Populist Party Historical Context - Reading Quiz

What major problem is taking place during the 1880s?

• Farmers are producing too many crops

• Farmers are making too much money

• Banks and railroad companies are taking advantage of farmers

• Farmers are forcing railroad companies to ship their crops and livestock cheaply

During the Gilded Age, farming began to have more mechanization (invention of tractors, harvesters, better plows). What financial effect did this have on farmers?

• Farmers were able to produce many more crops

• New farming inventions were expensive, which put farmers in debt to banks

• Farmers were able to ship their own crops and livestock to market, bypassing the railroads

• Farmers were able to make much more money

What types of companies were purposefully overcharging farmers during the Gilded Age?

• Tractor companies

• Railroad companies

• Banks

• Food factories

Farmers were upset over being overcharged by banks and railroad companies. What idea did the railroad companies and banks use to ensure that they had complete financial control over farmers?

• monopoly

• oligarchy

• free market

• socialism

What entity refused to address the problems that farmers faced?

• the state and federal government

• the local mayor

• the banks

• the railroad companies

What was the major reason that many politicians in both the state and federal government would not pass laws to help farmers?

• Many politicians had no real power to make changes

• Many politicians lived in the cities and did understand the problems of farmers

• Many politicians were rich and could understand the hardships of being poor

• Many politicians were corrupt and were bribed by railroad companies and banks.

Based on the reading of the Populist Movement, order the following:

• Mechanization of farming during the Gilded Age forces many farmers to take out bank loans to buy new equipment

• Railroads are the quickest and most efficient way to get farmers' crops/livestock to market (to sell). Railroads then overcharge farmers

• Farmers stay in debt and remain poor. Some lose their farms because they cannot pay back loans.

• Farmers complain to their politicians to pass laws to stop the bank and railroad monopolies

• Banks charge high interest rates for farmers, knowing that farmers HAVE to go through the banks to buy equipment and become successful

Use the reading to order the following:

• The Populist Party gains momentum and begins to have their own politicians get elected.

• Farmers begin to unionize to protest against the monopolization of banks and railroad companies

• Politicians are influenced by the money from railroad companies and banks. They do not pass laws protecting farmers

• Farmers form a new political party, called the Populist Party, in 1892