How did populists want to increase the amount of money in circulation?

How did populists want to increase the amount of money in circulation?

They wanted to regulate the railroads, increase the money supply (inflation) , create state departments of agriculture and have anti trust laws and farm credit ( subsidies) and create banks to provide farmers with low interest loans.

What is the meaning of gold bug?

A gold bug is someone who expounds the virtues of gold as an investment, and who thinks its price will perpetually increase.

How did the financial crisis in 1893 impact society’s views of the populists?

How did the financial crisis in 1893 impact societies views of the Populists? An increased number of unemployed and dispossessed Americans gave momentum to the Populist movement. William Jennings Bryan from the Democratic Party became a candidate of the Populist Party.

Why did Populist want the United States to move from a currency apex?

They wanted a national income tax to take the tax burden off farmers, and they called for an amendment to allow citizens (not state legislatures) to directly elect Senators. Populists demanded bimetallism: using currency based on gold and silver in order to inflate the money supply.

Why did Populists want silver in the money supply?

Bryan wanted the United States to use silver to back the dollar at a value that would inflate the prices farmers received for their crops, easing their debt burden. This position was known as the Free Silver Movement.

Why did bankers support the gold standard?

They said the United States should support its money only with gold. A gold standard, they said, would keep the value of the dollar high. These people were called “gold bugs.” Most were businessmen, bankers, and investors. They thought the value of the dollar was too high.

For what reason did McKinley and the rest of the gold bugs want to stay with the gold standard?

McKinley supported the gold standard, arguing that the free coinage of silver (which held less value than gold) would cause inflation, further weakening the country’s financial system.

Why did the silverites want unlimited coinage of silver?

“Silverites” believed that currency should be redeemable in silver as well as gold. They agitated for “free silver,” or unlimited coinage of silver, a metal that could be mined in abundance in the West, to produce an increased and more flexible money supply that they hoped would lead to a more equitable economy and foster social reforms.

Why was the demonetization of silver so important?

Professor of government Elizabeth Sanders includes the demonetization of silver as one of a few significant policies of the period that led many working people, especially farmers, to believe that a “fraud against the people” was being “perpetrated by the national state on behalf of a financial elite.”

Why was the Silverite movement so divisive?

Silverites Political battles over currency issues became intensely divisive during the last quarter of the 19th century as industrialization accelerated in the Northeast, while the South and newly settled areas of the Midwest remained dependent on farming.