Populist movement
The Populist movement was a significant American political movement that emerged in the late 1880s, primarily driven by discontent among Southern and Midwestern farmers. These individuals sought to address the economic hardships they faced due to falling agricultural prices, drought, and exploitative lending practices from banks. The movement led to the establishment of the People's Party, which advocated for measures such as the abolition of national banks, graduated income tax, direct election of senators, and government control over utilities and railroads.
The Populists were characterized by their skepticism towards elite classes and formed alliances with labor unions to amplify their political voice. Despite their initial successes, including garnering 8.5% of the presidential vote in 1892, internal divisions emerged by 1896, leading to a merger with the Democratic Party. Though the Populist Party disbanded by 1908, many of their ideas persisted and influenced later political movements, including the Progressive era reforms and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.
Populism has historically reappeared in response to economic crises and social change, evident in the political landscape from the 19th century to contemporary times, such as during the 2008 financial crisis, which spurred new populist sentiments. Figures like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have tapped into similar grievances, reflecting the enduring legacy of populist ideology in American politics.
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Populist movement
The Populist movement was an American political movement in the late 1880s, powered by Southern and Midwestern farmers, that advocated for the abolition of national banks, a graduated income tax in which the tax rate would rise as income levels rose, direct election of senators, an eight-hour workday, and government control of all utilities including railroads. United by their general distrust of the elite classes, supporters formed their own political party, the People's Party, more commonly known as the Populists, to legitimize their views and compete against the Republicans and the Democrats.
Brief History
Plummeting cotton prices in the South and a drought in the Great Plains forced farmers at the time to endure crippling financial hardship. Bankers saw an opportunity to charge exorbitant lending rates, and railroad barons began to raise their prices. As the poor farmers became increasingly indebted, their resentment of Eastern capitalists began to grow. Forming an alliance with labor unions, the disaffected farmers and their supporters formed the People's Party because they felt squeezed by the capitalists. Populists wanted to break up big trusts and eliminate the gold standard for money in favor of a silver standard. Some were also early supporters of women's suffrage. In 1892 their presidential candidate, James Baird Weaver, won 8.5 percent of the vote.
By 1896, however, the Populists had split into two factions. The fusionists, otherwise known as mid-roaders, wanted to merge the party with the Democrats. Hard-line supporters wanted to maintain the party and warned that a merger would weaken them politically by eliminating their third-party threat. The fusionists ultimately prevailed, and supported Democrat William Jennings Bryan in 1896 in the presidential election. Bryan was in favor of the free coinage of silver at a 16 to 1 ratio to the coinage of gold, which was a hot-button issue at the time. Supporter felt it would increase the money supply and alleviate the economic burdens that poor farmers were facing, while opponents felt it would devalue the US dollar to unsustainable levels.
Bryan ultimately lost to William McKinley, but he was the first national politician to argue in favor of permanently expanding the power of the federal government to support welfare programs for ordinary Americans. Though Bryan would run for president unsuccessfully another two times, the majority of the Populist platform survived into the twentieth century.
The Populist Party officially disbanded about 1908, but populist sentiments did not go away. Progressive Republican Theodore Roosevelt revived populist ideas by modestly expanding the regulation of business and industry. The populist movement also led to the Seventeenth Amendment to the US Constitution calling for the direct election of Senators. Populists used their influence at the state level to persuade state legislators to request a constitutional convention to discuss the issue, and the new amendment was finally ratified in 1913. Additionally, much of the populist platform became the framework for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal.
During the Great Depression (1929 – 1939), Louisiana politician and US Senator Huey Pierce Long advocated for confiscating the fortunes of all persons worth more than $8 million to provide $5,000 in annual income and health care for all American families. He was viewed as a legitimate threat to defeat Roosevelt in the 1936 election, but was assassinated in 1935.
By the 1950s, populism began to turn rightward. Sen. Joseph McCarthy launched a crusade against Communism that targeted left-leaning academics, the Ivy League educated, and Hollywood actors and producers. In the 1960s, segregationist George Wallace rose to political prominence by targeting liberals and corporate bureaucrats. His third-party presidential bid in 1968 drew 13.6 percent of the vote. Anti-elitist populism on the right has continued fairly steadily since the days of McCarthy, including the Tea Party movement and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump in 2016.
Impact
Populist movements have consistently sprung up throughout history, usually in response to immigration waves or adverse economic conditions, such as a deep recession or a depression.
The election of US president Andrew Jackson in 1828 had its roots in populism. Jackson, who won the popular vote in 1824, was denied the presidency because he failed to receive a majority of electoral votes. Henry Clay, who finished third in the Electoral College, threw his support to John Quincy Adams, which incensed Jackson and his supporters. Their anger simmered for four years, and Jackson was able to defeat Adams in a landslide. Jackson was the first American president to come from modest means. He was orphaned at age fourteen and served in the military, while still finding time to read his way through law school and serve in the Tennessee state legislature before being elected to the US Senate. Jackson founded the Democratic Party, which dominated Southern politics for nearly a century until it supported civil rights in the 1960s.
The Know-Nothing movement of the 1840s was a backlash against a new wave of Irish Catholic and German immigrants. Established Protestants saw the newcomers as job-stealing rivals who threatened the nation's existing cultural and religious identity. In 1855 they formed the American Party, and in 1856 their presidential candidate, Millard Fillmore, received almost 22 percent of the vote. Their national identity was later sidelined as the slavery issue began to tear the United States apart.
In the twenty-first century, the 2008 financial crisis reignited long-standing grievances against Washington insiders and Wall Street brokers, giving rise to the populism that was on display during the 2016 presidential campaign. Bernie Sanders nearly toppled Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton during the primary cycle with his platform opposing income inequality and the billionaire class. In the general election, Trump ran on an America first platform that challenged existing Republican Party views on issues such as free trade, immigration, and American intervention in foreign affairs. His message found an audience with disaffected voters in the South and Midwest, many of whom have grievances that closely resemble the original agenda of the Populist Party. Though he did not win the popular vote, he won the November election.
Bibliography
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Walsh, Kenneth T. "The Most Consequential Elections in U.S. History: Andrew Jackson and the Election of 1828." US News, 20 Aug. 2008, news.com/news/articles/2008/08/20/the-most-consequential-elections-in-history-andrew-jackson-and-the-election-of-1828" www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/08/20/the-most-consequential-elections-in-history-andrew-jackson-and-the-election-of-1828. Accessed 6 June 2017.