During the Gilded Age period, the United States experienced countless advancements in manufacturing and industrialization by the building of factories and railroad expansions. While America’s economy and manufacturing skyrocketed, agriculture and the farmers who practiced agriculture were slowly being left behind. What once employed more than half of the United State’s population at 59.3% diminished to only 33.3% in a span of fifty years. By the end of 1899, manufacturing occupied half of the population, in addition to the growing numbers of the population involved in mining and construction. (Document 7) Due to the decrease of profits and increase in taxes held against them, farmers gained an increasing amount of discontent and resent towards …show more content…
Farmers were seemingly always being left behind, they were highly susceptible to high-interest rates and taxes, their interest went up from 8% to 40%. In their first couple of years, many farmers would find themselves unable to pay off their taxes and going into debt. Their farms and land, "mules, cows, wagons, plows and often all household furniture" would be put under lien and the farmers would have to become tenant farmers. (Document 2) Deflation in the economy, as well as high taxes, heavily affected the agriculture business; less money in the economy caused prices to drop for the farmer's crops. With low prices, they began to earn less money as more international competition started. Farmers wanted the abolition of national banks due to their corruptness, as well as more government intervention and the ability to have loans directly from the government and not the banks. (Document 3) The railroad system proved to be problematic for the agricultural community, due to high freight rates almost four times as large as those in the east. (Document 6) Especially for those farmers who live far away from any buying or selling markets, the costly freight rates became huge issues. Railroads were also seen to "have secured an iron grip upon legislatures. . . . " and politics. (Document 6) Although government regulation on them was almost …show more content…
They saw themselves servicing politicians, government officials, businessmen, the upper class, and educators alike. Essentially, farmers believed they were just as good and valuable as others, or even better. This reasoning inevitably caused the farmers to become even more outraged with their treatment, so they established movements such as The Grange and The Farmers' Alliance to help create change in politics and in the government to better the treatment towards them. Farmers in The Grange and Farmers' Alliance promoted things such as agriculture at state and town fairs; the subtreasury plan; and attacks on wall street, banks, and Washington D.C. By 1892, these farmers alliances or supporters of them joined together and created the Populist Party. Running their first candidate that same year, the Populist party was not very successful, but they did make an impression by winning a couple states as well as 5% of the electoral vote and 8.5% of the popular vote. (Document 4) Unfortunately, the Populist Party platform of 1892 was seen to be radical for the time period. The call for more power in the government, a graduated income tax, unlimited coinage of silver, lower tariffs, direct election of senators, and the ownership of the railroad were all seen as completely radical by voters. In 1896, the populist party would ultimately fail and collapse. Even though their ideas were never fulfilled and