The Populists

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The Populists
Presentation by Robert Martinez Primary Content
Source The Americans, Reading Study Guide,
McDougal Littell Images as cited.
http//amstd.spb.ru/Gilded_Age/populists.jpg
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• During the Reconstruction era, thousands of
  farmers found themselves sinking into a
  European-style serfdom (working land and profits
  for someone else.)

http//www.tumbledownfarm.com/img/FM_2/FM_48.jpg
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• By 1883, they were at their wits end, boxed
  into poverty by nearly every other part of
  society.

http//www.flickr.com/photos/southernhistoricalcol
lection/2933684838/
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• The monopolistic pricing practices of
  merchants and railroads ate up their profits.

http//www.family-images.com/oh/misc/Railroad20St
ation20LaGrange20Ohio201909.jpg
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• They were hamstrung by the federal
  governments decision to return to the gold
  standard after the Civil War.

http//www.socialstudieshelp.com/Images/CrownofTho
rns.jpg
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• The appeal of the gold standard was the stability
  of the nations money supply. Unfortunately, the
  gold standard made farming loans more difficult
  to obtain and repay.

http//www.liberty-page.com/issues/fed/gold.jpg
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• Farmers were troubled by their financial
  challenges. The harder they worked, the more they
  produced, the less they had to show for it.

http//www.flickr.com/photos/9679871_at_N04/120441768
4/
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• Farmers began to form into organizations which
  would represent farmers issues, similar to a
  union, called the granges or collectives.

http//www.hayinart.org/images/4048.jpg
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• Soon grange and collective membership spread
  to 43 states with a membership over 2 million.

http//www.flickr.com/photos/whsimages/1908062918/

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• Granges and farming alliances came together to
  develop a new political party call the Peoples
  Party or the Populists Party.

http//www.nebraskastudies.org/0600/media/0601_030
301.jpg
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• The Populists were about ideas, anything that
  might enable men to make a living off the land
  without losing every shred of human dignity.

http//projects.vassar.edu/1896/0718hw.html
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• Populists (Silverites) favored bimetalism, a
  combination of gold and silver, backing the
  nations money supply. Cheaper currency would
  permit farmers easier access to loans.

http//visualhistory.freewebpages.org/_webimages/F
ree20Silver20Cartoon.jpg
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• The Populists political program included a
  graduated income tax, the eight-hour work day,
  and the direct election of U.S. senators.

http//www.americaslibrary.gov/assets/jb/recon/jb_
recon_workday_3_m.jpg
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• Also, the use of citizen referendums, the
  secret ballot, laws to protect union organizing,
  and, above all

http//thm-a04.yimg.com/image/9f339362df310728
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• Some kind of regulation of the agricultural
  markets, to ensure that farmers received a decent
  return for their work (for instance, railroad
  rate regulation.)

http//www.hist.umn.edu/sargent/1308/farmer20v2
0rr.jpg
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• However, time and fate worked against the
  Populists. They were undermined by the Industrial
  Revolution.

http//www.cobblestonepub.com/pix/lg/APP0401.jpg
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• But what ultimately derailed the Populists was
  the lure of the city. Urban issues, not rural,
  took center stage in America as people migrated
  to the cities.

http//ephemeralnewyork.files.wordpress.com/2008/1
0/14thstreetsign.png
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• After running their candidate for president in
  1892, and winning numerous state, local, and
  congressional elections, they merged into William
  Jennings Bryans Democratic Party.

http//ronwade.freeservers.com/templateWJBryan.htm
l
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• Their legacy lived on in the creation of
  collectives, granges, cooperative stores, and
  credit unions, all used to combat industries,
  such as the railroads.

A depiction of Populist William Jennings
Bryan and his criticism of the gold standard.
http//visualhistory.freewebpages.org/Late1800s.ht
ml