Kansas Populism: Laying the Groundwork for Progressive Reform
Category
Business, Education and Humanities
Department
History, Political Science
Student Status
Undergraduate
Research Advisor
Dr. Kyle Thompson
Document Type
Event
Location
Student Center Ballroom
Start Date
10-4-2025 2:00 PM
End Date
10-4-2025 4:00 PM
Description
By the late 1880s, the agricultural boom in Kansas ended, and growing economic insecurity among farmers caused atemporary shakeup in Kansas politics. Aided by fusion with the Democrats, the People's Party emerged as the main opposition to the Republican Party during the 1890s. Kansas Populists were not an ideologically coherent group. Some Populists despised fusion with the Democrats and conceding any ground on policy. Some historians have labeled Kansas Populists as reactionary, citing nativist and antisemitic rhetoric by some in the movement. Despite these ideological differences and conspiratorial rhetoric, the People's Party was largely a progressive movement. Kansas Populists advocated for many of the reforms implemented during the Progressive Era such as the direct election of senators, women's suffrage, and the income tax. Examining Populist policy and rhetoric shows that Kansas populism was not a regressive movement. Instead, Kansas Populism was an inherently progressive movement that sought to curb the excesses of Gilded Age industrialism. Some Populists believed that the best way to do so was through the nationalization of important utilities like water, electricity, and the railroads. The People's Party largely fell apart by 1900. However, many of the causes for which Populists advocated were taken up by progressives in the Democratic and Republican parties in the early twentieth century.
Kansas Populism: Laying the Groundwork for Progressive Reform
Student Center Ballroom
By the late 1880s, the agricultural boom in Kansas ended, and growing economic insecurity among farmers caused atemporary shakeup in Kansas politics. Aided by fusion with the Democrats, the People's Party emerged as the main opposition to the Republican Party during the 1890s. Kansas Populists were not an ideologically coherent group. Some Populists despised fusion with the Democrats and conceding any ground on policy. Some historians have labeled Kansas Populists as reactionary, citing nativist and antisemitic rhetoric by some in the movement. Despite these ideological differences and conspiratorial rhetoric, the People's Party was largely a progressive movement. Kansas Populists advocated for many of the reforms implemented during the Progressive Era such as the direct election of senators, women's suffrage, and the income tax. Examining Populist policy and rhetoric shows that Kansas populism was not a regressive movement. Instead, Kansas Populism was an inherently progressive movement that sought to curb the excesses of Gilded Age industrialism. Some Populists believed that the best way to do so was through the nationalization of important utilities like water, electricity, and the railroads. The People's Party largely fell apart by 1900. However, many of the causes for which Populists advocated were taken up by progressives in the Democratic and Republican parties in the early twentieth century.
