Populism

By the end of the 19th century, industrialization had created massive gaps between the haves and have nots. Because of this, new reform movements pushed for protections for the economically vulnerable groups. The Populist movement began as a local farmers collective, but gained national attention as the Democrats nominated a Populist for the Presidency in the 1896 election. William Jennings Bryan’s most famous speech, “the Cross of Gold”, was delivered at the Democratic National Convention that same year. WJB ultimately lost the election, but returned to the national stage during the Scopes trial of the 1920s.