Populism Reading
Agrarian Discontent 1865-1900
Rise of the Populists
Another factor in the Republican setbacks of 1890 was growing agrarian discontent in the South and West. Members of the Farmers’ Alliances elected U.S. senators and representatives, the governors of several states, and majorities in four state legislatures in the West.
Omaha platform. The Alliance movement provided the foundation of a new political party—the People’s, or Populist, party. Delegates from different states met in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1892 to draft a political platform and nominate candidates for president and vice president for the new party. Populists were determined to do something about the concentration of economic power in the hands of trusts and bankers. Their Omaha platform called for both political and economic reforms. Politically, it demanded the restoration of government to the people by means of (1) direct popular election of U.S. senators (instead of indirect election by state legislatures) and (2) enacting of state laws by voters themselves through initiatives and referendums placed on the ballot.
Economically, the Populist platform was even more ambitious. Populists advocated: (1) unlimited coinage of silver to increase the money supply, (2) a graduated income tax (the greater a person’s income, the greater the tax), (3) public ownership of railroads by the U.S. government, (4) telegraph and tele- phone systems owned and operated by the government, (5) loans and federal warehouses for farmers to enable them to stabilize prices for their crops, and (6) an eight-hour day for industrial workers.
At the time, the Populist movement seemed revolutionary not only because of its attack on laissez-faire capitalism but also because of its attempt to form a political alliance between poor whites and poor blacks. In the South, Thomas Watson of Georgia appealed to poor farmers of both races to unite on their common economic grievances by joining the People’s party.
The election of 1892. In 1892, James Weaver of Iowa, the Populist candidate for president, won more than 1 million votes and was also one of the few third-party candidates in U.S. history to win electoral votes (22). Nevertheless, the Populist ticket lost badly in the South and failed to attract urban workers in the North. The fear of Populists uniting poor blacks and whites drove conservative southern Democrats to use every technique to disfranchise African Americans (see Chapter 16).
In terms of the major parties, the election was a rematch between President Harrison and former president Cleveland. This time, Cleveland won a solid victory in both the popular and electoral vote. He won in part because of the unpopularity of the high-tax McKinley Tariff. Cleveland became the first and only former president thus far to return to the White House after having left it.
Depression Politics
No sooner did Cleveland take office than the country entered into one of its worst and longest depressions.
Panic of 1893. In the spring and summer of 1893, the stock market crashed as a result of overspeculation, and dozens of railroads went into bankruptcy as a result of overbuilding. The depression continued for almost four years. Farm foreclosures reached new highs, and the unemployed reached 20 percent of the workforce. Many people ended up relying on soup kitchens and riding the rails as hoboes. President Cleveland, more conservative than he had been in the 1880s, dealt with the crisis by championing the gold standard and otherwise adopting a hands-off policy toward the economy.
Gold reserve and tariff. A decline in silver prices encouraged investors to trade their silver dollars for gold dollars. The gold reserve (bars of gold bullion stored by the U.S. Treasury) fell to a dangerously low level, and President Cleveland saw no alternative but to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890. This action, however, failed to stop the gold drain. The president then turned to the Wall Street banker J. P. Morgan to borrow $65 million in gold to support the dollar and the gold standard. This deal convinced many Americans that the government in Washington was only a tool of rich eastern bankers. Workers became further disenchanted with Cleveland when he used court injunctions and federal troops to crush the Pullman strike in 1894 (see Chapter 17).
The Democrats did enact one measure that was somewhat more popular. Congress passed the Wilson-Gorman Tariff in 1894, which (1) provided a moderate reduction in tariff rates and (2) included a 2 percent income tax on incomes of more than $2,000. Since the average American income at this time was less than $1,000, only those with higher incomes would be subject to the income tax. Within a year after the passage of the law, however, the conservative Supreme Court declared an income tax unconstitutional.
