The People's Party, or Populist Party, had its roots in an agricultural organization called the Farmers' Alliance. At its founding in the 1880s, the Farmers' Alliance was primarily a social and educational organization, but by the time of its 1890 meeting in Ocala, Florida the Alliance was growing increasingly militant. Out of this convention came "the Ocala Demands." The Farmers' Alliance put Democratic and Republican politicians on notice: either meet our demands, or we will form a farmers' political party. At a time when more than half of the nation's workers were farmers, the idea of a farmers' political party was enough to give goose bumps to any mainstream politician.
The Ocala Demands included free coinage of silver, the direct election of U.S. Senators, and a low tariff. The Demands also called for the "sub-treasury" system, which was a proposed massive program of warehouse building by the U.S. government. Farmers would be able to store their crops in the federal warehouses until the price was right to sell, and in the meantime would be granted government-sponsored loans with the crop as collateral.
In 1890 and 1891 the Farmers' Alliance members in a number of plains states did start third-parties with the local Farmers' Alliance members as their key backers. In the South, on the other hand, Farmers' Alliance candidates ran as "Alliance Democrats," within the Democratic party. Results in 1890 and 1891 were encouraging enough that in 1892 a large group of Farmers' Alliance members launched a national party called the People's Party. Many voiced hopes that labor union members would also flock to support the new party.
As their 1892 presidential standard-bearer the Populists tapped James B. Weaver of Iowa, a former Union general who had also run for president in 1880 as the nominee of the Greenback-Labor party. The Populists' 1892 platform called for government ownership of railroads, telephones, and telegraphs. It called for the free coinage of silver (an inflationary move that would raise farm prices and thus help indebted farmers). The People's Party delegates favored a lowering of the tariff, and a new graduated income tax to raise money for the government. The graduated income tax would affect primarily those with large incomes.
While Weaver did not win the election, he certainly made a respectable showing. From the Civil War to the present, the only third-party candidates to win more electoral votes than Weaver were Teddy Roosevelt, Strom Thurmond, and George Wallace. In the same period, the only third-party candidates to beat Weaver's 8.5 percent of the popular vote were Teddy Roosevelt, Robert LaFollette, George Wallace, and H. Ross Perot. Moreover, in the 1894 congressional races the People's Party candidates polled more than 1.5 million votes and elected a number of candidates to both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
Populists looked confidently forward to victory in the 1896 presidential race, and with good reason. The Republicans seemed firmly committed to the gold standard, and Democratic president Grover Cleveland was newly committed to gold. Populists believed they would win an inevitable victory, as gold voters divided between the two major parties, and as Populists catered to the large corps of dedicated silver voters.
Populists were horrified to see their plans demolished by the Democratic party's actions. Democrats disowned their gold-standard president, and instead nominated a silver champion from the farm belt. The Populist dilemma was this: Nominate Bryan and help insure silver coinage (while losing their own identity as a party), or nominate their own Populist candidate and watch silver loose as silver voters divided between the Populist and Democratic tickets.
Populists chose to go with Bryan, trying to salvage a little independence by choosing a different vice-presidential candidate. While the Democrats had nominated a conservative banker and shipping magnate, Samuel Sewall, the Populists tapped Tom Watson of Georgia, a radical agrarian. Thus across much of the country voters could choose between a Bryan-Sewall ticket or one for Bryan-Watson. In some states fusion slates were arranged, with a single electoral ticket for Bryan, consisting of some electors pledged to Watson and some to Sewall.
Bryan lost, of course. After 1896 many Populists decided to support Democrats in the future, since Democrats seemed more likely to defeat conservative Republicans, and since Democratic leaders like Bryan were often indistinguishable from the Populists on most issues. Some Populists joined the new Social Democratic Party that nominated Eugene Debs for president in 1900. Others clung doggedly to their party, running state and local candidates, as well as national tickets. These loyalists ran Wharton Barker for president in 1900, then nominated Tom Watson twice (in 1904 and 1908) but these candidates met declining voter interest. Neither Wharton nor Watson came remotely close to matching Weaver's 1892 vote totals.
People's Party collectibles are among the tougher third-party items. They seem to attract more collector interest than do pieces from the same period for the Prohibition nominees, or for the silver Republicans or gold Democrats. On the other hand, Populist items are not quite as scarce as those of the Socialist Labor Party, and thus the prices for Populist items usually stay well below $1,000. Ribbons can sometimes be found for less than $200, and the least expensive Populist pinbacks sometimes can be found priced as low as $175 in excellent condition.
It would probably take years to accumulate a Populist collection of more than ten or twelve items. Better start today!
 |
| One of at least three designs of People's Party tokens. Weaver's running mate Field is on the reverse of this aluminum token. |
 |
| Unlisted Watson presidential pinback. A more common variety reads "The People's Democratic Candidate," but this cello says "The People's Candidate for President." |
| Delegate ribbon from the 1892 Populist convention. These ribbons appear fairly regularly; each has printed at the bottom the name of the delegate's state. The text, appropriately enough, is silver, instead of the gold more commonly seen on ribbons. |
 |
| © 1998 by Stephen Cresswell |