American Pageant DBQ 8
Farming in the late 19th century was financially binding; most farming families relied on merchants to supply them with food, with interest being added for every dollar’s worth of provisions. Over the course of the year, the total added up to amounts that couldn’t possibly be paid with the amount of income farmers had. Essentially, farming families would “take one step forward and two steps backward”, causing farmers to contend with their poor financial situations, which in turn, changed national politics. Farmers, lawyers, and authors were all affected and changed by this difficult situation. Farmers, for example, argued that although the farmers did what they were told to, their hard work was laughed at when crops were selling for little to nothing. Lastly, authors were responsible for conveying the farmers’ opinions and viewpoints for others to see. These groups of people played key roles in the politics of the time, causing controversy and change to politics and farming. At this time period, farming was not only a profession, but a way of life. Farmers would work from dawn till dusk, while other members of the household helped with tasks around the farm as well. The men who continued to farm adapted themselves to the market’s economy or perished. Only those farmers who had money to invest in their operations and who were willing to adjust to changing market demands thrived. Farmers argued that they provided life for everyone else, keeping the cities alive. (Document A) Farmers wanted to change the political system in hopes of bringing change to the ways they lived their lives based on how much money they make, which created the Populist Party. The Populist Party, also known as the “People’s Party”, was a short lived agrarian oriented political party. Populists were concentrated in the semiarid farming regions of the western parts of the country, as shown in Document D. Although farmers at the time were put through several trial and tribulations, they