Daily Almanac for
Dec 2, 2009
Search White Pages
Search: Infoplease Info search tips
Search: Biographies Bio search tips
Encyclopedia

Donnelly, Ignatius

Donnelly, Ignatius (don'ulē) [key], 18311901, American author and agrarian reformer, b. Philadelphia. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and in 1856 moved to Minnesota. There he gained political prominence, was lieutenant governor (1859–63), Congressman (1863–69), and a state legislator. Strongly expounding agrarian reform, he was a founder and leader of the Populist party and the author of the ringing preamble to the party platform of 1892. He edited the weekly Anti-Monopolist (1874–79) and the Populist Representative (1894–1901). His many popular works included Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882), an erudite but fanciful work on Atlantis; Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel (1883); two books arguing that Bacon wrote the Shakespearean plays; and a gloomy Utopian novel, Caesar's Column (1891).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

    • Cite
    • Print
    • Bookmark

More on Ignatius Donnelly from Infoplease:

See more Encyclopedia articles on: American Literature: Biographies


Premium Partner Content
HighBeam Research

Related content from HighBeam Research on: Ignatius Donnelly

Additional search results provided by HighBeam Research, LLC. © Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.