Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface and acknowledgments
- 1 The money debate and American political development
- 2 Party politics and the financial debate, 1865–1896
- 3 Greenbacks versus gold: The contest over finance in the 1870s
- 4 The “people's money”: Greenbackism in North Carolina, Illinois, and Massachusetts
- 5 The battle of the standards: The financial debate of the 1890s
- 6 Populism and the politics of finance in North Carolina, Illinois, and Massachusetts in the 1890s
- 7 Money, history, and American political development
- Appendix A Financial terms used between the Civil War and 1896
- Appendix B Major banking and currency legislation, 1860 to 1900
- Appendix C An antimonopolist reading of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
- Index
5 - The battle of the standards: The financial debate of the 1890s
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 March 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface and acknowledgments
- 1 The money debate and American political development
- 2 Party politics and the financial debate, 1865–1896
- 3 Greenbacks versus gold: The contest over finance in the 1870s
- 4 The “people's money”: Greenbackism in North Carolina, Illinois, and Massachusetts
- 5 The battle of the standards: The financial debate of the 1890s
- 6 Populism and the politics of finance in North Carolina, Illinois, and Massachusetts in the 1890s
- 7 Money, history, and American political development
- Appendix A Financial terms used between the Civil War and 1896
- Appendix B Major banking and currency legislation, 1860 to 1900
- Appendix C An antimonopolist reading of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
- Index
Summary
The Wicked Witch … looked down at Dorothy's feet, and seeing the Silver Shoes, began to tremble with fear, for she knew what a powerful charm belonged to them. At first the Witch was tempted to run away from Dorothy; but she happened to look in the child's eyes and saw how simple the soul behind them was, and that the little girl did not know of the wonderful power the Silver Shoes gave her.
The Wonderful Wizard of OzIn the midst of industrial strife, third-party activism, and economic depression, the dominant political issue of the 1890s was the battle of the monetary standards. As they had done two decades earlier during the greenback conflict, editors, intellectuals, labor leaders, agrarians, businessmen, and politicians turned their thoughts and their pens to the problem of finance. Several events contributed to this focus. In 1893, the nation experienced its third banking panic since the end of the Civil War. In response to the ensuing depression and drain on the Treasury's gold fund, the president called for the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. That act had mediated between the demands of financial conservatives and reformers and had quelled persistent rumors about the “Crime of '73” when silver was demonetized under dubious legislative circumstances. The repeal of the Silver Purchase Act renewed conflict over the monetary standard. The debate over finance was at once a cultural, political, and economic debate.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Goldbugs and GreenbacksThe Antimonopoly Tradition and the Politics of Finance in America, 1865–1896, pp. 152 - 207Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997