During his presidential campaign, William McKinley had promised to increase the tariff while reducing other taxes. He made good on his promise with the Dingley Tariff Act, which raised the tariff from an average of forty percent to forty-nine percent.
L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published. Many read the book as an allegory of the populist movement, though Baum denied that the subtext was intentional.
Congress passed the Gold Standard Act, making gold the sole monetary standard for US currency.
The Colored Farmers’ Alliance was formed by a group of southern black farmers in 1886 because the Southern Farmers’ Alliance barred black membership. Like other Farmers’ Alliances, the Colored Farmers’ Alliance worked cooperatively to solve the common problems of its members using collective actions and political power. And like other black organizations, the Colored Farmers’ Alliance aimed to uplift African Americans, encouraging its members to become economically independent by purchasing homes and eliminating debts. The organization was...
The National Farmers’ Alliance was formed from a merger of regional Farmers’ Alliances in 1880. The national organization, as the regional ones had, aimed to further the interests of farmers through cooperative efforts and education.
Organized in 1866 and in existence for only six years, the National Labor Union was a federation of unions and reform groups that advocated the eight-hour workday.
The American Federation of Labor was established by a group of trade unions after the Chicago Haymarket Square riot in 1866. Aiming to organize skilled craft workers, the AFL used boycotts and strikes as negotiation tactics. Samuel Gompers served as the organization’s first president.
The Interstate Commerce Commission, formed by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, was the first federal regulatory commission. The Commission was tasked with regulating railroads and preventing rate discrimination.
The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, a private security force, was often hired to put down strikes during the labor disputes of the late nineteenth century. Most famously, the Pinkerton Agency clashed with strikers at Andrew Carnegie’s Homestead steel plant outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1892.