Populism 1 Populism a Economic Problems 02 06 2014 i Competition of farm markets in the south caused by the drop in ii prices of the crops Increase of supply goes up price goes down income goes down iii 1880 12 cents per pound 1890 5 cents per pound iv increase in debt further in debt trying to buy supplies to make money farms foreclosed because no money b Farmers Response i Organize acted together ii Farmers Alliance national organization chapters across the south 1890 hundreds of members 1 National president Leonidas Polk published newspaper called the progressive farmer 2 Republicans and Democrats were ignored because they did not want to get directly involved iii Only hope was to get their own people into office and maybe that would being about change c Populist Party 1890 i Meeting in FL issued platform 1 Platform 3 Income Tax 2 Government Regulations of Certain Industries a No income tax populist argued that the country was changing and it was no longer fair to produce income for the government 4 Direct Election of Senators 5 Referendum and Initiative a Way for people to bypass 6 Sub treasury Plan a Harry Skinner b Govt would build warehouses c Farmers could store their crops and negotiate a better price as a group rather than individual a Failed attempt for factory workers to vote for their 7 8 Hour workday party 8 Silver and Gold a 1890 amount of currency in circulation depended on the amount of gold the government had b wanted to change it to the amount of gold and silver that the government had to allow prices to go up c Basically advocating inflation d Farmers were in debt ii William Jennings Bryan 1 Fusion a Adopted strategy of elections that caused controversy in the US b Goal was to try to work with other candidates to get incumbents defeated c Populists wanted to work with Republicans to defeat the Democrats iii Brought about to challenge the power the Democrats and Republicans and to lookout for the farmers and to overall better the direction that America was going to change d 1896 Election i Pitted William Bryan vs William McKinley 1 Bryan democrat sympathetic to populist 2 Issues embraced getting off of the gold stand 3 Bryan lost e Significance ii Popular vote was close but electoral vote McKinley won i Their story is symbolic of how the US government grew from an agrarian nation to an industrial nation ii Most powerful 3rd party iii Many of the issues and ideas that were introduced were eventually adopted by other groups even though they were their ideas iv They influenced one of the most important books movies in American History Elle Frank Bomb The wizard of oz 1 Scare crow was the farmer 2 Tin man industrial worker 3 Lion William Bryan no courage 4 Wicked witch Carnegie 5 Oz was Washington DC 6 Yellow brick road gold standard Terms Populist Party Farmer s Alliance 1896 Election Bimetallism 02 06 2014 02 06 2014