GRANGER MOVEMENT.   Term Paper ID:24272 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines history of agricultural movement founded after Civil War. Origins, economics, politics, leadership, purpose, philosophy, court cases, decline.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines history of agricultural movement founded after Civil War. Origins, economics, politics, leadership, purpose, philosophy, court cases, decline. Paper Introduction: The Granger Movement The Granger Movement was a popular uprising among the American agricultral communities in the years following the Civil War. It was an organization modeled after the Masonic Lodge, offering farmers a chance to organize against monopolies and build up unity among themselves. Of the many recurrent elements of world history, agrarian discontent has been one of the most pervasive and has had a broad effect on the destinies of numerous political empires. Two such examples are the English Peasants’ Revolt in 1381 and the Peasants’ War in Germany in 1524-25. These revolts stemmed from a belief of the rural citizenry that they were being economically exploited by the ruling classes. The citizens did not necessarily believe that they were impoverished, only that they were being exploited. In the case Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The freeing of the slaves had eliminated asignificant part of the labor force. The increasing growth of citiesoffered social and economic advantages that rural areas could not offer,such as libraries, universities, theaters, and museums. In 1873, the Indiana Grange adopted a resolution calling for therailroads "to serve the people instead of ruling them" (Buck, Granger 2 1),and such resolutions were typical of the farmers' sentiments at the timethroughout the country. TheGrange also developed a ritual for admission, a constitution, and a motto.Kelley and six other men held the first meeting of the National Grange ofPatrons of Husbandry on December 4, 1867. The standardof living for American farmers was an improvement upon that of theirforbears, but the economic conditions of the country, combined with othersociological phenomena, conspired to create an atmosphere of resentment andunease among the farmers. Of the many recurrent elements of world history, agrarian discontenthas been one of the most pervasive and has had a broad effect on thedestinies of numerous political empires. Sven. Oneaspect of the granges that was shared with the Masons was the inclusion ofdegrees, the ritualistic aspect of membership. While the high-water mark of the Granger Movement was in the early187 s, the movement continued to echo throughout the 2 th century. Therefore, in the midst of a general condition of economic struggle,unease, and insecurity, farmers were seeking methods of improving theirsituation and giving stability to their enterprises. The Supervisors (1872), and so the legaljustification was in place for the court to make rulings sympathetic to theGrangers. While non-partisan, thefarmers still took positions that favored their constituency, notablyregarding the railroads. Many of the ideas contained inthe "New Deal" of the 193 s "can be traced to the general philosophy andspecific ideas of the Greenback, Granger, and Populist movements of thelate nineteenth-century West" (Destler 31). The press of thecountry again and again uttered its protest against thesemisappropriations of the national property, but Congress,with characteristic contempt of the popular will, continued itsland grants (McCabe, 179). The first case,Munn v. The rituals was an important aspect of the movement, helping tobuild within its various local organizations a sense of cohesiveness. The Grange also called for a reduction of salaries of publicofficials at a corresponding rate to the farmer's reduced financial status,legislation that would bring irrigation under the control of the state, andlegislation that would prohibit traffic of produce at night. 1875 still saw the Grangeholding significant authority, but other factors were in motion which wouldalter this situation permanently. Theyears of 1872-73 saw even more rapid growth, with the Grange offeringfarmers social and intellectual benefits while promising an organizationthat was dedicated to rectifying the damages farmers had suffered at thehands of unscrupulous railroad magnates and urban merchants. Dairying, hay, and potatoes were sourcesof income. These buildersapproached farmers with offers of dividends in railway stock in return formortgages on farmlands. The financial and social unrest of the farmer werea perfect match for the progressive philosophies of the Grange. New Yaven: Yale U P, 192 .---. Owners who had depended upon thereadily available labor of slaves were ill-equipped to do their manuallabor themselves. Washington:National Grange, 1949.McCabe, James Dabney. The Granger Movement. Many individual granges had embracedbusiness schemes for the purpose of raising funds to achieve theirpolitical ends, and some had gone as far as making dubious, unsecuredloans, which brought the organization into financial disrepute. This leftfarmers with mortgaged farms and worthless stock. Not onlydid the organization continue, but the ideas found expression in otherareas. Reverend J. Suchproperty that is in use for the common good, in which the public has aninterest, justifies state interference. ScottKing was called upon by the National Grange officers in 1934 to make astudy of Grange rituals and its compatibility with Christian teachings.King "devoted an immense amount of time to the survey and listed with exactscriptural references, almost fifty such quotations, an impressiverevelation of the high spiritual ideals of the Grange founders" (Gardner347). The Southern states had continued to produce crops like coffee,tobacco and sugar but were in a condition of ruin following the war. Theorganization