Paper Example - Populist Movement

Populism emerged in the 19th century to reform the system. The populist aim was to introduce their reforms into the political limelight. They did not have their president at the moment, which made it difficult to work at the moment, but with time, it was effective. Populism was agriculture- based movement that was aimed at better agriculture in the country together with the farmers (Aslanidis,309). The populist movement emerged in the year 1890. It is an essential force in Southern United States and the Western United States but failed to work come the year 1896 after William Jennings Bryan was nominated. Trump, the president of the US, is n focusing more on the security of the country at the moment. This document explains the Populist movement revolution up to date also talks about Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders in all this.

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The populist party represented the "common person." Their goal was not just to promote agriculture but to restoring democracy too. The party developed a platform for free silver coinage. Farmers believed that an expanded coinage would rise the price of their harvests with this free silver coinage (Clanton et al., no pg). They were also to create a postal bank for savings. They wanted to reduce the presidential term to six years fixed. They represented farmer's views in the west. Another goal for the populist party was to pass immigration restriction. The immigration restriction was to decrease the number of migrants from Eastern and Southern Europe whereas growing the number of immigrants in the Western and Northern Europe who they thought was more significant to their success.

After the populist movement, there have been more movements formed. In the 2000s, a group of people formed the activist movement. In 2009 the Tea Party came up following Barack Obama's election. Following the 2011 financial crisis in the United States, protestants came up with Occupy Wall Street. It aimed to identify the cause behind the financial crisis. After that, there came Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.

In the 2016 election, Bernie Sanders pushed for a lot of things populists mentioned in the 1890 populist goals and even more. He advocated for currency expansion government investment stimulate the economy, build infrastructure, create jobs, and to make it easier for debtors. He proposed to serve the needs of workers. On the other hand, Trump's campaign was influenced by the Tea Party movement but built about his businessman's personality (Postel & Charles, no pg). Trump implemented immigration restrictions. He made rules to follow for immigration. He also cut off agreements that he felt weren't benefiting the country enough. So basically, the role of Bernie and Trump in the populist movement was to achieve the goals that were made earlier.

In both the 1890 and the modern progressive movement in the United States, there was positivity. They both wanted a better America, and they both worked towards making that dream come true. The difference is that, in the 19th century, the people that wanted change, and something new did not have the power to do anything. Right now, the people that wanted the difference had the power, and it was all made possible. At the moment, Trump implemented almost all of the goals that the populist made. Trump's catchphrase was "Make America Great Again," and indeed, it is excellent. It is better than before.

Works Cited

Clanton, O. Gene, and O. Gene Clanton. Congressional Populism and the Crisis of the 1890s. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1998.

Postel, Charles. "If Trump and Sanders Are Both Populists, What Does Populist Mean?." The American Historian 7 (2016).

Aslanidis, Paris. "Populism and social movements." The Oxford handbook of populism (2017): 306-325.