Glossary

Grangers

The first national farm organization was the Patrons of Husbandry, or Grangers. Founded in 1867 for social purposes, the Grangers soon moved into politics to address the economic problems of farmers.

hayseed socialists

Critics of the Populists labeled them "hayseed socialists" because some farmers rejected some aspects of capitalism and called for government ownership of the railroads and the telegraph and telephone.

Interstate Commerce Act

Congress responded to popular demands for legislative action against railroad abuses by enacting this law, which created the Interstate Commerce Commission, the first federal regulatory agency. The commission's power was limited and most of its decisions were nullified by conservative courts.

Lodge Bill

As southern states moved to disenfranchise black voters, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and others drafted a federal elections bill. The Lodge Bill sought to protect voter registration and guarantee fair congressional elections by establishing mechanisms to investigate charges of voter fraud and deal with disputed elections.

NAWSA

The National American Woman Suffrage Association was formed in 1890 by the merger of two earlier women's suffrage organizations. It made little progress except in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Texas.

party of morality

In the late nineteenth century the Republican party was known as the "party of morality;" the Democrats were known as the "party of personal liberty" because they rejected government interference in their personal life.

Plessy v. Ferguson

Most southern whites favored the establishment of segregation as a means of racial control but the Fourteenth Amendment raised constitutional issues. In 1896 that barrier was removed by the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson, in which the Court ruled that public accommodations for blacks could be "separate but equal."

Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890

Congress responded to popular pressure for legislative action against trusts by enacting this law, which was virtually unenforced until 1901.

Southern Alliance

Started in 1877, in Texas the southern Alliance was a farmers' organization that developed into a national organization which was more radical and successful than the northern Alliance. The Populist party sprang from the Alliances.

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