<P> Historian A.C. Howe argues: </P> <Dl> <Dd> Although historians remain divided on the impact of the league on Peel's decision to abandon the corn laws it was undoubtedly, in appearance, the most successful of nineteenth - century single - issue pressure groups, in its ability to generate enthusiasm, support, and unparalleled financial backing . Although its potential was not realized, it had shown the capacity for an extra-parliamentary middle - class organization to reshape politics so as to reflect the anti-aristocratic objectives of a determined band of entrepreneurial politicians . </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> Although historians remain divided on the impact of the league on Peel's decision to abandon the corn laws it was undoubtedly, in appearance, the most successful of nineteenth - century single - issue pressure groups, in its ability to generate enthusiasm, support, and unparalleled financial backing . Although its potential was not realized, it had shown the capacity for an extra-parliamentary middle - class organization to reshape politics so as to reflect the anti-aristocratic objectives of a determined band of entrepreneurial politicians . </Dd> <Dl> <Dd> It remained the model for many diverse pressure groups, for example the United Kingdom Alliance, the National Educational League, the Navy League, the Tenant League in Ireland, and the National Society in Piedmont, as well as those specifically related to free trade, including the Edwardian Tariff Reform League and Free Trade Union, and in the 1950s S.W. Alexander's Anti-Dear Food League . It also inspired imitators in France, Germany, the Low Countries, Spain, and the United States . The league had only temporarily reshaped the landscape of parliamentary politics but it had helped create a vibrant popular attachment to free trade within British political culture that would last well into the twentieth century . </Dd> </Dl>

Who were the members of the anti-corn law league and how did they gain influence