In the late 1800s, organizations started forming to give an influence to farmers and laborers and to uphold their economic, legal, and political needs. In order for their needs to be met they had to counter Republican and Democratic platforms.

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        In the late 1800s, organizations started forming to give an influence to farmers and laborers and to uphold their economic, legal, and political needs. In order for their needs to be met they had to counter Republican and Democratic platforms. They countered the party by supporting the women’s movement, equality for African Americans, low tariffs and the break down of monopolies. All these aspects helped the People’s Party gain support of hard-working farmers and laborers. The Populist Movement brought an organization of people that felt neglected by their existing government because they wanted to help regulate the monopolies, change what the currency was backed up by and change the amount of influence that laborers, farmers, women and Africans had.

        The Farmers Alliance formed in the 1880s, advocating farmer’s rights and improving their state of poverty. The Farmers Alliance was steamed from the Grange movement (McMath, 15). The Grange movement also wanted to promote the farmer’s life and unite all the farmers in each community. The Grange movement dissolved because they didn’t form a strong political hold. Soon after the farmers Alliance emerged and demanded that the Democratic and Republican party be sensitive to their farmer’s needs. The National Farmers Alliance was formed out of the South Alliance, the Farmer’s Mutual Benefit Association and the Colored Farmer’s Alliance (Diner, 56). Their demands are listed in the Ocala Demands written in 1890 and some major ones were the abolition of national banks, the government control or take over of giving out loans, controlling communication and the transport system. They felt that the ruling Republican Party was a corrupt form of government such as the Grant Administration. The Grant Administration was swimming in corruption and scandals during the years of 1869 through 1877 (Trachtenberg, 72). In document 9, the Populist Party’s opinion of the Republican Party is demonstrated through a political cartoon, which shows that the Republicans contribute to the divide between the wealthy and the poor. The cartoon portrayed the Republicans as “robbers” and “swindlers” and it projected the belief that voting for the Republican Party is equivalent to voting for the starvation and depression of your family. The Farmers Alliance’s main purpose was to radically reform the government for their own purposes.

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        One of their main focuses was on economic issues. This incorporated the tariffs, monopoly and the silver/gold concern. By 1880s, the Farmers Alliance wanted to abolish monopolies because they charged whatever they felt gave them more profit from the local farmers, regardless of what it did to the farmers. Monopolies are when companies control the whole market and are therefore able to set the prices and control the volume at which these products are manufactured (McMath, 98). For example, John Rockefeller controlled the oil industry with the standard oil company, which contributed ninety percent of oil to the market (Trachtenberg, ...

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