thinking the people
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Thinking the People. The Problem of Inequality. Was concentrated economic power a threat to freedom and democracy? Ex: railroads, financiers, monopolies, “robber barons” Was American Dream an illusion?. Doubts about Democracy. Poor could vote to take from the rich Political corruption - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Thinking the People
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The Problem of Inequality
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• Was concentrated economic power a threat to freedom and democracy?
– Ex: railroads, financiers, monopolies, “robber barons”
• Was American Dream an illusion?
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Doubts about Democracy
• Poor could vote to take from the rich• Political corruption• Danger of regulation (8 hour workday)• “Social Darwinism”
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The Courts Agree
• Lochner v. New York (1905)– Made limits on work hours illegal
• Coppage v. Kansas (1915)– OK’d “yellow dog” contracts
• Issues injunctions to break strikes
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The “Labor Question”
• Economic mobility no longer possible?• Permanent class of factory workers?• Unionization?
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The Knights of Labor
• 800,000 members at height (1886)• First union to include skilled and unskilled,
blacks, women, etc. (except Asians)• Capitalists=the new “slave power”
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The War in the Streets
• 1886: 350,000 rally for 8-hour day• Ironworkers strike in Chicago• Police kill strikers
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The Haymarket Massacre
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The Haymarket Massacre
• Bomb attack during protest• Police again open fire• Activists raided and arrested• 8 anarchists convicted on thin evidence
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What’s the Matter with Kansas?
• Farmers unhappy too• Growing debt– To pay for fertilizer, equipment, etc., esp. in West
• Declining prices for crops– Competition from abroad
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The Chickens Are Restless
• Farmers’ Alliance – Founded in TX, late 1870s– Biggest movement of 19th century
• Wanted farmers not to depend on banks• Finance and market their own crops
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The People’s Party
• aka the “Populists”• Establishes newspapers, sends speakers
throughout countryside • Traditional vision of the small producer
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“Cyclone” Davis Mary Elizabeth Lease
“raise less corn and more hell”
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The Pops’ Platform (1892)
• Direct election of Senators• Graduated income tax• Public ownership of railroads• Right to unionize
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The Populists’ Challenge
• Break two-party system• Attempt to unite urban workers and rural
farmers• Black and white farmers in the South vs. white
supremacist Democrats
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The Cross of Gold
• Populists join w/ Dems to support William Jennings Bryan for President in 1896
• Famous speech:– “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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The Money Issue
• Populists and Dems rally behind “free silver”
• Republicans and big business support William McKinley and “sound money”/gold standard
• Republicans win big
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