Populist Party (United States)
Encyclopedia
The People's Party, also known as the "Populists", was a short-lived political party
in the United States established in 1891. It was most important in 1892-96, then rapidly faded away. Based among poor, white cotton farmers in the South (especially North Carolina, Alabama, and Texas) and hard-pressed wheat farmers in the plains states (especially Kansas and Nebraska), it represented a radical crusading form
of agrarianism
and hostility to banks, railroads, and elites generally. It sometimes formed coalitions with labor unions, and in 1896 endorsed the Democratic presidential nominee, William Jennings Bryan
. The terms "populist" and "populism
" are commonly used for anti-elitist appeals in opposition to established interests and mainstream parties.
, formed in Lampasas, TX in 1876, promoted collective economic action by farmers and achieved widespread popularity in the South and Great Plains
. The Farmers' Alliance ultimately did not achieve its wider economic goals of collective economic action against brokers, railroads, and merchants, and many in the movement agitated for changes in national policy. By the late 1880s, the Alliance had developed a political agenda that called for regulation and reform in national politics, most notably an opposition to the gold standard
to counter the high deflation in agricultural prices in relation to other goods such as farm implements.
In December 1888 the National Agricultural Wheel and the Southern Farmer’s Alliance met at Meridian, Mississippi. In that meeting they decided to consolidate the two parties pending ratification. This consolidation gave the organization a new name, the Farmers and Laborers’ Union of America, and by 1889 the merger had been ratified, although there were conflicts between “conservative” Alliance men and “political” Wheelers in Texas and Arkansas, which delayed the unification in these states until 1890 and 1891 respectively. The merger eventually united white Southern Alliance and Wheel members, but it would not include African American members of agricultural organizations.
During their move towards consolidation in 1889, the leaders of both Southern Farmers’ Alliance and the Agricultural Wheel organizations contacted Terence V. Powderly, leader of the Knights of Labor
. “This contact between leaders of the farmers’ movement and Powderly helped pave the way for a series of reform conferences held between December 1889 and July 1892 that resulted in the formation of the national People’s (or Populist) Party.”
The drive to create a new political party out of the movement arose from the belief that the two major parties Democrats and Republicans were controlled by bankers, landowners and elites hostile to the needs of the small farmer. The movement reached its peak in 1892 when the party held a convention chaired by Frances Willard
(leader of the WCTU
and a friend of Powderly's) in Omaha, Nebraska
and nominated candidates for the national election.
The party's platform, commonly known as the Omaha Platform
, called for the abolition of national banks, a graduated income tax
, direct election of Senators
, civil service reform, a working day of eight hours and Government control of all railroads
, telegraphs, and telephone
s. In the 1892 Presidential election, James B. Weaver received 1,027,329 votes. Weaver carried four states (Colorado
, Kansas
, Idaho
, and Nevada
) and received electoral votes from Oregon
and North Dakota
as well.
The party flourished most among farmers in the Southwest and Great Plains
, as well as making significant gains in the South, where they faced an uphill battle given the firmly entrenched monopoly
of the Democratic Party
. Success was often obtained through electoral fusion
, with the Democrats outside the South, but with alliances with the Republicans in Southern states like Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. For example, in the elections of 1894, a coalition of Populists and Republicans led by Populist Marion Butler
swept state and local offices in North Carolina, and the coalition would go on to elect Republican Daniel Lindsay Russell
as Governor in 1896.
Quite separate from the Populists were the Silverites in the western mining states, who demanded Free silver
to solve the Panic of 1893
.
The Populists followed the Prohibition Party
in actively including women in their affairs. Some southern Populists, including Thomas E. Watson
of Georgia, openly talked of the need for poor blacks and poor whites to set aside their racial differences in the name of shared economic self-interest. Regardless of these rhetoric appeals, however, racism did not evade the People's Party. Prominent Populist Party leaders such as Marion Butler
, a United States Senator from North Carolina
, at least partially demonstrated a dedication to the cause of white supremacy
, and there appears to have been some support for this viewpoint among the rank-and-file of the party's membership. After 1900 Watson himself became an outspoken white supremacist and became the party's presidential nominee in 1904 and 1908, winning 117,000 and 29,000 votes.
, who focused (as Populists rarely did) on the free silver issue as a solution to the economic depression and the maldistribution of power. One of the great orators of the day, Bryan generated enormous excitement among Democrats with his "Cross of Gold
" speech, and appeared in the summer of 1896 to have a good chance of winning the election, if the Populists voted for him.
The Populists had the choice of endorsing Bryan or running their own candidate. After great infighting at their St. Louis convention they decided to endorse Bryan but with their own vice presidential nominee, Thomas E. Watson
of Georgia. Watson was cautiously open to cooperation, but after the election would recant any hope he had in the possibility of cooperation as a viable tool. Bryan's strength was based on the traditional Democratic vote (minus the middle class and the Germans); he swept the old Populist strongholds in the west and South, and added the silverite states in the west, but did poorly in the industrial heartland. He lost to Republican William McKinley
by a margin of 600,000 votes, and lost again in a rematch in 1900 by a larger margin.
with the Democrats were disastrous to the Party in the South. The Populist/Republican alliance which had governed North Carolina fell apart in North Carolina, the only state in which it had any success. By 1898, the Democrats used a violently racist campaign to defeat the North Carolina Populists and GOP and in 1900 the Democrats ushered in disfranchisement.
Populism never recovered from the failure of 1896. For example, Tennessee’s Populist Party was demoralized by a diminishing membership, and puzzled and split by the dilemma of whether to fight the state-level enemy (the Democrats) or the national foe (the Republicans and Wall Street
). By 1900 the People’s Party of Tennessee was a shadow of what it once was
In 1900, while many Populist voters supported Bryan again, the weakened party nominated a separate ticket of Wharton Barker and Ignatius L. Donnelly, and disbanded afterwards. Populist activists either retired from politics, joined a major party, or followed Eugene Debs into his new Socialist Party.
was their nominee for president in 1904 and in 1908, after which the party disbanded again.
, George W. Norris, Robert LaFollette, William Allen White
and Woodrow Wilson
strongly opposed Populism. It is debated whether any Populist ideas made their way into the Democratic party during the New Deal era. The New Deal farm programs were designed by experts (like Henry Wallace
) who had nothing to do with Populism.
