GRANGER MOVEMENT AT FLOOD TIDE 41 



did not increase their respect for him. His oppo- 

 nents at home made effective use of this affair, and 

 the outcome of the contest was a divided conven- 

 tion, the nomination of two Republicans, each 

 claiming to be the regular candidate of the party, 

 and the ultimate election of a Democrat. 



Donnelly was soon ready to break with the old 

 guard of the Republican party in national as well 

 as in state politics. In 1870 he ran for Congress as 

 an independent Republican on a low tariff plat- 

 form but was defeated in spite of the fact that he 

 received the endorsement of the Democratic con- 

 vention. Two years later he joined the Liberal 

 Republicans in supporting Greeley against Grant. 

 When the farmers' Granges began to spring up like 

 mushrooms in 1873, Donnelly was quick to see the 

 political possibilities of the movement. He con- 

 ducted an extensive correspondence with farm- 

 ers, editors, and politicians of radical tendencies 

 all over the State and played a leading part in the 

 organization of the Anti-Monopoly party. He was 

 elected to the state senate in 1873, and in the fol- 

 lowing year he started a newspaper, the Anti- 

 Monopolist, to serve as the organ of the movement. 



Although Donnelly was technically still a farmer, 

 he was quite content to leave the management of his 



