- Britannica:
. . . in U.S. history, politically oriented coalition of agrarian reformers in the Midwest and South that advocated a wide range of economic and political legislation in the late 19th century. Throughout the 1880s, local political action groups known as Farmers’ Alliances sprang up among Midwesterners and Southerners, who were discontented because of crop failures, falling prices, and poor marketing and credit facilities. Although it won some significant regional victories, the alliances generally proved politically ineffective on a national scale. Thus, in 1892 their leaders organized the Populist, or People’s, Party, and the Farmers’ Alliances melted away.
- People's Party (United States):
The People's Party, also known as the Populist Party or simply the Populists, was a left-wing agrarian populist political party in the United States in the late 19th century. The Populist Party emerged in the early 1890s as an important force in the Southern and Western United States, but collapsed after it nominated Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 United States presidential election. A rump faction of the party continued to operate into the first decade of the 20th century, but never matched the popularity of the party in the early 1890s.
- National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry.
. . . a social organization in the United States that encourages families to band together to promote the economic and political well-being of the community and agriculture. The Grange, founded after the Civil War in 1867, is the oldest American agricultural advocacy group with a national scope. The Grange actively lobbied state legislatures and Congress for political goals, such as the Granger Laws to lower rates charged by railroads, and rural free mail delivery by the Post Office.
- Farmer's Alliance:
- The Gilded Age:
In United States history, the Gilded Age is a term coined by Mark Twain and used by some historians to refer roughly to the period from 1877 to 1900, which occurred between the Reconstruction Era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Western United States. As American wages grew much higher than those in Europe, especially for skilled workers, and industrialization demanded an increasing unskilled labor force, the period saw an influx of millions of European immigrants.
The Third Party System was a period in the history of political parties in the United States from the 1850s until the 1890s, which featured profound developments in issues of American nationalism, modernization, and race. This period, the later part of which is often termed the Gilded Age, is defined by its contrast with the eras of the Second Party System and the Fourth Party System.