Some historians see the populists as forward-looking liberal reformers. Others view them as reactionaries trying to recapture an idyllic and utopian past. For some they are radicals out to restructure American life, and for others they are economically hard-pressed agrarians seeking government relief. Much recent scholarship emphasizes Populism's debt to early American republicanism
. Clanton (1991) stresses that Populism was "the last significant expression of an old radical tradition that derived from Enlightenment sources that had been filtered through a political tradition that bore the distinct imprint of Jeffersonian, Jacksonian, and Lincolnian democracy." This tradition emphasized human rights over the cash nexus of the Gilded Age's dominant ideology.
Frederick Jackson Turner
and a succession of western historians depicted the Populist as responding to the closure of the frontier. Turner explained:
The most influential Turner student of Populism was John D. Hicks, who emphasized economic pragmatism over ideals, presenting Populism as interest group politics, with have-nots demanding their fair share of America's wealth which was being leeched off by nonproductive speculators. Hicks emphasized the drought that ruined so many Kansas farmers, but also pointed to financial manipulations, deflation in prices caused by the gold standard, high interest rates, mortgage foreclosures, and high railroad rates. Corruption accounted for such outrages and Populists presented popular control of government as the solution, a point that later students of republicanism emphasized.
In the 1930s C. Vann Woodward
stressed the southern base, seeing the possibility of a black-and-white coalition of poor against the overbearing rich. Georgia politician Tom Watson served as Woodward's hero. In the 1950s, however, scholars such as Richard Hofstadter
portrayed the Populist movement as an irrational response of backward-looking farmers to the challenges of modernity. He discounted third party links to Progressivism and argued that Populists were provincial, conspiracy-minded, and had a tendency toward scapegoatism that manifested itself as nativism, anti-Semitism, anti-intellectualism, and Anglophobia. The antithesis of anti-modern Populism was modernizing Progressivism in this model, with such leading progressives as Theodore Roosevelt
, Robert LaFollette, George Norris and Woodrow Wilson
had been vehement enemies of Populism, though William Jennings Bryan
did cooperate with them and accepted the Populist nomination in 1896.
Michael Kazin
's The Populist Persuasion (1995) argued that Populism reflected a rhetorical style that manifested itself in spokesmen like Father Charles Coughlin
in the 1930s and Governor George Wallace
in the 1960s.
Postel (2007) rejects the notion that the Populists were traditionalistic and anti-modern. Quite the reverse, he argued, the Populists aggressively sought self-consciously progressive goals. They sought diffusion of scientific and technical knowledge, formed highly centralized organizations, launched large-scale incorporated businesses, and pressed for an array of state-centered reforms. Hundreds of thousands of women committed to Populism seeking a more modern life, education, and employment in schools and offices. A large section of the labor movement looked to Populism for answers, forging a political coalition with farmers that gave impetus to the regulatory state. Progress, however, was also menacing and inhumane, Postel notes. White Populists, embraced social-Darwinist notions of racial improvement, Chinese exclusion and the humiliation and brutality of separate-but-equal.
The following were Populist members of the U.S. House of Representatives:
52nd United States Congress
53rd United States Congress
54th United States Congress
55th United States Congress
56th United States Congress
57th United States Congress
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in the United States established in 1891. It was most important in 1892-96, then rapidly faded away. Based among poor, white cotton farmers in the South (especially North Carolina, Alabama, and Texas) and hard-pressed wheat farmers in the plains states (especially Kansas and Nebraska), it represented a radical crusading form
American election campaigns in the 19th Century
In the 19th century, a number of new methods for conducting American Election Campaigns developed in the United States. For the most part the techniques were original, not copied from Europe or anywhere else...
of agrarianism
Agrarianism
Agrarianism has two common meanings. The first meaning refers to a social philosophy or political philosophy which values rural society as superior to urban society, the independent farmer as superior to the paid worker, and sees farming as a way of life that can shape the ideal social values...
and hostility to banks, railroads, and elites generally. It sometimes formed coalitions with labor unions, and in 1896 endorsed the Democratic presidential nominee, William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
. The terms "populist" and "populism
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
" are commonly used for anti-elitist appeals in opposition to established interests and mainstream parties.
Formation
A People's Party grew out of agrarian unrest in response to low agricultural prices in the South and the trans-Mississippi West. The Farmers' AllianceFarmers' Alliance
The Farmers Alliance was an organized agrarian economic movement amongst U.S. farmers that flourished in the 1880s. One of the goals of the organization was to end the adverse effects of the crop-lien system on farmers after the American Civil War...
, formed in Lampasas, TX in 1876, promoted collective economic action by farmers and achieved widespread popularity in the South and Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
. The Farmers' Alliance ultimately did not achieve its wider economic goals of collective economic action against brokers, railroads, and merchants, and many in the movement agitated for changes in national policy. By the late 1880s, the Alliance had developed a political agenda that called for regulation and reform in national politics, most notably an opposition to the gold standard
Gold standard
The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed mass of gold. There are distinct kinds of gold standard...
to counter the high deflation in agricultural prices in relation to other goods such as farm implements.
In December 1888 the National Agricultural Wheel and the Southern Farmer’s Alliance met at Meridian, Mississippi. In that meeting they decided to consolidate the two parties pending ratification. This consolidation gave the organization a new name, the Farmers and Laborers’ Union of America, and by 1889 the merger had been ratified, although there were conflicts between “conservative” Alliance men and “political” Wheelers in Texas and Arkansas, which delayed the unification in these states until 1890 and 1891 respectively. The merger eventually united white Southern Alliance and Wheel members, but it would not include African American members of agricultural organizations.
During their move towards consolidation in 1889, the leaders of both Southern Farmers’ Alliance and the Agricultural Wheel organizations contacted Terence V. Powderly, leader of the Knights of Labor
Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor was the largest and one of the most important American labor organizations of the 1880s. Its most important leader was Terence Powderly...
. “This contact between leaders of the farmers’ movement and Powderly helped pave the way for a series of reform conferences held between December 1889 and July 1892 that resulted in the formation of the national People’s (or Populist) Party.”
The drive to create a new political party out of the movement arose from the belief that the two major parties Democrats and Republicans were controlled by bankers, landowners and elites hostile to the needs of the small farmer. The movement reached its peak in 1892 when the party held a convention chaired by Frances Willard
Frances Willard (suffragist)
Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard was an American educator, temperance reformer, and women's suffragist. Her influence was instrumental in the passage of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution...
(leader of the WCTU
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was the first mass organization among women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity." Originally organized on December 23, 1873, in...
and a friend of Powderly's) in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
and nominated candidates for the national election.
