<Go back to the Topics Index results>


I FEED YOU ALL!
   
Complete Explanation:
No doubt inspired by the Granger movement, the artist asserts the importance of the farmer in American society. The title is a variation on the movement's motto, "I Pay for All." The Grange was an organization composed mostly of midwestern farmers, who united to combat the monopolistic practices of the railroads and grain elevators.

The central vignette shows a farmer with a plough and two horses. In the distance is a large house. The vignette appears within a framework of twigs and oak branches, with stalks of corn and sheafs of wheat in the corners. Above the scene is an eagle and an arrangement of flags, with the inscription "1776. 1876."

Several smaller scenes surround the central vignette. Clockwise from the upper left corner are: a lawyer ("I Plead for All"); a seated President Ulysses S. Grant ("I Rule for All"); an officer leading a charge ("I Fight for All"); a clergyman at his pulpit ("I Preach for All"); a ship owner watching his vessel through a window ("I Sail for All"); a shopkeeper in a general store ("I Buy & Sell for All"); a doctor with a scale and drugs ("I Physic You All"); a broker at his window ("I Fleece You All"); a trader (I Bull & Bear for All"); and a railroad owner watching his locomotive ("I Carry for All").


Website design © 2010 HarpWeek, LLC
All Content © 1998-2010 HarpWeek, LLC
Please submit questions to webmaster@harpweek.com