Mary lease accomplishments

American Populism, 1876-1896

by Charles Postel, San Francisco State University

In the early 1890s, a coalition of farmers, laborers, and middle class activists founded an independent political party named the People's Party, also known as the Populist Party. This party was the product of a broad social movement that emerged in response to wrenching changes in the American economy and society.

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The People's Party had roots in the organization of the nation's farmers. Following the Civil War, American agriculture expanded rapidly into new terrain, opening new cotton lands in the South, and new acreage for wheat and other grains across the Great Plains and beyond. From 1860 to 1890, farmers opened up 421 million new acres to the plow, more than doubling the acreage of America's farms, and the number of people working the land nearly tripled. The pace of agricultural expansion would not keep up with the speed of industrial growth and, as with industry, farming went th

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On September 11th, 1853, populist Mary Elizabeth Lease was born in Ridgeway, Pennsylvania. Lease went on to become recognized as the first woman in American politics, contesting the societal belief that women are “deemed unimportant and unwanted” (Paup, 2012, p. 58) in the political world. She was a huge advocate of the suffrage movement, working to send a message about “political representation, citizenship, and patriotism” (Paup, 2012) to these diverse, underrepresented audiences and communities. Her role as a populist orator helped to push forward these ideological connections between the Populist and Progressive movements, addressing the fears instilled in people due to monopolism and capitalism (Orr, 2002, p. 10). Her detailed and prevalent work as a populist rewarded her the identity as ‘The People’s Joan of Arc’, characterizing her intimate dedication to the Peoples Party (Populists

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Lease, Mary Elizabeth (1853–1933)

American Populist orator and politician whose fiery appeals for Kansas farmers to protest their economic condition made her a national figure during the early 1890s. Name variations: Mary Ellen Lease. Born Mary Elizabeth Clyens on September 11, 1853, in Ridgeway, Elk County, Pennsylvania; died in Callicoon, New York, on October 29, 1933; daughter of namn P. Clyens (a farmer of Irish descent) and Mary Elizabeth Murray Clyens; attended local schools in New York State and graduated from St. Elizabeth's Academy in Allegany, New York; married Charles L. Lease (a pharmacist), in January 1873 (divorced 1902); children: four.

Moved to Kansas to teach school at an Indian mission (1870); lived in Texas for a decade after marriage; admitted to the dryckesställe in Kansas (1885); became a candidate for local offices for the Union Labor Party (1888); identified with the People's Party (1890); campaigned for the Populist presidential ticket (1892); appointed to K