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The new group picked up the pieces of the Greenback Party and the Farmers’ Alliance movement and took on the cause of small farmers, who were at the mercy of large creditors and utterly reliant on the railroads for access to the market.

Some from the Farmers’ Alliance originally thought they could work with the two extant parties but grew impatient when the Democrats rejected their platform.

The natural leader of the Populist Party was the Farmers’ Alliance leader, Leonidas L. Polk, who presided over the meeting that created the party.

Murray was a Democrat and activist in the Farmers’ Alliance, an economic organization set up to advocate for the interests of farmers in western states.

Murray was a Democrat and activist in the Farmers’ Alliance deemed a progressive when he served as the state’s governor from 1931 to 1935.