Voters also elected nine House members and two Senators from a new political organization -- the People's Party. The new party was born in farming areas of the West and South. It was a party of protest, formed by men who refused to support either of the two old parties.
LEO SCULLY: Years before, farmers had united in agricultural organizations they called granges. A national grange had been formed.
During hard times, the grange organized political action groups to help elect officials who were friendly to farmers. But as farm conditions improved, the Granges began to disappear.
A few years later, farmers began to build new organizations. Like the granges, they began as social and economic groups.
By the late eighteen eighties, many of these groups had united into two large organizations. One, with more than one million members, was the Southern Alliance. The other, with fewer members, was the National Farmers' Alliance. Members of the two groups began to unite for political action.
That will be our story on the next program of THE MAKING OF A NATION.
(MUSIC)
FAITH LAPIDUS: Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Leo Scully and Jack Weitzel. You can find our series online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and images at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- an American history series in VOA Special English.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25