New South Outline

History 2223    US History II

 


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THE NEW SOUTH

 

Southern Poverty at the end of Reconstruction

·            Earn half the national average

 

A New Image Emerges--Industrialization

·            Calls begin even before the Civil War

·            Becomes evident that King Cotton actually kept the South from modernization.

·            New Orleans Picayune editor: “The smoke of the steam engine should begin to float     over the cotton fields. . .”

·            New Generation of Progressive Southerners Not caught up in “The Lost Cause.”

·            Henry Grady of the Atlanta Constitution and the New South Creed

               To a Boston audience: “ We are going to take a noble revenge by invading                every inch of your territory with iron.”

 

Southern Industrialization
  • Southern States offer tax exemptions, cheap labor, and convict leasing to entice industry.
  • Initially successful—Example:  Birmingham.  A field in 1870, by 1890 a city of nearly 40,000.
  • But not everybody participated in new industrialism.

             --Cotton culture still dominant—Sharecropping replaces slavery

             --Crop Lien System

             --By 1920, overwhelming majority of freed slaves rural—mostly tenant farmers

 

     Farm Problems

  • Failures in the Homestead Program
  • Birth of the mail order catalogs competes with agricultural goods
  • Technology allows and requires birth of large farms (agribusiness)
  • Farmers fail to keep up with new business realities
  • Adherence to single money crop
  • High taxes and interest rates
  • Nature
  • Lack of organization for farmers or their workers

 

     Farm and Labor Organization

·         Populist Movement

·         Tom Watson

·         1890--People’s Party formed in Kansas

·         Issues

                 --Free Silver

             --Sub-treasury plan

             --Eight Hour workday

             --Immigration Restrictions

 

     The People’s Party (Populists)

·         1892—formed in St. Louis

·         Presidential Candidate, Weaver, carried Colorado, Kansas, Idaho, and Nevada

·         Platform

             --Initiative and Referendum

             --Direct Election of Senators

             --Secret Ballot

·         Election of 1896

             --Populists in turmoil, turn to Democrat—William Jennings Bryant

             --Party unravels as many parts of platform are adopted by Democrats and                Republicans

·         Failure of the Populist Party

                 --Failed to fully incorporate all labor—African Americans and Italian Americans              largely left out

             --Southern Democrats stayed loyal to party

             --Most of the Populist Platform adopted by two major parties.

             --Rise of a new type of Southern Leader, who appealed to the basest                      denominator to gain the support of poor whites

 

Discussion Board question:  Now that you know what the real populists stood for, what do you make of modern politicians trying to pass themselves off as populists?  Millionaire Ross Perot started the latest populist push, but Al Gore and George Bush used some of the same language in their stump speeches.  Are any of these politicians (or parties) populists?  (Editorial note:  Please refrain from using this as an opportunity to shamelessly promote your politician or party of choice!)

     

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