When an economic downturn in the 1880's caused crop liens, low sale prices, excessive transportation expenses, and political ineptitude, the farmers of the region began to organize.5The worst depression in American history to that point and the economic upheaval of industrialization created an environment conducive to political change. The drought in the plains also coincided with the Populist period of success, lasting from 1887-1897.6By 1898, the year of the Populist meltdown in congressional elections, the economy was performing much better; crop yield and sale price had increased and gold had become plentiful.7The Populists also failed to control the political realignment of the industrial age despite the movement's role as its primary instigator. Class and occupational cleavages were not as apparent in the 1870s and 1880s as they would be in the 20thCentury. Civil War feelings and competition between localities and ethnic and religious groups dominated the politics of the .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------.
Page 2 .
time.8The 1896 election re-created the left-right cleavage on economic issues that had been evident in the Jacksonian era.9This realignment was not an inevitable product of industrialization; instead, it grew out of the political choices made at the time. The economic upheaval transformed the agrarian nation into a country of industrialists and urban laborers. Populism chose not to oppose industrialization in favor of remaining in the agrarian age, however. Instead, the farmers that launched the Populist movement were trying to find a way to compete in the new economy by modifying fiscal and monetary policy.10Relying on common sense and claiming the moral high ground, Populists critiqued industrial society's remaining poverty and commodification of the individual. They did not oppose railroads or factories but wanted to mold their development to satisfy the community.