Jobless on the march. As the depression worsened and the numbers of jobless people grew, conservatives feared class war between capital and labor. They were especially alarmed by Coxey’s Army—a march to Washington in 1894 by thousands of the unemployed led by Populist Jacob A. Coxey of Ohio. The “army” demanded that the federal government spend $500 million on public works programs to create jobs. Coxey and other protest leaders were arrested for trespassing, and the dejected “army” then left for home.
Also in 1894, a little book by William H. Harvey presenting lessons in economics seemed to offer easy answers for ending the depression. Illustrated with cartoons, Coin’s Financial School taught millions of discontented Americans that their troubles were caused by a conspiracy of rich bankers, and that prosperity would return if only the government coined silver in unlimited quantities.
National politics was in transition. The repeal of the Silver Purchase Act and Cleveland’s handling of the depression thoroughly discredited the conservative leadership of the Democratic party. The Democrats were buried in the congressional elections of 1894 by the Republicans. At the same time, the Populists continued to gain both votes and legislative seats. The stage was set for a major reshaping of party politics in 1896.
The Election of 1896
The election of 1896 was one of the most emotional in U.S. history. It also would mark of the beginning of a new era in American politics.
Bryan, Democrats, and Populists. Democrats were divided in 1896 be- tween “gold” Democrats loyal to Cleveland and prosilver Democrats looking for a leader. Their national convention in Chicago in the summer of 1896 was dominated by the prosilver forces. Addressing the convention, William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska captured the hearts of the delegates with a speech that ended with these words: “We will answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them: ‘You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.’ ” So powerful was Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech that it made him, literally overnight, the Democratic nominee for president. The candidate was only 36 years old.
The Democratic platform favored the unlimited coinage of silver at the traditional, but inflationary, ratio of 16 ounces of silver to one ounce of gold. (The market price then was about 32 to 1.) Thus, the Democrats had taken over the leading issue of the Populist platform. Given little choice, the Populist convention in 1896 also nominated Bryan and conducted a “fused” campaign for “free silver.”
Unhappy with Bryan and free silver, the conservative faction of “Gold Bug” Democrats, including Cleveland, either formed the separate National Democratic party or voted Republican.
McKinley, Hanna, and Republicans. For their presidential nominee, the Republicans nominated William McKinley of Ohio, best known for his support of a high protective tariff but also considered a friend of labor. Marcus (Mark) Hanna, who had made a fortune in business, was the financial power behind McKinley’s nomination as well as the subsequent campaign for president. After blaming the Democrats for the Panic of 1893, the Republicans offered the American people the promise of a strong and prosperous industrial nation. The Republican platform proposed a high tariff to protect industry and upheld the gold standard against unlimited coinage of silver.
Campaign. The defection of “Gold Bug” Democrats over the silver issue gave the Republicans an early advantage. Bryan countered by turning the Democratic-Populist campaign into a nationwide crusade. Traveling by train from one end of the country to the other, the young candidate covered 18,000 miles and gave more than 600 speeches. His energy, positive attitude, and rousing oratory convinced millions of farmers and debtors that the unlimited coinage of silver was their salvation.
Mark Hanna meanwhile did most of the work of campaigning for McKinley. He raised millions of dollars for the Republican ticket from business leaders who feared that “silver lunacy” would lead to runaway inflation. Hanna used the money to sell McKinley through the mass media (newspapers, magazines), while the Republican candidate stayed home and conducted a safe, front-porch campaign, greeting delegations of supporters.
In the last weeks of the campaign, Bryan was hurt by (1) a rise in wheat prices, which made farmers less desperate, and (2) employers telling their workers that factories would shut down if Bryan was elected. On election day, McKinley carried all of the Northeast and the upper Midwest in a decisive victory over Bryan in both the popular vote (7.1 million to 6.5 million) and the electoral vote (271 to 176).
