The movement was brought about due to financial and natural disasters which affected the farming community. The country was dealing with bad weather in the late 19th century. In the early 1880's there were severe droughts, while the winter of 1886-1887, had a great deal of blizzards. These national disasters led to a loss of crop and profit, it soon turned into debt. Due to a great amount of debt that the farmers acquired over …showed first 75 words of 708 total…

…showed last 75 words of 708 total…power. In '92 they received 1 million votes compared to the 47% of the population's vote in '96. Even though the party dissolved only after 4 years, they made a few wise decisions. Unfortunately, the mistakes that they made were more costly than the wise decisions. By not staying with the third party status, nominating Bryan, and their viewpoint on silver the Populist movement die out. Because of their beliefs the Populists were a short lived political force.