Why Did The Populist Party Successful?

Topics: United States, Great Depression, Populism Pages: 4 (888 words) Published: February 15, 2018


The Populist party was a party created primarily to express the agrarian protest, in some states the party was known as the People's Party. This party originated due to the Panic of 1873, where the economic welfare of farmers suffered badly; many believed that the management of currency was at fault. Farmers formed alliances in order to get their word out to the people and the government, their main reason farmers were agitated was because they wanted railroad regulation, tax reform, and unlimited coinage of silver, they attempted to influence the established political parties but were unsuccessful. The Farmers Alliance growth of members was rapid, members from farms and labor organizations with the same goals decided to meet in Cincinnati. They didn’t have a...

As previously stated, the populist had a hard time breaking existing parties loyalty, Populism never really spread to the cities, Bryan's appeal of free silver and inflation alienated even the poorest Americans in the cities who depended on the stable dollar in order to survive, so stayed true to Republican values. The Populist also didn’t know how to contact or talk to the people, people liked being contacted personally, it made them feel individually valued, the Populists often found themselves alienating people. An example of them alienating people would be that Bryan's speeches were mostly about silver, which meant nothing to his urban supporters. Socially, Brian was seen as a manipulative speaker for instance, his Cross of Gold Speech was comparing workers to a crucified Jesus Christ. This could of affected the strongly religious people and maybe even offended some citizens which could of ended badly for Brian and his party. Due to all these causes, Bryan failed to form alliances with different groups of people, crucial because he was competing with the masterful political skill of Mark...
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