History and civics students will learn more about the workings of our political system and democracy with this Jackdaw. They’ll see how in response to industrialization and economic pressures, farmers of the 1890s formed the Populist Party and directed their political activities against big business and political corruption. Students will see how our political system, and our democracy, allows for peaceful expression of contrary views. The hands-on documents will increase the student’s realization of what it was like to live in the 1890s, and how this political process is alive today. Historian: Robert W. Cherney. The contents of this Jackdaw feature:

• The Problems of the Farmer, 1865-1890
• The Farmer Organizes, 1865-1890
• Birth of the People’s Party, 1890-1892
• National Problems & National Politices, 1893-1869
• The Election of 1896

• Two railroad posters advertising western lands, c. 1870s.
• Life on frontier: photos of farm life in Neb., 1887-1890.
• Two grange posters, 1869 and 1873.
• Letter to Kansas governor Lewelling, 1894, and transcript.
• Page from “The Farmers’ Alliance,” Lincoln , Neb., 1891.
• Pages from a Populist songbook, 1890.
• Two pages from The Omaha Daily Bee, July 5, 1892, with an account of Populist national convention, 1892.
• Pages from a campaign book in which a southern Populist considers the race problem, 1894.
• Front page of the Emporia Weekly Gazette, Aug. 20, 1896, in which a Kansan criticizes the Populist movement.
• Selection from William Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech, 1896.
• A Republican campaign poster, 1896.