The party's platform, commonly known as the Omaha Platform
Omaha Platform
The Omaha Platform was the party program adopted at the formative convention of the Populist Party held in Omaha, Nebraska on July 4 1892.-Significance of the Omaha Platform:The platform preamble was written by Ignatius L. Donnelly...
, called for the abolition of national banks, a graduated income tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
, direct election of Senators
Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution established direct election of United States Senators by popular vote. The amendment supersedes Article I, § 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, under which senators were elected by state legislatures...
, civil service reform, a working day of eight hours and Government control of all railroads
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
, telegraphs, and telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
s. In the 1892 Presidential election, James B. Weaver received 1,027,329 votes. Weaver carried four states (Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, and Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
) and received electoral votes from Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
as well.
The party flourished most among farmers in the Southwest and Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
, as well as making significant gains in the South, where they faced an uphill battle given the firmly entrenched monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. Success was often obtained through electoral fusion
Electoral fusion
Electoral fusion is an arrangement where two or more political parties on a ballot list the same candidate, pooling the votes for that candidate...
, with the Democrats outside the South, but with alliances with the Republicans in Southern states like Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. For example, in the elections of 1894, a coalition of Populists and Republicans led by Populist Marion Butler
Marion Butler
Marion Butler was a Populist U.S. senator from the state of North Carolina between 1895 and 1901.-Early life:Butler was born in rural Sampson County, North Carolina during the American Civil War. He was a graduate of the University of North Carolina, where he was a member of the Philanthropic...
swept state and local offices in North Carolina, and the coalition would go on to elect Republican Daniel Lindsay Russell
Daniel Lindsay Russell
Daniel Lindsay Russell, Jr. was the 49th Governor of North Carolina from 1897 to 1901, an attorney and judge, and a politician. Although he fought with the Confederacy during the Civil War, he and his father were both Unionists...
as Governor in 1896.
Quite separate from the Populists were the Silverites in the western mining states, who demanded Free silver
Free Silver
Free Silver was an important United States political policy issue in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Its advocates were in favor of an inflationary monetary policy using the "free coinage of silver" as opposed to the less inflationary Gold Standard; its supporters were called...
to solve the Panic of 1893
Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893. Similar to the Panic of 1873, this panic was marked by the collapse of railroad overbuilding and shaky railroad financing which set off a series of bank failures...
.
The Populists followed the Prohibition Party
Prohibition Party
The Prohibition Party is a political party in the United States best known for its historic opposition to the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages. It is the oldest existing third party in the US. The party was an integral part of the temperance movement...
in actively including women in their affairs. Some southern Populists, including Thomas E. Watson
Thomas E. Watson
Thomas Edward "Tom" Watson was an American politician, newspaper editor, and writer from Georgia. In the 1890s Watson championed poor farmers as a leader of the Populist Party, articulating an agrarian political viewpoint while attacking business, bankers, railroads, Democratic President Grover...
of Georgia, openly talked of the need for poor blacks and poor whites to set aside their racial differences in the name of shared economic self-interest. Regardless of these rhetoric appeals, however, racism did not evade the People's Party. Prominent Populist Party leaders such as Marion Butler
Marion Butler
Marion Butler was a Populist U.S. senator from the state of North Carolina between 1895 and 1901.-Early life:Butler was born in rural Sampson County, North Carolina during the American Civil War. He was a graduate of the University of North Carolina, where he was a member of the Philanthropic...
, a United States Senator from North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, at least partially demonstrated a dedication to the cause of white supremacy
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
, and there appears to have been some support for this viewpoint among the rank-and-file of the party's membership. After 1900 Watson himself became an outspoken white supremacist and became the party's presidential nominee in 1904 and 1908, winning 117,000 and 29,000 votes.
Presidential election of 1896
By 1896, the Democratic Party took up many of the People's Party's causes at the national level, and the party began to fade from national prominence. In that year's presidential election, the Democrats nominated William Jennings BryanWilliam Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
, who focused (as Populists rarely did) on the free silver issue as a solution to the economic depression and the maldistribution of power. One of the great orators of the day, Bryan generated enormous excitement among Democrats with his "Cross of Gold
Cross of Gold speech
The Cross of Gold speech was delivered by William Jennings Bryan at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago on July 8, 1896. The speech advocated bimetallism. Following the Coinage Act , the United States abandoned its policy of bimetallism and began to operate a de facto gold...
" speech, and appeared in the summer of 1896 to have a good chance of winning the election, if the Populists voted for him.
The Populists had the choice of endorsing Bryan or running their own candidate. After great infighting at their St. Louis convention they decided to endorse Bryan but with their own vice presidential nominee, Thomas E. Watson
Thomas E. Watson
Thomas Edward "Tom" Watson was an American politician, newspaper editor, and writer from Georgia. In the 1890s Watson championed poor farmers as a leader of the Populist Party, articulating an agrarian political viewpoint while attacking business, bankers, railroads, Democratic President Grover...
of Georgia. Watson was cautiously open to cooperation, but after the election would recant any hope he had in the possibility of cooperation as a viable tool. Bryan's strength was based on the traditional Democratic vote (minus the middle class and the Germans); he swept the old Populist strongholds in the west and South, and added the silverite states in the west, but did poorly in the industrial heartland. He lost to Republican William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
by a margin of 600,000 votes, and lost again in a rematch in 1900 by a larger margin.
Fading fortunes
The effects of fusionElectoral fusion
Electoral fusion is an arrangement where two or more political parties on a ballot list the same candidate, pooling the votes for that candidate...
with the Democrats were disastrous to the Party in the South. The Populist/Republican alliance which had governed North Carolina fell apart in North Carolina, the only state in which it had any success. By 1898, the Democrats used a violently racist campaign to defeat the North Carolina Populists and GOP and in 1900 the Democrats ushered in disfranchisement.
Populism never recovered from the failure of 1896. For example, Tennessee’s Populist Party was demoralized by a diminishing membership, and puzzled and split by the dilemma of whether to fight the state-level enemy (the Democrats) or the national foe (the Republicans and Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
). By 1900 the People’s Party of Tennessee was a shadow of what it once was
In 1900, while many Populist voters supported Bryan again, the weakened party nominated a separate ticket of Wharton Barker and Ignatius L. Donnelly, and disbanded afterwards. Populist activists either retired from politics, joined a major party, or followed Eugene Debs into his new Socialist Party.
