Populist Parties During The Gilded Age

The Populist Party and Gilded Age Politics The Gilded Age was the era in the United States from 1870 to 1890, called so because under the seemingly positive exterior were many problems the American people had to face. America was a proud example of democracy and on the surface seemed to be doing great. Underneath the positive exterior though was political corruption and corporations which seemed to be above the control of democracy, and had almost unlimited influence on politics. At this time in U.S. history a third party emerged called the Populist, or People’s Party. Their main focus was bringing an end to political corruption, and they outlined both their grievances and proposals to fix the problems in their Populist Platform of 1892 which

The Preamble of the Populist Platform states that “The national power to create money is appropriated to enrich bondholders…” (Foner, Appendix, p. A-31), saying that taxes have become a way to make the rich richer instead of working in the interest of all the people. America was changing with the second industrial revolution underway and many people were moving from rural areas into cities. Industry exploded and with that came huge corporations which had never existed on such a scale before. Because of how new and how powerful they were there were no real regulations for them in the marketplace, leading to situations such as: “…Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company made a mockery of economic competition and political democracy by manipulating the market and bribing legislators” (Foner, p. 482). The companies had so much money that they were able to bribe politicians into passing policies which would only benefit the rich capitalists, and by doing so the taxes of hard working Americans were being used to help only the rich and powerful. “By 1890, the richest 1 percent of Americans received the same total income as the bottom half of the population and owned more property than the remaining 99 percent.” (Foner, p.

In the platform section of the Populist Platform they had listed multiple demands to combat the corruption and squandering of taxes by the government. They called for a graduated income tax, and that: “…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” (Foner, Appendix, p. A-32). They also called for a national currency which is “…safe, sound, and flexible… (Foner, Appendix, p. A-32). All of these things were meant to decrease government spending, reduce taxes for working Americans, and take control of the government away from corporations and back into the hands of the people. Financially many people were struggling and decreased taxes would have a tremendous effect on the quality of their lives. Coupled with a secure national currency these solutions would help bring financial stability to many Americans who were