21.
The Blue and the Gray
Source:
Southern Mercury (Dallas, TX), September 3, 1891
Both
mainstream parties claimed that splitting off from their party to join the
Populists would be catastrophic for dearly-held priorities.
The captions written on the sides of the "Bloody Chasm" read,
"A Solid North for Fear of Rebel Brigadier Rule" (left side) and
"A Solid South for Fear of Negro Supremacy" (right side).
In
this era, both the South and West primarily produced low-value raw materials
which were processed elsewhere and purchased high-value finished products from
outside the region. Instructors
might find a discussion of the similarities between this situation and the
relationship between the United States and today's third world nations.
This might give students a better appreciation for the problems of
international trade and disparities in wealth today.
I suspect that students in the conservative South and West of today have
no idea of how radical their late nineteenth century ancestors sounded.
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