What was the soft money third party that polled over a million votes and elected fourteen congressmen in 1878 by advocating inflation?

Answer 1

The Greenback Party was originally ka the Independent Party, or the National Party. It was founded in Indianapolis, Indiana, on November 25, 1874. Its members tended to be farmers who had suffered financial losses. They favored paper money over a gold or silver based money system. For they felt that the latter gave power to private banks and businesses, and the former was part of a friendlier, government-controlled system that favored farmers with higher prices and easier debt payment plans. In 1878, it succeeded in getting 21 independent candidates elected to the U.S. Congress. In 1880, it widened its political agenda to include support for an eight-hour working day, an income tax, and voting rights for women. But the broader party platform proved its undoing. By 1884, many of its members had left, to join the later Populist Party.