American farm discontent

The latter part of the 19th century was a period of agrarian unrest in the Midwestern United States. From 1865 to 1896, farmer protests led to the formation of organized movements including the Grange, the Populist Party, the Greenbacks, and other alliances. Farmers cited the reasons for their unhappiness as declining prices, decreasing purchasing power, and monopolistic practices of: 1) moneylenders, 2) railroad corporations, and 3) other middlemen. Recent research has led scholars to question the validity of these explanations. Currently there is no scholarly consensus on the causes of agrarian discontent.