2. As settlement continued in the west, many
people were excited at the possibility of
owning their own land.
In 1862 Congress passed the Homestead Act
which stated that anyone who would agree
to set up a homestead and cultivate 160
acres of land for five years, would receive
the title to that land for free from the
federal government.
With the passage of the Homestead Act,
thousands of homesteaders moved westward.
3. Verdict: Helped
Land was given to
farmers so that they
could begin to
succeed.
4. The completion of the transcontinental railroad
in 1869 was a cause for celebration in our
country.
To mark the occasion of the meeting of the
Union Pacific and Central Pacific railways, a gold
spike was put into the ground to show where the
railroads met, completing the project.
Now the east and the west were linked together
with the railroad.
This development made it easier to transport
people out west and also made it more efficient
to transport crops, grains, and cattle from the
west to the eastern city markets.
5. Verdict: Helped
It was now easy to transport crops (until the
high shipping costs).
6. So many people became farmers that
overproduction of crops caused prices to
drop dramatically.
This led to smaller profits for each of the
farmers.
To make matters worse, shipping costs on the
railroads increased as well.
As a result farmers were forced to borrow
more and more money and many eventually
found themselves in huge debt.
8. Many farmers began to believe that they were being
overcharged by the railroads for shipping their farm
products to market.
The farmers began to work together and create
farmer’s alliances. These granges, as they were
called, allowed farmers to pool their resources in
order to purchase machinery and supplies.
The granges also allowed farmers to cooperatively
sell their farming products more cost-effectively.
Examples of these farmer’s alliances include the
Southern Farmers’ Alliance and the Colored Farmers’
Alliance. Both are excellent examples of farmers
working together to improve their financial
conditions by fighting the powerful railroads industry.
9. Verdict: Helped
Farmers were brought together and managed
to make more cost-efficient decisions.
10. The growth of the Grange movement eventually
helped lead the way to a larger, political movement.
Farmers who had long been suffering from low crop
prices, high transportation costs, and high debt
eventually organized the Populist movement.
The Populists favored the use of paper money, called
greenbacks, to increase the nation’s money supply
and ease the burden of farmers by raising prices.
A political party grew out of this movement, the
Populist Party, or the People’s Party because it
represented the common man.
The Populist Party favored both the farmers and the
working classes of the northeast.
11. Verdict: Helped
This was good for the
farmers because it
favored the common
working man.
12. The Populists also adopted a “free silver”
policy by which they supported basing the
U.S. dollar on silver as well as gold. This
position became known as bimetallism.
The Populists believed that this would bring
more money into the economy and ease the
farmers’ financial problems.
Populists also wanted more regulation of
business, especially the railroads, in an
effort to fight high shipping costs.
Essentially, they wanted the government to
regulate railroad freight charges.
13. Verdict: Helped
This was designed so that farmers could solve
their financial problems that came with
railroad shipping costs.
14. In 1887 Congress passed the Interstate
Commerce Act that provided for the creation
of the Interstate Commerce Commission to
regulate railroad rates, among other things.
The act was eventually signed into law by
President Grover Cleveland.
