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During The Last Thirty Years of The Nineteenth Century
During The Last Thirty Years of The Nineteenth Century
Midwest farmers were clearly justified in their discontent with the U.S.
government during the late nineteenth century; however, organized
opposition was slow to materialize. The majority of Americans had always
been firm believers in the Jeffersonian idea of a free economy without
government intervention; however, to the countless farmers struggling to
subsist from month to month, the time had come for the government to step
in and protect the interests of the general public. In the words of F.B. Tracy
“. . . Like a lightning flash, the idea of political action ran through the
alliances. . . . and with one bound the Farmers’ Alliance went into politics all
over the West” (Doc. F). The Farmers’ Alliance impacted U.S. politics right from
the start. First, it organized farmers and set up lines of communication for
outraged farmers to express their ideas to other like-minded individuals.
Before the Alliance, farmers had been disorganized and too weak to effect any
political change. By acting together, the farmers were able to raise clamor loud
enough that Washington was forced to recognize the honest farmer’s plight.
Second, the Alliance promoted higher crop prices through collective action by
a large group of farmers. However, their actions had little effect on the crop
prices because the majority of farmers were too indebted to participate in the
Alliance’s cash-purchase plans. Lastly, the Farmer’s Alliance paved the way to
the ultimate development of the Populist Party, also known as the People’s
Party. Since the majority of the Farmers’ Alliance members lived in the
Midwest United States (Doc. D), the Populist Party focused on improving the
plight of the average farmer. The Populist Party’s platform was radical—even
revolutionary—for the time. The Populists proposed a bimetallic standard with
“free and unlimited coinage of silver” at the ratio of sixteen ounces of silver to
one ounce of gold, a graduated income tax, a one-term limit on the
presidency, government ownership of the railroads and other public services, a
shorter workday, and the direct election of senators—all in the true spirit of
democracy. Populists believed that each of these components were integral to
establishing a true democracy that would protect the people because, after all,
the government should work for the people, not the other way around.
However, the Populists also had some negative consequences on American
politics. For example, the Populist clamor for free silver caused foreign
countries to doubt the future soundness of U.S. money and recall loans to the
U.S. government. The British fervently opposed U.S. adoption of the bimetallic
standard often calling its supporters “. . . hopelessly ignorant and savagely
covetous waifs and strays of American civilization. . . .” (Doc. H). Some
historians argue that even the mere talk of adopting the bimetallic standard
launched the U.S. into the Depression of 1893. Though it is doubtful that the
Populists single-handedly caused the American economy to plummet, their
“free silver” talk undoubtedly did cause American credit to be questioned
abroad. Although the Populists had negative impacts on U.S. politics, they also
benefited the U.S. in many ways and left a lasting legacy.
Though the Populist Party’s life was short-lived, their presidential candidate
did receive twenty-two electoral votes, proving that a third party could rank
on the electoral level in a presidential election. Also, the Populists’ calls for the
direct election of senators were eventually realized when the U.S. adopted the
Seventeenth Amendment in 1913. Also, many Populist ideals were
incorporated into the Democratic Party and thus Populism lived on even after
the death of the Party.