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Purpose:  The purpose of this assignment is to analyze the Populist platform as a reform agenda and ascertain when some of its proposals were later adopted (at the state or national level).  Doing so will help you practice skills that are essential to your success in this course and in professional life beyond school, such as chronological reasoning and contextualization.  You will also become more knowledgeable about Populism as a reform movement and how reform movements create change.

Task:

  • First, skim the ,.
  • Second, find in the document the following elements of the Populist platform, and note their location in the platform (e.g., Transportation):
    • Graduated income tax
    • Guarantee of safe deposit of money in banks.
    • Adoption of secret ballot.
    • Initiative and referendum.
    • Limit President to one term
    • Direct election of Senators to U.S. Congress
    • Immigration restriction
    • Public ownership of railroads, telephone, telegraph.
  • Third, using an internet search, identify when and where these proposals were adopted in American history. Some were adopted at the national level; some were adopted by some but not all states.
  • Fourth, using , create a timeline illustrating when and where these proposals were adopted. Include in the timeline
    • the location of the idea in the Omaha Platform (e.g., Finance, #3; or Expression of Sentiments #4) and
    • where it was adopted (e.g., 20th Constitutional Amendment; or Wisconsin state government).
  • Copy the URL or a screenshot (see example below) of your timeline into a Word document, and post the document to the assignment dropbox.

Here’s an example of a timeline of a different period using a different site:

File submissions: Please submit your file as a DOC.X with a link and/or a screenshot of your timeline.

Criteria: You will be successful in this assignment if you:

  • (a) successfully identify where these ideas are expressed in the Omaha Platform;
  • (b) include the location in the platform for all 8 items in your timeline;
  • (c) successfully identify when and where these proposals were adopted in American history; and
  • (d) create a timeline showing when and where these proposals were adopted in American history.

This activity may use a different grading rubric than what was used in past activities. Be sure to check the grading rubric before starting.