Greenbacks Give Democrats A Run For Their Money

Disgruntled Democrats, agrarian rebels and a handful of breakaway Republicans cast their lot with the Greenbacks on Mar. 14, 1876 at the organizing convention of the Texas branch of the new third party.

The devastating depression unleashed by the Panic of 1873 shook American society to the core. Out of this crisis arose the Greenback Labor Party with its catchy slogan “More Money, Cheaper Money.” Nothing ailed the crippled economy, the Greenbacks insisted, that a massive influx of paper currency could not cure.

First among blue-collar workers in the industrial Northeast and then in the ranks of impoverished southern farmers, the mighty movement spread like wildfire. Within a matter of months, the upstart party challenged the Democrats and Republicans.

The Greenback panacea for the tight-money curse attracted Texas farmers in droves. Organizers sent to the Lone Star State by national leader Marcus N. Pomeroy found hundreds eager to enlist. Dozens of Greenback clubs sprang up overnight, and by 1879 nearly 500 were in existence.

Most converts came from the Grange, the agricultural association whose conservative leaders were hostile to the third party. They feared the havoc the rambunctious renegades might wreak in state politics and sought to preserve their close ties with the Democrats. But the enthusiasm of the membership could not be contained, and the Greenback Party soon functioned as the political arm of the rural lobby.

The March 1878 assembly of the Grange gave the Greenback platform its unqualified endorsement. In addition to the demand for an inflated currency, the main planks included an income tax, improved public schools, abolition of taxes on farm products and elimination of superfluous government offices. Mild demands by modern standards but downright radical for the 1870