Reorganization
In 1904, the party was re-organized, and Thomas E. WatsonThomas E. Watson
Thomas Edward "Tom" Watson was an American politician, newspaper editor, and writer from Georgia. In the 1890s Watson championed poor farmers as a leader of the Populist Party, articulating an agrarian political viewpoint while attacking business, bankers, railroads, Democratic President Grover...
was their nominee for president in 1904 and in 1908, after which the party disbanded again.
Historians look at Populism
Since the 1890s historians have vigorously debated the nature of Populism; most scholars have been liberals who admired the Populists for their attacks on banks and railroads. Some historians see a close link between the Populists of the 1890s and the progressives of 1900-1912, but most of the leading progressives (except Bryan himself) fiercely opposed Populism. Thus Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
, George W. Norris, Robert LaFollette, William Allen White
William Allen White
William Allen White was a renowned American newspaper editor, politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement...
and Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
strongly opposed Populism. It is debated whether any Populist ideas made their way into the Democratic party during the New Deal era. The New Deal farm programs were designed by experts (like Henry Wallace
Henry A. Wallace
Henry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the Secretary of Agriculture , and the Secretary of Commerce . In the 1948 presidential election, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party.-Early life:Henry A...
) who had nothing to do with Populism.
Some historians see the populists as forward-looking liberal reformers. Others view them as reactionaries trying to recapture an idyllic and utopian past. For some they are radicals out to restructure American life, and for others they are economically hard-pressed agrarians seeking government relief. Much recent scholarship emphasizes Populism's debt to early American republicanism
Republicanism in the United States
Republicanism is the political value system that has been a major part of American civic thought since the American Revolution. It stresses liberty and inalienable rights as central values, makes the people as a whole sovereign, supports activist government to promote the common good, rejects...
. Clanton (1991) stresses that Populism was "the last significant expression of an old radical tradition that derived from Enlightenment sources that had been filtered through a political tradition that bore the distinct imprint of Jeffersonian, Jacksonian, and Lincolnian democracy." This tradition emphasized human rights over the cash nexus of the Gilded Age's dominant ideology.
Frederick Jackson Turner
Frederick Jackson Turner
Frederick Jackson Turner was an American historian in the early 20th century. He is best known for his essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History", whose ideas are referred to as the Frontier Thesis. He is also known for his theories of geographical sectionalism...
and a succession of western historians depicted the Populist as responding to the closure of the frontier. Turner explained:
- The Farmers' Alliance and the Populist demand for government ownership of the railroad is a phase of the same effort of the pioneer farmer, on his latest frontier. The proposals have taken increasing proportions in each region of Western Advance. Taken as a whole, Populism is a manifestation of the old pioneer ideals of the native American, with the added element of increasing readiness to utilize the national government to effect its ends.
The most influential Turner student of Populism was John D. Hicks, who emphasized economic pragmatism over ideals, presenting Populism as interest group politics, with have-nots demanding their fair share of America's wealth which was being leeched off by nonproductive speculators. Hicks emphasized the drought that ruined so many Kansas farmers, but also pointed to financial manipulations, deflation in prices caused by the gold standard, high interest rates, mortgage foreclosures, and high railroad rates. Corruption accounted for such outrages and Populists presented popular control of government as the solution, a point that later students of republicanism emphasized.
In the 1930s C. Vann Woodward
C. Vann Woodward
Comer Vann Woodward was a preeminent American historian focusing primarily on the American South and race relations. He was considered, along with Richard Hofstadter and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., to be one of the most influential historians of the postwar era, 1940s-1970s, both by scholars and by...
stressed the southern base, seeing the possibility of a black-and-white coalition of poor against the overbearing rich. Georgia politician Tom Watson served as Woodward's hero. In the 1950s, however, scholars such as Richard Hofstadter
Richard Hofstadter
Richard Hofstadter was an American public intellectual of the 1950s, a historian and DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University...
portrayed the Populist movement as an irrational response of backward-looking farmers to the challenges of modernity. He discounted third party links to Progressivism and argued that Populists were provincial, conspiracy-minded, and had a tendency toward scapegoatism that manifested itself as nativism, anti-Semitism, anti-intellectualism, and Anglophobia. The antithesis of anti-modern Populism was modernizing Progressivism in this model, with such leading progressives as Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
, Robert LaFollette, George Norris and Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
had been vehement enemies of Populism, though William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
did cooperate with them and accepted the Populist nomination in 1896.
Michael Kazin
Michael Kazin
Michael Kazin is a professor of history at Georgetown University. He is co-editor of Dissent magazine. See his website: http://michaelkazin.com- Early life :...
's The Populist Persuasion (1995) argued that Populism reflected a rhetorical style that manifested itself in spokesmen like Father Charles Coughlin
Charles Coughlin
Father Charles Edward Coughlin was a controversial Roman Catholic priest at Royal Oak, Michigan's National Shrine of the Little Flower church. He was one of the first political leaders to use radio to reach a mass audience, as more than thirty million tuned to his weekly broadcasts during the...
in the 1930s and Governor George Wallace
George Wallace
George Corley Wallace, Jr. was the 45th Governor of Alabama, serving four terms: 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987. "The most influential loser" in 20th-century U.S. politics, according to biographers Dan T. Carter and Stephan Lesher, he ran for U.S...
in the 1960s.
Postel (2007) rejects the notion that the Populists were traditionalistic and anti-modern. Quite the reverse, he argued, the Populists aggressively sought self-consciously progressive goals. They sought diffusion of scientific and technical knowledge, formed highly centralized organizations, launched large-scale incorporated businesses, and pressed for an array of state-centered reforms. Hundreds of thousands of women committed to Populism seeking a more modern life, education, and employment in schools and offices. A large section of the labor movement looked to Populism for answers, forging a political coalition with farmers that gave impetus to the regulatory state. Progress, however, was also menacing and inhumane, Postel notes. White Populists, embraced social-Darwinist notions of racial improvement, Chinese exclusion and the humiliation and brutality of separate-but-equal.
Governors
- Colorado: Davis Hanson WaiteDavis Hanson WaiteDavis Hanson Waite , U.S. Populist Party and Democratic Party politician, served as the eighth Governor of Colorado from 1893 to 1895...
, 1893–1895 - Idaho: Frank SteunenbergFrank SteunenbergFrank Steunenberg was the fourth Governor of the State of Idaho, serving from 1897 until 1901. He is perhaps best known for his 1905 assassination by one-time union member Harry Orchard, who was also a paid informant for the Cripple Creek Mine Owners' Association...
