Creating A Political Culture: American Populism And The People's Party In The 1890s

To have a better understanding of the American Populism,it is necessary to study the People's Party in the late 19~thh century.The farmers in the American West and South were faced with economic deprivation during the era of Reconstruction.They were tortured by the decline of crop prices,land bondage,currency contraction,and the global market's competition.Under such circumstances,they had launched the huge mobilization against the monopolies,railroads companies and interest groups persisted in the gold standard.They had organized a series of cooperative movements,among which the Farmer's Alliance enjoyed the most influence.The Farer's Alliance was started from the Texas and later swept the West and South.Those organizations paved the way for establishing the People's Party,with its political tenets named the Omaha platform.The People's Party even had its own candidate in 1892 election.Populists decided to merge with the Democratic Party to obtain more votes,while the failure of the 1896 election marked the collapse of the People's Party.The Populists'appeal for governmental intervention of economy and farmers'economic conditions shed profound lights on the American federal economic bills,monetary policies and agricultural development.The People's Party posed the great challenges to the American political system but didn't threaten it.In contrast,confronted with the Great Depression,solutions named Neal Deal put forward by Franklin Roosevelt was the extension of the Populists'appeals.