Greenback Party
The party's name referred to the non-gold backed paper money, commonly known as "greenbacks", that had been issued by the North during the American Civil War and shortly afterward.
Continued use of unbacked currency, it was believed, would better foster business and assist farmers by raising prices and making debts easier to pay.
The organization faded into obscurity in the second half of the 1880s, with its basic program reborn shortly under the aegis of the People's Party, commonly known as the "Populists".
The act of Southern secession prompted a brief and severe business panic in the North and a crisis of public confidence in the Federal government.
[1] In December runs on deposits began in New York City, forcing banks there to disburse a substantial part of their hard metal reserves.
[1] United States Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase had already anticipated the coming financial crisis, proposing to Congress the establishment of a system of national banks, each empowered to issue banknotes backed not with gold but with federal bonds.
[1] The new United States Notes were popularly known as "greenbacks" due to the vibrant green ink used on the reverse side of the bill.
[2] Congress finally enacted Treasury Secretary Chase's National Bank plan in January 1863, creating a yet another form of currency, also backed by government bonds rather than gold and redeemable in United States Notes.
[2] In December 1865, McCulloch formally sought approval from Congress to retire the greenback currency from circulation, a necessary first step towards restoration of the gold standard.
[2] About $44 million in greenback currency was successfully withdrawn from circulation before a recession in 1867 helped fuel opposition in Congress to the deflationary redemption program.
[2] Secretary of the Treasury of the Grant administration George S. Boutwell formally abandoned the contraction policy and embraced the ongoing state of political inertia.
[5] Established in 1867, the Grange concerned itself with the monopoly power exerted by railroads, which used various aggressive pricing mechanisms for its own benefit against the farmers who shipped commodities over its lines.
In May 1869, the First transcontinental railroad across the North American continent was completed, bringing many localities to within reach of a national market for the first time.
A frenzy to complete additional railway lines to open up new frontier areas for development followed, a situation in which the United States government and the great railroad companies of the day maintained a common interest.
[6] A great part of this massive stockpile of land needed to be converted into cash by the railways to finance their building activities, since railroad construction was a costly undertaking.
New settlement had to be attracted to the virgin lands west of the Missouri River, which had been previously regarded by the public as worthless to the needs of agriculture due to insufficiencies of the soil as well as the arid climate.
[11] The next Congress moved in the other direction, with the Republican leadership making use of steamroller tactics in order to finally resolve the dual currency situation through passage of the Specie Payment Resumption Act.
[12] One of the founding members, John C. Wilde, is cited several times in a northern Michigan newspaper from 1898 explaining the reasons for the beginning of the Party.
The Indiana Independent organization cast its eyes upon a broader existence the following year, issuing a convention call in August 1874 urging all "greenback men" to assemble at Indianapolis in November to form a new national political party.
[12] The result of this call was an undelegated gathering of individuals held in November in Indianapolis which was more akin to an organizational conference than a formal convention.
[16] The party's platform focused upon repeal of the Specie Resumption Act of 1875 and the renewed use of non-gold-backed United States Notes in an effort to restore prosperity through an expanded money supply.
Our prosperity must continually depend upon the industry, the enterprise, and the busy internal trade and a true independence of foreign nations, which a paper circulation, well based on credit, has always been found to promote.
[17]The Greenback movement argued that the previous effort of using an unbacked currency had been sabotaged by monied interests, which had prevailed upon Congress to restrict the functionality of the notes — declaring them unsuitable for the payment of taxes or national debt.
[21] In 1880, the Greenback Party broadened its platform to include support for an income tax, an eight-hour day, and allowing women the right to vote.
His national debates on Greenback monetary policy led the party's growth and influence as spokesmen against the post-war redevelopment of monopolistic gold-based capitalism.
