“Assembled”

On July 4, 1892, the greatest challenge to the two-party system since the Civil War — the People’s Party — was launched by the militants of a nationwide farmers’ movement. The newly coined word invented to refer the party’s supporters, “Populists,” quickly spread around the world. Over the decades, as the meaning of the term has mutated and generated debate, the politics of the original Populists have tended to be forgotten or misrepresented.