LAD #23 The Populist Party Platform

The Populist Party emerged in the 1870's/80's, but became most prominent and a viable third party in the 1890's. There are three major components of the Populist Party Platform. There is the preamble, the platform, and the expression of the sentiments. In the preamble the party explains what they believe to be what's been going wrong in America. They believe silver has been demoralized, corruption dominates the ballot-box, and how controlling influences dominate parties. They state that they can fix the government by restoring American power to the hands of the "plain" people. In the platform they talk about finance, transportation, and land. In finance they want free and unlimited coinage of silver with gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1. They also wanted a graduated income tax, and that postal savings banks be established by the government for the safe deposit of the earnings of the people and to facilitate exchange. For transportation they believed the government should own all the railroads. They believed the public should own and operate the telegraph and telephone. For land, they say that land should not be monopolized because it is the heritage of all the people. In the Expression of Sentiments they state how they are going to resolve many of these problems. For example they will use the secret ballot system and shorten hours of labor.