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89-675: In 1884, in Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Trades' Assembly organized a merger of the Greenback Labor Party (GLP) and Anti-Monopoly Party (AMP) into a local People's Party (PP), often called the Populists. This merger was strongly supported by the local socialists . During the mid-1880s, Knights of Labor (K of L) organizer Robert Schilling had organized more than 40 lodges with over 25,000 members. The K of L and

178-543: A 1-to-1 rate — thereby netting the speculator a tidy profit. The Greenback Party of 1876 drew the support almost exclusively from farmers — few urban workmen cast ballots for the Greenback ticket. The situation changed somewhat in the summer of 1877, however, when a strike movement erupted across the country, leading to the suppression of local strike actions by Federal troops and a radicalization of workers. A myriad of local political organizations, independent not only of

267-599: A Democrat and secures both enough votes from members of his own party as well as enough write-in votes from members of the Republican Party, then electoral fusion occurs, and Bob will appear on the ballot as both a Republican and a Democrat. Similarly, a member of one party may lose their own party's nomination in a primary election but gain enough write-in votes from members of the opposing party to win that party's nomination. For example, in May 2023, Stephen Zappala lost

356-582: 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. 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. No new party was formally established, but

445-405: A default on loans and setting off a financial chain reaction. Runs began on banks, causing a series of bank failures, and manufacturers shuttered their production, laying off workers. Dozens of marginal railroads went bankrupt while unemployment skyrocketed. A lengthy depression ensued, continuing through 1878. Pressure was placed on Congress to alleviate the business crisis through reinflation of

534-559: A general rule, neither party uses electoral fusion, and both rely on their own candidates. The Green Party, which had first achieved ballot status in 1998, failed to gain 50,000 votes (then the requirement) and also lost its ballot status in 2002, but regained its line when the 2010 election results were certified. In 2018, Larry Sharpe , the Libertarian Party candidate for governor in New York, received over 90,000 votes, giving

623-477: A governing Executive Committee was named for the prospective "National Independent Party", with the body assigned the task of composing a declaration of principles and issuing another call for a formal founding convention. Several regional conventions took place in 1875, merging the activities of local political parties towards a single end. Most of those attending these initial gatherings were farmers or lawyers, with few urban wage workers or trade union officials —

712-555: A group of reform-minded farmers and political activists declared themselves free of the two established parties and established themselves as the Independent Party. 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 group nominated a slate for statewide office, running on a platform which called for expansion of

801-716: A national farmer-labor alliance and a national party. In May 1891, Schilling was a delegate to the Farmers' Alliance Cincinnati convention that laid the groundwork for a national People's Party, where he was appointed as secretary of the National Executive Committee. Weeks later, the ULP was again reorganized into the Wisconsin People's Party, or Wisconsin Populist Party. In February 1892,

890-654: A party's candidate for Governor in midterm election years or President in presidential years must receive either 130,000 votes or 2% of votes cast (whichever is greater) on that party's line. Other parties, such as the Libertarian Party of New York and the Green Party of New York , have sought ballot access by first getting a gubernatorial candidate on the ballot via petition (by collecting 45,000 valid signatures of registered voters ), and then by getting 130,000 votes for that candidate on their line. As

979-466: A period of protracted inflation during the Civil War. Between the years 1860 and 1865, the cost of living nearly doubled. As is the case in all inflationary periods, there were winners and losers created by the significant fall in currency value, with banks and creditors receiving less real value from the loans repaid by debtors. Pressure began to build in the financial industry for a rectification of

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1068-406: A quick military victory proved ephemeral and in the wake of Southern victories the federal government found it increasingly difficult to sell the government bonds necessary to finance the war effort. Two 1861 bond sales of $ 50 million each conducted through private banks went without a hitch, but bankers found the market for the 7.3% securities soft for a third bond issue. A general fear arose that

1157-478: A time of frenetic railway construction and associated land speculation. Rather than a managed system of national railroad construction through public works or leaving the construction of lines strictly to market forces, Congress attempted to spur the growth of the industry through the grant of enormous tracts of public lands to privately owned railway companies. In May 1869, the First transcontinental railroad across

