The Party Of The People, Populism
The Party of the People
Perhaps one of the most influential and competitive third parties in American history is the Populist Party. The Populist Party unlike the Democratic and Republican parties was formed after the Civil War, and is largely an economic not foreign policy party. Supporters were often farmers in the mid-west, Great Plains, and the southeast; that had their income troubled after the prices of cotton and wheat dramatically fell in the late 1900's. The Populist Party quickly gained support and power in the state and federal governments and was founded by the merger of The Farmers' Alliance and the Knights of Labor. (http://projects.vassar.edu/1896/populists.html)
The issues of the Populist Party were good, morale, common sense ideas. The party stood against the gold standard to back money which, if adopted could have made the depression a much easier event to endure for everyone. The Populist party was also a very inclusive party, they often hired women, blacks, and farmers to have meritorious roles in the best third-party ever..
Like a sleeping but soon to be killed giant, the Populist Party took control of the Kansas State Legislature in 1890. The party had on several attempts, try to ally with the Democratic party in order to obtain Southern Democrat votes; however citizens of east-coast states had little influence of Populism and the party was largely dismissed in that part of the nation. However, today Populism is still the cornerstone to many of today’s most important pieces of legislation. Many ideas from the party have been adopted into what is know today as the constitution party
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