The late 1800s and the early 1900s marked the the beginning of the progressive era. The main goal of this era was to advance and equalize politics by limiting the power of big businesses and advancing social justice. This era also gave rise to the formation of new parties, one of them was the populist movement. The Populists or the People’s Party became relevant in the election of 1892 when they held a meeting at the Omaha platform resulting in a new party. Their formation was due to the unfair treatment of the farmers by those who had massive power such as monopolies, and being overlooked by both the Republican and Democrat parties. Their main goals were to limit the power of monopolies, and increase the power of the working class. The populist …show more content…
They challenged the ones in power when they argued that everyone relies on them, and without them the country will be in distress (Doc A). This position, coming from the farmer’s point of view, made it very clear that they were needed, and that the society needs to treat them like equals. Furthermore the populist party proved that their members were in harmony with each other. Since neither the Democrat to the Republican Party was giving them a chance to voice their opinions, they decided to take actions. They did so through actions such as the granger law which scrutinized the unfairness of the railroad and that they should be regulated (Doc B). The purpose of this, at the time, was to state they the farmers can be independent on their own. The granger laws shone a light on the unjust treatments of monopolies, this resulted in the Sherman Antitrust Act. The purpose of this act was to minimize the power of monopolies and to render trusts illegal (Doc C).This act did help the farmers as the railroad prices were reasonable afterwards. By establishing the granger laws, although it was rejected, they increased the power of the working class while decreasing the power of the …show more content…
They felt it was unfair that monopolies could dictate their everyday life. It became ever worse when they Government had protective tariffs for manufacturers but not for them. So they came together to form the populist party. They came to realize that their voice was still overlooked, so they decide to throw their support under the Democratic Party, which resulted in disappointment. Unfortunately, the populist party disbanded in the year