McKinley’s Presidency
McKinley was lucky to take office just as the economy began to revive. Gold discoveries in Alaska in 1897 increased the money supply under the gold standard, which resulted in the inflation that the silverites had wanted. Farm prices rose, factory production increased, and the stock market climbed. The Republicans honored their platform by enacting a higher tariff (the Dingley Tariff of 1897) and making gold the official standard of the U.S. currency (in 1900). McKinley was generally a well-liked, well-traveled president, who actively tried to bring conflicting interests together. As leader during the war with Spain in 1898, he helped to make the United States a world power.
Significance of the Election of 1896
The election of 1896 had a number of both short-term and long-term consequences on American politics. For one thing, it marked the end of the stalemate and stagnation that had characterized politics in the Gilded Age. For another, the defeat of Bryan and the Populist free-silver movement initiated an era of Republican dominance of the presidency (seven of the next nine elections) and of both houses of Congress (17 of the next 20 sessions). Once the party of “free soil, free labor, and free men,” the Republicans were now the party of business, industry, and a strong national government. The Democrats carried on in defeat as the sectional party of the South and host of whatever Populist sentiment remained.
Populist demise. The Populist party declined after 1896 and soon ceased to be a national party. In the South, Thomas Watson and other Populist leaders gave up trying to unite poor whites and blacks, having discovered the hard lesson that racism was stronger than common economic interests. Ironically, in defeat, much of the Populist reform agenda, such as the graduated income tax and popular election of senators, was adopted by both the Democrats and Republicans during the reform-minded Progressive era (1900–1917).
Urban dominance. The election of 1896 was a clear victory for big business, urban centers, conservative economics, and moderate, middle-class values. It proved to be the last hope of rural America to reclaim its former dominance in American politics. Some historians see the election marking the triumph of the values of modern industrial and urban America over the rural ideals of the America of Jefferson and Jackson.
Beginning of modern politics. McKinley emerged as the first modern president, an active leader who took the United States from being relatively isolated to becoming a major player in international affairs. Mark Hanna, the master of high-finance politics, created a model for organizing and financ- ing a successful campaign focused on winning favorable publicity in the mass media.
Rise of the Populists
Another factor in the Republican setbacks of 1890 was growing agrarian discontent in the South and West. Members of the Farmers’ Alliances elected U.S. senators and representatives, the governors of several states, and majorities in four state legislatures in the West.
Omaha platform. The Alliance movement provided the foundation of a new political party—the People’s, or Populist, party. Delegates from different states met in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1892 to draft a political platform and nominate candidates for president and vice president for the new party. Populists were determined to do something about the concentration of economic power in the hands of trusts and bankers. Their Omaha platform called for both political and economic reforms. Politically, it demanded the restoration of government to the people by means of (1) direct popular election of U.S. senators (instead of indirect election by state legislatures) and (2) enacting of state laws by voters themselves through initiatives and referendums placed on the ballot.
Economically, the Populist platform was even more ambitious. Populists advocated: (1) unlimited coinage of silver to increase the money supply, (2) a graduated income tax (the greater a person’s income, the greater the tax), (3) public ownership of railroads by the U.S. government, (4) telegraph and tele- phone systems owned and operated by the government, (5) loans and federal warehouses for farmers to enable them to stabilize prices for their crops, and (6) an eight-hour day for industrial workers.
At the time, the Populist movement seemed revolutionary not only because of its attack on laissez-faire capitalism but also because of its attempt to form a political alliance between poor whites and poor blacks. In the South, Thomas Watson of Georgia appealed to poor farmers of both races to unite on their common economic grievances by joining the People’s party.
The election of 1892. In 1892, James Weaver of Iowa, the Populist candidate for president, won more than 1 million votes and was also one of the few third-party candidates in U.S. history to win electoral votes (22). Nevertheless, the Populist ticket lost badly in the South and failed to attract urban workers in the North. The fear of Populists uniting poor blacks and whites drove conservative southern Democrats to use every technique to disfranchise African Americans (see Chapter 16).
