Lesson 10.4

Blue Highlighter = Definitely Important

Red highlighter = teacher said it’s important

ALMOST ALL OF THIS LESSON IS IMPORTANT

economic problems faced by farmers:

• ^^farmers were losing money^^
• ^^farmers went into debt^^
• ^^farmers lost their land^^

^^causes of the economic problems:^^

• ^^farm prices dropped sharply^^
• ^^interest rates on loans went up^^
• ^^industrialization of cities^^
• ^^mechanism of farms^^

^^actions farmers took to solve the problems^^

• ^^organized alliances (the grange and the populist party)^^

\
Farmers worked hard while bankers took advantage

Railroads and Banks set rates very high without regard to the negative effects on people (farmers)

\
^^Goals of the Farmers Alliance:^^

• ^^persuade the government to form postal banks with low-interest loans^^
• ^^to force railroads to lower prices^^

^^It was with mixed success^^

\
==GRASSROOTS: The bottom level of government (from the grassroots up”==

\
==POPULIST PARTY: Diverse groups that felt the gov. was not addressing their interests (mostly appealed to farmers)==

\
William JB ( a presidential candidate for the Populist Party) acknowledged they didn’t have a great deal of money and used phrases like “the plain people of this country”, “our”, and “we” statements

\
The populist party was weakened when the democrats also nominated WJB

Democrats claimed populism would lead to black supremacy which drove whites away

\
\
\