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Farmers late 1800s
American agriculture 1860-1900
Farmers late 1800s
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While laissez-faire enabled corporate powers to burgeon, farmers and social workers did not benefit from the bureaucratic government. American agriculture endured many hardships during the Gilded Age and was profoundly affected by the technological advancements, government policies, and economic conditions between 1865 and 1900. The declining position of American Farmers was the corollary of novel technology and mechanized agriculture. Because subsistence farming was no longer a viable option, farmers transformed their estates into commercial businesses and became heavily dependent on machinery and producing at commercial scales. Much of the new technology farmers invested in for example, steel plows, harrows, grain binders, threshers, windmills,
Farmers of the late 19th century faced several struggles as they attempted to feed themselves and a growing nation. Though they were undeniably crucial to the country, the country often abandoned them to fend against their problems themselves. These desertments lead to the creation of several movements, such as The Grange, and of political parties such as the Populists. The challenges of American farmers were often intertwined and difficult to get to one cause of the problem. Increasing railroad use and inflated prices hurt the farmers tremendously, which then lead to widespread debt and the cry for silver to be used in the money standard, which then resulted in overproduction of goods to try to overcompensate for the burgeoning debt, but only made it worse.
In the late 1800s, the Transcontinental Railroad was constructed and that transformed the United States in many ways. This railroad helped expand the United States out to the west that could sew the country together and be connected in some sort of way. The Transcontinental Railroad impacted the United States economically by populating new areas for agriculture and mining, taxing railway shipping, and by importing and exporting. To start off with, a reason for an economic impact is the way the railroad helped populate new land that can open for mining, agriculture, and retail. Due to being able to mine, farm, and sell more helps the country expand in valuable resources found in the country, while also being able to sell food and clothes the
With more railroads being built, it helped to establish the United States, and industries in the West used the railroads to connect industry to retail markets in Eastern United States. Without railroads, it would have been hard for the Western States to expand.
What were the roots of the farmers’ political revolt of early 1890s? Why were they unsuccessful in bringing about greater social justice for farmers and industrial workers (the Populist Party?)? Farmers faced increasing international competition during the 1890s as well as decreasing profit. The expanding railroad industry majority impacted the livelihood of farmers by charging more for transporting their products even over short distances.
During 1865-1900, agriculture went through many changes through economic, social, and government circles. The expansion of the Wild West from the east coast to the west coast opened up many opportunities, but like in urban settlements, also fell under the whims of monopolies and big business. Arid areas like the Prairies also impacted agriculture. Undoubtedly, American agriculture was irrevocably impacted by all these factors. Before 1890, railroads were limited mainly to the east coast and only a few main lines.
The railroad replaced stage coaches and wagon trains and provided a quicker and safer means of transportation for both people and goods. The section titled “Results of the Railroad” of the textbook explains that “The transcontinental railroad increased both economic growth and the population in the West”. Further in the passage our textbook states that “...wood, metals, meat and grain...” were sent from the west and in return “eastern businesses shipped manufactured goods to the west”. With the increased ease of moving materials and expanding commerce, more and more people chose to move west.
The building and growth of railroads from 1865 to 1900 played a very crucial role in American society which cannot be underemphasized. Railroads brought about many important happenings that that helped in the development of America and its people, its growth commenced the transportation of goods from one place to another thus it help people carry out business transaction in a quick and reliable way as opposed to what they were accustomed to before the railroads growth which was harder to move goods from one state to another and this caused many inconveniences that resulted to the wastage of time, capital and resources. Furthermore the growth of railroads brought about new dwelling places as people wanted to settle down in places that are connected to the railroads and that made it simpler for people to commute from place to place without wasting much time and this also brought about urbanization as people became many and this contributed to the growth of the economy and develop the country at large because people where now more than ever ready to engage in dealing with each other because
During this time period there were great technological advancements. One of these advancements was railroads. Railroads were a positive change because it helped transport people and goods across the country. Businesses depended greatly upon transportation in order to transport their goods. Despite the positives of railroads, there were negatives.
To elaborate, the boats, as well as the railroads and roads, would bring a wide variety of goods quicker and cheaper, which would assist farmers, towns and even plantations across the country to get their goods to a market and make more of a profit. Communication was established and would help not only with getting information faster, it would also reduce the cost of physical transit of communication. Finally, we look at the results of commercializing farming and how the transportation would forever change the way farming would be done. Families were affected by this, especially since they had to try and grow everything that needed, now they could grow one to two crops that would grow well in their area and sell what they did not need.
In the early 1920s, farmers took all the opportunities for more production they could think of. Technology started to become a big deal and farmers started to use it more which then technology started to make the need for certain crops and their cost reduced. It was faster and easy to get the crops causing the cost to go down. Which meant that farmers could produce more crops and harvest the crops faster. More farmers started using equipment so they could start producing more crops.
This shows that even though how people grow crops has changed, what people grow and why they grow it is still the same. In addition, The problems that the people in the late 1800s had to deal with are the same as the problems people have
Beginning as a new idea to make transportation faster and increase profit, railroads such as the Transcontinental Railroad, popped up across the United States, but they turned into a corrupt business, charging farming insane rates for transporting their crops. The late nineteenth century was a turn for the worst for almost all small-scale farmers, who struggled to make a profitable living for themselves and provide for their families. The farmers’ plight caused a lot of desperation for change, and through the creation of the Populist Party, the drive for silver coinage, the need to change the railroad system, and the need for banks that provide loans with smaller interest rate, the farmers fought to make their dreams a
Prior to 1930, farmers had to deal with situations of the CPR monopoly, discriminatory freight rates, monopolistic elevator systems, and tariffs. To improve their situation, farmers used tactics by banding together forming various organizations to lobbying the federal politician for change. Another success in improving their situation was the new movement of the Progressive Movement. With this new movement, they achieved success by advocating for a new Farmer’s Platform later known as the New National Policy. The parallels between farming today and the situation faced by farmers in the early 1900s would still be labour intensive in seeding in the spring and harvesting in the fall.
250 years ago, in the late 1700’s, there was less then one billion people in the world, in the late 1800’s there was just over 1.5 billion people in the world, and today in 2017 there are about 7 billion people in the world population. In 2050, it is estimated that there will be 9 billion people in the world (Simmons, 2011). That is a lot of mouths to feed. Decades ago, citizen’s food source was dependent on their farmland and the produce they produced but today humans strive to have the largest supersized foods available. With this influx of people surfacing the earth, it is no doubt that the most important part is to keep all these hungry mouths fed.