The Populist Party or Peoples Party

The Populist Party, also known as the Peoples Party, arose in the late 1800s. Although the party showed much prominence in the late 1900s amongst poor white cotton farmers of the south and money pressed wheat farmers of the plain states, the party was rather short lived and had lost most of its momentum and strength by 1898.

The reasons for the Populist Party's rapid fade away are fairly simple, the party arose quickly in a time where it was needed and would be prominent. Farmers of the south and the plain states, as well as the factory working class were pressed for money by the government and already were making barely enough money to get by anyway. The Populist Party's idea of a graduated income tax quickly caught the eyes of these poor farmers and factory workers as since there tax rate would be lower because they made less, they would be able to save some money each week, giving them enough to live and not have to depend on a week to week pay check I order to be able to put food on the table. However, many large business owners like John Carnegie feared the party's rising power, because there 1992 platform for the election included, a working day of eight hours and Government control of all railroads, telegraphs, and telephones, therefore this platform would lose money for big business owners like Carnegie.

The Populist Party started to fade away however, because after their success in the election of 1892, other larger parties like the Democrats began to absorb some of the Populist Parties more unique ideas that had giving the Populist party all the fame and the votes in 1892. By the time of the election of 1896, it seemed that the democrats, who had now largely absorbed many Populist ideas, were back in the driver's seat and the Populist Party was slowly falling behind and fading away. Unfortunately the fusion of Populist ideas with the Democratic Party spelled disaster, in 1898, the Democrats used a violently racist campaign