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Farming In The Late 1800s

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Venturing out to the Western Frontier in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s presented a vast opportunity for many, and a new way of life for millions: farming. Farming provided people with a way to begin a new life, that involved tough labor and long hours, but with the chance to put your destiny into your own hands and make it rich, drawing many people out West for the adventure. Pushing out the Native Americans, the United States Government tried to fill the land out west as fast as they possibly could, with Whites, who had hopes of making it rich through farming. Projects such as the Homestead Act of 1862, encouraged people to make the journey out West, offering 160 acres of free land to a family for a $25 registration fee, and a promise to live there for five years and make improvements to the land. …show more content…

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

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Before the 19th century, farming was done by hand and by using small tools. The Market and Industrial Revolutions brought about lots of new inventions that benefitted agriculture. Very few people changed American agriculture more than Cyrus McCormick did in the 1800’s. His invention, the McCormick mechanical reaper, revolutionized farming by putting together many parts involved in harvesting crops into one machine. The mechanical reaper was a revolutionary farming tool that saved effort and time for farmers by allowing them to more efficiently harvest and cut

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From 1865 to 1900 agriculture was at war, shifting from small, individual farms to larger commercialized farms because of the devaluing of currency, competition from corporate farms with more land and better technology, and government policies that proved detrimental to those clinging to old ways of life. To escape debt and seek profit in new lands, many farmers started working westward but so did corporations looking to expand. Because of westward expansion, companies like the union pacific railroad company built railroads that connected lands all across the U.S. and earned 10 miles of land in either direction of the railroad. This land put the railroad in control of many western lands and in control of the prices of land, travel and resource transportation.

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634 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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The western area of the modern day United States remained largely unoccupied by American settlers for the first century of the country’s existence. The slow colonization was due to a variety of factors preventing successful, efficient, and safe occupation of the area. Likely one of the most influential factors was a simple logistical problem: traversing the continent prior to the advent of mechanized, overland transportation was extremely difficult, if not dangerous. This was not the only issue affecting would-be western settlers, but it was the first necessary challenge to overcome before any consideration of establishing a homestead. The development of a railroad network was the most important limiting factor in western settlement, and the

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By 1890, however, that number swiftly grew to more than twice that amount (B). This opened up more opportunities to transport produce and meat. However, farmers were easily taken advantage of by the railroad companies, who often charged unreasonable rates for transportation. It wasn’t until after 1900 when trust busting would become a thing, so farmers were out of luck until then. The Homestead Act was a godsend to most farmers.

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Following the Civil War, westward migration increased rapidly; this was mainly due to acts such as the Homestead Act, which provided 160 acres of land for anyone who settled on it for a period of five years, the Morrill Act, and the Transcontinental Railroad, which ignited the transportation revolution. Nevertheless, life was difficult for farmers in the west, as they faced droughts, severe weather, and loneliness, leading many to leave their Western homesteads. However, often the greatest difficulty for farmers was competing with industrial farming, large corporations, and the global economy. As production increased and global prices decreased, many farmers fell into poverty, burned with debt they could not pay off due to deflation. As farmers

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In the 1890-1920 farmers faced falling prices. Many farmers faced debt and foreclosure. Works faced tactics that led to defeat. That’s just a few things that lead to these other issues I’m going to talk about throughout these next few paragraphs. I’m going to talk about how they happened and how they changed.

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There the march of settlement and exploitation continued, propelled by a lust for land and a passion for profit. Between 1870 and 1900, Americans settled more land in the West than had been occupied by all Americans up to 1870. Conflicts over land ownership, religion, and culture, combined with broken promises by the U.S. government, moved the Indian

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a) Farming in New England was not as important in the Southern colonies, New England colonies imported agricultural products, but Southern colonies exported agricultural products. New England were more about shipping, fishing, and natural sources were more important to them than agricultural crops; because soil in New England wasn’t good enough for growing crops. however in the South, plantation owners, for production of their crops such as; tobacco, cotton, and sugar, used slaves as for their labors. b) New England colonies was more industrialized than the southern colonies. New England colonists had a strong family work ethic, birth rates were high, and education was valued.

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Farmers were affected mainly by the drought, competition, and the reduced spending of consumers. There was significantly more farmers during the 1930’s, approximately 24.8 percent of Americans lived on farms. Given this, the importance of farmers was high because they had serious effects on spending, employment, and production of goods. The drought appeared in the US and lasted for a couple of years. With it, brought little rainfall and high winds that destroyed the crops which made it hard to regrow because due to the high winds the soil became light and not fertile enough.

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There are many things that have changed in farming between the late 1800s and now, But there is also many things that still stay the same. For example, People in the late 1800s and people now both grow the same types of crops. In the article, it says “Back in the 1800s, many of the crops grown in this country were used to feed farm animals, and that’s still pretty much true today. Most of our field corn is used for animal feed; it gets shipped by train all across the country. ” said Ryder Staples (Press 18).

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470 Words | 2 Pages

Factors such as jobs, an abundance of cheap land, and ships were offering low cost trips to America. The industrial period called for a demand in laborers, so there were plenty of jobs. With the Homestead Act of 1862, immigrants could get 160 acers of land to bring up and improve it over a period of five years (Keene 440). The trip to America, though cheap, was not easy. The immigrants had to sleep in the area below the deck.

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638 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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508 Words | 3 Pages

This act allowed settlers to claim 160 acres of free land. The people who claimed the land had to pay a $5 dollar registration fee and promise to farm the land for a minimum of 5 years. “Going west” inspired thoughts of land, wealth and freedom. The transcontinental railroad allowed for ease of access to this free land. The railroad cut a 6 month wagon ride into a 7 day train ride.

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In the late nineteenth century, American farmers largely faced a number of the same issues: Decreasing population numbers and changes in agricultural economics. Farming had faced increasing commercialization. Northern and Western farmers often grew single cash crops for the market. Farming itself became dependent upon increasing mechanization, thereby raising the debt and economic strain upon their households. The rising costs associated with running farms were accompanied by decreasing profits from falling prices.

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