, 1897–1901 (FusionElectoral fusionElectoral fusion is an arrangement where two or more political parties on a ballot list the same candidate, pooling the votes for that candidate...
of Democrats and Populists) - Kansas: Lorenzo D. LewellingLorenzo D. LewellingLorenzo Dow Lewelling was the 12th Governor of Kansas.-Early life:Lewelling was born to William Lewelling, an abolitionist who died soon after making an empassioned speech in Indiana...
, 1893–1895 - Kansas: John W. LeedyJohn W. LeedyJohn Whitnah Leedy was the 14th Governor of Kansas.-Political career:Leedy ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature in the 1917 Alberta general election as a candidate for the non-partisan league...
, 1897–1899 - Nebraska: Silas A. HolcombSilas A. HolcombSilas Alexander Holcomb was a Nebraska lawyer and politician best known for being elected as the ninth Governor of Nebraska and serving from 1895 to 1899...
, 1895–1899 (Fusion of Democrats and Populists) - Nebraska: William A. PoynterWilliam A. PoynterWilliam Amos Poynter was a Nebraska politician best known as the tenth Governor of Nebraska from 1899 to 1901, running under a fusion ticket between the Populist and the Democratic Party...
, 1899–1901 (Fusion of Democrats and Populists) - North Carolina: Daniel Lindsay RussellDaniel Lindsay RussellDaniel Lindsay Russell, Jr. was the 49th Governor of North Carolina from 1897 to 1901, an attorney and judge, and a politician. Although he fought with the Confederacy during the Civil War, he and his father were both Unionists...
, 1897–1901 (Coalition of Republicans and Populists) - Oregon: Sylvester PennoyerSylvester PennoyerSylvester Pennoyer was an American educator, attorney, and politician in Oregon. He was born in New York, attended Harvard Law School, and moved to Oregon at age 25. A Democrat, he served two terms as the eighth Governor of Oregon from 1886 to 1895. He joined the Populist cause in the early 1890s...
, 1887–1895 (Fusion of Democrats and Populists) - South DakotaGovernor of South DakotaThe Governor of South Dakota is the head of the executive branch of the government of South Dakota. They are elected to a four year term on even years when there is no Presidential election. The current governor is Dennis Daugaard, a Republican elected in 2010....
: Andrew E. LeeAndrew E. LeeAndrew Ericson Lee was an American politician who served as the third Governor of South Dakota.-Background:Lee was born near Bergen in Norway and at a young age moved with his parents to the United States. His parents were Eric Lee and Augusta Lee. He spent his childhood on a farm in Dane...
, 1897–1901 - Tennessee: John P. BuchananJohn P. BuchananJohn Price Buchanan was Governor of the U.S. State of Tennessee from 1891 to 1893. He was a native of Williamson County, Tennessee....
, 1891–1893 - Washington: John RogersJohn Rankin RogersJohn Rankin Rogers was the third Governor of the state of Washington. Elected as a member of the People's Party before switching his affiliation to the Democratic Party, Rogers was elected to two consecutive terms in 1896 and 1900, but died before completing his fifth year in office.-Early...
, 1897–1901 (Fusion of Democrats and Populists)
United States Congress
Approximately forty-five members of the party served in the U.S. Congress between 1891 and 1902. These included six United States Senators:- William A. PefferWilliam A. PefferWilliam Alfred Peffer was a United States Senator from Kansas, notable for being the first of six Populists elected to the United States Senate. In the Senate he was recognizable by his enormous flowing beard...
and William A. Harris from KansasKansasKansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south... - Marion ButlerMarion ButlerMarion Butler was a Populist U.S. senator from the state of North Carolina between 1895 and 1901.-Early life:Butler was born in rural Sampson County, North Carolina during the American Civil War. He was a graduate of the University of North Carolina, where he was a member of the Philanthropic...
of North CarolinaNorth CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte... - James H. KyleJames H. KyleJames Henderson Kyle was an American politician. One of the most successful members of the Populist Party he served for 10 years as a member of the United States Senate from South Dakota from 1891 until his death....
from South DakotaSouth DakotaSouth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over... - Henry HeitfeldHenry HeitfeldHenry Heitfeld was an American politician. A Populist, he served as a United States Senator from Idaho.-Early life:...
of IdahoIdahoIdaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state.... - William V. AllenWilliam V. AllenWilliam Vincent Allen was a jurist and twice a U.S. Senator from Nebraska.Allen was born in Midway, Ohio. He moved with his parents to Iowa in 1857, where he attended the common schools and Upper Iowa University at Fayette, Iowa...
from NebraskaNebraskaNebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
The following were Populist members of the U.S. House of Representatives:
52nd United States Congress
52nd United States Congress
The Fifty-second United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C...
- Thomas E. WatsonThomas E. WatsonThomas Edward "Tom" Watson was an American politician, newspaper editor, and writer from Georgia. In the 1890s Watson championed poor farmers as a leader of the Populist Party, articulating an agrarian political viewpoint while attacking business, bankers, railroads, Democratic President Grover...
, Georgia's 10th congressional districtGeorgia's 10th congressional districtGeorgia's 10th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Georgia. Located in the northeastern part of the state, the district includes the cities of Athens, Evans, Augusta, Watkinsville, and Toccoa... - Benjamin Hutchinson Clover, Kansas's 3rd congressional districtKansas's 3rd congressional districtKansas's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in eastern Kansas, the district encompasses Wyandotte and Johnson counties, which include the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, and portions of Douglas County, which includes part of the college town...
- John Grant Otis, Kansas's 4th congressional districtKansas's 4th congressional districtKansas's 4th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kansas. Based in the south central part of the state, the district encompasses 11 counties including the city of Wichita....
- John DavisJohn Davis (Kansas politician)John Davis was a U.S. Representative from Kansas.-Early life:Born near Springfield, Illinois, Davis moved with his parents to Macon County in 1830....
, Kansas's 5th congressional districtKansas's 5th congressional districtKansas's 5th congressional district is an obsolete district for representation in the United States House of Representatives.It existed from 1885 to 1993.-List of representatives:-References:*... - William BakerWilliam Baker (Kansas politician)William Baker was a U.S. Representative from Kansas. Born near Centerville, Washington County, Pennsylvania, Baker attended public school and graduated from the Waynesboro College in 1856. He was a teacher and moved to Iowa in 1859 to become principal of the public schools in Council Bluffs...
