Bellringer 9/18 pg.277 • Farmers Face Many Problems• What were the farmers’ major grievances, or complaints?• Farmers Organize and Seek Change• What reforms did the farmers’ organizations introduce?• The Populist Party Demands Reforms• What were the goals of the Populist Party?• Economic Crisis and Populism’s Decline• How did the nomination of William Jennings Bryan affect the

Populist Party?• Populism’s Legacy • What happened to the Populist Party?

• What were the farmers’ major grievances, or complaints?

• High Railroad Rates (cost to much to ship crops)• Low Crop Prices (they could not make money off of their crops)• High Interest Rates (taking loans cost more money)

• What reforms did the farmers’ organizations introduce?

• Maximum rates for shipping and storage in states (that way railroad could not change the price)

• Establishment of the ICC (oversee interstate transportation)• Provide farmers with low-interest loans

• What were the goals of the Populist Party?

• End political corruption• Increase the money supply• Begin government ownership of railroads

• How did the nomination of William Jennings Bryan affect the Populist Party?

• Bryan’s nomination caused the Populists to support the Democratic Party, rather than nominate a separate candidate.

• When Bryan lost, the Populist party quickly declined with it but their ideas remained the same.

• What happened to the Populist Party?

• Defeats in the 1896 and 1900 presidential elections weakened the party so much that it was no longer a threat to the major parties; but the Populist initiatives such as graduated income tax, regulation of the railroads and a more flexible monetary system.

Cross of Gold Speech

Gold Rush 1848

• Gold flooded the market. Used to 16 ounces of silver could be traded for 1 ounce of gold, now silver could be sold at 12 to 1 and even 10 to 1.

Gold Certificates

Silver Rush 1860s• When silver flooded the market the 12 to 1 deals were gone

and now you had to take 20:1 and 25:1 deals. However the mint was offering deals at 16:1 so people turned back to the US Government. The Government was giving away too much money!

• INFLATION

• Poor people, Farmers, loved this! More money in circulation

Crime of 1873• Congress decided that they had taken in enough silver and

passes the Coinage Act of 1873 which stated that the US Dollar would no longer be backed by silver and eliminated the silver dollar.

• Big business was behind this because they had all the gold, and this all the cash. They did not want others to have the cash as well. SCARCITY

Cross of Gold Speech• Now you see what Bryan is talking towards.• He is the poor farmer who has been hurt because the

government is not taking his silver• He is saying that he will not let the U.S. crucify the common

man on a “cross of gold”

• If he is elected president he will bring back bi-metallism, and you will be able to turn in both silver and gold and receive dollars in return.

Cross of Gold Questions

1. What does Bryan say that the “common people of any land ever” declared for?

2. What does Bryan say are the “two ideas of government”?3. What does Bryan predict will happen if you burn down the

“great cities” and leave the prairies and farms?4. What does Bryan predict will happen if you destroy the

farms but leave the great cities?

Bellringer 9/19• When money is backed by gold it is referred to as the

______ standard.

• When money is backed by silver it is referred to as the ________ standard.

• When money is backed by both silver and gold it is known as ____________.