Transforming America - The Populist Challenge

This lesson examines the development, meaning, and legacy of the Populist challenge to the established political powers of the era. Upon completion of this lesson, you should be able to:

Learning Objectives

1.Explain the characteristics of national politics during the late 19th Century.

2.Analyze the economic and political issues troubling rural Americans during this era.

3.Explain how agrarian reformers addressed the major issues through the Farmers' Alliance movement.

4.Analyze the rise and fall of the Populist Party.

5.Assess the legacy of the Populists.

The industrializing process that took place in the United States in the late nineteenth century brought together concentrations of people, resources, wealth, and power. Ina country with a political system that is supposed to represent the majority, the exercise of extraordinary political power by the few raised some fundamental and timeless questions. Who were the politicians and the major political parties really representing? Why and how had political power gravitated toward the rich business class? What could be done about it?

For most of the late nineteenth century, national politicians enacted and implemented government policies and practices highly favorable to big business. Meanwhile, worker dissatisfaction had prompted the emergence of unions, which were most often busted by a combination of management and government power. At the same time, farmers became increasingly aware that they could not control their own destiny. Ironically, perhaps, the "independent'' yeomen turned to collective action to demand change.

Since neither the Republican nor Democratic Party responded adequately to their needs, the disgruntled farmers led the formation of a third party. By 1892, the Populist (or People's) Party was challenging the prevailing theories of Social Darwinism and laissez-faire government. As one historian has observed, "it was the corporate state that the People’s Partyattempted to bring under democratic control."

The Populist challenge reached a climax in the 1896 presidential election. When the Democrats absorbed most of their proposals andnominated William Jennings Bryan to take on the Republican William McKinley, the Populists fused with the Democrats. When McKinley and corporate America won, the Populists were dead as a political party. But their legacy remained. They had identified fundamental issues and proposed political intervention to deal with them.The issues would not die, and many of their proposed solutions would be implemented in the twentieth century.

Guided Questions

Select the single best answer to the following questions. Place your answer in the blank.

1.Voter turnout in national elections during the last three decades of the nineteenth century averaged 80 percent, a phenomenon that can be attributed in part to the _____.

  1. incredible popularity of the candidates who ran for president
  2. fact that most Americans were very knowledgeable about the issues of the day
  3. fact that voting was an important way to get a government job
  4. belief that participating in politics was a moral obligation

2.In the last decades of the nineteenth century, national politics in the United States was dominated by _____.

  1. civil service reformers
  2. a series of strong chief executives
  3. the Democrats
  4. dynamic party bosses

3.President James A. Garfield unwittingly helped the cause of civil service reform when he _____.

  1. mistakenly signed a legislative act enabling that reform
  2. was shot by Charles Guiteau, a disappointed office seeker
  3. made a series of speeches that appeared to endorse government reforms
  4. refused to speak out on standardizing the requirements for federal jobs

4.The Interstate Commerce Commission, the nation's first federal regulatory agency, was _____.

  1. so weak in its early years that it served as little more than an historical precedent
  2. had unprecedented power to clean up and regulate the railroads
  3. authorized to set interest rates for small-business loans
  4. so powerful initially that the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional

5.For farmers, the crop lien system _____.

  1. provided a way to borrow feed for livestock
  2. resulted in an inflated currency
  3. lowered prices for farm machinery
  4. left them in perpetual debt

6.The Southern Farmers' Alliance and the Colored Farmers' Alliance _____.

  1. had total disregard for each other's interests
  2. disagreed on some issues but attempted to make common cause on others
  3. were in total agreement and worked together harmoniously
  4. found common cause in the struggle to end racism

7.A gathering in St. Louis in February 1892, which evolved into the People's Party, was attended by _____.

  1. loyal Republicans and Democrats
  2. Democrats who wanted to regain power in the South
  3. farmers, labor leaders, women's leaders, and others who wanted change
  4. third-party dissidents with ties to Russian revolutionaries

8.The Populist Party platform (1892) advocated all of the following EXCEPT _____.

  1. more direct democracy
  2. minimum wages for farm workers
  3. a graduated income tax
  4. government ownership of railroads

9.As the election of 1896 approached, the depression worsened, and rebellion was brewing in the ranks of both Democrats and Republicans over the issue of _____.

  1. crop prices
  2. free silver
  3. labor reforms
  4. controlling trusts

10.One of the legacies of populism is the recognition that democracy _____.

  1. gives everyone real political power
  2. assures all classes are represented
  3. faces a problem with inequalities in society
  4. protects the rights of minorities