What did the Democratic and Republican parties stand for, both economically and socially, during this time?

The democrats wanted to oppose war, opposition to imperalism. The republican wanted gold, extend foreign trade, pensions to veterans.

How are the populists of today different from the populists of the late 19th century?

The populists in the late 1800s early 1900s believed in inflation, graduated income tax, referendum, and direct election of U.S senators. Populists were farmers back in those times. Nowadays, we do have direct election and referendum, but you don't see populism as- well- as popular anymore. If you really wanted to pinpoint it, you can find evidence that populism is growing in the beliefs of wanting less corruption in big business and politics, rather than the focus of economic hardships.

In the fourth paragraph, it says that the Populists folded into the democratic party but the South had major issues with that. What were the issues the south had and what happend as a result?

The Deep South was racist, so they were probably afraid that the Populists' rise would somehow benefit the African Americans at their own cost.

why did the the populist party oppose the use of foreign labour?

Migrant workers were willing to work on farms for lower wages than the native-born population was. This meant that when trying to negotiate better contracts or form unions, native-born peoples success was limited by the fact that the employers could simply hire a migrant worker who was not in a union and would work for a lower wage. In short, populists were against foreign labor as it undercut the success of their unions and provided cheap competition.

there is not enough on the Grange, what they did they stand for?

The Grange, founded by Oliver Kelley and made up by US farmers mainly in the West wanted to assist farmers by promoting their social and economic needs such as regulating the prices of railroads.

How did the populist party influence American politics in short & long term?

In the short term, they had little effect on government policy- they were unable to pass significant lasting legislation. However, in the long term their movement was like a precursor to the progressive movement. The Populist and Progressive parties share a lot of similarities on policy, and the Populists basically brought a conversation about the role of government in business regulation onto the table.

there populists so their populer

Let's look at this another way. The word "populist" does not mean "popular" Both "populist" and "Popular" are built on the same root as the word "people". The meaning of "populist" means "comes from the people, not from the social elites". "Populist" movements emerge when enough people feel that the leaders of their societies and governments: the folks with power, do not listen to the masses of people. Some persons use "populism" as a way to rise to power for themselves, betraying the very people who put them there.

Main content

The Populists

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In the late nineteenth century, a new American political party sprung up to defend the interests of farmers.

Overview

The Populists were an agrarian-based political movement aimed at improving conditions for the country’s farmers and agrarian workers. The Populist movement was preceded by the Farmer’s Alliance and the Grange.
The People’s Party was a political party founded in 1891 by leaders of the Populist movement. It fielded a candidate in the US presidential election of 1892 and garnered 8.5% of the popular vote, which was a substantial amount of support for a third party.
The Populists allied with the labor movement and were folded into the Democratic Party in 1896, though a small remnant of the People’s Party continued to exist until it was formally disbanded in 1908.

Agrarian activism in the United States

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, the nation’s farmers began to organize to defend their interests against what they perceived to be the interests of the Eastern establishment and banking elite. As the number of landless tenant farmers rose, and as the debts of independent farmers skyrocketed due to burdensome loan terms and interest rates from banks, discontent among the nation’s agrarian workers burgeoned.

In 1876, the Farmer’s Alliance was established in Texas with the goal of ending the crop-lien system that had thrown so many farmers into poverty. The crop-lien system operated in the cotton-growing South, among sharecroppers and tenant farmers, both white and black, who did not own the land that they worked. These workers took out loans to obtain the seed, tools, and other supplies they needed to grow the cotton. After the harvest, they were required to pay back the loans in the form of cotton crops. When cotton prices tanked, these workers were sometimes left with nothing after their crops were collected by creditors.

^{1}

The Farmer’s Alliance was not the only organization that sprang up to defend the nation’s agrarian workers. The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, known as the Grange, was founded in 1868 in New York to advocate on behalf of rural communities. From 1873 to 1875, local chapters of the Grange were established across the country, and membership skyrocketed.

^{2}

This was partly due to the Panic of 1873, a financial crisis that resulted in a number of bank failures and the bankruptcy of several of the nation’s railroads. The Panic of 1873 depressed wages for workers, and the prices of agricultural products plummeted, saddling farmers with massive amounts of debt that they had little hope of paying off.

