Populism in the Pacific Northwest
The Populist movement revealed the disenchantment many
Americans felt about the country's direction and the government's
indifference. Though the People's or Populist Party faded from the
scene by the end of the decade, through the 1890s it enjoyed
widespread support in particular areas of the country including
the Pacific Northwest.
Today third parties struggle for recognition. Ralph Nader's
Green Party candidacy for president in 2000 garnered 2.7 percent
of the vote. The Populist Party also battled the Republican and
Democratic parties and for a brief time achieved remarkable
results. In its first presidential election, in 1892, the People's
Party won 8.5 percent of the votes nationwide for its candidate
James B. Weaver. In Idaho, where the party's free silver proposal
attracted both mineowners, labor, and farmers, Weaver drew 54
percent of the vote, in Washington 22 percent (23 percent in
Spokane County) and in Oregon 16 percent.
Voters also elected a handful of Populist legislators to state
houses. In the 1894 elections, Populists replaced Democrats as
the second party of Washington; in 1896 Populists and Democrats
"fused" in the Evergreen State to elect as Governor the Populist
John R. Rogers of Puyallup and to take control of the state
legislature. Though Populists' accomplishments in Olympia were
few and regional prevalence short lived, their success
demonstrated that Pacific Northwesterners sought to exert their
influence on the transition from an agricultural to an urbanindustrial society.
Populism gained momentum because of the economic
depression that began in 1893. By the end of 1893, 491
banks and 15,000 businesses closed leading to an
unemployment rate over 15 percent by mid-1894. Workers
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laid off in the 1890s had no unemployment insurance to fall back
on or government programs through which they may be able to
feed their families.
The desperate circumstances led Jacob Coxey of Ohio to call for
a "living petition" of unemployed workers to march to the nation's
capital and ask Congress to give them jobs building roads or on
other public works projects. Coxey's Army began riding the rails
to the Capitol in 1894. Six hundred fifty unemployed left Seattle
in April as the Northwestern Industrial Army. Their plan was to
ride the rails of the Northern Pacific east to join other Coxey's
Army units in Washington, DC. Instead most were arrested and
sent back to Seattle. The main body of Coxey's Army arrived in
Washington, DC, where Coxey was jailed for trespassing.
Congress, holding fast to laissez-faire capitalism, refused to
pass any relief measures for the unemployed.
Like Populism, Coxey's Army was a grass-roots democratic
movement championed by those whose vision of the United
States was that of a self-reliant, agricultural nation and who
questioned the emerging industrial order. Here is a picture from
the Ohio Historical Society of some of Coxey's Army.
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You can read an article about a contingent of Coxey's Army
leaving from Seattle on HistoryLink.
http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=2181
To help you learn how to cite electronic sources in MLA style,
here is the MLA citation for the above article:
Wilma, David. "Northwestern Industrial Army Marches to Join
Coxey's Army on April 25, 1894." HistoryLink.org Essay 2181.
HistoryLink.org: The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State
History. History Ink, 15 March 2000. Web. Your access
date. [Note the above is a complete MLA citation following the
2008 MLA revision that no longer requires the full URL.]
Klondike Gold Rush The nation suffered through economic
depression from 1893 to 1897. Populists in 1896 supported the
Democratic candidate for president 36-year-old William
Jennings Bryan who campaigned under the Populist slogan
"Equal Rights to All and Special Privileges to None" and railed that
"[y]ou shall not press down upon the brow of labor this
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crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a
cross of gold." Bryan and his "fusion" Democratic-Populist ticket
won 46 percent of the popular vote but lost to William McKinley,
strong supporter of the gold standard. Slowly the country
recovered from the depression and by 1897 economic conditions
improved.
Contributing mightily to economic recovery in the Pacific
Northwest was the docking in July 1897 in Seattle of a steamer
from Alaska whose passengers lugged Alaska gold. News spread
on the wind and within six months 100,000 people left for the
Klondike. With the recently completed Great Northern Railway
and the Northern Pacific rail lines bringing thousands to Seattle,
the city prospered as the supply center for the one ton of supplies
that the Canadian Mounties required of all who wished to endure
the harsh conditions of the Yukon to earn their fortunes. The
Klondike Gold Rush forever tied Seattle as a gateway to Alaska.
Note: Though few made their fortune with gold, others struck it
rich mining the miners. Fred Trump, grandfather of today's
billionaire Donald Trump, earned his fortune running the Arctic
Restaurant and Hotel in Bennett, British Columbia, along the
Chilkoot Trail that led to the Klondike. The University of
Washington Libraries offers an online exhibit about the Klondike
Gold Rush:
http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcoll/exhibits/klondike
~end of file
© 2010 Susan Vetter, rev. 2011
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