Chapter 17. Lecture Preview The Populist Challenge The Segregated South Redrawing the Boundaries.

Chapter 17 Lecture Preview The Populist Challenge The Segregated South Redrawing the Boundaries The Populist Challenge Focus Question: What were the origins and the significance of Populism? Focus Question: What were the origins and the significance of Populism? The Populist Challenge: Producers The Farmers Revolt Drop in agriculture prices Dependence on merchants and banks Government fiscal policies on money supply Led to rise of Farmers Alliance Cooperatives and government loans (subtreasury plan) The Peoples Party (Populists) Government regulate railroads, telegraph, and national market for public interest How did Politics Change as a Result of Industrialization? By 1890 election -- some Americans, especially farmers, believed that the two-party political system was incapable of solving the nations problems. In the 1890s, an independent political movement called Populism emerged to challenge the two major political parties. It was a coalition of agrarian reformers in the Midwest and South. Unrest in rural America - Why were farmers so angry? Production was up (new technology), but their crop and cattle prices were down. High tariffs; they had to pay more for manufactured goods; also had trouble selling their crops overseas. Thought eastern bankers were unfair (foreclosures, etc.) RRs were unfair (higher rates than manufacturers paid) Farmers needed to organize politically!! Patrons of Husbandry, aka Grange first national farm organization. * Social & educational organization at first. * Response to farmers problems: 1. Urged state legislatures to regulate RRs. 2. Allied with Greenback Party - wanted government to print more paper $$. 3. Formed cooperatives (businesses to benefit farmers). Grange fails * Granger laws setting RR rates were fought in courts. RRs usually won. * Greenback Party failed; too many people were afraid of paper $$. * Co-ops failed - not strong enough; farmers had little business experience. Farmers Alliance - replaced Grange as farmers union. Peoples Party, aka Populist Party, formed to address farmers issues. The Populist Challenge: Politics The Populist Platform Direct election of U.S. senators Government control of currency Graduated income tax Low-cost public financing for farmers Workers rights to organize unions. National ownership of railroads to allow farmers to inexpensively get their crops to market. The Populist Coalition White and Black farmers, women suffrage Populist Party platform: * Subtreasury plan (store crops to raise prices) * Free silver unlimited coinage of silver * End protective tariffs and national banks. * Tighter regulation of RRs * Direct election of senators instead of by state legislatures. * 8-hr workday and immigration restriction (appeal to labor class) Senator For a time, there was fear among many Democrats that the Populist Party would consume them. Play Populist and Wizard of OZ video The Populist Challenge: Labor and Money Populism and Labor Northern labor didnt side with farmers Bryan and Free Silver Free coinage of silver; increase money supply The Campaign of 1896 McKinley (Rep) defeats Bryan (Dem) Even though Populist Party failed, some of its reforms will be adopted in the 20th century. (Ex: Income tax and direct election of senators) William Jennings Bryan The Segregated South Focus Question: How did the liberties of blacks after 1877 give way to legal segregation across the South? Focus Question: How did the liberties of blacks after 1877 give way to legal segregation across the South? The Segregated South: Inequality The Redeemers in Power Reversed reconstruction Vagrancy and convict labor The Failure of the New South Dream Merchants, planters and businessmen dependent on northern bankers South continued to lag behind Northern industry The Segregated South: Work and Movement Black Life in the South Farming and small factory work Women worked as domestic servants Excluded from labor unions The Kansas Exodus Fled to Kansas for land and opportunity Few opportunities in the cities African-Americans flee the South Mass migration to Kansas; called Exodusters. Colored Farmers National Alliance - Set up co-ops - Many joined Populist Party Democrats resorted to racism to crush the Populist Party. Rise of Segregation Late 1800s, southern states passed laws denying African-Americans the right to vote and imposed segregation laws. Post-Reconstruction: African-Americans were not much better off than under slavery. - Technically free, but stuck in poverty! - Most were sharecroppers. The Segregated South: Government and Laws The Elimination of Black Voting Poll tax and literacy tests Impacted poor and illiterate whites too The Law of Segregation Plessy vs Ferguson (separate but equal) The Rise of Lynching Blacks who challenged white supremacy or refused to accept the indignities of segregation faced violent reprisal Southern Democrats Disenfranchise African-Americans To get past the 15th Amendment: Fifteenth Amendment The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Poll tax - blacks couldnt afford to pay it. Literacy tests - most had no education. Intimidation at the polls. Racist movements like the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) were formed in many southern towns. They intimidated both black people and those white people who supported racial equality. Segregation in the South Fourteenth Amendment All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Democrats passed laws forcing segregation Jim Crow Laws. Supreme Court, 1883, said 14 th Amendment meant only state laws (not private organizations or businesses) were prohibited from practicing racial discrimination. Plessy v. Ferguson upheld segregation, using separate but equal justification. Lynchings (illegal executions) increased. 