, Kansas's 6th congressional districtKansas's 6th congressional districtKansas's 6th congressional district is an obsolete district for representation in the United States House of Representatives.It existed from 1885 to 1963.-List of representatives:-References:*... - Jerry SimpsonJerry SimpsonJeremiah Simpson , nicknamed "Sockless Jerry" Simpson, was an American politician from the U.S. state of Kansas. An old-style populist, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives three times....
, Kansas's 7th congressional districtKansas's 7th congressional districtKansas's 7th congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in the state of Kansas is a defunct congressional district.-List of representatives:-References:*... - Kittel HalvorsonKittel HalvorsonKittel Halvorson was a U.S. Representative from Minnesota.Kittel Halvorson was born in Telemark, Norway; in 1848 immigrated to the United States with his parents, who settled near Whitewater, Walworth County, Wisconsin; moved to Columbia County and then to Winnebago County; attended the public...
, Minnesota's 6th congressional districtMinnesota's 6th congressional districtMinnesota's 6th congressional district includes most or all of Benton, Sherburne, Stearns, Wright, Anoka, and Washington counties. The district is Republican-leaning with a CPVI of R + 7. It is currently represented by Republican Michele Bachmann.... - William A. McKeighanWilliam A. McKeighanWilliam Arthur McKeighan was a Nebraska Populist politician.McKeighan was born in Millville, New Jersey. He moved with his parents to Fulton County, Illinois in 1848. He enlisted in the 11th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, in September 1861, to fight in the Civil War...
, Nebraska's 2nd congressional districtNebraska's 2nd congressional districtNebraska's 2nd congressional district encompasses the core of the Omaha metropolitan area. It includes all of Douglas County, which includes Omaha, and the urbanized areas of Sarpy County... - Omer Madison KemOmer Madison KemOmer Madison Kem was a Nebraska Populist politician.Kem was born in Hagerstown, Indiana. He moved to Custer County, Nebraska in 1882 and to Broken Bow, Nebraska in 1890 where he farmed. He was deputy treasurer of Custer County from 1890 to 1891...
, Nebraska's 3rd congressional districtNebraska's 3rd congressional districtNebraska's 3rd congressional district seat encompasses the western three-fourths of the state; it is one of the largest non-at-large Congressional districts in the country, covering nearly , two time zones and 68.5 counties. It includes Grand Island, Kearney, Hastings, North Platte, Scottsbluff and...
53rd United States Congress
53rd United States Congress
The Fifty-third United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1893 to March 4, 1895, during the fifth and sixth...
- Haldor BoenHaldor BoenHaldor Erickson Boen was an American congressman from Minnesota.Haldor Erickson Boen was born in Sør-Aurdal, Valdres, a traditional district in Oppland county, Norway. Boen immigrated to the United States in 1868 and settled in Mower County, Minnesota. He attended the St. Cloud Normal School in...
, Minnesota's 7th Congressional DistrictMinnesota's 7th congressional districtMinnesota's 7th congressional district covers almost all of the western side of Minnesota except for the far south, which is located in the 1st district. It is by far the state's largest district, and has a very rural character. Cities in the district include Moorhead, Fergus Falls, Alexandria and... - Marion CannonMarion CannonMarion Cannon was a United States Representative from California. He was born near Morgantown, West Virginia. He attended the district school and learned the blacksmith trade. He moved to California in 1852 and engaged in mining in Nevada County for twenty-one years. He was elected county...
, California's 6th congressional districtCalifornia's 6th congressional districtCalifornia's 6th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California that stretches up the Pacific coast north of the San Francisco Bay... - Lafayette Pence, Colorado's 1st congressional districtColorado's 1st congressional districtColorado's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Colorado based primarily in the City and County of Denver in the central part of the state...
- John Calhoun BellJohn Calhoun BellJohn Calhoun Bell was a U.S. Representative from Colorado.Born near Sewanee, Tennessee, Bell attended public and private schools in Franklin County. He studied law in Winchester, Tennessee, and was admitted to the bar in 1874. He moved to Colorado in 1874 and commenced practice in Del Norte,...
, Colorado's 2nd congressional districtColorado's 2nd congressional districtColorado's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Colorado. The district is located in the north-central part of the state and encompasses the northwestern suburbs of Denver including Boulder, Northglenn, Thornton, and Westminster... - Thomas Jefferson HudsonThomas Jefferson HudsonThomas Jefferson Hudson was a U.S. Representative from Kansas.Born near Jamestown, Indiana, Hudson attended Lebanon Academy and Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana.He moved to Nodaway, Missouri, in 1854....
, Kansas's 3rd congressional districtKansas's 3rd congressional districtKansas's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in eastern Kansas, the district encompasses Wyandotte and Johnson counties, which include the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, and portions of Douglas County, which includes part of the college town... - John Davis, Kansas' 5th congressional district
- William Baker, Kansas' 6th congressional district
- Jerry Simpson, Kansas' 7th congressional district
- William A. HarrisWilliam A. Harris (Kansas)William Alexander Harris was a United States Representative and Senator from Kansas.-Early life and education:...
, Kansas Member-at-large - William A. McKeighan, Nebraska's 5th congressional districtNebraska's 5th congressional districtNebraska's 5th congressional district is an obsolete district. It was created after the 1890 census and abolished after the 1940 census.-References:*...
- Omer Madison Kem, Nebraska's 6th congressional districtNebraska's 6th congressional districtNebraska's 6th congressional district is an obsolete district. It was created after the 1890 census and abolished after the 1930 census.-References:*...
- Alonzo C. ShufordAlonzo C. ShufordAlonzo Craig Shuford was a U.S. Representative from North Carolina.Born on a farm near Newton, North Carolina, Shuford attended the common schools and Newton College.He engaged in agricultural pursuits....
, North Carolina's 7th congressional districtNorth Carolina's 7th congressional districtNorth Carolina's 7th congressional district is located in the southeastern corner of North Carolina. It covers Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Cumberland, Duplin, New Hanover, Pender, Robeson, and Sampson counties....
54th United States Congress
54th United States Congress
- House of Representatives :-Leadership:- Senate :* President: Adlai E. Stevenson * President pro tempore: William P. Frye - Majority leadership :* Republican Conference Chairman: John Sherman- Minority leadership :...
- Albert Taylor GoodwynAlbert Taylor GoodwynAlbert Taylor Goodwyn was a U.S. Representative from Alabama.-Early life and military career:Born at Robinson Springs, Alabama, Goodwyn attended Robinson Springs Academy and South Carolina College at Columbia . During the Civil War, he enlisted in the Confederate States Army and served until June...
