Grangers

Grangers 

members of a farmers’ movement in the United States. The National Grange (or the Order of Patrons of Husbandry) was formed in 1867. The Grangers favored reform as the means of improving the position of American farmers. However, the Grangers’ inability to secure the implementation of the farmers’ urgent demands (reduction of railway freight tariffs and deliverance from exploitation by grain dealers, bankers, and others) had already resulted in the loss of the Grange’s influence by 1875. The great majority of the Grangers began to support the Greenback movement, which had recently arisen. The remaining local granges later degenerated into reactionary organizations of prosperous farmers.

REFERENCES

Kuropiatnik, G. P. Fermerskoe dvizhenie v SShA at greindzherov k Narodnoi partii: 1867–1896. Moscow, 1971.
Buck, S. J. The Granger Movement. Cambridge [Massachusetts], 1913.

G. P. KUROPIATNIK