Granger Movement
On December 4, 1867, the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, an organization founded by Oliver H. Kelley and six friends helped spark a long-awaited movement to help improve the social, economic and political status of farmers. The organization was originally founded for educational and social purposes and had 40,000 members.This secret fraternal society had mostly local branches, called Granges, in Minnesota, the hometown of the founder, Oliver Kelley. Its members were known as Grangers. The local Granges would meet in town halls. They were a way for farmer families to meet and socialize. In 1868, the movement spread to Illinois and the Granges eventually formed into political forums and grew as channels of farmer protest against economic
During the 1880s, the membership of the Granges dropped to 150,000. In 1873, a National Depression set in. After the Populist Party died, the Grangers started to grow again, but never regained the status they had had in the 1870s. Railroads and other parties challenged the constitutionality of these Granger Laws in what are known as Granger Cases. Illinois (1876), the principle of "public regulation of private utilities devoted to public use" was established as constitutional. These parties succeeded in electing state officials, and in some states were able to get laws regulating railroad rates and procedures. They were successful in the establishment of grain elevators, mills and stores. Some of these abuses were the declining prices of farm products, the rising debts farmers owed to businesses and banks because of a vanishing grain market, the unfair freight rates forced on farmers by the railroads, and the purchase of land by the railroads formerly used by pioneer farmers as new farmland. Farmers had funded for much of the railroad construction in the 1850s, so the railroads also controlled the 14 main grain elevators in the country. The Farmers' Alliance grew substantially, just as the Granger Movement had grown a decade earlier, and moved the Midwest. Another legislation that has been influenced by the Granger Movement was the establishment of the postal savings bank which was passed in 1910. The Granger Movement backed off and took over its original roll, as purely social organizations. National railroads had to cut back on services, and because of their power, would secretly over-weigh the grain and charge farmers too much.
Common topics in this essay:
National Depression,
Illinois Granges,
Populist Party,
Oliver Kelley,
Granger Movement,
Anti-Monopoly Party,
Munn Illinois,
Kelley Grangers,
Farmers' Alliance,
Granges Minnesota,
granger movement,
grain elevators,
political forums,
oliver kelley,
populist party,
farmers' alliance,
|
Acceptance Essays
