:
The Agrarian Protest
1870-1896
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Low agricultural prices
Insufficient credit /
expensive credit
High rates charges by
railroads, grain elevator
operators….
High industrial prices
Tariffs
Federal monetary policy
Middlemen in general
Monopolies in general
Efficient crop production
v low prices
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Granger movement
- Late 1860s
Greenback –Labor
Party- 1874-1884
People’s (Populist)
Party - 1887
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Direct Election of U.S.
Senators
Secret Ballot
Ballot Initiative
Referendum
Recall
Direct
Primary
Monetary Reform
”Free Silver”
"You shall not press down upon
the brow of labor this crown of
thorns; you shall not crucify
mankind upon a cross of gold."
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Sharp division in society
between urban and rural
interests
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William Jennings Bryan
(Democrat) reform groups /
rural interests / indebted
farmers / against the gold
standard
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William McKinley
(Republican) victory = shift
from America as an agrarian
nation to urban interests
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Lawrence Goodwyn, The Populist Moment: A
Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America
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Robert C., McMath, Jr. American Populism: A
Social History, 1877-1898.