1246-565: A yet another form of currency, also backed by government bonds rather than gold and redeemable in United States Notes. This non-gold-based currency became the functional equivalent of greenbacks in circulation, further expanding the money supply. With the production of consumer goods impacted by the conversion of factories to wartime production and the expansion of the money supply, the United States of America experienced

1335-562: Is a response to the winner-take-all electoral system . It solves the ' wasted vote ' or ' spoiler ' dilemmas that otherwise plague third parties , and allows citizens who don't fit neatly into the Democratic or Republican boxes to nevertheless participate constructively in politics". Before the Civil War , fusion voting was a common electoral tactic of abolitionist forces, who formed a number of anti-slavery third parties , including

1424-861: Is legal in rare cases when primary elections are won by write-in candidates . As of 2024, the Alianza de País in Puerto Rico, the New Jersey Moderate Party , the Common Sense Party in Michigan and the United Kansas Party are attempting to use litigation to bring back fusion voting in their areas. In 1872 , both the newly formed Liberal Republican Party and the Democratic Party nominated

1513-493: Is partially legal in three others: California allows fusion in presidential elections only, and Pennsylvania and Maryland permit it in certain elections, including but not limited to the judiciary . In Oregon and Vermont, a system of dual-labeling exists, which allows a candidate to list multiple party endorsements on a single line, but disallows the traditional fusion system in which a minor party has its own ballot line and votes are tallied by party. In New Hampshire , fusion

1602-823: The American Independent Party , a small far-right party. Trump was the first fusion presidential candidate on the California ballot in at least eighty years. In 1936, labor leaders in New York City took advantage of fusion and founded the American Labor Party (ALP). Their immediate goal was to provide a way for New Yorkers who despised the Tammany Hall political machine to support Franklin Roosevelt without voting for

1691-534: The Liberal Party of New York cross-nominated Roosevelt, fusing with the ALP. Roosevelt won the state of New York in each election, but in 1940 and 1944 he would not have won New York without the support of votes gained via the fusion parties and their voters. Donald Trump appeared on the 2016 presidential ballot in California with two ballot labels by his name, as the nominee of both the Republican Party and

1780-519: The Liberty and Free Soil parties. These and other abolitionist third parties cross-nominated major party candidates running under the Whig label, fusing more than one party behind a single candidate. After the Civil War, agrarian interest groups and the political parties they founded continued to use fusion voting to form alliances between third parties and the weaker of the two major parties, usually

1869-677: The National Labor Reform Party . Joining organized labor were the organized farmers in the form of the Patrons of Husbandry , commonly known as the Grange . 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. When the Grangers turned to politics around

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1958-668: The People's Party and either the Democratic or Republican parties. In 2008, a lawsuit was brought by the Independent Party of Oregon against the Oregon Secretary of State claiming that modifications to the ballot design statute in 1995 once again required the state to list multiple nominating parties on the candidate's ballot line. The lawsuit gave rise to legislation to allow candidates to list up to three party labels after their name. This bill passed both houses of

2047-522: The Populist Party . By the middle of the 1880s, Greenback Labor nationally was losing its labor-based support, in part as a result of craft union voluntarism and in part as a result of Irish defections back to the Democratic Party. Historian Paul Kleppner has observed that one of the traditional functions of third parties in the American political system has been the raising of new issues,

2136-426: The U.S. House of Representatives : 46th United States Congress , March 4, 1879 - March 3, 1881. 47th United States Congress , March 4, 1881, to March 3, 1883. 48th United States Congress , March 4, 1883, to March 3, 1885. 49th United States Congress , March 4, 1885, to March 3, 1887. 50th United States Congress , March 4, 1887, to March 3, 1889. Electoral fusion Electoral fusion in

2225-490: The U.S. Treasury itself suspending redemption of its own Treasury notes . The gold standard was thus effectively suspended. 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. This December 1861 proposal

2314-619: The United Labor Party was organized by numerous local unions and left-wing groups, including the CLU, K of L, and the Socialist Labor Party (SLP), and ran Henry George for the 1886 mayoral election . In 34 of 38 states, 4 territories, and 189 towns, workers created a Union Labor Party, United Labor Party, or other similarly-named organization. Historian Leon Fink , describing this era, said that it "may still stand as