, Alabama's 5th congressional districtAlabama's 5th congressional districtAlabama's 5th congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in Alabama, which elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. It encompasses the counties of Colbert, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison and Jackson. It also includes parts of Morgan County.It is... - Milford W. HowardMilford W. HowardMilford Wriarson Howard was a United States Representative from Alabama.Howard was first elected to the House of Representatives as a Populist in 1894. He was reelected in 1896 but did not seek another term in 1898. Howard returned to his hometown of Fort Payne, Alabama to practice law...
, Alabama's 7th congressional districtAlabama's 7th congressional districtAlabama's 7th congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in Alabama, which elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. The district encompasses the counties of Greene, Choctaw, Sumter, Marengo, Dallas, Wilcox, Perry and Hale... - William Baker, Kansas' 6th congressional district
- Omer Madison Kem, Nebraska's 6th congressional districtNebraska's 6th congressional districtNebraska's 6th congressional district is an obsolete district. It was created after the 1890 census and abolished after the 1930 census.-References:*...
- Harry SkinnerHarry SkinnerHarry Skinner was a U.S. Representative from North Carolina, and the brother of Thomas Gregory Skinner.Born near Hertford, North Carolina, Skinner attended Hertford Academy and was graduated from the law department of the University of Kentucky at Lexington.He was admitted to the bar in 1876 and...
, North Carolina's 1st congressional districtNorth Carolina's 1st congressional districtNorth Carolina's 1st congressional district is located mostly in the northeastern part of the state. This area is located on North Carolina's Coastal plain and contains towns such as Roanoke Rapids, Rocky Mount, Goldsboro, and New Bern.... - William F. Strowd, North Carolina's 4th congressional districtNorth Carolina's 4th congressional districtThe Fourth Congressional district of North Carolina is located in the central region of the state and contains most of the area commonly known as The Triangle. It includes all of Durham and Orange counties, part of Wake County and a small section of Chatham County...
- Charles H. MartinCharles H. Martin (congressman)Charles Henry Martin , was a United States Representative from North Carolina. Martin was born near Youngsville, Franklin County, N.C., on August 28, 1848. He attended the common schools and the preparatory department of Wake Forest College, graduating from Wake Forest in 1872 and from the...
(1848–1931), North Carolina's 6th congressional districtNorth Carolina's 6th congressional districtNorth Carolina's 6th congressional district is located in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina. The 6th District comprises all of Moore and Randolph counties and portions of Alamance, Davidson, Guilford, and Rowan counties.... - Alonzo C. Shuford, North Carolina's 7th congressional district
55th United States Congress
55th United States Congress
-House of Representatives:* Republican: 206 * Democratic: 124* Populist: 22* Silver Republican: 3* Silver: 1* Independent Republican: 1TOTAL members: 357-Leadership:-Senate:* President: Garret Hobart * President pro tempore: William P...
- Albert Taylor Goodwyn, Alabama's 5th congressional district
- Charles A. BarlowCharles A. BarlowCharles Averill Barlow was a U.S. Representative from California.Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Barlow attended the common schools. He moved to Ventura, California, in 1875 and to San Luis Obispo County, California, 1889....
, California's 6th congressional districtCalifornia's 6th congressional districtCalifornia's 6th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California that stretches up the Pacific coast north of the San Francisco Bay...
- Curtis H. CastleCurtis H. CastleCurtis Harvey Castle was a U.S. Representative from California.Born near Galesburg, Illinois, Castle attended the public schools and Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois....
, California's 7th congressional districtCalifornia's 7th congressional districtCalifornia's 7th congressional district is a congressional district located in the U.S. state of California that covers half of Contra Costa County and part of Solano County... - James GunnJames Gunn (congressman)James Gunn was a U. S. Congressman from the state of Idaho.-Biography:Gunn was born in County Fermanagh, Ireland, and emigrated to America with his parents. The family settled in Wisconsin where he attended the common schools...
, Idaho's 1st congressional districtIdaho's 1st congressional districtIdaho's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Idaho. The district encompasses the western and northern parts of the state and includes the western third of the state capital, Boise, and most of its suburbs, including Nampa, Caldwell, and Meridian... - Mason Summers Peters, Kansas's 2nd congressional districtKansas's 2nd congressional districtKansas's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kansas covering most of the eastern part of the state, except for the core of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The district encompasses less than a quarter of the state...
- Edwin Reed Ridgely, Kansas's 3rd congressional districtKansas's 3rd congressional districtKansas's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in eastern Kansas, the district encompasses Wyandotte and Johnson counties, which include the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, and portions of Douglas County, which includes part of the college town...
- William Davis Vincent, Kansas's 5th congressional district
- Nelson B. McCormickNelson B. McCormickNelson B. Mccormick was a U.S. Representative from Kansas.Born near Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, Mccormick attended the common schools....
, Kansas's 6th congressional district - Jerry Simpson, Kansas's 7th congressional district
- Jeremiah Dunham Botkin, Kansas Member-at-large
- Samuel MaxwellSamuel MaxwellSamuel Maxwell was a Populist politician in the U.S. state of Nebraska.Born in Lodi, New York on May 20, 1825, he moved with his parents to Michigan in 1844. He taught school, farmed, and studied law. He moved to the Nebraska Territory settling in Cass County, Nebraska resumed farming...
, Nebraska's 3rd congressional district - William Ledyard StarkWilliam Ledyard StarkWilliam Ledyard Stark was a Nebraska Populist politician.Born in Mystic, Connecticut in 1853. He moved to Wyoming, Illinois in 1872. He taught school and clerked a store for a while. He attended Union College of Law in Chicago, Illinois. He was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of...
, Nebraska's 4th congressional districtNebraska's 4th congressional districtNebraska's 4th congressional district is an obsolete district. It was created after the 1890 census and abolished after the 1960 census.- List of Representatives :-References:*... - Roderick Dhu SutherlandRoderick Dhu SutherlandRoderick Dhu Sutherland was a Nebraska Populist politician.Sutherland was born in Scotch Grove, Iowa and attended Amity College, College Springs, Iowa. He taught school and studied law, being admitted to the bar in 1888...
, Nebraska's 5th congressional district - William Laury GreeneWilliam Laury GreeneWilliam Laury Greene was a Nebraska Populist politician.Greene was raised in Dubois County, Indiana. He graduated from the Ireland Academy, taught school and studied law. He passed his bar exam in 1876 and began his practice in Bloomington, Indiana...