In terms of the major parties, the election was a rematch between President Harrison and former president Cleveland. This time, Cleveland won a solid victory in both the popular and electoral vote. He won in part because of the unpopularity of the high-tax McKinley Tariff. Cleveland became the first and only former president thus far to return to the White House after having left it.
Depression Politics
No sooner did Cleveland take office than the country entered into one of its worst and longest depressions.
Panic of 1893. In the spring and summer of 1893, the stock market crashed as a result of overspeculation, and dozens of railroads went into bankruptcy as a result of overbuilding. The depression continued for almost four years. Farm foreclosures reached new highs, and the unemployed reached 20 percent of the workforce. Many people ended up relying on soup kitchens and riding the rails as hoboes. President Cleveland, more conservative than he had been in the 1880s, dealt with the crisis by championing the gold standard and otherwise adopting a hands-off policy toward the economy.
Gold reserve and tariff. A decline in silver prices encouraged investors to trade their silver dollars for gold dollars. The gold reserve (bars of gold bullion stored by the U.S. Treasury) fell to a dangerously low level, and President Cleveland saw no alternative but to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890. This action, however, failed to stop the gold drain. The president then turned to the Wall Street banker J. P. Morgan to borrow $65 million in gold to support the dollar and the gold standard. This deal convinced many Americans that the government in Washington was only a tool of rich eastern bankers. Workers became further disenchanted with Cleveland when he used court injunctions and federal troops to crush the Pullman strike in 1894 (see Chapter 17).
The Democrats did enact one measure that was somewhat more popular. Congress passed the Wilson-Gorman Tariff in 1894, which (1) provided a moderate reduction in tariff rates and (2) included a 2 percent income tax on incomes of more than $2,000. Since the average American income at this time was less than $1,000, only those with higher incomes would be subject to the income tax. Within a year after the passage of the law, however, the conservative Supreme Court declared an income tax unconstitutional.
Jobless on the march. As the depression worsened and the numbers of jobless people grew, conservatives feared class war between capital and labor. They were especially alarmed by Coxey’s Army—a march to Washington in 1894 by thousands of the unemployed led by Populist Jacob A. Coxey of Ohio. The “army” demanded that the federal government spend $500 million on public works programs to create jobs. Coxey and other protest leaders were arrested for trespassing, and the dejected “army” then left for home.
Also in 1894, a little book by William H. Harvey presenting lessons in economics seemed to offer easy answers for ending the depression. Illustrated with cartoons, Coin’s Financial School taught millions of discontented Americans that their troubles were caused by a conspiracy of rich bankers, and that prosperity would return if only the government coined silver in unlimited quantities.
National politics was in transition. The repeal of the Silver Purchase Act and Cleveland’s handling of the depression thoroughly discredited the conservative leadership of the Democratic party. The Democrats were buried in the congressional elections of 1894 by the Republicans. At the same time, the Populists continued to gain both votes and legislative seats. The stage was set for a major reshaping of party politics in 1896.
The Election of 1896
The election of 1896 was one of the most emotional in U.S. history. It also would mark of the beginning of a new era in American politics.
Bryan, Democrats, and Populists. Democrats were divided in 1896 be- tween “gold” Democrats loyal to Cleveland and prosilver Democrats looking for a leader. Their national convention in Chicago in the summer of 1896 was dominated by the prosilver forces. Addressing the convention, William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska captured the hearts of the delegates with a speech that ended with these words: “We will answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them: ‘You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.’ ” So powerful was Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech that it made him, literally overnight, the Democratic nominee for president. The candidate was only 36 years old.
The Democratic platform favored the unlimited coinage of silver at the traditional, but inflationary, ratio of 16 ounces of silver to one ounce of gold. (The market price then was about 32 to 1.) Thus, the Democrats had taken over the leading issue of the Populist platform. Given little choice, the Populist convention in 1896 also nominated Bryan and conducted a “fused” campaign for “free silver.”
