The People’s, or Populist, Party was formed in response to the declining agricultural prices, rising operating costs, and high interest rates for agricultural credit that southern and western farmers confronted during the late 19th century. The strength of the People’s Party lay in the South, Middle West, and Far West. It developed out of the National LARM-ERS’ alliances, which was composed of the Southern and Northwestern Farmers’ Alliances. The Alliance movement provided the Populists with membership, leaders, and ideas. Members of the Alliance movement made their initial foray into party politics during the 1890 elections when they aligned themselves with the Democratic Party in the South and various independent farmers parties in the West. In 12 states, candidates supported by Alliance members won partial or complete control of the legislature. Alliance-supported candidates also won six governorships, three seats in the U. S. Senate, and 50 seats in the U. S. House of Representatives. These results encouraged several Alliance members to contemplate the creation of a third national party that would focus on the demands of the nation’s agrarian interests.
Between 1890 and 1892 the support for a third party grew rapidly within the Alliance movement. In December 1890 the Alliance held a national meeting at Ocala, Florida, and issued the so-called Ocala demands that put forth the following objectives: the direct election of U. S. senators; a graduated federal income tax; the free and unlimited coinage of silver; the establishment of federal “subtreasuries” (warehouses) for the storage of surplus crops, with government loans at 2 percent interest secured by those crops; and effective government regulation and, if necessary, ownership of the railroads and public utilities. The Ocala demands represented radical ideas for that time. Anticipating that the Democrats and Republicans would resist endorsing the Ocala demands, many members of the Alliance movement were eager to form a party of their own. It seemed as if the two-party system would not or could not respond to the growing problems facing America’s farming and laboring classes. Sentiment for a third party was strongest among western agrarians, but several southern leaders, such as Thomas E. Watson of Georgia and Leonidas L. Polk of North Carolina, also supported the idea.
Alliance leaders discussed plans for a national third party in meetings held at Cincinnati (May 1891) and St. Louis (February 1892). These meetings were attended by many Northwestern Alliance members as well as leaders of the Southern Farmers Alliance and representatives from the dying Knights of Labor. In July 1892 more than 1,000 delegates met at Omaha, Nebraska, for the first National Convention of the People’s Party. The platform adopted at the convention, with a stirring preamble written by Ignatius Loyola Donnelly of Minnesota, became known as the Omaha platform and called for the Australian or secret ballot; a graduated federal income tax; the nationalization of the transportation system; the free and unlimited coinage of silver; a flexible national currency; inexpensive loans for farmers; laws to discourage large-scale acquisition of land; the direct election of U. S. senators; and the initiative which would enable the public to compel the legislature to consider a proposal and the referendum which would allow voters to adopt or reject a measure. Although the new political organization’s name was the People’s Party, the larger movement it belonged to was known as Populism.
In 1892 the Populists ran James B. Weaver, a former Union general and Greenbacker from Iowa, as their presidential candidate. For vice president they chose James G. Field, a former Confederate from Virginia. The Weaver-Field ticket won slightly more than 1 million popular votes and received 22 electoral votes. Weaver did very well in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, North Dakota, and Oregon. The Populists also elected five U. S. senators, 10 congressmen, and three governors, and nearly 1,500 Populist candidates won election to seats in state legislatures. Although the Populists had great success in the West, the party did very little in the Northeast. It also failed to gain much support in the South, where Populist strategy sought to build on the close relationship between African-American farmers and the mostly white local alliances that existed in the region. To do this, Populists stressed the common economic problems faced by all farmers and demanded fair elections. This strategy, however, was undermined by the prevalent racism in the region, ingrained Democratic loyalties, distaste for a presidential ticket headed by a former Union general, and widespread voter fraud and intimidation. The Populists’ failure in the South ended any hope for an interracial agrarian reform movement.
Where the Populists won statewide elections, they established impressive reform records that included railroad and banking legislation, increased funding for public schools, and the exposure of corrupt business and political practices. Yet, despite its impressive record on state and local levels of government, the People’s Party suffered from internal conflicts that prevented it from achieving a nationwide political base. It was also undermined by the two major parties, each of which incorporated some Populist programs into their platforms.
By 1896, the demand for Free Silver became an increasingly powerful force in America. The Populists had scheduled their 1896 national convention after those of the two major parties, assuming that both parties would be dominated by supporters of the gold standard. The Republican presidential candidate was William McKinley of Ohio, who was nominated on a platform that endorsed the gold standard. The Democrats, however, nominated William J. Bryan of Nebraska, who ran on a platform that emphasized stricter federal regulation of railroads and trusts and supported Free Silver. When the Populists met in St. Louis, some believed that if they supported Bryan they risked losing their party identity, while others felt that if the party nominated its own candidate, they would ensure a McKinley victory in November. Ultimately, the Populists decided to nominate Bryan for president but named their own vice presidential candidate, Thomas E. Watson. Several Populists hoped in vain that the Democrats would drop their vice presidential candidate Arthur M. Sewall, a Maine businessman, from the ticket in favor of Watson.
Although the Bryan-Watson fusion ticket appeared on many state ballots, some states refused to include Watson and listed only the Democratic Bryan-Sewall ticket. Throughout the 1896 campaign Bryan ignored Watson. Consequently, many Populists ended up voting for the Democratic ticket instead of their own. McKinley easily defeated Bryan, collecting 271 electoral votes to Bryan’s 176. The Republican candidate also received 7,036,000 popular votes to the Democrats’ 6,468,000. The results of the 1896 election sent the People’s Party into decline.
Although it continued to nominate candidates until 1908, the People’s Party was effectively absorbed by the Democrats. The main contribution of the Populists was the eventual acceptance of their proposals by the two major parties. Their calls for reform of the banking system and national monetary policy, commodity exchanges, and new electoral procedures had a significant impact on American politics. Yet, lingering sectional and racial biases from the Civil War hampered the People’s Party. Class bias also existed against a party supported almost exclusively by small farmers. The Populist position of maintaining private property and economic competition for small producers while demanding federal regulation of the national economy was met with derision by large-scale farming interests and the business community. Despite attempts to transform itself into a nationwide political phenomenon, Populism remained a predominantly rural, sectional movement with some power on the local level. In the end the Populists represented the last major agrarian protest movement against an increasingly urban and industrial America.
See also BIMETALLISM; CURRENCY ISSUE; FREE SILVER MOVEMENT; PATRONS Of HUSBANDRY; SiMPSON,
Jerry.
Further reading: Lawrence Goodwyn, Democratic Promise: The Populist Moment in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976); John D. Hicks, The Populist Revolt: A History of the Farmers Alliance and the People’s Party (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1931); Robert C. McMath, Jr., American Populism: A Social History, 1877-1898 (New York: Hill & Wang, 1993).
World History
