The Farmers’ Alliance moved into politics in the early 1890s under the banner of the People’s Party, commonly known as the “Populists.” Political Activism The political activism of the alliances gained strength in the late 1880s as the organization merged with the nearly 500,000-member Agricultural Wheel in 1888.
The muckrakers were reform-minded journalists in the Progressive Era in the United States (1890s–1920s) who exposed established institutions and leaders as corrupt. They typically had large audiences in popular magazines.
