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?
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Document G
What are four demands of the Populist Party that were intended to increase citizen’s control over government?
Which demands of Populist Party were intended to attract urban voters?
Document H
Why do you think these would have been called the “Progressive Amendments”?
Which of these would have the greatest impact on increasing voter rights in your opinion? Explain.
Document I
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
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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, 18971901
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
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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)
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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)
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Marion Cannon, California
Lafayette Pence, Colorado
John Calhoun Bell, Colorado
Thomas Jefferson Hudson, Kansas
John Davis, Kansas
William Baker, Kansas
Jerry Simpson, Kansas
William A. Harris, Kansas
William A. McKeighan, Nebraska
Omer Madison Kem, Nebraska
Alonzo C. Shuford, North Carolina
54th United States Congress (1895-1897)
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Albert Taylor Goodwyn, Alabama
Milford W. Howard, Alabama
William Baker, Kansas
Omer Madison Kem, Nebraska
Harry Skinner, North Carolina
William F. Strowd, North Carolina
Charles H. Martin , North Carolina
Alonzo C. Shuford, North Carolina
55th United States Congress (1897-1899)
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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
Jerry Simpson, 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
Alonzo C. Shuford, North Carolina
John Edward Kelley, South Dakota
Freeman T. Knowles, South Dakota
56th United States Congress (1899-1901)
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William Ledyard Stark, Nebraska
Roderick Dhu Sutherland, Nebraska
William Laury Greene, Nebraska
John W. Atwater, North Carolina
57th United States Congress (1901-1903)
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Thomas L. Glenn, Idaho
Caldwell Edwards, Montana
William Ledyard Stark, Nebraska
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 eighthour 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
17th
Allows the federal government to collect income tax
Establishes the direct election of United States
Senators by popular vote
July 12, 1909
February 3, 1913
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) – 168
Alson Streeter (Union Labor) – 0
Benjamin Harrison (Republican) – 145
27th 1892*
Grover Cleveland* (Democratic) – 277
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
31st 1908
William Howard Taft (Republican) – 321
James Weaver (Populist) – 22
Alton B. Parker (Democratic) – 140
Eugene V. Debs (Socialist) – 0
William Jennings Bryan (Democratic) – 162
Eugene V. Debs (Socialist) – 0
Theodore Roosevelt (Progressive) – 88
32nd 1912*
Woodrow Wilson* (Democratic) – 435
William Howard Taft (Republican) – 8
Eugene V. Debs (Socialist) – 0
Five Paragraph Essay Model – US History
- Hook/Attention Grabber (Optional)
- Thesis Statement
- Preview of Argument #1
- Preview of Argument #2
- Preview of Argument #3
- 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
- Explain Evidence to Support Argument #2
- Link Evidence Back to Argument #2
(Repeat These Steps W/New Evidence if it Strengthens Argument)
- Argument #2 Conclusion (link this to thesis)
- Argument #3
- Cite Evidence to Support Argument #3
- Explain Evidence to Support Argument #3
- Link Evidence Back to Argument #3
(Repeat These Steps W/New Evidence if it Strengthens Argument)
- Argument #3 Conclusion (link this to thesis)
- 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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