The Homestead Act of 1862 gave American citizens ownership of 160 acres of public land if they lived on and worked the land for 5 years. This helped poor families who could not afford land in the eastern states gain ownership of land in the west. Thousands of African Americans also moved west seeking a better life in the late 1800s. As farmers produced more, prices fell and farmers went into debt, leading them to form the National Grange cooperative to buy supplies at lower wholesale prices. Dissatisfied farmers and labor unions then formed the Populist Party to address falling farm prices, high railroad rates, and other economic issues through policies like the income tax, but their presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan narrowly lost the 1896 election

1. Objective: To discuss Homesteaders, The Grange, and the start of the populist movement. Sod home of John and Marget Bakken, Milton, N.D., circa 1895.

10. Populist demands: - help with falling farm prices and regulation of railroad rates - creation of an income tax - an 8 hour work day - limits on immigration William Jennings Bryan, Populist Party candidate for president, 1896

11. 1896 Judge cartoon shows Populist Party presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan swallowing up the Democratic party.

12. * Populist Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan narrowly lost the 1896 election to the Republican William McKinley .