The Workingman's Party was established in New York City in 1829 under the leadership of Robert Dale Owen and Frances Wright . Its program included demands for the abolition of imprisonment for debt and for worker's compensation laws. For a while the party was a factor in state and local elections. In the late 1830s a significant number of its members joined the Whig Party. The party was revived in the 1870s by Dennis Kearney in California.