Populism in the late 1800s consisted of the proposal of liberal political and economic reforms, which although not implemented directly through their political power, served as a basis for future legislation that had many populists ideas tied in. The party consisted of farmers and laborers that faced unfair treatment from the law due to it being controlled by Republicans for republicans, mostly in regards to labor. The national banking system and value of currency were main factors that contributed to demise of farmers leading them to create alliances to produce a system that aided in all aspects of serving for the good of the people. The populists, being the first political party to formally present these extremely liberal changes, faced opposition, but had their ideas implemented into legislation in the progressive era.
The party proposed legislation that enforced public ownership of railroads, the telephone and the telegraph. These public utilities charged unreasonably high rates, which made the use of these utilities unaffordable, especially to farmers and lower classes, who were suffering economically largely due to overproduction of crops. Farmers felt as though the Eastern states that were thriving economically, with success in industry and manufacturing businesses, took advantage of the farmers need to ship their crops by making the cost of using the railroad incredibly high. The operating of these systems under the control of the government, was believed by the populists, an improved method the government could operate under to protect consumers and regulate commerce. This proposal, though drastic, was essentially the result of lacking a middle class. Public ownership of these utilities would remove exploitation in the field of labor and benefit farmers by allowing agricultural labor in the South and Midwest to be profitable to farmers. This socialistic idea was accompanied by the populists demand to abolish the national bank.