APUSH -- quiz flashcards

Who does Dorothy represent in the Wizard of Oz?

Everyman, or an individualist American

What is the significance of Kansas?

Kansas was a stronghold for populism following droughts and natural disasters stripping the land and bankers and railroads taking advantage of the farmers.

What does the tornado symbolize?

Populist sweep in Kansas in the early 1890s

What does Toto’s name represent?

Teetotalers and prohibitionists who followed closely with populists.

What does the Witch of the East represent?

Eastern financial industrialists and gold-standard politicians.

Bimetallism

A monetary standard in which money is equivalent to certain quantities of gold and silver, creating a uniform exchange rate.

Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890

A measure that prohibited the free and unlimited coinage of silver that would’ve created a cheaper paper money system allowing for farmers to pay their debts more easily.

What does the Witch of the North represent

the electorate of the upper Midwest

The Munchkins represent

Common farmers who did not fully understand the potential monetary power of silver who were “enslaved” by big railroads and bankers

The Witch of the West represents

The malign natural disasters in the Midwest and the powerful brokers in the region

The use of gold and silver by the Wicked Witch

Shows politicians manipulation of the free silver movement to bolster their platform and switch to gold-standard, most commonly McKinley

Glinda of the South represents

The southern platform for populists that understands the power of silver.

The scarecrow represents

“Brainless” midwestern farmers who were called simpletons despite knowing their financial situations well

The Tin Man represents

Industrial workers who Populists tried to lead towards their cause

The roaring lion represents

William Jennings Bryan who was the populist party’s pick for presidency, but could not win because of his lack of support from industrial union workers and his stance on imperialism.

The Winged Monkeys represent

The Natives forced to labor under Eastern industrialists

The Winkies represent

Asian immigrants subjugated by industrialists and discriminated against

The Wizard of Oz represents

A manipulative politician who works in personas to achieve his true ends, somewhat representing Bryan’s desire for presidency

The story serves to

Entertain and satirize the monetary politics of the Gilded Age