5Catalyst: 1891 = Banks began to foreclose on farm mortgages When the banker says he's broke And the merchant’s up in smoke, They forget that it's the farmer who feeds them all. It would put them to the test If the farmer took a rest; Then they'd know that it's the farmer feeds them all.
12Why did the Populist Party attract millions of supporters?
13Populism in Kansas Mary Elizabeth Lease “raise less corn and more hell”Led Kansas revolt over high mortgage interest & railroad rates
14Mary Elizabeth Lease, 1890Source: Mary Elizabeth Lease became politically involved as a speaker for the rights of workers and farmers. She had a powerful voice and charismatic speaking style. In this speech, Lease gave a speech to the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in 1890, a women’s movement against alcohol.
15The mightiest movement the world has known in two thousand years The mightiest movement the world has known in two thousand years. . . is sending out the happiest message to oppressed humanity that the world has heard since John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness that the world’s Redeemer was coming to relieve the world’s misery.How is this suppose to make the audience feel?Why might she use religious references?
16To this sterile and remote region, infested by savage beasts and still more savage men, the women of the New England States, the women of the cultured East, came with husbands, sons and brothers to help them build up a home [in the West] We endured hardships, and dangers; hours of loneliness, fear and sorrow. . . We toiled in the cabin and in the field; we helped our loved ones to make the prairie blossom. . .What historical references is she making?How is this suppose to make the audience feel?What emotions does she appeal to?
17Yet, after all our years of toil and deprivation, dangers and hardships, our homes are being taken from us by an infamous [wicked] system of mortgage foreclosure. It takes from us at the rate of five hundred a month the homes that represent the best years of our life, our toil, our hopes, our happiness. How did it happen? The government, siding with Wall Street, broke its contracts with the people As Senator Plumb [of Kansas] tells us, “Our debts were increased, while the means to pay them [cash] was decreased.”How is this suppose to make the audience feel?Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys?What emotions does she appeal to?
18No more millionaires, and no more paupers; no more gold kings, silver kings and oil kings, and no more little waifs of humanity starving for a crust of bread. We shall have the golden age of which Isaiah sang and the prophets have so long foretold; when the farmers shall be prosperous and happy, dwelling under their own vine and fig tree; when the laborer shall have that for which he toils When we shall have not a government of the people by capitalists, but a government of the people, by the people.“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg AddressWhat images & documents does this bring to mind?How is this suppose to make the audience feel?
191896 Election Democrats – 1890s Republicans – 1890s Southerners Wealthy farmersSupported low tariffs (wanted other countries to buy their crops)NorthernersWealthy business men (connected to the railroad)Southern African Americans (poor farmers)Supported high tariffs (didn’t want to compete with other countries’ products)
27Gold Triumphs Over Silver 1900 Gold Standard ActMost other Populist reforms were adopted by Dem. & Republicans
28Why were the speakers like Lease and Bryan popular in the 1890s? • What images and rhetorical devices did they use to excite their audiences?• How did their audiences feel when they listened to these speeches?How do these themes resonate today?
29How do these themes resonate today? Koch Brothers of Kansas4th Richest Americans today—42 billionSpending 290 million on this election
30If they lost the presidential election, why was the Populist Party considered a success? 16th Amendment—Graduated Income Tax17th Amendment—Direct Election of SenatorsInitiative & referendumAustralian (secret) ballot