Unhappy with Bryan and free silver, the conservative faction of “Gold Bug” Democrats, including Cleveland, either formed the separate National Democratic party or voted Republican.
McKinley, Hanna, and Republicans. For their presidential nominee, the Republicans nominated William McKinley of Ohio, best known for his support of a high protective tariff but also considered a friend of labor. Marcus (Mark) Hanna, who had made a fortune in business, was the financial power behind McKinley’s nomination as well as the subsequent campaign for president. After blaming the Democrats for the Panic of 1893, the Republicans offered the American people the promise of a strong and prosperous industrial nation. The Republican platform proposed a high tariff to protect industry and upheld the gold standard against unlimited coinage of silver.
Campaign. The defection of “Gold Bug” Democrats over the silver issue gave the Republicans an early advantage. Bryan countered by turning the Democratic-Populist campaign into a nationwide crusade. Traveling by train from one end of the country to the other, the young candidate covered 18,000 miles and gave more than 600 speeches. His energy, positive attitude, and rousing oratory convinced millions of farmers and debtors that the unlimited coinage of silver was their salvation.
Mark Hanna meanwhile did most of the work of campaigning for McKinley. He raised millions of dollars for the Republican ticket from business leaders who feared that “silver lunacy” would lead to runaway inflation. Hanna used the money to sell McKinley through the mass media (newspapers, magazines), while the Republican candidate stayed home and conducted a safe, front-porch campaign, greeting delegations of supporters.
In the last weeks of the campaign, Bryan was hurt by (1) a rise in wheat prices, which made farmers less desperate, and (2) employers telling their workers that factories would shut down if Bryan was elected. On election day, McKinley carried all of the Northeast and the upper Midwest in a decisive victory over Bryan in both the popular vote (7.1 million to 6.5 million) and the electoral vote (271 to 176).
McKinley’s Presidency
McKinley was lucky to take office just as the economy began to revive. Gold discoveries in Alaska in 1897 increased the money supply under the gold standard, which resulted in the inflation that the silverites had wanted. Farm prices rose, factory production increased, and the stock market climbed. The Republicans honored their platform by enacting a higher tariff (the Dingley Tariff of 1897) and making gold the official standard of the U.S. currency (in 1900). McKinley was generally a well-liked, well-traveled president, who actively tried to bring conflicting interests together. As leader during the war with Spain in 1898, he helped to make the United States a world power.
Significance of the Election of 1896
The election of 1896 had a number of both short-term and long-term consequences on American politics. For one thing, it marked the end of the stalemate and stagnation that had characterized politics in the Gilded Age. For another, the defeat of Bryan and the Populist free-silver movement initiated an era of Republican dominance of the presidency (seven of the next nine elections) and of both houses of Congress (17 of the next 20 sessions). Once the party of “free soil, free labor, and free men,” the Republicans were now the party of business, industry, and a strong national government. The Democrats carried on in defeat as the sectional party of the South and host of whatever Populist sentiment remained.
Populist demise. The Populist party declined after 1896 and soon ceased to be a national party. In the South, Thomas Watson and other Populist leaders gave up trying to unite poor whites and blacks, having discovered the hard lesson that racism was stronger than common economic interests. Ironically, in defeat, much of the Populist reform agenda, such as the graduated income tax and popular election of senators, was adopted by both the Democrats and Republicans during the reform-minded Progressive era (1900–1917).
Urban dominance. The election of 1896 was a clear victory for big business, urban centers, conservative economics, and moderate, middle-class values. It proved to be the last hope of rural America to reclaim its former dominance in American politics. Some historians see the election marking the triumph of the values of modern industrial and urban America over the rural ideals of the America of Jefferson and Jackson.
Beginning of modern politics. McKinley emerged as the first modern president, an active leader who took the United States from being relatively isolated to becoming a major player in international affairs. Mark Hanna, the master of high-finance politics, created a model for organizing and financ- ing a successful campaign focused on winning favorable publicity in the mass media.