What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the Populist movement? Pay particular attention to the Populist platform presented in Document 20-1.
Depressuon,
1890-1900
rofound moral conflict generated intense strife during the 18905. Many
Americans believed that the basic principles of order in the economy,
in society, and in politics were immoral and unjust. Numerous others
believed the opposite. Supporters of the Farmers’ Alliance and the Populists
voiced some of the moral doubts, while their opponents reaffirmed their faith in
the conventional virtues. This conflict was more than a debate, as African Amer-
icans, labor activists, and Filipino nationalists knew. The following documents
disclose the contours of the moral conflict of the 18905 and some of its many con-
sequences.
DOCUMENT 20-1
Mary Elizabeth Lease Reports on Women
in the Farmers’ Alliance
Hard times in agriculture pushed farmers in the Midwest and South to organize a wide
variety of local reform movements. Selling their crops in distant markets for prices that
Often seemed to be rigged against them, shipping their produce on railroads that manipu-
lated rates to their disadvantage, borrowing money for land and supplies at what seemed
extravagant interest rates-these and other common experiences bred a sense of helpless-
ness that many farmers came to believe could only be overcome by cooperation and orga-
nizations such as the Farmers’ Alliance, the Populists, and the Knights of Labog. Mary
Elizabeth Lease, a Kansas schoolteacher who had lived for years on a hardscrabblf fjtrlar’a”;
became a papular and charismatic speaker who encouraged farmers-and esPCC’“ y
h Ilowin excerpt from Leases
women-to come together in the Farmers Alliance. Ast efo l’ 8d farm women could
SPeCCh to the National Council of Women illustrates, Lease be “we
help change America for the better.
Mf/f/z
Scanned by CamScanner
