Marion Butler
| Marion Butler | |
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United States Senator from North Carolina |
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In office March 4, 1895 – March 4, 1901 |
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| Preceded by | Matt W. Ransom |
| Succeeded by | Furnifold M. Simmons |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
May 20, 1863 Sampson County, North Carolina |
| Died | June 3, 1938 (aged 75) Takoma Park, Maryland |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Populist (previously a Democrat, later a Republican) |
| Spouse(s) | Florence Faison Butler |
| Alma mater | University of North Carolina |
| Profession | Politician, Farmer, Lawyer, Editor, Publisher |
Marion Butler (May 20, 1863 – June 3, 1938) was a Populist U.S. senator from the state of North Carolina between 1895 and 1901 and brother of George Edwin Butler.
Butler was born in rural Sampson County, North Carolina during the American Civil War. He was a graduate of the University of North Carolina, where he was a member of the Philanthropic Literary Society. His goal of practicing law was not immediately realized due to his father's death, which forced Butler to take responsibility for managing the family farm in lieu of further education.
When the Farmers' Alliance movement spread from the Southwest into North Carolina in the late 1880s, he immediately joined the organization, and it provided him a ladder of political opportunity that he climbed with impressive speed. As the son of yeoman farmers, Butler grew up in a strong agrarian tradition. Possessing the formal education and literate articulateness provided from his years at the University of North Carolina, Butler stood out from his fellow farmers and, by the age of 25, was elected President of the local Farmers' Alliance and was elected President of the National Farmer's Alliance in 1893.
Still a Democrat at this time, Butler was elected to the North Carolina Senate as an "Alliance Democrat" in 1890. In 1891, at age 28, he was elected President of the State Farmers' Alliance. Due to a general distaste for Democratic nominee Grover Cleveland, and the North Carolina Democratic Party's ruling that no voter could vote on a "split ticket", Butler led a mass exodus of Alliance members and followers from the Democratic party which had ruled the state since Reconstruction, to the Populist, or "People's Party" in 1892.
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