Agrarian In The 1800's

Through the period of 1865-1900, America’s agriculture underwent a series of changes .Changes that were a product of influential role that technology, government policy and economic conditions played. To extend on this idea, changes included the increase on exported goods, do the availability of products as well as the improved traveling system of rail roads. In the primate stages of these developing changes, farmers were able to benefit from the product, yet as time passed by, dissatisfaction grew within them. They no longer benefited from the changes (economy went bad), and therefore they no longer supported railroads. Moreover they were discontented with the approach that the government had taken towards the situation.

The economies of the North and South were vastly different leading up to the Civil War. Money was equivalent to power in both regions. For the North, the economy was based on industry as they were more modern and self-aware. They realized that industrialization was progress and it could help rid the country of slave labor as it was wrong. The North’s population had a class system but citizens could move within the system, provided they made the money that would allow them to move up in class. The class system was not as rigid as it was in the South. By comparison, the South wanted to hold on to its economic policy. In doing so, the practice of slavery kept the social order firmly in place. The economic factors, social issues and a growing

Some people agree to the fact that the period of 1450-1750 is Late Agrarian Era. But I don’t. I believe that 1450-1750, from now on referred to as ‘periodization four’, is an Early Modern Era. This is the period of when the British explore North America, slave trade from Africa to America was born, and the great Columbian exchange initiated. This certainly could not be considered “Late Agrarian” with all the technologies being invented and explorations beginning. The reason I consider this time period Early Modern is for several reasons; globalization had kick started, stronger states were forming with more modern edges, and technology that had never before been seen was now around.

Cotton was still a major industry in the South after the Civil War, but iron and tobacco became strong competitors. There was an increase in Southern cotton mills. In 1800, there were one hundred and sixty mills; in 1900, there were over four hundred mills. There were, however, racist hiring practices. Very few blacks acquired jobs. This was justified by mill owners because whites suffered in competition with blacks for agricultural jobs. The counterargument may be that they were not jobs, because the blacks were slaves and not paid. Southerners found large coal and iron ore reserves, and thereby had a tremendous growth in iron and steel mills. Eventually though, these mills became controlled by foreign investors and Northerners around 1900. Tobacco was traditionally grown in the South, but factories for processing were not developed until post Civil War in 1900. Outside capitalists also controlled these industries. The Northerners reconstructed the Southern economy—one that they controlled—but did not change much in the South itself, which still had multiple racial and social issues.

The period between 1870 and 1900 was a time to change politics. The country was for once free from war and was united as one nation. However, as these decades passed by, the American farmer found it harder to live comfortably. Crops such as cotton and wheat, once the cash crop of agriculture, were selling at prices so low that it was nearly impossible for farmers to make a profit. Improvements in transportation allowed larger competitors to sell more easily and more cheaply, making it harder for American yeoman farmers to sell their crops. Finally, years of drought in the Midwest and the fall of business in the 1890s devastated the farming community. Most notably, the Populist Party arose to fight what farmers saw as the issues affecting

As a person that has grown most of my own food, without chemicals or engine powered equipment, for the last 15 years and lesser so for many more years I can relate to some degree what it may have been like for a farmer in the 1800’s (I even live in a house built in 1850).

After the Civil War there were many factors that contributed the changes that occurred in farming in America. Among them was the drive for the South to renew and regain what had been lost due to the war. Leaders saw it as a time to diversify and turn towards industrialization. The Industrial revolution was underway and with it brought many new inventions that would lead to growth in the farming industry. The wide open space between the East and the West called “The Frontier” was open for homesteading. New immigrants with their farming knowledge and ability were flooding the East and West gates of the U.S. This was a time in American history when Americans

Following the Civil War, a second industrial revolution in America brought many changes to the nation’s agriculture sector. The new technologies that were created transformed how farmers worked and the way in which the sector functioned. Agriculture expanded and became more industrial. Meanwhile government policies, or lack of them for a while, and hard economic conditions put difficult strains on farmers and their occupation. These changes in technology, economic conditions, and government policy from 1865 to 1900 transformed and improved agriculture while leaving farmers in hardship.

The main economic hurdle the country faced was centered in the south. After the war many Southerners were dependant on federal aid subsistence and the emancipation proclamation cost the South $2 billion of it’s capital (Farmer). Furthermore, agriculture had been what maintained southern economy but post-war most farms and plantations were desolate and many of the few railroad tracks that were there before had been destroyed. Historian Charles Beard looks at the war as, “the triumph of the forces of industrialism over plantation agriculture.” However this is not entirely true. While there was some movement towards industry, the south was still primarily agriculturally based and had adopted a system of sharecropping to do so. It took until 1867 for

Furthermore, the South had little preexisting industry and lacked an infrastructure for dispersing goods (Perman, 14). From an early point in the war the Union army cut off railways and blockaded Southern ports, and roads in the South were primitive. Farmers were forced to contend with government controls on production and marauding thieves who would take whatever they could from them. With no means of transporting goods and no slave labor, Southerners could barely produce enough to feed their families and even if they were

The Civil war was the most momentous and crucial period of time in the history of America. Not only did this war bring an end to slavery but also paved way for numerous social and political changes. The country had already been torn by the negative trend in race relations and the numerous cases of slave uprisings were taking their toll on the country 's political and social structure. The country was predominately divided up into 3 sections, the North, the South, and the West. Each of these groups had different fundamental interests. The North wanted economies depending on farming, factories and milltowns, while the West relied on expansion and development of land for farming and new towns. The South mainly relied on agriculture like

When everything started to become more industrialized it was difficult for the farmers because for so long, most of the wealth in the United States was from farming and agriculture—which was done with manual labor opposed to machinery. When manufacturing began to transcend the wealth that the farmers had become accustomed to, they began to follow the trend of commercialization so that they would not lose all of their wealth. As a

The Gilded Age came down for you to decide your fate, from staying as an older guy and knowing how to farm or evolving into a new industrial hardworking man using your hands to bend, shape, twist, and melt huge iron beams Farming goes way back to early 1800’s unfortunately after the Civil War the economy needs a more efficient process for it to boom back up and the old farming technique wasn’t doing it anymore. Therefore, the Industrial business came to idea and here was the spark for the stock market skyrocketing back up; its no walk around the park, wits and devoted men are required for this task although their hard work and determination, paying off at the end of the day taking home an extra dime.

After the Civil War, the United States went through a period of rapid industrialization which affected the nation dramatically. Industrial growth, the spread of railroads, the rise of big businesses, and the appearance of labor unions during these decades created a modern industrial economy, and American workers and farmers faced new challenges in adapting to these changes.

In the past farming was a way to provide food to the family, but in a growing market economy it was becoming more important in the 1860s and 1870s to have money in order to purchase food, clothing, and supplies for the family. That money could also be used to keep the farm running and producing more goods and making more money. However, farming was as competitive as ever. During the Civil War the demand for crops like cotton was high so farmers started producing even more cotton. After the war, the supply of cotton stayed the same but the demand for it lowered, dropping the prices and putting many farmers in debt. The invention of railroads connected many states together making bigger, interstate markets instead of simple local markets; making it even more difficult