2403-758: The election of 1886 , only two dozen Greenback candidates ran for the House, apart from another six who ran on fusion tickets. Again, Weaver was the party's only victory. Much of the Greenback news in early 1888 took place in Michigan, where the party remained active. In early 1888, it was not clear if the Greenback Party would hold another national convention. The 4th Greenback Party National Convention assembled in Cincinnati , Ohio , on May 16, 1888. There were so few delegates who attended that no actions were taken. On August 16, 1888, George O. Jones , chairman of

2492-497: The "wasted vote" and "spoiler" dilemmas that small parties face in a non-proportional voting system. The People's Party (also known as the Populists) is regarded as the most successful third party of the era. That success produced a counter-reaction from the dominant major parties, who then used state legislatures to enact bans against fusion in the late nineteenth and early 20th century. In northern and western states, fusion

2581-672: The 1874 elections in Wisconsin, California, Iowa and Kansas. This led the Chicago Weekly Tribune to state that the movement offered, "an opportunity to accomplish something for the country at large — not for the farmers merely, but for all who live by their industry, as distinguished from those who live by politics, speculations and class-legislation." Frustrated by their inability to get Democrats or Republicans to adopt inflationary monetary policy, southern and western leaders of monetary reform met in Indianapolis and proposed

2670-421: The ALP held the balance of power in city and state politics. The importance of the ALP was demonstrated again in 1938 when the party provided the margin of victory for the Democratic candidate for Governor, and in 1940 when the ALP did the same for President Roosevelt. In the 1944 presidential election, fusion provided CIO unions in New York an opportunity to build and back a labor party, an uncommon occurrence in

2759-547: The American worker’s single greatest push for political power". At first, the ULP saw striking success, greater than that of any prior US labor party. In the 1886 elections, the Populists obtained considerable successes, especially in Milwaukee . The Populists elected several members to both the Wisconsin Senate and State Assembly , including Populist president Michael P. Walsh . In the gubernatorial election ,

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2848-481: The Democratic Party. In its first showing at the polls, the party garnered a significant amount of the vote in New York City but was not important with regard to Roosevelt's victory. In the 1937 election cycle, the ALP built on it past performance by electing members to the city council, and by delivering so many votes to Mayor Fiorello La Guardia that the New York Times ran a front page article declaring that

2937-415: The Democratic primary for Allegheny County District Attorney to challenger Matt Dugan. However, although Zappala is a Democrat, he received the requisite number (500 or more) of write-in votes from Republicans to appear as a Republican on the ballot in November 2023. Running on the ballot as a Republican, Zappala won the general election in November 2023, beating Dugan. In Milwaukee , Wisconsin , during

3026-703: The Democrats and Thomas E. Watson for the Populists. This election led to the downfall of the Populist Party, especially in Southern states (such as Watson's Georgia, as well as North Carolina and Tennessee) where the Populist party had engaged in electoral fusion or other alliances with Republicans against the dominant Bourbon Democrats . In the 1936 and 1940 , the American Labor Party nominated Franklin Roosevelt for president, and in 1944 ,

3115-590: The Democrats in the West and Midwest. In the 19th and early 20th century, minor parties used fusion as a way to signal that their support for a major party candidate brought a meaningful number of voters to the candidate. Votes for fusion candidates were tallied first by party, then added together to produce the outcome. Historian Peter Argersinger argues that this helped "maintain a significant third party tradition by guaranteeing that dissenters' votes could be more than symbolic protest". Fusion allowed minor parties to avoid

3204-602: The Greenback Party broadened its platform to include support for an income tax , an eight-hour day , and allowing women the right to vote . Ideological similarities also existed between the Grange ( The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry ) and the Greenback movement. For example, both the Grange and the GAP favored a national graduated income tax and proposed that public lands be given to settlers rather than sold to land speculators . The town of Greenback, Tennessee ,

3293-568: The Hayes administration as a leading spokesman for those national politicians who wanted the nation's money supply used to expand commerce and fund westward expansion of the nation, not repay in gold the interest on civil war bonds Eastern bankers had bought to fund much of the civil war effort but whose antebellum lending practices to the South had helped slavery flourish. His 1875 national debates with hard money New York Governor Stewart L. Woodford set

3382-473: The K of L and Schilling took control of the People's Party, which quickly denounced the use of violence by both "fanatical anarchists" and "corrupt politicians" and demanded that "land, money, the means of communication and all public improvements [....] should be owned and controlled by the people." The Haymarket affair and other red scare repressions led to wave of pro-labor organizing. For example, in New York,

