Farmers and Populism

Inflation would benefit which group of people the most?

• A. people who have savings accounts

• B. people on fixed incomes

• C. people who are in debt

• D. people who have loaned money

Use information from the list to answer the question.

• Direct Election of Senators

• Elimination of the gold standard

• Government ownership of railroads

• Graduated income tax

The proposals in the list were supported by which group during the late nineteenth century?

• A. bankers

• B. Exodusters

• C. industrialists

• D. Populists

Which policy was supported by Populists?

• A. tax breaks for large corporations

• B. government control of railroads

• C. use of the gold standard

• D. unlimited immigration

Texas in the Late 19th Century

• Cotton prices decreased during Reconstruction.

• The sharecropping system developed.

• Many farmers felt railroads were overcharging for hauling crops.

What action did Texas farmers take in response to the changes described in the chart?

• A. They moved in large numbers to California.

• B. They demanded guaranteed prices for farm products.

• C. They supported a return to the gold standard.

• D. They began organizing farmers’ alliances.

“You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”

– William Jennings Bryan

What was Bryan’s message in his famous “Cross of Gold” speech during the Election of 1896?

.

• A. The United States should adopt the gold standard.

• B. The United States should adopt a laissez-fair attitude about backing its money.

• C. The United States should use crosses to back its money.

• D. The United States should adopt bimetallism

Which group MOST directly supported this speech?

If they ask us here why it is we say more on the money question than we say upon the tariff question, I reply that if protection has slain its thousands the gold standard has slain its tens of thousands. If they ask us why we did not embody all these things in our platform which we believe, we reply to them that when we have restored the money of the Constitution, all other necessary reforms will be possible, and that until that is done there is no reform that can be accomplished.

—William Jennings Bryan, 1896

• A. laborers who wanted increased wages

• B. immigrants who needed to obtain jobs

• C. businessmen who wanted decreased taxes

• D. farmers who were burdened by debt