1. The excerpt below is from the "Farmers' Declaration of Independence," printed in the Prairie Farmer in July 1873.
The history of the present railway monopoly is a history of repeated injuries and oppressions, all having in direct object
the establishment of an absolute tyranny over the people of these states unequaled in any monarchy in the Old
World.... They have influenced our executive officers to refuse their assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for
the public good; and when such laws have been passed, they have utterly refused to obey them.... They have influenced
legislation to suit themselves by bribing venal legislators.... They have procured a law of Congress by which they have
dispossessed hundreds of farmers of the homes that years of toil have built up....
How did American farmers respond to the problems identified in this excerpt?
A. They grew fewer crops to keep food prices high.
II
B. They formed farmers' cooperatives to buy their own railroad lines.
C. They lobbied Congress to pass the Federal Reserve System to regulate the money supply.
D. They passed "Granger laws" in their state legislatures to regulate the railroads.