3471-595: The Knights of Labor, trade unions, Grangers , the Anti-Monopoly Party , and other pro-labor elements. However, the ULP soon saw a serious of electoral losses, which destroyed its momentum. Across Wisconsin, the ULP won just 2.6 percent of the statewide vote. In Wisconsin's 1888 US House elections , Henry Smith won both the Democratic and ULP tickets. Despite that advantage, former incumbent Republican Isaac W. Van Schaick defeated Smith, receiving 50.7% of

3560-627: The Liberal Republican Horace Greeley as their candidate for US President: "If [the Democratic Party] was to stand any chance at all against Grant, it must avoid putting up a candidate of its own who would merely split the opposition vote. It must take Greeley." In the presidential election of 1896 , William Jennings Bryan was nominated by both the Democratic Party and the Populist Party, albeit with different vice presidential candidates, Arthur Sewall for

3649-672: 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. In an effort to speed such development, Congress granted cash loans and some 129 million acres (52.2 million hectares) of publicly owned land to subsidize construction. A great part of this massive stockpile of land needed to be converted into cash by

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3738-463: The Oregon legislature during the 2009 legislative session. Governor Ted Kulongoski signed the bill into law on 23 July 2009. In Pennsylvania, fusion can occur when members of a party write in the name of a member of a different party in a primary election and secure enough write-in votes to nominate that party's candidate. For example, if Bob Jones is running for school board in a primary election as

3827-620: The Populist's candidate, John Cochrane, won 7.50% of the vote. In the US House elections , the Populists successfully elected Henry Smith in WI-4 over both a Republican and a Democratic opponent. These election victories encouraged the labor movement. Schilling re-organized the People's Party into the Union Labor Party (ULP), which began to organize a fledgling country-wide political apparatus, appointing regional representatives from

3916-579: The Republican and Democratic Parties but also of the fledgling Greenback Party sprung up around the country, concentrated in the states of Ohio , Pennsylvania , and New York . In the late 1870s, the party controlled local government in a number of industrial and mining communities and contributed to the election of 21 members in the United States Congress independent of the two major parties. The movement found particular success at

4005-553: The Treasury of the Grant administration George S. Boutwell formally abandoned the contraction policy and embraced the ongoing state of political inertia. Currency policy emerged as a hot topic in national politics, with politically active farmers and representatives of the fledgling national trade union movement endorsing a weak greenback-type currency as conducive to the needs of these groups as debtors. A looser currency supply

4094-446: The U.S. Treasury issue specie (coinage or "hard" currency) in exchange for greenback currency upon its presentation for redemption beginning on January 1, 1879, thus returning the nation to the gold standard. Together, these measures created an inflexible currency controlled by banks rather than the federal government. Greenbacks contended that such a system favored creditors and industry to the detriment of farmers and laborers. In 1880,

4183-632: The US. Labor leaders knew that fusion permitted them to field candidates and win elections on the American Labor Party line in local elections, and to back Democrats in statewide or national races where they did not have the capacity to field successful candidates. Given the presence of fusion in New York, the Greater New York Industrial Union Council (GNYIUC), the CIO's local labor federation in New York, formally affiliated with

4272-411: The United States is an arrangement where two or more United States political parties on a ballot list the same candidate , allowing that candidate to receive votes on multiple party lines in the same election. Electoral fusion is also known as fusion voting , cross endorsement , multiple party nomination , multi-party nomination , plural nomination , and ballot freedom . Electoral fusion

4361-506: The accumulated metal to redeem the greenback currency on January 1, 1879. This deflationary move further tightened the already contracting economy, moving currency reform higher on the list of objectives of politically minded farmers. With the Democratic Party still discredited in the minds of many Northerners for its pro-Southern orientation and the Republican Party dominated by pro-gold interests, conditions had become ripe for

4450-408: The agricultural development of the land which they had to sell. Populations skyrocketed and marginal lands were sold and settled. In 1873, the economic bubble burst. The Panic began with a crisis in the overextended railroad industry, when the brokerage house Jay Cooke & Company found itself unable to sell enough Northern Pacific Railroad bonds to meet its financial obligations, leading to

