Monday - Ch. 5.2 Key Questions:
a. How did railroads and the Homestead Act help settle the Great Plains?
b. What challenges did settlers/farmers face on the Great Plains?
c. How did settlers/farmers solve some of these problems?(Answered in Ch. 5.2 and 5.3)
Working on the Railroad -
1. Did everyone like the railroad? - No, took up farm ground, Indians didn't because we took land.
2. What did the railroad do for the West? - Opened up the west for people to move there/helped get goods back and forth (East-West)
3. Government gave railroads land grants = 170 million acres Why? The government wanted to move west just as much as anybody.
4. Middle States - 3,202 (1850) - 21,536 (1890)
Homestead Act -
a. Gave 160 acres of land to people to live on a farm
b. Attracted thousands of people to the Midwest including ex-slaves
c. Land speculators "stole" much of the land that was set aside for the Homestead Act
d. What is a speculator? - A person who trades commodities, bonds, equities or currencies with a higher than average risk in return for a higher-than-average profit potential.
Struggles on the Great Plains -
1. Life on the Great Plains was not easy. ex (Food, different climate/bad weather, hard to communicate)
a. Lonely - "Little House on the Prairie"
b. Bad weather - Dust storms, Snow, Rain, Flooding
c. Grasshopper plagues -(Insect Plagues - Rocky Mountain Locust Hit farms hard in the 1870's/Extinct as of 1902)
d. Hard work - Plowing fields with horses, going to town with horses, cutting wheat into bundles, milking cows, hoeing weeds out of crops, digging out crops
e. Native Americans - Native American Attacks - There were Native American attacks on settlers throughout the mid-late 1800's in many parts of America/Attacks were common, but they were also sporadic, and usually involved a fairly low number of casualties
f. Lack of trees - Sod Houses - Built Soddy's (houses out of dirt) (Not stable, snakes, bugs) (Cool in the summer and warm in the winter) Dugouts - Side of a hill
g. Railroad prices/Debt - Railroads charged farmers high prices due to lack of competition/Many farmers mortgaged their farms to buy more seed and supplies/Crop prices fell due to overproduction/After the Civil War, the amount of money in circulation went down, so money became more valuable which made it harder to pay back debt/Farmers wanted more money in circulation - This would cause inflation which would be good for crop prices
Tuesday - Chapter 5.3 Key Questions -
1. Describe what the Grange was and their purpose. (Ch.5.3 and 6.2)
2. Describe what the Interstate Commerce Act did. (Ch. 6.2)
3. Describe who the Populists were and what they believed in?
The Grange -
a. The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry
b. Organization in the US that encourages families to work together to promote the social, economic and political well-being of farmers
c. Started after the Civil War(1867) and is still around today
Granger laws -
1. Series of state laws passed in several Midwestern states - Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois-in the late 1860s and early 1870s
2. Designed to fight back against railroad abuses
3. Wanted railroads and grain elevators to charge fair prices.
4. Munn v Illinois-1877-Supreme Court supported farmers
5. Wabash v Illinois(1886)-Supreme court supported the railroads - led to the Interstate Commerce Act
Interstate commerce Act - 1887
a. Allowed the US Government to supervise railroads
b. Required railroad rate to be "fair and just"
c. Set up interstate Commerce Commission to carry out law
d. Railed to help farmers at first because of long legal process and resistance from the railroads
Populist Movement-Omaha Platform-1890's
1. Help farmers out of debt
2. Give people a greater voice in government
3. Increase money supply in circulation- Silverites (Farmers and Laborers) = currency be redeemable in silver as well as gold/Gold bugs (bankers and businessmen) - wanted just gold
3a. William Jennings Bryan - Cross of Gold - Nebraska Congressman = "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thrones, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold" (killing the farmers/laborers) - Movie "The Wizard of Oz" About the Gold Standard vs. Bimetallism
4. Graduated income tax = higher income = higher taxes
5. Direct election of Senators instead of chosen by the legislators
6. Single terms for President/Vice President
7. Secret ballot - Can't discriminate
8. 8 hour work day - People worked way more/put a limit on it
9. Restrictions on immigration - taking jobs
Wednesday - No School
Thursday -
- Review/KahootFriday -
- Test
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