^{3}

The People’s Party

In 1891, the People’s Party (also known as the Populist Party, or the Populists) was formed as a political party representing the interests of the nation’s agricultural sector. The Farmer’s Alliance was a major part of the Populist coalition.

The People’s Party nominated James B. Weaver, a former US representative from the state of Iowa, as its candidate in the 1892 presidential election. Campaigning on a platform designed to strengthen farmers and weaken the monopolistic power of big business, banks, and railroad corporations, the People’s Party garnered 8.5% of the popular vote, carrying the states of Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, and Nevada.

Because of the mass appeal of the Populist movement, the Democratic Party began to champion many of its policy goals. In the 1896 presidential election, the Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan as its candidate, and the Populists agreed to support him. The People’s Party was thus folded into the Democratic Party and began to fade from the national scene.

The effect of the fusion of the Populist Party and the Democratic Party was a disaster in the South. Though there had always been conflict within the Populist movement about whether African Americans should be included, the Democratic Party in the South was unabashedly racist. Though Bryan performed strongly in the areas of greatest Populist influence, he lost the election to Republican William McKinley.

^{4}

The People’s Party continued to function and fielded candidates in both the 1904 and 1908 presidential elections, but the heyday of the party’s influence was over. Although the People’s Party was formally disbanded in 1908, the Progressive movement would take up many of the goals and causes of Populism, including anti-trust legislation, greater federal regulation of private industry, and stronger support for the nation’s agricultural and working classes.

^{5}

What do you think?

What were the nation’s farmers so upset about?

What sorts of policies did agrarian activists champion?

How would you measure the achievements of the Populist movement?

Article written by Dr. Michelle Getchell. This article is licensed under a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Notes

For more, see Harold D. Woodman, New South, New Law: The Legal Foundations of Credit and Labor Relations in the Postbellum Agricultural South (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1995); and Steven Hahn, The Roots of Southern Populism: Yeoman Farmers and the Transformation of the Georgia Upcountry, 1850-1890 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).
For more on the Granger movement, see D. Sven Nordin, Rich Harvest: A History of the Grange, 1867-1900 (Baton Rouge, LA: Mississippi State University, 1974).
For more on the Panic of 1873, see M. John Lubetkin, Jay Cooke’s Gamble: The Northern Pacific Railroad, the Sioux, and the Panic of 1873 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006).
For more on the election of 1896, see R. Hal Williams, Realigning America: McKinley, Bryan, and the Remarkable Election of 1896 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2010).
For more on Populism, see Lawrence Goodwin, The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978); and Robert C. McMath, Jr., American Populism: A Social History, 1877-1898 (New York: Hill and Wang, 1993).