4539-616: The civil war, a controversial major general of Union forces during the war, and a Republican turned Democrat after the Grant Administration. 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. Ewing's advice to Andrew Johnson had helped point the administration towards an anti-gold-standard Treasury department. Ewing served in Congress from 1877 to 1881 during

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4628-509: The commission was a disguised attempt to end fusion voting and thus the existence of New York's third parties. Prior to 1958, Oregon practiced a form of fusion that required the state to list multiple nominating parties on the candidate's ballot line. Sylvester Pennoyer was elected governor in 1886 and 1890 as a candidate of the Democratic and People's parties. In 1906, seven members of the Oregon House were also elected as candidates of

4717-423: The convention: The paper currency, commonly called 'legal tenders' or 'greenbacks,' was actually paid out for value received as so much gold, when gold could not be obtained ... But whether our currency will always be on a par with gold or not, ... the commercial and industrial prosperity of a country do not depend upon the amount of gold and silver there is in circulation. Our prosperity must continually depend upon

4806-511: The country's gold supply was inadequate and that the nation would soon leave the gold standard . In December runs on deposits began in New York City , forcing banks there to disburse a substantial part of their hard metal reserves. On December 30, 1861, New York banks suspended the redemption of their banknotes with gold. This spontaneous action was followed shortly by banks in other states suspending payment on their own banknotes and

4895-674: The creation of a new political party for currency reform. They would meet again in Cleveland to formally launch the Greenback Party in 1875. The Greenbackers condemned the National Banking System , created by the National Banking Act of 1863, the harmonization of the silver dollar ( Coinage Act of 1873 was in fact the "Crime of '73" to Greenback), and the Resumption Act of 1875, which mandated that

4984-406: The currency, pitting railroad promoters and the iron industry against Eastern bankers and the merchant elite, who favored a stable, gold-based currency. Although those favoring currency expansion won the day in Congress, which passed an Inflation Bill calling for a $ 46 million boost in output of National Bank notes that would raise the ceiling on unbacked currency back to $ 400 million, the legislation

5073-443: The early 20th century. South Dakota banned the practice in 1999, Delaware banned it in 2011, and South Carolina banned it in 2022. In Twin Cities Area New Party v. McKenna (1996), the US Supreme Court ruled that prohibiting electoral fusion does not violate the First Amendment of the Constitution. Electoral fusion was once widespread in the US, but as of 2024, it remains legal and common only in New York and Connecticut . It

5162-407: The emergence of a new political organization to challenge the political hegemony of the two established parties of American politics. The Greenback Party emerged gradually from the consolidation of like-minded state -level political organizations of differing names. According to historian Paul Kleppner , the origin of the Greenback Party is to be found in the state of Indiana , where early in 1873

5251-410: The financial system of the United States of America, creating vast new war-related expenditures while disrupting the flow of tax revenue from the Southern United States , organized as the Confederate States of America . 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. The government's initial illusions of

5340-413: The greenback currency from circulation, a necessary first step towards restoration of the gold standard. In response, Congress passed the Contraction Act of 1866 , calling for the withdrawal of $ 10 million in United States Notes within the first 6 months and an addition $ 4 million per month thereafter. Substantial contraction of the physical money supply followed. About $ 44 million in greenback currency

5429-420: 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. 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

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5518-454: The more radical Central Labor Union , led by Paul Grottkau, agitated heavily for an eight-hour day . In 1886, after the Bay View massacre of a pro-eight-hour rally in Milwaukee and Haymarket affair in Chicago, anti-labor sentiment rose dramatically into a national " red scare ". The Milwaukee city council repealed its eight-hour ordinance and a Milwaukee grand jury indicted Schilling, Grottkau, and 47 other men. In response to this repression,

5607-431: The national People's Party , also often called the Populists, was created by a broad coalition, including Edward Bellamy and his Nationalist Clubs , Henry George , and current and former members of various smaller parties: The ULP, the Greenback Party , Prohibition Party , Anti-Monopoly Party , Labor Reform Party , Union Labor Party , United Labor Party , and other minor left-leaning parties. The new party's program

5696-478: The national committee, called a second session of the national convention. The second session of the national convention met in Cincinnati on September 12, 1888. Only seven delegates attended. Chairman Jones issued an address criticizing the two major parties, and the delegates made no nominations. With the failure of the convention, the Greenback Party ceased to exist. Many Greenback activists, including 1880 Presidential nominee James B. Weaver , later participated in

