Monday: Took Powerpoint notes about Great Plains
Key Questions
How did Railroads and the Homestead Act help settle the Great Plains?
What challenges did settlers and farmers face on the Great Plains?
How did settlers and farmers solve some of these problems?
Working on the railroad:
Indians did not like the railroads because we were taking more of their land
Farmers didn’t like it because it took away farmland
Railroads opened up the West so people could move their
Shipped goods back and forth from east to west
Government gave railroads land grants =170 million acres
Government was very involved in railroad
120,000 miles of railroad added in to entire US in 40 years- 1890: 129,774
Homestead Act: attracted thousands of people to the Midwest including ex-slaves, Land speculators “stole much of the land that was set aside for Homestead Act
Speculator: person who would go buy the ground before the government could give it to families and tried to sell it at a higher price than they bought it.
Struggles on the Great Plains
Life on the Great Plains was not easy
Lonely- hard to communicate, far away from town and other people
Bad Weather- blizzards, hard rain, dust storm
Houses buried in snow
Rain, Flooding
Grasshopper Plagues
Rocky Mountain Locusts
Covered about a third of the US
Hit farms hard in the 1870s
Extinct as of 1902
Hard work for the whole family
Plowing fields with horses
Planting seeds with horses
Going to town with horses
Milking cows by hand
Everybody has a job to do
Native Americans were still living on the plains
There were Native American attacks on settlers throughout the mid-late 1800s in many parts of America
Attacks were common but they were also sporadic, and usually involved a fairly low number of casualties
Lack of trees- No wood for houses
Built houses out of dirt/sod
Dug houses out of sides of hills
Not very stable
Snakes and bugs get inside
Good thing was warm in the summer and warm in the winter
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 civil war, the amount of money in circulation went down so money because more valuable which made it harder to pay back debt
Farmers wanted more money in circulation which would cause inflation which would be good for crop prices
Tuesday: continued with notes
Key Questions:
Describe what the Grange was and their purpose
Describe what the interstate commerce act did
Describe who the populists were and what they believe in
The Grange
National Grange of the order of patrons of Husbandry- taking care of animals and crops
US organization that encourages families to work together to promote the social, economic, and political well being of farmers
Went from town to town/ farmer to farmer to get into organizations
1867- Non profit organization that advocates for rural America and agriculture- to help the farmer in any way they can
Lots of negative things happening to them- needed to keep them motivated for food
Granger laws: series of state laws passed in several midwestern states in the late 1860s and early 1870s
Designed to fight back against railroad abuse
Wanted railroads and grain elevators to charge fair prices
They charged higher prices because there was no competition
Munn vs Illinois 1877: Supreme court supported farmers
Wabash vs Illinois 1886: Supreme court supported the railroads
Led to the Interstate Commerce Act
**Interstate Commerce Act 1887: allowed US government to supervise railroads, required railroads rates to be fair
Set up Interstate commerce to carry out law
Failed to help farmers at first because of long legal process and resistance from the railroads
The railroads thought that the government was “ruining them”
Populist movement- Omaha Platform 1890s
Helps farmers out of debt
Gives people a greater voice in government
Increase money supply in circulation (silverities- currency be redeemable in silver and gold)
Farmers mostly had paper money
Graduated income tax= higher income = higher taxes
Direct election of Senators instead of choice by legislators
Single terms for the president/vice president so if they had a bad leader, that person wouldn’t be in there for a long time, FDR served 4 terms
Secret Ballot- so you can’t discriminate and so you can have privacy
8 Hour work day: 5 days a week
Restrictions on immigrants: immigrants were taking our jobs
Gold bugs: bankers and businessmen
Prices fall, value of money increases, fewer people have money, less people spending= less money in the economy
Silverites: farmers and laborers
Inflations, bimetallism (silver and gold coins), prices rise, value of money decreases, more people have money = more money into circulation/government
William Jennings Bryan: Cross of Gold nebraska congressman- “you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold
Said that gold was “killing farmers/laborers
Farmers owed more to bankers once deflation hit
Wednesday: No school
Thursday: Review for test
Friday: Started Test
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