The People's Party 1880-1900: Reconstruction, Grievances, Political, Social, and Economical Issues

APUSH
1 October 2013
Populists-1983
During the ten year period between 1880-1900, the Populists, or “The People’s Party” wanted to minimize the danger to the agrarian people’s their way of life which came from the government, railroads, and monopolies. Throughout this time, following reconstruction, the new party of Populists fought for the grievances and agriculture of the farmers, which was beginning to corrupt. The biggest contributions to their discontent came from political, social, and economical issues. All of which were valid arguments to be dealt with in the Gilded Age, a time period where the costs of Reconstruction were harsh. This money supply ran scarce due to inflation causing major debt for farmers. Document A states “Silver..has been demonetized to add to the purchasing power of gold by decreasing the value of all forms of property as well as human labor”, meaning that silver, at the time, had only been used to purchase gold. The way the Populists found to get out of the situation was to purchase more silver which would be free and unlimited. Allowing more coinage to be in circulation, in hope to fix the problems. The free silver plan would be fair to everyone and come with consequences for the farmers, “It would not make labor easier, the hours shorter, or the pay better. It would not make farming less laborious or more profitable” (Document B). The purpose was to use the good money (silver), and avoid relying on gold for the currency. Politically, the government played a major role in pursuing the Populist’s plan. The Eastern Monopolies were believed to have control over the western farmers (Document D). Many farmers believed the harsh control over them by the government was unjust and needed to be changed. Controlling monopolies were also problematic as they were organized to destroy competition and restrain trade for the farmers (Document F). This meant the farmers were under the control of the government and suffered through the debt. This justified the Populists and agrarian discontent because “the new rate ate up every cent of his grains” (Document H) leaving the farmers with a hard financial time.
The farmers made a mistake with their production of wheat causing them to be at fault and unjustified. They would produced more wheat than money they were consuming causing them to only gain a small profit (Document E). The wheat prices went down and the farmers were in their own debt. Overall, the uneasiness for the western farmers and their agriculture was justified in one aspect but not in the other making it a fair fight for the party election in the late nineteenth century.