5785-461: The national currency. (In Wisconsin in the same year, a short-lived Reform Party , also called Liberal Reform Party or People's Reform Party, a coalition of Democrats, reform -minded Republicans, and Grangers secured the election of William Robert Taylor as Governor of Wisconsin for a two-year term, as well as a number of state legislators, but it never formed a coherent organization.) The Indiana Independent organization cast its eyes upon

5874-405: 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. The party opposed the deflationary lowering of prices paid to producers that was entailed by a return to a bullion -based monetary system, the policy favored by the Republican and Democratic parties. Continued use of unbacked currency, it

5963-426: The party ballot status for the first time in its history. In July 2019, the New York Legislature passed a budget bill that included the creation of a Public Campaign Financing Commission, which was given authority to investigate and create rules for public financing of campaigns . The Conservative Party of New York and the Working Families Party each filed lawsuits against the state in response, alleging that

6052-467: The party making it the political arm of the New York CIO. This relationship would continue until 1948 when the GNYIUC opted to back Henry Wallace for president, instead of using fusion to back President Truman. This led to internal conflicts within the CIO and ultimately contributed to the decision by the national CIO to revoke the charter of the GNYIUC, thereby ending its relationship with the ALP. As of 2023, to obtain or maintain automatic ballot access,

6141-407: The payment of taxes or national debt. This inevitably depreciated the value of the unbacked currency when circulated side by side with fully functional gold-backed notes, the Greenback movement argued. Moreover, this differential in values was exploited by speculators, who purchased unbacked currency at a severe discount with gold-backed notes and then pressured Congress into redemption of the same at

6230-422: 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. Millions of advertising dollars were spent by the railway companies promoting

6319-412: The stage for a rapid but brief rise in party national influence. The Greenback Party was in decline throughout the entire Grover Cleveland administration. In the election of 1884 , the party failed to win any House seats outright, although they did win one seat in conjunction with Plains States Democrats, James B. Weaver , as well as a handful of other seats by endorsing the Democratic nominee. In

6408-571: The start of the 1870s, railroad price reform was chief on its agenda, with currency reform making it easier for debtors to repay their loans a distinctly lesser concern. The Greenback Party would be an alliance of organized labor and reform-minded farmers intent on toppling the political hegemony of the industrial- and banking-oriented Republican Party which ruled the North during the Reconstruction period . The late 1860s and early 1870s were

6497-425: The testing of their viability amongst the electorate, and the pressuring of established political parties to appropriate these issues as part of their own electoral agenda. In this the Greenback Party and the People's Party which followed it were ultimately successful, moving the Democratic Party to espouse looser monetary policy and an ultimate abandonment of the gold standard. The following were Greenback members of

6586-721: The union movement having been shattered and atomized following the Panic of 1873. The party nominated its first national ticket at a convention held in Indianapolis , Indiana in May 1876. 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 . The convention nominated New York economics pamphleteer Peter Cooper as its presidential standard-bearer. Cooper declared to

6675-486: The use of state or private force to suppress union strikes . 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". Later, during the early 20th century, parts of the agenda from both parties were accomplished by the Progressives . The American Civil War of 1861 to 1865 greatly affected

6764-546: The vibrant green ink used on the reverse side of the bill. A dual currency system emerged in which this fiat money circulated side by side with ostensibly gold-backed currency and gold coin, with the value of the former bearing a discount in trade. The greatest differential in value of these currencies came in 1864, when the value of a gold dollar equaled $ 1.85 in greenback currency. Congress finally enacted Treasury Secretary Chase's National Bank plan in January 1863, creating

6853-459: The vote to Smith's 47.3%. In the 1888 Mayor of Milwaukee election, the ULP ran former alderman Herman Kroeger . Kroeger advocated public ownership of municipal improvements, creation of public baths , and law permitting recall of city officials. Kroeger was such a serious threat that the Republicans and Democrats united to run Thomas Brown as a fusion candidate against him. Kroeger

