Wilbur: Farmers In The Dark Age Of Society

Arguing that the majority of farmers during the Great Depression benefitted from the government policies produced through President Roosevelt’s New Deal is an inaccurate claim. While history textbooks highlight the improvement of finances for people in rural areas in the United States of America, the personal experiences of family farmers contradict those textbooks. Writers of textbooks about American history should consider looking further into the delicate topic of how the Great Depression effected common farm families. In the West, farmers endured the Dust Bowl. In the North, people in rural areas competed to make a profit. Although statistics show the most economic damage of the Great Depression beginning at the end of 1929, small farm families refer to the effects of the Depression dating back as early as 1925 since government policies mostly benefitted large farm industries as small farms were forced to foreclose.

Growing up on a small family wheat farm in southwestern Oklahoma, I have experienced the harsh conditions of farming firsthand. The job that used to employ the largest amount of people in the United States has lost the support and the respect of the American people. The Jeffersonian Ideal of a nation of farmers has been tossed aside to be replaced by a nation of white-collar workers. The family farm is under attack and it is not being protected. The family farm can help the United States economically by creating jobs in a time when many cannot afford the food in the stores. The family farm can help prevent the degradation of the environment by creating a mutually beneficial relationship between the people producing the food and nature. The family farm is the answer to many of the tough questions facing the United States today, but these small farms are going bankrupt all too often. The government’s policy on farming is the largest factor in what farms succeed, but simple economics, large corporations, and society as a whole influence the decline in family farms; small changes in these areas will help break up the huge corporate farms, keeping the small family farm afloat.

In the late nineteenth century shortly after the Civil War and Reconstruction, farmers in the Midwestern United States found themselves in quite a predicament. During the second industrial revolution of the United States that contained mass introduction of: railroads, oil, steel, and electricity, the risk-taking entrepreneurs of this era took an adventure into the world of cutthroat capitalism. In just a little time, a handful of monopolies arose in all these industries which hurt both the consumer of the product and the producer of the material (Doc. F). Because of the corrupt politicians in Washington DC, the absence of regulation on the monopolies put into place by bribes and greed or moderation from them, and the devious ways of the

As the population of the young United States increased more and more people hungry mouths were asking for food. Farmers had to keep up with new technology but there were also many setbacks in government policy and economic conditions. In the period of 1865-1900, there were many ways in which technology, government policy, and economic conditions changed early American agriculture.

5- Chapter 4: Farmer Power/Chapter 5: History’s Haves and Have Nots A successful civilization was influenced by the surrounding geography and sources of food. Early on, hunter-gatherers were extremely popular because societies were very small and easy to feed. However, as the population size began to increase, it became harder to provide food for all those in the tribe and tame their hunger.

The Farmers from the East were the pioneer settlers in Michigan in the Antebellum Era. They came mainly from New England and New York. They emigrated to Michigan because of the opportunity to purchase land and farm. These pioneers would look into not only the value of the land but what the surroundings offered as well. They wanted to make sure that there were close relations available to receive any necessary supplies and for the sale of their crops. Settlers would either construct a make shift shack to stay in or stay with neighboring folks, until they built their log cabins.

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

Before Revolutionary America, there were a large majority of people who made a living as farm owners, tenants, or hired hands, in which unskilled labored supported such the agricultural workers. (Carrell & Heavrin, 2013). Also, the craftspeople were carpenters, shipwrights, sailmakers, weavers, masons, barrel makers, glass makers, tailors, and shoemakers. It has further been mentioned that prior to trade unions, these workers joined together to maintain monopolies. The first craftspeople were known to be free laborers, which were immigrants who paid their way to the New world, in which they learned certain trades and passed them along to their children (Carrell & Hearvin, 2013). It has also been stated how indentured servants and slaves who

In the late nineteenth century there were many groups of people who experienced rough times during the Gilded Age. These groups involves, farmers, labor workers, and African Americans. Each group were involved in different situations but they all wanted the same thing- change!

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.

In Crevecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer, he argues that a man’s relationship with the land defines his masculinity. His language and tone towards the animals portrays the argument that the land was created for human’s benefit, and they have the right to intervene when needed. However, Crevecoeur’s use of intellectual vocabulary diminishes the persuasion of that argument because it creates a discrepancy between his character, farmer James, and Crevecoeur himself. These letters were made for the intent of advocating for a masculine, patriarchal view of the land around us. With all of these elements added together, despite the usage of vocabulary, Crevecoeur makes a compelling argument.

One of the biggest technological turning points in human population history was the Agricultural revolution. The Agricultural revolution provided a surplus of resources that increased a given population’s survival. This happens when a hunter-gatherer society learns to farm instead of solely depending on hunting for food or other resources. During the Agricultural revolution, with fertile soil and knowledge of climate, the potential of farming could produce a large surplus of resources with carrying capacity. This advancement in resource management increased life expectancy compared to previous hunter gathering societies. Nutrition is the name of the game, which provided people livelihood and health so people could live longer. This means mortality rate decreases via population surviving for longer periods of time. On a graph, population can represent the x value and resources as the y, and both values have a positive correlation. Therefore, producing more resources increases the population growth during this time of social development. During the Agricultural Revolution, a surplus of goods created a social stratification system that made populations more stable than the previous hunter-gatherers. Hm?

Days of Heaven (1978) directed by, Terrence Malick, is a revisionist film that portrays a dystopian agrarian way of life. Populist Agrarian films emerged during the era of the Great Depression. The urbanization of society is depicted negatively whereas rural areas are associated with paradise; however, the remote town of Panhandle, Texas is consumed with darkness by the protagonist's selfish pursuit of prosperity. Days of Heaven is a critically acclaimed film, primarily due to its unsympathetic characters thereby making it challenging for the audience to relate. Agrarian and Western film genres share a quality of the everyday man.

During the late nineteenth century, the agrarian movement evolved into a political force that energized American farmers to voice their political and economic grievances like never before. Although the movement essentially died after William Jennings Bryan's loss of the 1896 Presidential election, many of the reforms they fought for were eventually passed into law.

America — a land known for its ideals of freedom and new opportunities, a nation built under the idea that every man and women is created equal. However, the definition of what makes a person an American is entirely different from what it is that makes up America, itself. J.Hector St. John Crevecoeur, author of Letters from an American Farmer (1782), exposes what he believes makes an American. However, when compared to the standards of what makes an American in today’s world, it seems that becoming an American then was much simpler then, than it is today. The definition of an American is always evolving due to the influences of our changing nation. During a simpler time, Crevecoeur defined an American as someone of European