The Poor Economy Influenced By The Farmers Of New England

Now, as the 1670's and 1680's came along, indentured servants were beginning to live longer lives. (CL) According to Professor Cutter this new class of potential landowners was unable to get land because the rich had already used it all up. (CL) The only land that was now available was Indian land and the rich people of Virginia, selfish and "psychotically" individualistic as they were, were not about to spend their money on a war against the Indians to get land that they would never see the profit of. (CL) So in response to this, the governor of Virginia

The colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut made up the New England colonies. Most of the Europeans in the New England colonies were there to escape the religious persecution they faced in England. They practiced a lot of different things in these colonies compared to the middle and southern and colonies of colonial america.

Despite the flushed predictions of prosperity that had lured new settlers to the plains, the reality was more difficult. The farmers claimed that they did not have enough land, money, and transportation (Doc C). The farmers went into in a never ending cycle if they did not have a good harvest. As Booker Washington explains the farmers had no money so they had to borrow money from the banks which charged 12 to 30 percent interest. The interest the farmers were hit with was nearly impossible to repay so they had to mortgage everything and if the mortgage wasn’t paid the land was foreclosure which led the yeomen to become tenant farmers (Doc B). With periods of drought growing good crops was hard. Leading Economic Sectors shows how the farmers predicament of not being able to make a very

Kenneth Lockridge, A New England Town: The First Hundred Years (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1970)

The Philadelphia society for the promotion of agriculture in 1786, handed out a medal, which said, “venerate the plough” (Document F). This demonstrates how the elite were still “rewarding” the common people who weren’t financially better off than before the revolution. Similarly, in Shay’s Rebellion farmers led by the ex-military officer “[stopped] the courts of justice in several counties…crying out for a paper currency, [or] for an equal distribution of power” (Document G). A particular example of the downfall of American economy was Shay’s rebellion. This represented economic strife that the common people were enduring and ultimately rebelled.

As the wealthy increased their assets in the cities, at the same time, a large class was “impoverished city dwellers.” A huge contrast between the wealthy and the poor were forming and becoming more apparent from the beginning of the eighteenth century in the colonies. The data that was collected on the people who were submitted into poor houses clearly with little “doubt that the third quarter of the eighteenth century was an era of severe economic and social dislocation in the cities, and that by the end of the colonial period a large number of urban dwellers were without property, without opportunity, and except for public aid, without the means of obtaining the necessities.” This evidence of poverty in the colonies is one that Nash tries to point out to support his argument that there was a sharp contrast in the distribution of wealth, and that the masses were at this time more focused on the economy’s downfall of the period than defending for constitutional rights and liberties. Protest sparked as the result of the enormous poverty in the colonies. Frustrated with their living conditions the middle and lower classes protested violently in the cities. During this time of frustration with the economic conditions, “rank had no privileges, as even the lieutenant-governor was shot” in Massachusetts. The wealthy were attacked

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).

New England is the name given to the Northeastern location of the United States, encompassing Massachusetts to Maine. The name “New England” comes from Captain John Smith, famous explorer of the Chesapeake region, who wrote a piece about the abundance of resources and wealth of the region in a propaganda piece, A Description of New England, in 1616. However, the “New England” region that is known today is nowhere near a literal new England. Due to differences in religious beliefs, climate and geography, and economies, the New England colonies were vastly different from their Crown and home. However, a few hundred miles south, the colonies around the Chesapeake were strikingly similar to Britain, due to their social hierarchy, climates, and

Bacon's Rebellion may have served as the first civil uprising within the early settlements of America. Led by Nathaniel Bacon, a militia of armed freedmen, slaves, and poor colonist banded together to fight against a government that they felt was corrupt and did not have their best interests in mind. This paper will examine some of the major causes that led to the rebellion such as the increased westward expansion by the colonists, the civil unrest growing between the social classes, rising taxes, and disputes between colonists and neighboring indian tribes.

Farmers did well after the Civil War and into the 1880s with plentiful rainfall and easy credit from banks. In the 1890s, however, American farmers suffered from drought, poor harvests, restrictive tariff and fiscal policies, low commodity prices, and competition from abroad. A downward swing in the business cycle exacerbated their plight, and many farmers in the Plains filed for

Without the efforts of John Smith, the leader of Jamestown (Virginia’s first colony), a colony of wanting more gold which was founded by the profit driven Virginia Company would have easily failed. The House of Burgesses was a representative self-government that was built in Virginia. But, this was a government that was followed by class and not equality (Doc. H). The wealthy families who held Virginia’s most valuable land, the “first families of Virginia,” ruled the House of Burgesses. These type of wealthy landowners were not answering the needs of the poor. The lack of responding led to Bacon’s Rebellion, when a gang of bankrupt and landless former indentured servants started the attack of the capital of the colony and robbed the homes of the

Economic opportunity was extremely prevalent in the colonies. Factors that heavily influenced the situation were influx of people, triangular trade, and also the New England colonies. An influx of people is beneficial for any economy, and Colonial America was no different. Triangular trade was also how slaves fueled the cultivation of land. The New England colonies were in all sorts of trades, from growing corn to whaling and fishing. All of these factors played a huge role in building a successful economy.

During the colonial era, England founded the 13 colonies. The New England colonial region was established for religious freedom. (Document 1). On the other hand the Southern colonial was settled for money, gold and other riches. There are many unique differences and similarities between New England and the Southern geography, economy and culture. New England and the South had many different philosophies that helped to shape their ways of life.

In the late nineteenth century, many American farmers were experiencing economic insecurity. There were various factors that contributed to why farmers were facing financial hardships in this particular time frame. The fundamental factors were the commercialization, overproduction, and mechanization of agriculture. These factors are by no means all of the driving forces that lead to this time of financial insecurity, but they are large contributors to say the least. After the Civil War, subsistence farming was gradually morphing into commercialized farming. Instead of farming to support oneself or one's family at a minimum level, farmers began leaning towards making large profit off of their crops.

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.”