6942-669: The weak currency situation. A change of heads at the Treasury Department in March 1865 proved the occasion for a change of course in American monetary policy. New Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch not only declared himself sympathetic to the banking industry's desire for restoration of a gold-based currency, but he declared the resumption of gold payments to be his primary aim. In December 1865, McCulloch formally sought approval from Congress to retire

7031-522: Was vetoed by President Grant on April 22, 1874. 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 . Under the plan the government would accumulate a sufficient gold reserve over the next several years through the sale of interest-bearing bonds for gold, using

7120-454: Was believed, would better foster business and assist farmers by raising prices and making debts easier to pay. Initially an agrarian organization associated with the policies of the Grange , the organization took the name Greenback Labor Party in 1878 and attempted to forge a farmer–labor alliance by adding industrial reforms to its agenda, such as support of the 8-hour day and opposition to

7209-572: Was initially declared re-elected. However, Featherstone challenged on the grounds of election fraud . Following the Featherstone v. Cate hearings before the US House of Representatives, Featherstone was seated in 1890 and served until 1891. In 1890, he lost his bid for re-election. The local ULP also endorsed John M. Clayton , whose election was fraudulently stolen and who was assassinated. Despite these losses, Schilling continued his fight for

7298-656: Was initially ignored by Congress, which in February 1862 decided instead to pass the First Legal Tender Act , authorizing the production of not more than $ 150 million of these legal tender United States Notes . Two additional issues were deemed necessary, approved in June 1862 and January 1863, so that by the end of the war some $ 450 million of this non-gold-backed currency was in circulation. The new United States Notes were popularly known as "greenbacks" due to

7387-619: Was largely banned by Republican -led legislatures. One Republican Minnesota state legislator said: "We don't propose to allow the Democrats to make allies of the Populists, Prohibitionists , or any other party, and get up combination tickets against us. We can whip them single-handed, but don't intend to fight all creation." In southern states, fusion was largely banned by Democrats who supported Jim Crow , in an attempt to prevent political alliances between newly-enfranchised Black voters and poor white farmers. Most states banned fusion by

7476-572: Was largely taken from the platforms of the 1886 People's Party and 1886 ULP. Greenback Labor Party The Greenback Party (known successively as the Independent Party , the National Independent Party and the Greenback Labor Party ) was an American political party with an anti-monopoly ideology which was active from 1874 to 1889. The party ran candidates in three presidential elections , in 1876 , 1880 and 1884 , before it faded away. The party's name referred to

7565-476: Was named after the Greenback Party about 1882. The party seems to have made use of slightly different official names in some states, with the organization appearing on the ballot in the November 1880 Sacramento , California , city election as the "Greenback Labor and Socialist Party". Among its national spokesmen, although not the best known, was Thomas Ewing, Jr. , a noted Free State advocate in Kansas before

7654-615: Was nearly elected anyway, with 15,033 votes to 15,978 for Brown. Radical Socialist Labor Party (SLP) candidate Colin Campbell, backed by Paul Grottkau (imprisoned editor of the Arbeiter Zeitung ) garnered 964 votes, just enough to allow Kroeger to win if they had gone to him instead. In Virginia, Samuel Hopkins declined to run again. In Arkansas' 1888 US House election for AR-1 , ULP candidate Lewis P. Featherstone ran against Democratic candidate William H. Cate . Cate

7743-579: Was once widespread in the U.S. and legal in every state. However, as of 2024, it remains legal and common only in New York and Connecticut. In 2016, Business Insider wrote: "Fusion voting gives voters a chance to support a major candidate while registering their unhappiness with that candidate's party. A cross-endorsement from a smaller party like the Working Families Party can also help inform voters about where candidates stand on certain issues". In 2019, The Nation wrote: "Fusion

7832-489: Was seen as a way of breaking the perceived stranglehold on the national economy held by banks and wealthy industrialists. Chief among these supporters of so-called "Greenbackism" was the National Labor Union (NLU), established in 1866. This and other groups began to turn to political action in 1870 in an effort to advance their political agenda, with an August 1870 convention calling for the establishment of

7921-465: Was successfully withdrawn from circulation before a recession in 1867 helped fuel opposition in Congress to the deflationary redemption program. In February 1868, Congress terminated the Redemption Act and a state of what is today known as gridlock emerged, during which Congress refused to either formally leave the gold standard or to redeem its non-gold currency in circulation. Secretary of

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