70% of them were African-American. Ida B. Wells - African American; writings were a crusade against lynchings. Lynchings Between 1888 and 1918 Table 17.1 States with Over 200 Lynchings, 18891918. StateNumber of Lynchings Georgia386 Mississippi373 Texas335 Louisiana313 Alabama276 Arkansas214 Give Me Liberty!: An American History, Fourth Edition Copyright 2013 W.W. Norton & Company Redrawing the Boundaries Focus Question: In what ways did the boundaries of American freedom grow narrower in this period? Focus Question: In what ways did the boundaries of American freedom grow narrower in this period? Redrawing the Boundaries: Immigration The New Immigration and Nativism Against Southern and Eastern European immigrants Chinese Exclusion and Chinese Rights Immigration exclusion based on racism Treated unfairly; mob violence Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free... The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost, to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! Emma Lazarus Immigration During the Gilded Age Why did European immigrants come to America? US had plenty of jobs. Few restrictions on immigration. To avoid forced military service at home. To avoid religious persecution at home. To escape Europes class system. America was the Land of Opportunity! The trip to America from Europe Difficult trip in steerage (cheapest). Ellis Island New York - Processing center - Medical exams; often led to quarantine or forced return to Europe. Through Americas Gateway Ethnic Cities Immigrants mostly settled in neighborhoods separated into ethnic groups Spoke native languages Recreated churches, synagogues, clubs, & newspapers of their homelands. Their adjustment depended partly on: - Learning English and ability to adapt to the American culture. - Whether they had marketable skills and/or $$$. Asian Immigration to America Why did Asians come to America? - Chinese - mid-1800s; mostly to western cities to escape: Overpopulation at home Unemployment Poverty Famine & hunger Rebellion in China (20 million dead) - Discovery of gold in California demand for workers in the mines. - Transcontinental railroad demand for labor. - Japanese - later 1800s/early 1900s. Japan was building an industrial economy. Building an empire disrupted economy, causing hardships for Japanese people. - Angel Island - Ellis Island of the West Coast (processing immigrants, etc.) There was a resurgence of nativism during the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries. Wave of immigrants fear & distrust of foreigners. Fear of immigrants taking American jobs. Fear that immigrants would take jobs as strikebreakers and hurt labor unions activities. Customs, language, religions (ex. Irish Catholics) - Previous immigrants had been mostly from Western and Northern Europe; now from Eastern and Southern Europe and from Asia. Suspicion of political motives. Nativism . Ironic? Nativism.... Is the United States becoming a Melting pot or a Dumping ground ? Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 Chinese Laundry in San Francisco Barred Chinese immigration for 10 yrs. Kept Chinese already in US from becoming citizens. Some Chinese immigrants protested the double standard (no ban on Irish, Italians, Germans, etc.) Some filed suit in court...lost. Exclusion Act made permanent; not repealed until American-Chinese population decreased dramatically. Redrawing the Boundaries: Self-Help The Emergence of Booker T. Washington Emphasize self-help and individual self-advancement into middle-class America as an alternative to politics. Founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama Center for vocational training ( education for jobs, not broad liberal arts obtaining farms and skilled work was more important than full citizenship for blacks Urged blacks to accommodate segregation and cease agitation for civil and political rights. Rights of African-Americans Public Education African Americans did not have equal opportunities. Some started their own schools. Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee Institute. Booker T. Washington Stressed economic goals, rather than legal or political actions. Atlanta Compromise - he called on blacks to concentrate on education & vocational training to empower themselves. W.E.B. DuBois - Urged African-Americans to demand full civil rights, especially the right to vote. - Advised them to use the courts and the political system to force equal rights under the law. Redrawing the Boundaries: A New Generation The Womens Era Most young, unmarried, domestic servants and garment industries New generation of college-educated white-collar jobs Womens Christian Temperance Unionreformers White, middle-class women dominated suffrage movement Higher Education Womens Colleges - Beginning with Vassar College (300 students in 1865) Eventually had the Seven Sisters -- Wellesley -- Smith -- Mount Holyoke -- Bryn Mawr -- Barnard -- Radcliffe * Baptist College (1845) coed (women only to Belton 1866) - Mary-Hardin Baylor (1934) - Only real careers available to women were nursing, teaching, and social work - Graduates of these schools provided most of the leaders of the early 20th century drive for equal rights The New Morality A. WASPs concerned that middle-class Victorian morals were now under attack. * Victoria Woodhulls periodical printed feminist propaganda, such as appeals for womens suffrage, equal rights, & free love. She ran for president in 1872 when women could not vote. Her name was not included on the national ballot. B. Comstock Law ; made illegal the publishing of "provocative, sexual" material. Prohibition of Alcohol A. Liquor consumption increased post-Civil War 1. Immigrants resisted temperance laws 2. Saloons in late 1800s were for males only B. Womens Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) organized in Saw drunkenness as a result of poverty, not the cause of it 2. Put pressure on states to abolish alcohol 3. Most powerful female lobbying group in late 1800s. C. Carrie Nation used a hatchet to smash saloon bottles & bars D. Anti-Saloon League formed in Had more political connections than WCTU 2. By 1900, 25% of Americans were living in communities with alcohol restrictions. Temperance Movement Advertisements Womens Fight for Liberation and Suffrage A. Women more independent in urban environment 1. More birth control, delayed marriages. 2. Extra children not economically feasible B. National American Womens Suffrage Association Womens rights movement had split post-war a. National Womens Suffrage Assoc. 1869 Elizabeth C. Stanton & Susan B. Anthony * Opposed black male suffrage until women could vote AnthonyStanton b. American Women Suffrage Association led by Lucy Stone * Included men * Supported black male suffrage as a path to female suffrage 2. Not much headway made from C. Gains for women 1. More vote in local elections 2. Wy, Co, Ut, & Id - full female suffrage most women now could own/control their property after marriage.