The Populist and Progressive Movements Essay Sample

In late nineteenth century America, many changes in the American economy severely affected American farmers. This led to the forming of organizations and movements to protect the farming industry and farmers themselves. As a result of these alliances, there was a change that came about American politics and government in the time preceding. This era became known as the Populist and Progressive era.

There were great changes to the American economy in the late 1800s. From 1870-1900, there were no less than eight severe recessions, along with eight amazing booms. The times of recession drove farmers to demand change. The worst of which were the Panics of 1873, 1893, and 1896. These booms and busts were the results of several gigantic changes in the American economy which stemmed from the second industrial revolution coming into full force during this time. Manufacturing now became the dominant way to make money and became the dominant force in the economy. This not only led to people in urban areas becoming richer, but it led to the United States becoming an export nation and a creditor to the world– instead of a debtor. This was great for the most part, but it had a negative effect; what it did to farmers, particularly family farmers and poor citizens in general, was impactful. While the rich and urban citizens became richer, the poor and rural citizens became poorer. Farmers lacked the socioeconomic status to fight as individuals, so they organized and joined forces to protect each other. Some notable groups in the Grange Movement included the Farmers’ Alliance, the Northwestern Farmers’ Alliance, the Southern Farmers’ Alliance, and the Colored Farmers’ alliance. These groups were formed not only to protect the farmer and the family farm, but they were designed to affect change within the American economy; they found strength through numbers. Some of these changes regarded money. In order to stabilize, or better yet, increase the prices of farm-produced goods– and in order to protect farms from foreclosures and allow farmers to pay off debts– the farmers developed the monetary policy that became known as free silver. The free silver movement was the idea of backing American money with silver rather than gold. In doing so, this would in effect cause inflation by weakening the dollar and the dollar’s worth. The general rise in prices would go up, and so would the prices of farm goods. This included anything from fruits, vegetables, wheat, poultry, beef, and so on. The farmers would be able to make more money. At the same time, farmers were not very involved in the consumer economy, so their cost of living would only be changed minimally– as they were marginally self-sufficient. This double-edged sword of positive outcomes in the eyes of the farmer was seen as the solution to their problem. They would be able to sell their products at higher prices and in turn see a minimal increase to their cost of living. The various alliances and groups created a powerful force and brought about many changes to the American economy, even though their ideas, such as that of free silver, ended up as failures. The economic motivation and organization of the farmers led to a political movement, which became known as the Populist movement. This took the goals of the farmers and synthesized it into a set of political issues. Not only did the Populists and farmers want cheap and easy money, they wanted to bring change to many other issues. They wanted to reform political issues regarding the direct election of senators and other electoral reforms that included ideas such as the recalling of elected officials. They wanted regulation of monopolies, the breaking of monopolies and trusts building up in the country, tighter regulations of import/export industries, regulation of workers and workdays, and manufacturing industries. Their first political leader was James Weaver, who ran for president and received a significant amount of electoral votes as a third party in 1892. Even though the Populist Party received less than ten percent of the national vote, they won over several states such as Kansas, North Dakota, Nevada, and Colorado. As a result, the major parties of Democrats and Republicans took notice. By 1896, the Democrats chose William Jennings Bryan as their presidential candidate. Bryan largely supported the same policies and issues as Weaver did from a few years before. However, Bryan lost that election, and lost once again in 1900. It would seem as though the Populist Party, after losing three elections in a row, had gotten nowhere in the world of American politics nor in the American economy. That, however, was not true. It was significant that ordinary citizens united together and made such a significant impact. Major political parties even went forth to incorporate Populist ideas into their agenda. The Democratic Party carried on the ideas of easy money, protection of the poor, limited working hours, and public education. The Republican Party also proved they had taken up some of the Populist ideas with Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt became the leader of the Republican Party in 1901 and was a momentous monopoly destroyer, trust buster, conservationist of land, and a hero to the American farmer. The Populist Party had so thoroughly changed American politics that the first 10-15 years of the 1900s became known as the Progressive Era. The first three presidents after 1901– Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson– would be referred to as the most notable Progressive presidents in the Progressive Era. 

By the time World War I began, the United States had come a long way from the Panic of 1873. The Populist Movement was not pleased at all with the continued industrialization of America, and it was true that they seemingly lost election after election; but in reality, they had changed America forever. Both major parties became more Populist, the economy became more egalitarian, and the American farmer had more or less been saved from ruination. Even though men like Weaver and Bryan were seen as failures, men such as Roosevelt and Wilson carried the important aspects of the Populist movement well into the twentieth century. The Populist Party and its movement may have died, but its impact never faltered. To some extent, it can be seen in the Progressive movement; through this, it is clear that the Populist’s ideas and goals were not ones to be ignored. It was maintained throughout the twentieth century, and still lives on into the modern day.