The document discusses the Populist movement in the late 19th century United States. Farmers and laborers formed alliances in response to economic hardship, advocating for policies like bimetallism using both gold and silver as currency. The Populist Party gained control of state legislatures and elected congressmen supporting silver coinage and opposing national banks. Their 1892 platform advocated many reforms. William Jennings Bryan gave famous speeches supporting silver coinage, but William McKinley won the 1896 presidential election, cementing the gold standard. The economic Panic of 1893 worsened conditions for farmers. Henry Littlefield linked the 1900 novel The Wizard of Oz to the Populist movement.

2. The Silver Issue
 “Crime of ’73”  no silver, only gold coins.
 Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890) 
US gov. bought up silver to remove it from
circulation

3. Price Indexes for Consumer &
Farm Products: 1865-1913

4. Founder of the National Grange
of the Patrons of Husbandry (1867)

5. The Grange Movement
 1870s –
farmers set up
cooperative
associations

6. The Farmers Alliances
 Late 1880s: grew from Grange
but more political, less social
 1890s: controlled eight state
legislatures & had 47
Congressmen

7. The Populist (Peoples’) Party
 July 1892: Founded by James B.
Weaver
 Almost 1 m. 1892 votes
James B. Weaver, Presidential
Candidate

8. Omaha Platform of 1892
1. SILVER!
2. Abolish National Bank
3. Direct election of Senators
4. Govt. RR, telephone & telegraph ownership, savings
banks
5. Restrict immigration
6. 8-hour work day
7. Abolish Pinkertons
8. Adopt secret ballot
9. Single presidential term

9. 1892 Election

11. Causes of the 1893 Panic
 10 days after Cleveland took office.
 Over 16,000 businesses close
 Stock market crash.
 ~ 500 banks closed
 By 1895: 3 m. unemployed

12. Here Lies Prosperity

14. Gold / Silver Bug
Campaign Pins

15. William Jennings Bryan
(1860-1925)
The “Great Commoner”

16. Bryan’s
“Cross of Gold” 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!

17. Democratic
Party
Taken Over
by the
Populists

18. Bryan: The Farmers Friend
(The Mint Ratio)
18,000 miles of campaign “whistle stops.”

19. William McKinley (1843-1901)

20. The
Seasoned
Politician
vs.
The “Young”
Newcomer

21. 1896 Election Results

22. Gold Triumphs Over Silver
 1900  Gold
Standard Act

23. The Wizard
of Oz
by L. Frank
Baum

24. Henry Littlefield’s Thesis

25. “Parable of the Populists”?
 Tornado  ?
 Dorothy  ?
 Toto  ?
 Kansas  ?
 Wicked Witch of the
East  ?
 Tin Woodsman  ?
 Scarecrow  ?
 Cowardly Lion  ?
 Yellow Brick Road  ?
 Silver Slippers  ?
 Emerald City  ?
 Oz  ?
 The Wizard  ?
 Munchkins  ?
 Wicked Witch of the West
 ?
 Flying Monkeys  ?
 Yellow Winkies  ?

26. Heyday of Western Populism