retreated into a steady decline in membership from 1875 to188 . Finally, to add to the farmers' economic woes, the very profession offarming was starting to lose its cache. Western competition, and loss of crops to insect infestation,drove farmers into dairying, which in turn led to increased competitionwith Eastern farmers and an attendant drop in real estate value. A History of the English-Speaking Peoples. Grangeswere soon formed in Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, and New York. New York: Putnam, 1976.Bowers, Claude G. Granges began to spread soon after the original burst ofactivity in America, and, by 1879, membership in Canadian Granges reachedits highest level. The Granger Movement The Granger Movement was a popular uprising among the Americanagricultral communities in the years following the Civil War. Most of the constitutions declare railroads to be public, notprivate, transportation and call upon the state legislatures to regulatecommerce. The court had previously declared that the railroad business was ofpublic concern in Olcott v. In short, the system suffered from pervasive corruption, and thefarmers were getting the worst of it. Theincreasing distrust led to decreasing membership and decreasing dues. From the end of the war until 1873, railroads were beingbuilt throughout the country at a record pace. General literacy improved through theGranges efforts: All the Granger laws might have been repealed; all theschemes for cooperation might have come to naught; all the moral andreligious teachings of the Grange might have been left to thechurch; but if the Granger movement had created nothing elsethan this desire to read, it would have been worthwhile (Buck,Agrarian Crusade 76). Cambridge: Harvard U P, 1913.Churchill, Winston S. New York: Octagon, 1972.Gardner, Charles M. The continuedgrowth of the West, however, combined with the dramatically improvedtransportation methods, acted as a spur to the economy and gradually drovethe value of Eastern farmland down. Unfortunately, transportation proved to be as expensive even with theincrease in railroad construction, and many of the railway builders wereunscrupulous enough to send their companies through receivership if itmeant that their own personal fortunes would be protected. More thanjust an organization to right wrongs, this was "a farmers' revolution.These embattled farmers, convinced by the action of the Supreme Court thatthe courts were in the hands of their enemies, marked these enemies forslaughter at the polls" (Bowers 4 7). The Granger Movement also spread into Canada. WORKS CITEDBergamini, John D. Politically, the Grange remained non-partisan but sought vigorouslythe destruction of monopolies, government regulation of freight andpassenger rates, and the formation of a third political party sympatheticto the Grange and ready to elect like-minded public officials. In this struggle,farmers found great support among their fellows, and the movement'ssuccesses "marked the abandonment of the laissez faire theory that naturallaws alone are sufficient to insure the management of railroads in theinterest of the public" (Buck, Granger 123). The citizens did notnecessarily believe that they were impoverished, only that they were beingexploited. The Midwest states, like Ohio, also suffered from the sameconditions. A contemporary accountdescribes the situation this way: Large quantities of the public lands were filched fromthe people with the connivance of Congress. The grangers had lobbied for and obtained controls on middlemen,establishing legal maximum rates for the storage of grain. Farmers had not been widely literate before theGrange began to have its effects. The Grange: Friend of the Farmer. This, in spite of the fact that the Grange receivedresistance to its establishment: "Letters had begun to appear in plenty inthe press vilifying the business methods of the grange, its secrecy ofprocedure, and its alleged attempts at class dominance" (Wood 63). Theserevolts stemmed from a belief of the rural citizenry that they were beingeconomically exploited by the ruling classes. On the surface, farmers were convinced that theywould receive, in addition to the benefits of financial investment, a moreconvenient way of delivering their goods to the urban areas and thebenefits of an increased population in rural areas, which they assumedwould be the result of increased railway travel. The group devoted itself to securing legislation thatwould place the railroads under the control of the state. Kelley wasborn in Boston, worked for the Chicago Tribune at one point, and eventuallybecame both a farmer in Minnesota and a Mason. The farmers believedthat the esteem their profession once had was evaporating. When the organization began to appear in the Northwest, it was metwith immediate success. Farmswere overrun, many farm owners had been killed in the war, and, mostimportant, farming was undergoing a complete revolution in the methods ofharvesting and delivery. The court ruled that previous legal tradition had always held ascustomary the regulation of rate charges in a number of professions. 