West Transformation In The Late Nineteenth Century

Populism, or the People’s Party, was formed for many economic reasons. Most of the agrarian society felt as if they were not equal to bigger industries (Brinkley 449-451). Railroad services charged small farmers more for shipping rates and bigger industries less. The farmers claimed that railroad services fixed their rates because they would cut deals with the bigger businesses. Populists also wanted a reform of currency (455). They wanted to do so in a way that would raise crops and farm products, so they could get more money and would be able to alleviate their debt.

Farmers united to protect their interests, even creating a major political party. The party was called the peoples party which became known as the populist party. Populists drew its strength from rural areas. Populists tended to be poor and uneducated. They had ideas such as government ownership of major industries. The Populists supported labors demand for an eight

The Populist Movement ultimately failed to survive because of their desire for inflation and the support for the coinage of silver, as well as the fact that they merged with the Democratic Party to combat the Republicans. The 1896 election undermined agrarian insurgency, and a period of rapidly rising farm prices helped to bring about the dissolution of the Populist Party. Another important factor in the failure of the party was its inability to affect a genuine urban-rural coalition; its program had little appeal for wage earners of the industrial east. Although the populists were not outright socialists, many conservative interests saw the Populists as a threat to the basic economic system of the United States. The Populists’ agenda was

This only deteriorated as businesses would suffer financially and unemployment was at an all the time high. Although President Franklin D. Roosevelt came up with tactics and strategies to lessen the effects of the damage done, the economy wouldn’t fully overcome until after 1939 as World War II shifted America. For a little over a decade, businesses would go through financial turmoil and people would have to find other ways to bring in revenue. During the late summer of the 1929, the American economy entered into a recession. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a recession is defined as a period of reduced economic activity. Investors had traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. That day in history was formally known as “Black Tuesday”. Those same shares had ended up being worthless with no monetary value. The investors who bought them with borrowed money, suffered an excessive lost. Consumer reliability was gone as spending was nonexistent which resulted in factories being closed down. The lack of consumerism also impacted those who had invested in mass production. The consumers who still felt a need to spend, were forced to use credit cards and evidently fell into major debt; foreclosures on homes and repossessions climbed rapidly as people tried their best to live again and have that

The government’s actions concerning the inflation of the American dollar were extremely detrimental to the ability of the average farmer to make a living. In president William McKinley’s acceptance speech in 1896 (Document B), McKinley argues that free silver would decrease the value of money, and “no one suffers so much from cheap money as the farmers and laborers.” The decrease in the value of money caused by inflation would make the farmers’ crops almost worthless. The farmers’ complaints regarding the government were valid due to the failure of the government to stop inflation, which is shown in the table comparing the population to the money in circulation (Document C). The amount of money in circulation increased constantly from 1880 to 1895.

C. Progressives worked to change many parts of American society. Choose TWO of these reforms from the terms list below and tell what they mean. (10 points)

Throughout the 19th century, the American market saw drastic changes in infrastructure and production. The agriculture sector was no different, as new technologies and modes of transport led the way for farmers to sell goods and work their land, easier and faster. New laws and regulations also paved the way towards cheaper food throughout America. However, as prices dropped, and production flourished, a minority of Americans suffered the consequences of starvation, while farmers suffered low gains. The agricultural picture of the 1800s paints an image of new technologies and a transformed transport sector, which gave way to lower consumer prices and hardships for farmers.

Due to “…falling agricultural prices and growing economic dependency” (Foner 636) in the mid-nineteenth century, farmers in the South began to face inevitable economic uncertainty. Farmers, both white and black alike, were thrown into poverty due to sharecropping and the fall of the price of cotton, and many faced the fear of losing everything they had due the inability to pay bank loans. Believing that their situation was caused by “…high freight rates…excessive interest rates for loans…and the fiscal policies of the government” (Foner 636), disgruntled farmers hoped to better their lives and conditions through the founding of the Farmers’ Alliance in the 1870s. However, by the 1890s, the Alliance transformed into what became known as the Populist Party. Keeping their roots in mind, the Populists sought to end what they considered political corruption and economic inequality that arose during the Reconstruction. In order to do so, they proposed “…the direct election of U.S. senators, government control of currency, a graduated income tax, a system of low-class public financing…the right of workers to form labor unions…[and a] public ownership of the railroads” (Foner 638). In addition to their propositions, the Populists were considered radical due to their embracement of science and technology, their belief that the

In the 19th century the U.S grew in size and power. After the Louisiana Purchase from France, which doubled the size of the country also opened up a bit better-known region to exploration and ultimate settlement. Soon, explorers were getting back from forays into the geographic region with stories of nice stretches of beauty and fertile land.That helped and encouraged the government and the people to move west and acquire more lands. Although the Western Expansion had a great effect on the Western Frontier which helped in forming railroads and helped the economy, but it had a huge effect on the Native People as they lost their lands and many died people

On October 24, 1929, the stock market crashed as investors began selling off their shares as quickly as possible. That day is known as “Black Thursday” on which a record 12.9 million shares were traded in. Five days later, on “Black Tuesday” another 16 million shares were traded in. Investors wanted to get as much money out of their stocks in case they went down in value. Everyone who had bought stocks “on margin” lost everything. This affected Europe as well as America. People had less money, there was less demand

The imbalance between the rich and the poor, with 0.1 percent of society earning the same total income as 42 percent, combined with production of more and more goods and rising personal debt, could not be sustained. On Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed, triggering the Great Depression, the worst economic collapse in the history of the modern industrial world. It spread from the United States to the rest of the world, lasting from the end of 1929 until the early 1940s. With banks failing and businesses closing, more than 15 million Americans (one-quarter of the workforce) became unemployed.

The economic relation with parallel growing economic of the West. Especially the relation of the United Stets with the powerful country like Germany and France was not proportional and ultimately the United States had to go through great loss in term of trade, the raised tax on imports and exports was also the major contributing factor for hampering tariff with other foreign countries as well. The speculators and stockholders of wall street began to lose exponentially after 29, 1929 which is also known as black Tuesday in the history of the American economy. At the meantime, the agricultural and production sector was also hampered due to disastrous drought in the northern United States and most productive states like Mississippi’s Banking and trading was almost devastated. All

As the week went on and the market got worse the market one again caused panic and went down 12.8%, this day is known as “Black Monday” or October 28, 1929. The next day “Black Tuesday” stock holders sold 16 million shares and lost billions of dollars. Major companies’ market points started to drop like crazy, Dow Jones dropped 183 points in a short period of 2 months, General Electric went down 186 points, and the Radio Corporation of America dropped from 505 points to just 26. While many other huge companies dropped in the stock market General Electric, Dow Jones, and Radio Corporation of America had the biggest negative effects on the market. It would

As agricultural conditions improved, membership declined. Although few of their economic initiatives succeeded, much of their political agenda was advocated in south and west by the Farmer's Alliance. The Farmer's Alliance and the Grangers differed in that the Alliance was political from its inception. The farmers saw industrial capitalism as destructive to agrarian values. The Alliance sought to unite farmers against the new economic and political interests they felt were combining to deny farmers

In the late October of 1929, the United States Stock Market took an immense plummet. This plummet acted as a catalyst to the beginning of the 10 year long Great Depression. It was known as Black Tuesday, aka the Wall Street Crash of 1929. (Harold)