Angry agrarian: The Texas farmer, 1875-1896

Abstract

The Texas farmers between 1875 and 1896 exhibited common characteristics of Gilded Age reformers. Economic, social, political, and geographical distress and dislocation first provoked an aura of discontent which, in turn, led to attempts by nostalgic Patron of Husbandry leaders--in this case, middle-class agrarians--to settle these problems by patrician methods. Yet the rapid advance of technology had created new situations; it was logical, therefore, that new, more radical Farmers' Alliance leaders were necessary. When they too failed, politics became the obvious theatre for action with the advent of the Populist Party. Then after a series of close, but unsuccessful campaigns, the older parties assumed the most palatable reform proposals, thereby stripping the dissenters of their popular support. Thus in a society known for compromise, much needed reform once more found acceptance. And midstream Texas again experienced reform.