The Context Of Populism In The Gilded Age

Following the Reconstruction, several groups of people, most prominently farmers, had expressed growing discontent at the state of affairs. Beginning with the Panic of 1873, which had taken a major toll on the economy of the nation by severely restricting the accessibility of credit in the form of gold, and with the discrimination of railroad companies against farmers, these populations had sought after social and political reformations. However, not all of them had possessed the necessary wealth, power, or esteem to do so - this had come about as a direct result of the principles comprising social Darwinism, a phenomenon which, at its core, separates the population into sectors of prosperity, power, and perception by conglomerates and the
In terms of economics, social Darwinists perpetuate that the wealthy and otherwise prosperous had ought to become even more so, while the poverty-stricken should not become any richer. This set of principles also applies to power and dominance in society, especially in terms of political positions. Darwinists tend to liken the whole of society to a species, which evolves through natural selection, just as society evolves through stratification of begins into wealthy and poor classes; powerful and dominated classes; superior and inferior classes. Effectively, the belief of Social Darwinism revolves around the role that nature plays in stimulating social and political progress; namely, the balance of progress and failure. Every triumph is necessarily accompanied by a defeat, and vice versa. This phenomenon relates to the ideas of social conservation and social reform in that those who are relegated to inferior, powerless, or poverty-stricken classes tend not to advocate for reformation, even if such a desire proves to be a necessity for progress. However, those who possess power, wealth, and perceived superiority have nothing to lose in a socially Darwinist society, and so they tend to pursue social
Since the 1970s, the Republican platform has been advocating for family values and the tradition of maintaining morals and ethics throughout the family lineage. Moreover, the Republican party has explicitly expressed opposition to unconventional behaviors such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and extramarital intercourse, all of which appear to contradict the underlying notion of the deep-rooted values of the typical American family, alongside strong support for the traditional role of the woman in the family. This nigh-indelible standard harkens back to the Gilded Age in that it represents the farmer’s position in late 19th century society; as part of the lower caste, farmers could not initiate political reform by themselves, but instead had united to create the National Grange so that they could influence a reformation by revoking the gold standard in favor of inclusion of other valuables such as silver, and by shifting transportation and shipping responsibilities to the federal government. In this facet of modern-day society, social Darwinism continues to play an undeniable part in the upholding of family values, social conservatism, and social