jan 1, 1878 - Green-Back Labor Party elects fifteen congressmen

Description:

A political movement of the 1870s and 1880s that called on the government to protect worker rights, regulate corporations, continue Reconstruction policies in the South, and increase the money supply in order to assist borrowers.

SOuthern greenbacks:
-protested colla[see of reconstruction
-wanted to protect voting right for everyone

across country the party worked towards:
-regulations
-8 hr/work day
-wantd gov to print more money +increase circulation to stimulate the economy, create jobs, and help borrowers by allowing them to pay off debts in dollars that, over time, slowly decreased in value.
-producerism (An argument, made by late nineteenth century farmers’ and workers’ movements, that real economic wealth is created by workers engaged in physical labor, and that merchants, bankers, and other middlemen unfairly gain their wealth from such “producers.”)
-radicalized thousands of farmers, miners, and industrial workers
-In Alabama’s coal-mining regions, black and white miners cooperated in the party. Texas boasted seventy African American Greenback clubs

In Midwest:
Granger Laws (Economic regulatory laws that aimed to limit the power of railroads and other corporations, and that midwestern states passed in the late 1870s in response to pressure from farmers and the Greenback-Labor Party. )


By the early 1880s, twenty-nine states had created railroad commissions to supervise railroad rates and policies; others appointed commissions to regulate insurance and utility companies. Such early regulatory efforts were not always effective, but they were crucial starting points for reform. Although short-lived, the Greenback movement created the foundation for more sustained efforts to regulate big business

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