Agriculture Dbq Essay

The article, “Creating the System: Railroads and the Modern Corporation”, informs us all about the development of the transcontinental railroad and how it helped drive the nation west and also transformed western North America into a economy that had many opportunities. The railroads have always interested me when it comes to this period of time. What I learned from the reading that I didn’t know before was that the Western railroads were primary carriers of grain, other agricultural produce, livestock, coal, lumber and minerals. Also seeing the prices that the farmers shipped their products for, and what they paid for the freights rates was very interesting. Overall, if the railroads wouldn’t have been built in a time when there was so little

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.

Railroads were faster and cheaper than canals to construct, and they did not freeze over in the winter. Steamboats played a vital role in the United States economy as well. They stimulated the agricultural economy of the west by providing better access to markets at a lower cost. Farmers quickly bought land near navigable rivers, because they could ship their products out to other countries. Due to the foreign trade it helped strengthen the trade relationship between New England and the Northwest. The transportation development had many positive economic changes in the United States.

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

American family farmers produced goods for the global economy; however, after 1870, the depression struck the nation, meaning that the produce families grew for the market and economy would be sold for at a lower price. A family who had contributed themselves to the nation’s economy would find themselves in an event of possibly, and most likely, losing their farm since at that time farming insurance wasn’t available. Ownership of farms were not secure or stable during this time of depression.

The Northern and Southern sections of the US had various economical differences which led to the Civil War. During that time period, the Northern part of the country’s economy was heavily based on industrial practices, in comparison to the Southern economy which was founded on agricultural practices. In the map of Railroads in 1860, railroads were heavily located in the Northern part of the US compared to the South because the Northern economy demands the need for railroads in order to transport the

We grew domestically, but we were also able to supply the market with new materials. A 2014 study represents major imports and exports. The data portrayed by Document F, suggests 329 million tons of exports and 171 million tons of imports. As manufacturing increased, railroads were an opportunity to transport these materials more efficiently. By exporting goods by railroad, we were able to share materials found in America with countries across the world. Farmers also benefited from railroads because they could could ship raw materials at a low

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

Richard White’s 2011 book titled Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America is about the corrupt and mismanaged transcontinental railroads and bold arguments of the story how they came and went. In this book White describes how the construction of the transcontinental railroads across the US in the late nineteenth century would change America socially, economically, and politically. He also describes the companies that built these railroads and argues with three main points on why they were corrupt companies. First I’d like to go over the three different ways that the railroads would affect America, socially, economically, and politically.

In conclusion during the years 1865 and 1900 technology, economic and government policies changed american agriculture

In the period 1865-1900, technology, government policy, and economic conditions all changed American agriculture a great deal. New farming machinery had a large role in the late 19th century, giving farmers the opportunity to produce many more crops than they had ever been able to previously. The railroads had an enormous influence on agriculture. They were able to charge the farmers large fees, expenses that farmers barely had enough to cover, in order to transport their goods throughout the expansive country. The booming industry also changed American agriculture, creating monopolies and gaining incredible wealth with which the farmers simply could not compete. Economically, the monetary policy along with the steadily dropping prices of

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.

After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, many people started to migrate west for more land, but there were a few problems with this new region. They were not connected to an ocean or a significant road system that was connected to the north, east, or south. The Market Revolution was new ways to get raw materials and new ways to transport them. In the Midwest, there was only one good way to travel, down the Mississippi River. The problem was people couldn’t travel back up the river so it took months to walk back home. After the Market Revolution, steamboats were invented which lead to less time taken, more goods could be shipped, and the westerners being able to use other rives to get to other regions of the country. Additionally, revolutionary technology in farming was emerging including the McCormick Reaper and the steel plow. The Reaper was a horse-drawn mechanical cuter intended to cut wheat made in the early 1830s. The steel plow was made to cut through the strongest prairie sod. This was needed because the ground in the West was tougher than the ground in the East and all of the other plows of that time kept breaking. Both types of new technology increased production by 75% after 20 years and impacted the cities of the West including Chicago and

In 1890 clergyman Washington Gladden wrote an article called “The Embattled Farmers”. In it he blamed the ruin of the farmers on “protective tariffs, trusts…speculation in farm products, over-greedy middlemen, and exorbitant transportation rates.”

The North’s economy was based on manufacturing goods and was industrial. As the years went to go on by more railroads were being used. “From 5,000 miles in 1848, railroad track mileage grew to 30,000 by 1860, with most of the construction occurring in Ohio, Illinois, and other states of the old Northwest” (Foner,479). The railroads were an immense help for the North to help with the manufacturing goods being traded around the United States. The population did not live in large cities but in towns and rural areas but most of the population were not focused agriculture, they were more focused into manufacturing because of the industrial revolution. “The majority of the population still lived not in large cities but in small towns and rural areas, lay within reach. Yet the majority of the northern workforce no longer labored in agriculture, and the industrial revolution was spreading rapidly” (Foner,479). The population knew that the industrial revolution would be a huge benefit for the North’s Economy. Thus, they adopted the practices of manufacturing goods and trading. Coal mining and iron manufacturing was spreading quickly because of the railroads being expanded. The North’s economy helped them for many years.