Changes

So the farmers form a new political party in creation to the deflation and “Crime of 1873”:  the Greenback Party.  The so-called “Greenbackers” opposed the gold standard and opposed allowing people to turn in Greenback currency for gold.  In 1878 and 1880 the Greenback Party won two dozen seats in Congress.  But that was not enough, and the government went ahead with redeeming greenbacks in gold.  So debtors and farmers turned to a new solution:  silver.

So the farmers form a new political party in creation to the deflation and “Crime of 1873”:  the Greenback Party.  The so-called “Greenbackers” opposed the gold standard and opposed allowing people to turn in Greenback currency for gold.  In 1878 and 1880 the Greenback Party won two dozen seats in Congress.  But that was not enough, and the government went ahead with redeeming greenbacks in gold.  So debtors and farmers turned to a new solution:  silver.

From about 1878 to the end of the century there was strong pressure to return the nation’s economic standard to bimetallism by including silver along with gold.  Two forces drove this pro-silver or “free silver” movement:  Westerners had discovered silver mines so they wanted the silver to become more valuable, and farmers wanted more money in currency to cause inflation.  Westerns and Southerners arranged for passage of the Bland-Allison Act in 1878, which required the government to purchase $2-4 million worth of silver each month.  Also, a bill passed over President Hayes’ veto which allowed for the free and unlimited coinage by the government of silver, such as silver dollars, at a ratio of 16 to 1 relative to gold.  The government began minting silver dollars that are collectors’ items today (and worth much more than one dollar now).

From about 1878 to the end of the century there was strong pressure to return the nation’s economic standard to bimetallism by including silver along with gold.  Two forces drove this pro-silver or “free silver” movement:  Westerners had discovered silver mines so they wanted the silver to become more valuable, and farmers wanted more money in currency to cause inflation.  Westerns and Southerners arranged for passage of the Bland-Allison Act in 1878, which required the government to purchase $2-4 million worth of silver each month.  Also, a bill passed over President Hayes’ veto which allowed for the free and unlimited coinage by the government of silver, such as silver dollars, at a ratio of 16 to 1 relative to gold.  The government began minting silver dollars that are collectors’ items today (and worth much more than one dollar now).

Slavery was no longer an issue from the end of Reconstruction through 1900.  With the exception of one politician (Democrat Grover Cleveland, who looked like a Republican because he was from New York, favored the gold standard and opposed unions by sending in troops to put down the Pullman Strike in Chicago in 1894), Republicans controlled the White House.  During the Gilded Age, there were business scandals and there were political scandals.  But there was also tremendous prosperity.

Slavery was no longer an issue from the end of Reconstruction through 1900.  With the exception of one politician (Democrat Grover Cleveland, who looked like a Republican because he was from New York, favored the gold standard and opposed unions by sending in troops to put down the Pullman Strike in Chicago in 1894), Republicans controlled the White House.  During the Gilded Age, there were business scandals and there were political scandals.  But there was also tremendous prosperity.

==Debate Topics==

==Debate Topics==

Debate:  it wasn’t the “Gilded Age”, it was the “Golden Age”.

Debate:  it wasn’t the “Gilded Age”, it was the “Golden Age”.

Debate:  caveat emptor, or government regulation of monopolies and robber barons?

Debate:  caveat emptor, or government regulation of monopolies and robber barons?