Preview

Analyze the Reasons for the Emergence of the Populist Party

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
905 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analyze the Reasons for the Emergence of the Populist Party
In the late 1800’s, the farmers of America faced many serious financial problems, so they decided it was time to restructure the nation. In the 1860s the first reform movement, was a collection of farmers that were unhappy with the way they were being treated by the government, and met together to discuss their problems. As the years went on, more farmers joined these reform movements. There were many reasons for the emergence of the Populist, or People's, Party in the late nineteenth century, such as The Government ownership of railroads, the terrible economic state of the farmers, and government indifference. These factors along with others inevitably caused an agricultural depression, leading to the formation of farmer groups such as the Populist Party, which would help to reduce the problems troubling the farmers. Some problems that these farmers felt threatened their way of life included transportation, such as trains, monopolies and trusts, money shortage and the demonetizing of silver.
The growth of railroads was very beneficial to industries across America, but analyzing this fact was not very helpful for the farmers. Although, the benefits bought to these companies were at the expense of farmers. These practices seriously hurt the farmers by raising their shipping rates in order to lower that of larger companies. The increase the rates of Railroad companies not only made farmers lose profits but it even caused many of those farmers bound by contract to fall into debt. Although these Railroad companies gained the business of larger companies they hurt the business of farmers, and thus the farmers’ complaints were valid. These brought as a consequence those farmers from the north and from the south stared think a similar though that initialized a Alliance against the principles or the government.
Another reason that helps farmers to initiating would be the terrible economic state of the farmers; the monopolies basically controlled every aspect of business

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    This allowed for farmers to have influence on the national level, in which they went up against those who held the moneyed trusts. The farmers also rallied against the lack of purchasing power and sought out for a more friendly debtor. The author here then says that these events of needing to overcome the effects of overproduction led to two characteristics in the American political economy that are still visible. Prasad points these two as the progressive taxation and the expansion of credit. Southern and midwestern farmers relied and favored the progressive taxation because the heavy tax was more laid upon monopolist, bankers, and manufacturers from the North.…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    dbq's for APUSH 1848-1920

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages

    2007 DBQ – Because of the political, industrial, and economic challenges that the farmers were forced to face, American agriculture suffered during the late nineteenth century.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Populist Party made extreme changes in America’s history. With their beliefs they did everything to make them known. In the year of 1892 the Populist Party established a platform that immensely affected the farmers and the laborers in America. This platform was based on the interests of farmers and laborers such as free coinage of gold and silver, direct election of senators, government ownership of railroads and a graduated federal income tax.…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The new railroads profoundly affected farm owners in both good and bad ways. In some good ways…

    • 205 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Through the end of the 19th centaury as the economy of the America continuously declined, the working American class suffered a lot due to immigration, competition and worse working conditions. The farmers struggled a lot with competition and immigration. They went through such problems as: Unaffordable technologies, downfall of the crop prices, poor land maintenance and, expensive transportation. Changes were brought about by Olive Hudson who tempted to educate the farmers into the creation of unions that would sponsor their legislation. The populism movement which was known as the people’s party at the time was created to inquire governmental equalities between the rich and the poor (Working Class Americans).…

    • 182 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Society of Sturdy independent farmers: The American economy became more diverse and complex. Growing cities, surging commerce and expanding industrialism made the ideal of a simple agrarian society impossible to maintain.…

    • 2026 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    they worked for regulation, if not public ownership, of the railroads as was called for by…

    • 552 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    They made other parties note that such failures could be the opening of new parties in the society. Next, they showed that there is nothing unbiased about a government’s policy. There are both positives and negatives found in an action the government takes. They stated that the governmental policy for the Republicans and Democrats helped railroads and wealthy industrialists in the Northeast, but damaged the farmers in the South and Great Plains. Some of the unions formed by the populists were The Farmers Alliance, worked with the Knights of Labor and developed a political agenda. The movement helped shape a series of reform conferences which resulted in the Peoples Party. In 1896 the Democrats presented many of the party’s agenda at the national level. That was when the party began to fade from…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1850 and later on, several transcontinental railroads were built for easier transportation. The government also granted federal land for the laissez-faire ideologists for building the railroad (Doc. A). However, the process was slower than it’s planned. “More than 800 petitions were presents to Land Commission, and already 10 years of delays have elapsed and only some 50 patents have been granted” (Doc. B). The petitioners eventually have to sell their possessions little by little. Richest landholders ended up “living as objects of charity” (Doc. B). Red Cloud was also upset by the poor work of the government. He believed that “commissioners are sent out there to do nothing but to rob [us] and get the riches of this world away from us” (Doc. C). As the chief of Oglala Sioux, the Native American felt that the new American had come to kick them out of their lands and to steal their properties and possessions. In addition, Native American was suppressed by the colonists. “White man a teacher who tortured an ambitious Indian youth by frequently reminding the brave changeling that he was nothing but a “government pauper” (Doc.J). They lost trust and faith in the new government of the United States. Furthermore, the freight rates had done more injuries to the Western region than anything else. “The railroads have retarded its growth as they first hastened it” (Doc. I). F.B. Tracy…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Therefore, many farmers joined the Populist party because they were in the midst of an economic crisis. Some new technology helped enabled many farmers to produce more crops, but the greater supply…

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The political party called the populist began to provide many solutions for Americans during these many crises. The Populist Party wanted free ballots, to replace democrats as the nation’s second party, and to add silver to the money system. They also wanted the government to own and operate the railroads, as well as the telegraph. The populist appealed to the miners because of their support for free silver. Their support for direct election of senator affected job maker positively and industrialist negatively.…

    • 153 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Populist Party grew out of the agrarian revolt that rose after the collapse of agriculture prices following the Panic of 1873. The Farmers' Alliance, formed in Lampasas, Texas in 1876, promoted collective economic action by farmers and achieved widespread popularity in the South and Great Plains. The Farmers' Alliance was ultimately unable to achieve its wider economic goal of collective economic action against brokers, railroads, and merchants, and many in the…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Civil War Telegraph

    • 1551 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Although the railroad was not used for the first time during the Civil War, but a few years earlier in the 1830s, it was still important to transport the Union soldiers and supplies to and from the battlefield. In the middle of the 1800s the railroad was used in the North as a means to expand, trade, and transport factory goods throughout the country. On the contrary, the South just saw the railroad as a way to transport slave produced raw materials such as cotton to the ports to be traded. According to Robert C. Black III, “the relative increase in railroad mileage between 1850 and 1860 was some what greater in the South than in the North” (2). Although the South had many miles laid, “the construction boom had not yet produced in the Southern States a system of iron rails” (Black 8). For lack of this “system,” when a shipment of materials had to be transported long distances by rail in the South, the materials would have to be switched between rail cars to support the difference in track sizes and moving across land where no track existed. In other words, “[e]verywhere through Dixie railroads were stretching iron fingers toward one another, but not yet everywhere had they joined hands” (Black 9). Although the North did not lay down as many rail roads as the South during the few years before the Civil War, the North’s railroads had a and connectivity, which allowed for greater use and cost…

    • 1551 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The reasons for the emergence of the populist movement weren’t just for the southern farmers but for the people of America also. The events that occurred in the late 19th century caused the Populist movement to even start. Not only did the Populist movement had a huge impact on the southern farmer people but also the people who owned railroad companies. The Populist movement had affected the people of the United States in many different ways. IN some ways like the creation of railroads had become a huge dramatic affect on the people of America.…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays