Populism Lesson Plan

Objectives:
C.2.a. Identify and explain significant issues and components of the
Populist movement and their impacts
U4T13 I can describe the Populist party and the significant issues of
their movement.
Test Questions:
U4T13 I can describe the Populist Party and the significant issues of
their movement.
22. Members of which group were most likely to belong to the Populist
Party?
a. Anarchist
b. Farmers
c. Industrialists
d. Immigrants
Document: William Jennings Bryan, 1896
The merchant at the corner store is as much a businessman as
the merchant of New York. The farmer who goes forth in the
morning and toils all day...is as much a businessman as the man
who [works on Wall Street].
We come to speak for this broader class of businessmen....It is
for these that we speak. We are fighting in the defense of our
homes and our families. We have petitioned, and our petitions
have been scorned. We have entreated, and our entreaties have
been disregarded. We have begged, and they have mocked us.
We beg no longer; we entreat no more; we petition no more. We
defy them!
You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the
gold standard. I tell you that the great cities rest upon these
broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our
farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic. But
destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every
city in this country.
Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring
interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their
demands for a gold standard by saying to them: you shall not

Populism Lesson Plan

press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall
not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.
Source: The speech above was delivered by William Jennings
Bryan at the Democratic National Convention in July 1896. It is
considered one of the most famous speeches in American
history. The passage is an excerpt.
Use the reading passage on the previous page to answer
questions 23-25
23. The phrase You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.
(lines 26-27) indicates that
a. Jennings is concerned about the gold cross necklaces worn by
most of mankind
b. Jennings plans to revive the practice of crucifixion for the
death penalty
c. Jennings is offering a bribe to answer their demands
d. Jennings thinks the gold standard is harmful to the
majority
24. On the basis of information presented in the passage, William
Jennings Bryan would probably agree that
a. Cities depend on farms for survival
b. His concerns have been adequately addressed by the
government
c. Farms depend on cities for survival
d. Farmers should have less economic power than businessmen
25. According to the passage,
a. This is the first time this group has asked for better economic
conditions
b. Cities should start growing wheat and other grasses and grains
c. This perspective is only supported by a few individuals
d. This group has begged the government to help them
with no success
Bell Ringer
Photo Analysis
Background
Industrial Revolution (growth of banks and railroads +
mechanization of agriculture) led to farmers experiencing
financial instability.
o Immigration + Urbanization = Higher Food Demand
Increased Land and better technology to farm it
caused a surplus. This caused prices to go down.

Populism Lesson Plan

Good for Urban People, bad for farmers

because they had gone into debt to buy land,
equipment, seed.

1. The Granger Movement

Response to farmers hardships: 1860s, the Grange was
established to help farmers politically and socially.
Primarily against monopolies in the railroad.
o Because there was very little competition for the
railroads, they could make farmers pay high prices
for services
o Example: Eastern farmers paid 95 cents per ton to
ship goods, and Western farmers paid $3.20 per ton
to ship goods
Gold Standard
o Government favored industry over agriculture
o Government regulated currency to keep inflation low
Good for investors, bad for people in debt
During this era, money was based on the Gold
Standard
One of the main things farmers needed was
cash, so one of their main goals was making
the dollar worth less so that there would be
more cash in the system.
o They could make the dollar worth less
if they based it on silver, not gold
o

TellthestudentsthatU.S.dollarsarefiatmoney,
whichmeansmoneythatisnotbackedbya
commoditylikegoldorsilveroranyotherasset.

o
2. Farmers Alliance
1870s and 1880s: Famers began to organize into the
Farmers Alliance
o More political than The Granger Movement

Farmers Alliance: organization that promoted the

economic cooperation and reform to help the farmers

Why would Farmers join the Farmers Alliance?

There is power in cooperation.
Populist Party

Populism Lesson Plan

The Grange and the Farmers Alliance both led to the creation
of the Populist Party (established in Omaha, Nebraska July 4,
1892)
o Omaha Platform
The partys high point was when William Jennings Bryan was
nominated to run for President of the United States in 1896
o One of the strongest 3rd party systems in American
History
o Although he did not win, he did very well considering he
was a third party candidate
o Ran on the Silver Issue

Activity
Cross of Gold Speech (William Jennings Bryan)
YouTube of audio reenactment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=9SafTrjVY9o

Why were the Populists so popular? [aka so what?]

The Populist Party tried to answer the question: Why do some

have and others have not?
Challenged the power of money in the economy and paved
the way for social reform.

Stood for:
Producerism: producer (aka farmer) deserved a fair return for
his labor.
o The biggest threat to receiving a fair return for his or
her labor was monopolies.
Flexible Currency: against banks who monopolized access
to credit
Better Representation: by the 1890s, the U.S. political system
was monopolized by two parties - the Democratic Party and
the Republican Party - which did not represent the interests of
farmers and did not work to address the problems of
agriculture in an industrial age.
Exit Slip
Read from LA Times 1896 Election Issue and article on Kentucky.

Populism Lesson Plan

Using the information we learned in class, explain this article to me.
Why would the Los Angeles Times be celebrating the fact that Bryan
did not win?
Why was it surprising that Kentucky did not vote for Bryan?
What do they mean by vote silver or sound money.
Possible Primary Sources/Organizers:

5:Icananalyzehowoneevent/issuerelatestoothersinthesametimeperiod.
Cause
Urbanization and
Immigration
Prices of products go
down

Grangers and the

Farmers Alliance put
pressure on the state
governments to
change policies.
The Granger
Movement and
Farmers Alliance were
not having success on
a national scale.

More land is available

and new technology
makes farming more
efficient
Farmers were in debt

Wabash Case ruled that

the Federal Government
had control over
interstate commerce
The Populist Party was
established.

Effect
Surplus of product,
prices go down
Began to join together
and argue for money
to be based on silver,
not gold
Organized the Populist
Party (realized they
needed official
political
representation)
William Jennings
Bryan ran for
President on the
Democratic ticket.

Bryans Cross of Gold Speech [Excerpt]

I shall not slander the fair state of Massachusetts nor the state of New
York by saying that when citizens are confronted with the proposition,
Is this nation able to attend to its own business?I will not slander
either one by saying that the people of those states will declare our
helpless impotency as a nation to attend to our own business. It is the
issue of 1776 over again. Our ancestors, when but 3 million, had the
courage to declare their political independence of every other nation
upon earth. Shall we, their descendants, when we have grown to 70
million, declare that we are less independent than our forefathers? No,

Populism Lesson Plan

my friends, it will never be the judgment of this people. Therefore, we
care not upon what lines the battle is fought. If they say bimetallism is
good but we cannot have it till some nation helps us, we reply that,
instead of having a gold standard because England has, we shall
restore bimetallism, and then let England have bimetallism because
the United States have.
If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard
as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us
the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us
the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling
masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying
to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of
thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.
Source: Official Proceedings of the Democratic National Convention
Held in Chicago, Illinois, July 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, 1896, (Logansport,
Indiana, 1896), 226234. Reprinted in The Annals of America, Vol.
12, 18951904: Populism, Imperialism, and Reform (Chicago:
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1968), 100105.
YouTube of audio reenactment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=9SafTrjVY9o
Platform
We declare, therefore
First.That the union of the labor forces of the United States this day
consummated shall be permanent and perpetual; may its spirit enter
into all hearts for the salvation of the republic and the uplifting of
mankind.
Second.Wealth belongs to him who creates it, and every dollar taken
from industry without an equivalent is robbery. ''If any will not work,
neither shall he eat.'' The interests of rural and civil labor are the
same; their enemies are identical.
Third.We believe that the time has come when the railroad
corporations will either own the people or the people must own the
railroads; and should the government enter upon the work of owning
and managing all railroads, we should favor an amendment to the
constitution by which all persons engaged in the government service
shall be placed under a civil-service regulation of the most rigid
character, so as to prevent the increase of the power of the national
administration by the use of such additional government employees.

Populism Lesson Plan

FINANCE.We demand a national currency, safe, sound, and flexible
issued by the general government only, a full legal tender for all debts,
public and private, and that without the use of banking corporations; a
just, equitable, and efficient means of distribution direct to the people,
at a tax not to exceed 2 per cent, per annum, to be provided as set
forth in the sub-treasury plan of the Farmers' Alliance, or a better
system; also by payments in discharge of its obligations for public
improvements.
1. We demand free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the
present legal ratio of 16 to 1.
2. We demand that the amount of circulating medium2 be speedily
increased to not less than $50 per capita.
3. We demand a graduated income tax.
4. We believe that the money of the country should be kept as
much as possible in the hands of the people, and hence we
demand that all State and national revenues shall be limited to
the necessary expenses of the government, economically and
honestly administered. We demand that postal savings banks be
established by the government for the safe deposit of the
earnings of the people and to facilitate exchange.
TRANSPORTATION.Transportation being a means of exchange and a
public necessity, the government should own and operate the railroads
in the interest of the people. The telegraph and telephone, like the
post-office system, being a necessity for the transmission of news,
should be owned and operated by the government in the interest of
the people.
LAND.The land, including all the natural sources of wealth, is the
heritage of the people, and should not be monopolized for speculative
purposes, and alien ownership of land should be prohibited. All land
now held by railroads and other corporations in excess of their actual
needs, and all lands now owned by aliens should be reclaimed by the
government and held for actual settlers only.

Populism Lesson Plan

Populism Lesson Plan

Populism Lesson Plan

Sources:
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/populism-and-agrariandiscontent/resources/rise-populists-and-william-jennings-bryan
http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-grange-and-the-populist-partyplatform-goals-history-definitions.html
http://sheg.stanford.edu/upload/Lessons/Unit%206_Gilded
%20Age/Populism%20and%20the%20Election%20of
%201896%20Lesson%20Plan.pdf
http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-populist-party-definition-platformgoals-beliefs.html