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US History, Document Based Question – The Populist Party

US History, Document Based Question – The Populist Party, Guiding Questions

Name: ___________________________________________________________

Document A

1. William Jennings Bryan, who ran for President in 1896 as a Democrat, is generally considered a Populist. Based on this information and the maps in Document A, what can you conclude about the popularity of the Populists in the late 19th century?

Document B

2. How does the imagery in Document B indicate the audience that the People’s Party (the Populists) were targeting?

3. Why do you think this group of people might have referred to themselves as the “People’s Party”?

Document C

4. In the space below, create a line graph that shows the number of Populists in the House of Representatives from the 52nd through the 57th Congress. Be sure to clearly label and title your graph

5. Summarize the information in the graph in a sentence.

Document D

6. What services, according to this document, did the Populists believe the US government should begin to offer?

7. According to the author of this cartoon, how would government ownership of these services benefit the people?

Document E

8. What does Bryan claim is the Democratic Party’s idea of government?

9. The Populists were primarily the party of the farmers but they knew that they would need some urban votes to win the election. Do you think this speech helped or hurt that goal? Why?

Document F

10. According to the speaker, what was the impact of the Populist movement?

Document G

11. What are four demands of the Populist Party that were intended to increase citizen’s control over government?

12. Which demands of Populist Party were intended to attract urban voters?

Document H

13. Why do you think these would have been called the “Progressive Amendments”?

14. Which of these would have the greatest impact on increasing voter rights in your opinion? Explain.

Document I

15. Which political party controlled the presidency for the greater part of this period?

Document A: Maps of General Election Results for President, 1892 & 1896 (see pages 296 and 281 of your textbook for a better image)

Document B – People’s Party Political Advertisement, 1892

Document C – List of Major US Officeholders who were members of the Populist Party

Governors

· Colorado: Davis Hanson Waite, 1893-1895

· Kansas: Lorenzo D. Lewelling, 1893–1895

· Kansas: John W. Leedy, 1897–1899

· Nebraska: Silas A. Holcomb, 1895-1899

· Nebraska: William A. Poynter, 1899-1901

· North Carolina: Daniel Lindsay Russell, 1897-1901

· Oregon: Sylvester Pennoyer, 1887–1895

· South Dakota: Andrew E. Lee, 1897–1901

· Tennessee: John P. Buchanan, 1891-1893

· Washington: John Rogers, 1897-1901

United States Senate

· William A. Peffer from Kansas

· William A. Harris from Kansas

· Marion Butler of North Carolina

· James H. Kyle from South Dakota

· Henry Heitfeld of Idaho

· William V. Allen from Nebraska

US House of Representatives

52nd United States Congress (1891-1893)

· Thomas E. Watson, Georgia

· Benjamin H. Clover, Kansas

· John Grant Otis, Kansas

· John Davis, Kansas

· William Baker, Kansas

· Jerry Simpson, Kansas

· Kittel Halvorson, Minnesota

· William A. McKeighan, Nebraska

· Omer Madison Kem, Nebraska

53rd United States Congress (1893-1895)

· Marion Cannon, California

· Lafayette Pence, Colorado

· John Calhoun Bell, Colorado

· Thomas Jefferson Hudson, Kansas

· John Davis, Kansas



· William A. Harris, Kansas

· William A. McKeighan, Nebraska


· Alonzo C. Shuford, North Carolina

54th United States Congress (1895-1897)

· Albert Taylor Goodwyn, Alabama

· Milford W. Howard, Alabama



· Harry Skinner, North Carolina

· William F. Strowd, North Carolina

· Charles H. Martin , North Carolina



· Albert Taylor Goodwyn, Alabama

· Charles A. Barlow, California

· Curtis H. Castle, California

· James Gunn, Idaho

· Mason Summers Peters, Kansas

· Edwin Reed Ridgely, Kansas

· William Davis Vincent, Kansas

· Nelson B. McCormick, Kansas


· Jeremiah Dunham Botkin, Kansas

· Samuel Maxwell, Nebraska

· William Ledyard Stark, Nebraska

· Roderick Dhu Sutherland, Nebraska

· William Laury Greene, Nebraska

· Harry Skinner, North Carolina

· John E. Fowler, North Carolina

· William F. Strowd, North Carolina

· Charles H. Martin, North Carolina


· John Edward Kelley, South Dakota

· Freeman T. Knowles, South Dakota



· Roderick Dhu Sutherland, Nebraska

· William Laury Greene, Nebraska

· John W. Atwater, North Carolina


· Thomas L. Glenn, Idaho

· Caldwell Edwards, Montana


· William Neville, Nebraska

Document D – Populist Party Campaign “Issue Poster” - Another Feature of Our Platform

Document E - Excerpt From William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” Speech Delivered Before the 1896 Democratic National Convention

…my friends, it is simply a question that we shall decide upon which side shall the Democratic Party fight. Upon the side of the idle holders of idle capital, or upon the side of the struggling masses? That is the question that the party must answer first; and then it must be answered by each individual hereafter. The sympathies of the Democratic Party, as described by the platform, are on the side of the struggling masses, who have ever been the foundation of the Democratic Party.

