jan 1, 1875 - Mid 1870s: Farmers' Alliance began in TX

Description:

A fraternal organization of white farmers and other rural southerners, including teachers, ministers, and physicians, the Farmers' Alliance began in Texas in the mid-1870s and swept across the entire South during the late 1880s. The organization attempted to solve the mounting financial problems of southern farmers by forming cooperative purchasing and marketing enterprises. It advocated a federal farm-credit and marketing scheme called the subtreasury plan. When these efforts failed, the Alliance played a leading role in establishing a national third party, the People's or Populist Party, in the early 1890s. This bold entry into partisan politics, however, split the Alliance's membership and contributed to the organization's rapid demise.

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