4 vols.New York: Dodd, 1956-58.Destler, Chester McArthur. Products found ready customers among the numerous large citieson the Eastern seaboard, and competition was still scarce. Monopolies were the order ofthe day, and the railroad owners were accused of having undue influence onCongress. He soon developed a list of grievances and established anorganization based on the Masonic Lodge, exclusively for farmers. While the Granger Movement was active, however, it took part in manyof the significant political movements of the day. As states adopted new constitutions, theyfrequently took into account the Granger's beliefs and convictions. The intense growthof the organization led to conditions such as that of Indiana, in whichthere was a Grange for every 18 square miles. Farmers also banded together in an attempt toelect sympathetic officials. Such"interference with free enterprise was fought desperately by the railroadand elevator companies," and the case came to the Supreme Court (Bergamini29). Local granges were sooninstituted, and the groups began to discuss how they might be of use to thefarmer. Some of the lasting effects of the Grangers' movement include greatercooperation among farmers, reduction of sectionalism in the agrariancommunity, and "the preparation given farmers for leadership roles insociety" (Nordin 238). The Granger Movementinvolved development of symbols, emblems, and a whole system of esotericknowledge. The general conclusions that the Granger decisions came to werethat a state may regulate public businesses or businesses in the publicinterest, that a state may regulate interstate commerce, and that courtsare not able to review questions of reasonable rates fixed by state laws.The power of the state is "under no restraint by the courts" (Buck, Granger212). A History of Farmers' Movements in Canada. The Tragic Era. Illinois (1876), was a case in which the owner of a warehouseclaimed that legislation regulating his business and the rates he chargedfor storage was depriving him of his property without granting him dueprocess. As the movement spreadthroughout America, news began filtering up North through farm journals andthe daily press. American Radicalism, 1865-19 1. The perceptions of the American farmer in the years followingthe Civil War were similar to the perceptions of the English peasants in1381: both were conscious of exploitation by the ruling class. In the midst ofthese economic and social conditions, The Patrons of Husbandry, whichtransformed into the Granger Movement, emerged in 1867. This leadership capability is perhaps best expressedin the ability to read. In the case of England, this belief led to a massive upheavalwhich "affected the daily life of the mass of the people in a manner notseen again in our social history till the Industrial Revolution of thenineteenth century" (Churchill 37 ). Jackson: U P of Mississippi, 1974.Wood, Louis Aubrey. History of the Grange Movement; Or, TheFarmer's War Against Monopolies. Theconstitutions that were adopted in the 187 s by Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia,North Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia all show the influence of theGrangers. Eventually, the name "Granger" was attached to a number of SupremeCourt cases brought before the court beginning in 1876. Social aspirationwas best fed and nurtured in the cities, and farmers began to see thebenefit of equipping their progeny to survive in the city rather thanteaching them how to own and operate the family farm. The grange began to decline soon after this event. The philosophy of the group was largely derived from the Bible, withan invocation and benediction at every official meeting. Curiously, the revolutionary ideasthat emerged during the nineteenth century stemmed from much the samediscontent. Each member who attended a meeting was required to wear theorganization's approved regalia, which included specially designed sashes,with color codes representing the status one held in the organization. The Grange also involved itself in attemptingto appropriate funds for agricultural colleges, introducing agriculturalsubjects into public schools, and providing at cost textbooks to ruralareas. The mania for railroadconstruction was at such a ever pitch that railway magnates began to appealto the private sector for funds to construct more railroads. The Agrarian Crusade. The Granger Movement made its largest political impact in the area ofrailway legislation. It was anorganization modeled after the Masonic Lodge, offering farmers a chance toorganize against monopolies and build up unity among themselves. The Hundredth Year: The United States in 1876. The costs of transportation were of significant interest because manyof the farmers of this time felt bitterly antagonistic toward the railroadsand their barons. In 1872 alone,1,15 Granges were founded. Two particular areasin which they began taking a concerted interest were the costs oftransporting their goods, and the costs of the middlemen who deliveredthese goods from the farmers to the consumers. Chicago: National, 1874.Nordin, D. Oliver Kelley, a clerk in Washington, D.C., is generally creditedwith conceiving of the Granger Movement, as it came to be known. Rich Harvest: A History of the Grange. Toronto: U Toronto P, 1975. He was a leader amongMinnesota farmers and gradually concluded that a secret order of farmerswas needed to counter the effects of the economy. In February 1874, the Patrons of Husbandry held a session of theNational Grange, during a time in which the organization claimed theallegiance of nearly 5 , members, At this meeting, the group adopted aplatform which summarized its beliefs and goals: It declared the general objects of the Patrons ofHusbandry to be "to labor for the good of our order, our country,and mankind." This was followed by a list of specific objects,including enhancement of the comforts and attractions of thehomes, maintenance of the laws, reduction of expenses,diversification of crops, systematization of work, andcooperation in buying and selling (Buck, Granger 64). Cambridge: Riverside, 1929.Buck, Solon J. Furthermore, competitionwas not bringing equilibrium to the railroads. The railroad barons were also thebeneficiaries of highly suspect land grants. Two such examples are the EnglishPeasants' Revolt in 1381 and the Peasants' War in Germany in 1524-25. As an example of the financial condition of this time, the farmers ofthe Northeastern states were enjoying relative prosperity during the yearsimmediately after the Civil War. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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