What did the Populists believe?
1 Answer
The Populists opposed Big Business and defended the interests of small farmers of the Midwest.
Explanation:
In the late nineteenth century, the hegemony of big business started to be opposed by the farmers who had settled in the Midwest after the Homestead Act. They contested the high prices of the transportation of their crops imposed on them by the railway companies.
One other major issue of the Populists was monetary policy. They contested the Gold Standard and Deflation. Indeed the Gold Standard unlike paper money caused deflation. it meant the price of the mortgage you have to pay increases since the price of your crops and your income goes down whereas the original amount of money you have to pay back is still the same.
William Jennings Bryan, a Nebraska lawyer was the most famous populist. He ran in the 1896 election. His most famous speech "Cross of Gold" deals with the issue of the Gold Standard. He eventually worked for the Wilson Administration and turned out to be disappointed by their monetary policy.
