1. The Populists Presentation by Robert Martinez
Primary Content Source: The Americans, Reading Study Guide, McDougal Littell
Images as cited.

2. During the Reconstruction era, thousands of farmers found themselves sinking into a European-style serfdom (working land and profits for someone else.)

3. By 1883, they were at their wits’ end, boxed into poverty by nearly every other part of society.

4. The monopolistic pricing practices of merchants and railroads ate up their profits.

5. They were hamstrung by the federal government’s decision to return to the gold standard after the Civil War.

6. The appeal of the gold standard was the stability of the nation’s money supply. Unfortunately, the gold standard made farming loans more difficult to obtain and repay.

7. Farmers were troubled by their financial challenges
Farmers were troubled by their financial challenges. The harder they worked, the more they produced, the less they had to show for it.

8. Farmers began to form into organizations which would represent farmer’s issues, similar to a union, called the granges or collectives.

9. Soon grange and collective membership spread to 43 states with a membership over 2 million.

10. Granges and farming alliances came together to develop a new political party call the “People’s Party” or the “Populist’s Party.”

11. The Populists were about ideas, anything that might enable men to make a living off the land without losing every shred of human dignity.

12. Populist’s (Silverites) favored bimetalism, a combination of gold and silver, backing the nation’s money supply. Cheaper currency would permit farmers easier access to loans.

13. The Populists’ political program included a graduated income tax, the eight-hour work day, and the direct election of U.S. senators.

14. Also, the use of citizen referendums, the secret ballot, laws to protect union organizing, and, above all…

15. … Some kind of regulation of the agricultural markets, to ensure that farmers received a decent return for their work (for instance, railroad rate regulation.)

16. However, time and fate worked against the Populists
However, time and fate worked against the Populists. They were undermined by the Industrial Revolution.

17. But what ultimately derailed the Populists was the lure of the city
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.

18. After running their candidate for president in 1892, and winning numerous state, local, and congressional elections, they merged into William Jennings Bryan’s Democratic Party.

19. 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.