There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it.

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 the country…

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.

Document F – John Temple Graves Quote, 1896

I say it fearlessly, and it can not be denied, that reforms for which the masses have been clamoring for years--whether it be silver or labor or income tax or popular rights or resistance to government by injunction--had never been written, and might never have been written, into a Democratic platform, until the Populist party, 1,800,000 strong, thundered in the ears of Democratic leaders the announcement that a mighty multitude demanded these reforms.

--John Temple Graves (Democrat), Atlanta Constitution, 27 August 1896

Document G – “Populist Party Platform of 1892: “Expression of Sentiments”

Expressions of Sentiments

Your Committee on Platform and Resolutions beg leave unanimously to report the following: Whereas, Other questions have been presented for our consideration, we hereby submit the following, not as a part of the Platform of the People's Party, but as resolutions expressive of the sentiment of this Convention.

1. RESOLVED, That we demand a free ballot and a fair count in all elections and pledge ourselves to secure it to every legal voter without Federal Intervention, through the adoption by the States of the unperverted Australian or secret ballot system.

2. RESOLVED, That the revenue derived from a graduated income tax should be applied to the reduction of the burden of taxation now levied upon the domestic industries of this country.

3. RESOLVED, That we pledge our support to fair and liberal pensions to ex-Union soldiers and sailors.

4. RESOLVED, That we condemn the fallacy of protecting American labor under the present system, which opens our ports to the pauper and criminal classes of the world and crowds out our wage-earners; and we denounce the present ineffective laws against contract labor, and demand the further restriction of undesirable emigration.

5. RESOLVED, That we cordially sympathize with the efforts of organized workingmen to shorten the hours of labor, and demand a rigid enforcement of the existing eight-hour law on Government work, and ask that a penalty clause be added to the said law.

6. RESOLVED, That we regard the maintenance of a large standing army of mercenaries, known as the Pinkerton system, as a menace to our liberties, and we demand its abolition. . . .

7. RESOLVED, That we commend to the favorable consideration of the people and the reform press the legislative system known as the initiative and referendum.

8. RESOLVED, That we favor a constitutional provision limiting the office of President and Vice-President to one term, and providing for the election of Senators of the United States by a direct vote of the people.

9. RESOLVED, That we oppose any subsidy or national aid to any private corporation for any purpose.

10. RESOLVED, That this convention sympathizes with the Knights of Labor and their righteous contest with the tyrannical combine of clothing manufacturers of Rochester, and declare it to be a duty of all who hate tyranny and oppression to refuse to purchase the goods made by the said manufacturers, or to patronize any merchants who sell such goods.

Document H – “The Progressive Amendments” – the 16th–19th Amendments to the US Constitution

16th

Allows the federal government to collect income tax

July 12, 1909

February 3, 1913

17th

Establishes the direct election of United States Senators by popular vote

May 13, 1912

April 8, 1913

18th

Establishes prohibition of alcohol

December 18, 1917

January 16, 1919

19th

Establishes women's suffrage

June 4, 1919

August 18, 1920

Document I – US Presidential Election Results from 1888 to 1912 Showing Winning

Candidate, Challengers and Electoral Votes received by each

26th

1888*†

Benjamin Harrison* (Republican) – 233

Grover Cleveland† (Democratic) – 168Alson Streeter (Union Labor) – 0

27th

1892*

Grover Cleveland* (Democratic) – 277

Benjamin Harrison (Republican) – 145James Weaver (Populist) – 22

28th

1896

William McKinley (Republican) – 271

William Jennings Bryan (Democratic/Populist) – 176

29th

1900

William McKinley (Republican) – 292

William Jennings Bryan (Democratic) – 155

30th

1904

Theodore Roosevelt (Republican) – 336

Alton B. Parker (Democratic) – 140Eugene V. Debs (Socialist) – 0

31st

1908

William Howard Taft (Republican) – 321

William Jennings Bryan (Democratic) – 162Eugene V. Debs (Socialist) – 0

32nd

1912*

Woodrow Wilson* (Democratic) – 435

Theodore Roosevelt (Progressive) – 88William Howard Taft (Republican) – 8Eugene V. Debs (Socialist) – 0

Five Paragraph Essay Model – US History

- Hook/Attention Grabber (Optional)

- Thesis Statement

- Preview of Argument #1



- Conclusion (restate thesis)

- Argument #1

- Cite Evidence to support Argument #1

- Explain Evidence to Support Argument #1

- Link Evidence Back to Argument #1

(Repeat These Steps W/New Evidence if it Strengthens Argument)

- Argument #1 Conclusion (link this to thesis)

- Argument #2

- Cite Evidence to Support Argument #2





- Argument #3

- Cite Evidence to Support Argument #3





- Transition to Essay Conclusion

- Briefly restate Arguments

- Conclusion (Restate Thesis)

Document Based Question: Using the documents above, the questions that you have answered and your own knowledge as insight, answer the following question in a fully formed short essay. Be sure to begin with a clear thesis and to support your thesis with evidence from the documents.

The Populist Party was officially formed in 1891 and, by 1892 had a clear set of political goals. How successful was the Populist Party in achieving its goals?

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