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stazioorion
Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to stazioorion's post “What did the Democratic a...”
What did the Democratic and Republican parties stand for, both economically and socially, during this time?
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- stennistravionj
  Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to stennistravionj's post “The democrats wanted to o...”
  The democrats wanted to oppose war, opposition to imperalism. The republican wanted gold, extend foreign trade, pensions to veterans.
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ianyc
Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to ianyc's post “How are the populists of...”
How are the populists of today different from the populists of the late 19th century?
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- sarah mazur
  Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to sarah mazur's post “The populists in the late...”
  The populists in the late 1800s early 1900s believed in inflation, graduated income tax, referendum, and direct election of U.S senators. Populists were farmers back in those times. Nowadays, we do have direct election and referendum, but you don't see populism as- well- as popular anymore. If you really wanted to pinpoint it, you can find evidence that populism is growing in the beliefs of wanting less corruption in big business and politics, rather than the focus of economic hardships.
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19ssargsyan
Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to 19ssargsyan's post “In the fourth paragraph, ...”
In the fourth paragraph, it says that the Populists folded into the democratic party but the South had major issues with that. What were the issues the south had and what happend as a result?
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- Phạm Hoàng Nhật
  Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to Phạm Hoàng Nhật's post “The Deep South was racist...”
  The Deep South was racist, so they were probably afraid that the Populists' rise would somehow benefit the African Americans at their own cost.
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maryann
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to maryann's post “why did the the populist ...”
why did the the populist party oppose the use of foreign labour?
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(6 votes)
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- 2021rgarcia
  Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to 2021rgarcia's post “Migrant workers were will...”
  Migrant workers were willing to work on farms for lower wages than the native-born population was. This meant that when trying to negotiate better contracts or form unions, native-born peoples success was limited by the fact that the employers could simply hire a migrant worker who was not in a union and would work for a lower wage. In short, populists were against foreign labor as it undercut the success of their unions and provided cheap competition.
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ezarate556
Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to ezarate556's post “there is not enough on th...”
there is not enough on the Grange, what they did they stand for?
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- 3002098
  Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to 3002098's post “The Grange, founded by Ol...”
  The Grange, founded by Oliver Kelley and made up by US farmers mainly in the West wanted to assist farmers by promoting their social and economic needs such as regulating the prices of railroads.
  Comment on 3002098's post “The Grange, founded by Ol...”
  (8 votes)
damarionb690
Posted 4 years ago. Direct link to damarionb690's post “What were the nation’s f...”
What were the nation’s farmers so upset about?
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- David Alexander
  Posted 4 years ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “The farmers were upset ab...”
  The farmers were upset about the stranglehold that the railroads had on the price of transporting harvests to markets, the low prices they were paid by the capitalist organizations that purchased from them and then charged large markups before selling those farm products to consumers,by high interest rates charged by banks for loans, and by the lack of support when there were disasters.
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Sarahi Gonzalez
Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to Sarahi Gonzalez's post “How did the populist part...”
How did the populist party influence American politics in short & long term?
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(3 votes)
Answer
- 2021rgarcia
  Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to 2021rgarcia's post “In the short term, they h...”
  In the short term, they had little effect on government policy- they were unable to pass significant lasting legislation. However, in the long term their movement was like a precursor to the progressive movement. The Populist and Progressive parties share a lot of similarities on policy, and the Populists basically brought a conversation about the role of government in business regulation onto the table.
  Button navigates to signup page
  (5 votes)
Smith Ava
Posted 7 months ago. Direct link to Smith Ava's post “there populists so their ...”
there populists so their populer
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(3 votes)
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- David Alexander
  Posted 7 months ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “Let's look at this anothe...”
  Let's look at this another way. The word "populist" does not mean "popular"
  Both "populist" and "Popular" are built on the same root as the word "people".
  
  The meaning of "populist" means "comes from the people, not from the social elites".
  
  "Populist" movements emerge when enough people feel that the leaders of their societies and governments: the folks with power, do not listen to the masses of people.
  
  Some persons use "populism" as a way to rise to power for themselves, betraying the very people who put them there.
  Comment on David Alexander's post “Let's look at this anothe...”
  (5 votes)
taylor.young
Posted a year ago. Direct link to taylor.young's post “What were the nation’s fa...”
What were the nation’s farmers so upset about-National Farmers' Alliance, Southern Alliance (all white), and Colored Farmers' Alliance. What were farmers upset by? The misuse of government land grants as railroads sold their businesses rather settlers. Railroads also had formal agreements to fix prices that kept farmers in their debt.2-What sorts of policies did agrarian activists champion?-What sorts of policies did agrarian activists champion? Agrarian activists wanted an end to the crop-lien system and government regulation of industry.3-How would you measure the achievements of the Populist movement?
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- David Alexander
  Posted a year ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “Are these the questions f...”
  Are these the questions from the end of the lesson? You answer them well, but that's not what this space is for.
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Occean, Manfred
Posted 10 months ago. Direct link to Occean, Manfred's post “The national farmers were...”
The national farmers were upset about how the railroad's shipping prices were so high that they couldn't make too much profit from their sales. Which led to them not being able to pay off their debt.

the policies the agrarian activists championed were railroad and bank regulations.

The achievements of the populist movement were proficient as they were able to successfully succeed in their goal.
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Answer

US history

Course: US history > Unit 6

Overview

Agrarian activism in the United States

The People’s Party

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