, Nebraska's 6th congressional district - Harry Skinner, North Carolina's 1st congressional district
- John E. Fowler, North Carolina's 3rd congressional districtNorth Carolina's 3rd congressional districtNorth Carolina's 3rd congressional district is located on the Atlantic coast of North Carolina. It covers the Outer Banks and the counties adjacent to the Pamlico Sound. It also spikes inwards through Duplin, Wayne, Wilson, Nash, Craven, Carteret and Pitt counties.The district is represented by...
- William F. Strowd, North Carolina's 4th congressional district
- Charles H. Martin, North Carolina's 5th congressional districtNorth Carolina's 5th congressional districtNorth Carolina's 5th congressional district covers the northwestern corner of North Carolina from the Appalachian Mountains to the Piedmont Triad. The district includes Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Davie, Stokes, Surry, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yadkin counties and parts of Forsyth, Iredell, and...
- Alonzo C. Shuford, North Carolina's 7th congressional district
- John Edward KelleyJohn Edward KelleyJohn Edward Kelley was a newspaperman and a politician from South Dakota. He was born in Columbia County, Wisconsin, near Portage City, in 1853, where he attended the public schools....
, South Dakota's 1st congressional districtSouth Dakota's 1st congressional districtSouth Dakota's 1st congressional district is now obsolete. It existed from 1913 to 1983.When South Dakota was admitted into the Union in 1889, it was allocated two congressional seats, both of which were elected state-wide at-large... - Freeman T. KnowlesFreeman T. KnowlesFreeman Tulley Knowles was a U.S. Populist politician.He was born in Harmony, Maine. He was elected as a Populist to the United States House of Representatives from South Dakota in 1896 and served from March 4, 1897 to March 3, 1899. He died in Deadwood, South Dakota.Knowles was a Civil War...
, South Dakota's 2nd congressional districtSouth Dakota's 2nd congressional districtSouth Dakota's 2nd congressional district is an obsolete district. It was created upon South Dakota's admission into the Union in 1889 and abolished after the 1980 census. Members were elected at-large until the formation of individual districts after the 1910 Census...
56th United States Congress
56th United States Congress
-House of Representatives:- Leadership :- Senate :* President: Garret Hobart , until November 21, 1899 , vacant thereafter.* President pro tempore: William P. Frye * Democratic Caucus Chairman: James K. Jones...
- William Ledyard Stark, Nebraska's 4th congressional district
- Roderick Dhu Sutherland, Nebraska's 5th congressional district
- William Laury Greene, Nebraska's 6th congressional district
- John W. Atwater, North Carolina's 4th congressional district
57th United States Congress
57th United States Congress
-House of Representatives:*Democratic: 151*Republican: 200 *Populist: 5*Silver : 1TOTAL members: 357-Leadership:-Senate:* President: Theodore Roosevelt , until September 14, 1901, vacant thereafter....
- Thomas L. GlennThomas L. GlennThomas Louis Glenn was a United States Representative from Idaho. Glenn served a single term as a Populist in the House from 1901 to 1903, representing the state at-large.-References:...
, Idaho's 1st congressional district - Caldwell EdwardsCaldwell EdwardsCaldwell Edwards was a U.S. Representative from Montana.Born in Sag Harbor, New York, Edwards was educated in the district schools. He worked as a salesman and bookkeeper in dry-goods stores for several years. He moved to Bozeman, Montana, in 1864 and became engaged in agricultural pursuits...
, Montana's 1st congressional districtMontana's 1st congressional districtFrom 1913 to 1993, Montana had two congressional districts. From 1913 to 1919, those seats were elected state-wide At-large on a general ticket. After 1919, however, the state was divided into geographical districts.... - William Ledyard Stark, Nebraska's 4th congressional district
- William NevilleWilliam NevilleWilliam Harriman Neville was a Nebraska, United States Populist politician.-Biography:He was born in Nashville, Illinois. He moved with his parents to Chester, Illinois in 1851. Graduated from McKendree University and served as a sergeant in Company H of the 142nd regiment of the Illinois...
, Nebraska's 6th congressional district
See also
- United States Greenback PartyUnited States Greenback PartyThe Greenback Party was an American political party with an anti-monopoly ideology that was active between 1874 and 1884. Its name referred to paper money, or "greenbacks," that had been issued during the American Civil War and afterward...
- List of political parties in the United States
- Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of OzPolitical interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of OzPolitical interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz include treatments of the modern fairy tale as an allegory or metaphor for the political, economic and social events of America in the 1890s...
- Bryant W. BaileyBryant W. BaileyBryant William Bailey was a businessman, politician, and journalist who became a leading figure during the 1890s in the short-lived Populist Party in the U.S. state of Louisiana.-Early years:...
, Louisiana Populist politician - Leonard M. LandsboroughLeonard M. LandsboroughLeonard M. Landsborough was an agriculturist in the Florin, California, area and a member of the California State Assembly. A member of the Populist Party and then a Democrat, he was active in a movement to protect the rights of Japanese farmers in the Sacramento Valley...
, California Populist politician
External links
- 40 original Populist cartoons, primary sources
- Peffer, William A. "The Mission of the Populist Party," The North American Review (Dec 1993) v. 157 #445 pp 665–679; full text online. important policy statement by leading Populist senator
- People's Party Hand-Book of Facts. Campaign of 1898 96 p., official party pamphlet for North Carolina election of 1898
- Populist, republican and Democratic cartoons, 189s election, primary sources
- Populist Party timeline and texts; edited by Professor Edwards, secondary and primary sources
Party publications and materials
- Populist Cartoon Index. Archived at Missouri State University. Retrieved August 24, 2006.
- Buttons, tokens and ribbons of the Populist Party. Reprinted from Issue 19, Buttons and Ballots, Fall 1998. Retrieved August 26, 2006.
- People's Party Hand-Book of Facts. Campaign of 1898: Electronic Edition. Populist Party (N.C.). State Executive Committee. Reformated and reprinted by the University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- Populist materials online courtesy University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Secondary sources
- Farmers, the Populist Party, and Mississippi (1870-1900). By Kenneth G. McCarty. Published by Mississippi History Now a project of the Mississippi Historical Society. Retrieved August 24, 2006.
- The Populist Party in Nebraska. Published by the Nebraskastudies.org, a project of the Nebraska Department of Education.
- Fusion Politics. The Populist Party in North Carolina. A project of the John Locke Foundation. Retrieved August 24, 2006.
- The Decline of the Cotton Farmer. Anecdotal account of rise and fall of Farmers Alliance and Populist Party in Texas.