POPULISMEssential Questions:

1.Why and how did the Populist Party form?

2.What was the Panic of 1893?

3.What was the debate about the gold standard?

4.Who was William Jennings Bryan?

5.What is the legacy of Populism?

FARMERS AND THE RAILROADS Farmers began to enter a cycle

(1880s)

Prices were falling Farmers had to mortgage their

farms to buy more land to produce more crops to sell

Railroads took advantage of farmers Charged high prices for

shipping Worked with middlemen which

allowed them to control prices

Farmers organized to create reform The Farmer’s Alliances

Attempted to organize farmers to combat the railroads

POPULIST MOVEMENT BEGINS Farmers' Alliance was

unable to achieve its wider goals

But Alliance members did learn something: They needed to

develop a political agenda/platform

To enact the reform they wanted they needed to enter national politics

THE POPULIST PARTY In the 1890s the Democrats

and Republicans refused to take up the reforms advocated by the Farmers Alliance

Populist Party was formed by members of the "Alliance"

The party flourished among farmers in the South and Great Plains

Promoted a free silver platform Received support in the

Mountain states (silver mining was heavy)

First political party in the United States to include women

PARTY PLATFORM

Populist Party platform: Abolition of banks Graduated income tax Direct election of U.S.

Senators Civil service reform Work day of 8 hours Government control of

the railroads, telegraphs, and telephones

Opposed the gold standard

PANIC OF 1893 Philadelphia and Reading

Railroads went bankrupt

The dollar was no longer trusted People started only

accepting payment in gold People panicked and traded

paper money for gold

The stock market crashed!

More than 15,000 businesses and 500 banks collapsed

Panic turned into depression as 3 million people lost their jobs

GOLD STANDARD VS. SILVER STANDARD

Many people viewed paper money as worthless

The two major political parties argued on which metal to base the nations monetary system: Gold or Silver?

What does that mean? Fixing the price of the dollar

to a certain amount of gold or silver

Others favored bimetallism Basing the U.S. monetary

system on both gold & silver

ELECTION OF 1896 By 1896 the Democratic

Party had taken up many of the Populist Party's causes Took votes and supporters

away from the Populist party

Populists supported the democratic candidate for president, William Jennings Bryan

He backed the Populist opposition to the gold standard in his “Cross of Gold” speech Advocated Bimetallism

Bryan lost to William McKinley by a margin of 600,000 votes

LEGACY OF POPULISM Many Populist voters

supported Bryan in 1900 The party instead

nominated a ticket of Wharton Barker and Ignatius L. Donnelly

The party ceased to exist

The Populist movement left two powerful legacies: The message that the

average citizen could organize and have political impact

An agenda of reforms

A PARABLE ON POPULISM Parable

A allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, principle, or lesson

Wizard of Oz Written by L. Frank Baum

Scholars have interpreted the story as an allegory or metaphor for the political, economic, and social events of America of the 1890s

Baum never said that the story was an allegory for politics

But he never denied it

A PARABLE ON POPULISMItems in the Film What do they symbolize?

Yellow Brick Road

Scarecrow

Cowardly Lion

Tin Man

Dorothy’s Slippers

Dorothy

Wizard

Winged Monkeys

Wicked Witch of the East

Wicked Witch of the West

Good Witch of the North

Munchkins

Emerald City

Tornado

Gold Standard

Farmers

William Jennings Bryan

Industrialization

Silver Standard

“Plain People”

Politicians

Indians in the West

Bankers with nothing for Farmers

Nature (Nature vs. Farmers)

Businesses of the North

Middle and Lower Classes

Washington, D.C.

Idea of Change

YOUR ASSIGNMENT After viewing The Wizard of Oz you will write

a 2-3 page paper on the history of Populism as well as discuss your interpretations of the populist message and symbols in the film

Your paper will discuss the following: Background information on Populism (platform of

the party, debate surrounding the gold standard vs. silver standard, Panic of 1893, etc.)

How The Wizard of Oz was a political statement of the Populist movement For example, explain how the Yellow Brick Road

symbolized the Gold Standard, the Wizard…Politicians, the Winged Monkeys…the Indians in the West, etc.