The Greenback Party
The campaign had consisted mostly of persons with agrarian interests. They were people whose lives centered around their land and culture. In addition to this, they had a desire to maintain an increase the amount of paper money in circulation. This campaign was the beginning of the Greenback movement. The withdrawal by anti-federalists had opened the way for monetary changes by the Union government. "Greenbacks" first came into existence when the U.S. Department of Treasury was given the right, in 1862, to issue notes that were not changeable into specie (hard money like gold or silver) but were authorized as legal tender for most purposes. Although the North's record on inflation stands up well in comparison with the experience of triumphant countries in later wars, the Greenbacks worth in gold fell to half the supposed value. Their use had in any case only been intended as a temporary measure and the government started reducing the number in circulation; however, this had coincided with and reinforced a depression that led to the formation of the Greenback Party in 1875, which had campaigned for an increase in note circulation. Between 1862 and 1865, the U.S. Government had issued more than $450,000,000 in paper mon
party; in 1891delegates from farm and labor organizations met in Cincinnati. No decision had been made yet to form any kind of political party, but when the Republican and Democratic parties both straddled the currency question at the 1892 Presidential conventions, a convention was held in Omaha and the Populist Party was formed that year. They had adopted a platform that included among other things: free coinage of silver, abolition of national banks, and a graduated income tax, government ownership of all forms of transportation and communication, non-ownership of land by foreigners, a reform of immigration regulations, an eight hour work day and a revision of contract law. The Greenback Party which by 1878 had 482 clubs, including seventy for African-Americans, had a major role in the organization of the Greenback movement which had started in Texas in 1876. establishment of a tax-supported school system, and the curbing of the power of the railroads . (greenbacks - legal tender notes) to help finance the Union cause in the American Civil War. The idea that preserving a flexible supply of paper money served the interests of working people, while paper money backed by specie benefited only the rich. After the war, economic conservatives demanded that the government retire the greenbacks, but the farmers and others who wished to maintain high prices opposed that move. It was in 1868 that the Democrats gave partial support to the Greenback movement by endorsing a plan that called for the redemption of certain war bonds by the issuance of new greenbacks. At this time members of the Greenback Party joined with urban trade union groups to establish the Greenback Labor Party. James Weaver emerged as leader of the party and was its presidential candidate in 1880. During the campaign Weaver argued that the two major political parties had lost sight of their original democratic ideals of equal opportunity. He also claimed that the maintenance of the gold standard had benefited banking interests but was driving the farmers out of business. Weaver called for policies where all classes could share in the economic wealth of America.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1751
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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