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Student’s Name: Professor’s Name: Course: Date: OPTION 1 The Populist Party cannot be counted as a major political party in the history of the United States, but it can be regarded as an important third party. To be called a major party in the context of American history, the party would have to be one of the two largest parties, with significant members in the Congress, and with a realistic chance of winning the presidency. The Populist Party never achieved these milestones. Populism is a global and erratic feature of all modern autonomous structures of politics (Betz 200). One key issue in evaluating and classifying populist movements can be traced to the definitional examinations for their central characteristics that are comparable to those in conservative democratic structures. After the Civil War in America, farmers disputed industrialization, especially in regard toregarding the railroads levies for their produce, the cost of new machinery, and the money- lending policies by the financial institutions. These grievances amalgamated into a mass crusade led by the Agronomist’s Coalition. The Populist Party was formed in 1892 and sanctioned a platform that stretched the early discords (Bonikowski and Noam 1593). Later on, the party combined with the Democrats, but the crusade wilted partly as a result of the loss by William Jennings in the 1896 presidential polls. Upon formation of the Populist Party, it called for the abolishing of national banks, advocated for the free coinage of silver, the graduation of income tax, a sub- treasury system, paper money in plenty, senatorial election via direct voting by the citizens, and the state to own all forms of
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