Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
economic processes of the 19th centuries
industrialization in the 19th century USA
industrialization in the US essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: economic processes of the 19th centuries
Farmers everywhere in the United States during the late nineteenth century had valid reasons to complaint against the economy because the farmers were constantly being taken advantage of by the railroad companies and banks. All farmers faced similar problems and for one thing, farmers were starting to become a minority within the American society. In the late nineteenth century, industrialization was in the spotlight creating big businesses and capitals. The success of industrialization put agriculture and farmers on the down low, allowing the corporations to overtake the farmers. Since the government itself; such as the Republican Party was also pro-business during this time, they could have cared less about the farmers.
Knowing the fact that industrialization had been really successful during this time, allowed farmers to modernize their techniques. Farmers began to use new farming machinery such as the thresher and reaper, which made the growing of wheat much faster and efficient. However since these tools were too expensive to buy, farmers went to the banks to borrow money. Banks in turn would take advantage of the naïve farmers and raise the interest rates. This would cause the farmers to fall into debt because they would still take the loan from the bank and thought that they would be able to pay them back from their crop profit. Farmers were suffering losses year after year and were forced to have their mortgages foreclosed on, as they saw it, by their Eastern Master. Eventually farmers became the slaves to the Easter Master who ended up taking away everything the farmers had owned. (Doc. D) The complaint of farmers is absolutely valid because the bankers were doing unjust to the farmers. Bankers would let them fall into debt through their high interest rates and then seize everything they owned in court.
Just like the bank, railroad companies also scammed the farmers. The railroads regularly used rebates and drawbacks to help win the business of large shippers, and made up this loss in profit by increasing the cost to smaller shippers such as farmers. However, in many ways, the railroads hurt small shippers and farmers because in some cases the railroad company has promised the farmer a set amount of price. Like in Frank Norris' The Octopus, a farmer is promised a two-cent rate for shipping and then is demanded to give five cents (Doc. H). This is not a justified action because the farmer was lied to and taken advantage of.
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.
One way that eastern businessmen exploited farmers in the west was by owning the land they worked on, and taking most of their profits. Many contracts between businessmen and farmers had clauses such as, “The sale of every cropper’s part of the cotton to be made by me when and where I choose to sell, and after deducting all they owe me and all sums that I may be responsible for on their accounts, to pay them their half of the net proceeds.” (Document E) The conditions that these farmers’ families lived in were disgusting, and were described in a poorly written letter from a farmer’s wife to the governor of Kansas. “we are Starving to death It is Pretty hard to do without any thing to eat in this God for saken country… my Husband went a way to find work and came home last night and told me that we would have to Starve…” (Document H) This shows that not only was literacy uncommon in the west, but more importantly, that when factors out of their control destroyed farmers’ crops, they often
The farmers of the late 1800s had many reasons for being dissatisfied with their situation. Unfair railroad practices, such as rebates and drawbacks, hurt them severely. Even common issues of shortage of money, drought, and mortgages were all issues that hurt farmers economically. The farmers of the period, though, used these issues to change the shape of American politics.
Hard Times’ ‘The Dirty 30s’ ‘The Great Depression’ (Ganzel n. pag.)This quote describes so much about 1930’s especially farming. Farming was hard because there was a really bad drought. Was out they rain no crops could grow. And the crops can't hold the soil together and not blow away. Which was really bad for the soil to blow away. Also the farmers didn't know that the equipment they were using would tear up the soil too much and it would blow away. The farming in the 1930s was bad because of the dust bowl and the price of everything was low.
American farmers found themselves facing hard times after the Civil War. In the West, the railroad had opened up enormous opportunities. Farmers were now able to cultivate land that had previously been to far from the Eastern markets to make a profit. However, that opportunity came at a price. The farmers increasing dependence on the railroads and other commercial interests made them an easy target for exploitative business practices.
During World War I, England’s agricultural economy was badly damaged. This inconvenience for the English was a blessing to American farmers. Since the invention of the combine, and various other mechanical harvesting machines, American farmers could increase their crop yield. In turn they could export the extra crops to England for more money. Once England got back on it’s feet, American farmers could not find any exports for their crops. As they continued to produce more than the American people could consume, the prices of agricultural goods dramatically dropped. By the 1930’s many farmers were in serious need of help, with heavy farm loans and mortgages hanging over their head’s. Nothing had been done to help the farmer’s during The Hoover Administration. So in 1933 as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Secretary of Agriculture, Henry Wallace devised a plan to limit production and increase prices. Which came to be known as the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, also known as the AAA. The AAA was established on May 12, 1933 it was the New Deal idea to assist farmers during the Great Depression. It was the first widespread effort to raise and stabilize farm prices and income. The law created and authorized the Agricultural Adjustment Administration to: Enter into voluntary agreements to pay farmers to reduce production of basic commodities ( cotton, wheat, corn, rice, tobacco, hogs, milk, etc..), to make advanced payments to farmers who stored crops on the farm, create marketing agreements between farmers and middlemen, and to levy processing taxes to pay for production adjustments and market development. Basically the AAA paid farmers to destroy their crops and livestock in return for cash. In 1933 alone cotton farmers were paid $100 million to plow over their cotton crop. Six million piglets were slaughtered by the government after they bought them from farmers. The meat was canned and given to people without jobs. In order for this new bill to work there needed to be money to pay the farmers, this money came from the companies that bought farm products in the form of taxes. While it seemed like a good idea to pay farmers to cut back on crops to lowering the surplus and boost the economy, The Supreme Court found the Act unconstitutional in 1936.
While farmers sold millions of bushels, and bales of wheat, cotton and corn, state legislatures began to see a need to enforce laws upon these farmers and to gain control of their states and its people. Document C gives a good statement of legislature holding down railroads and the goods being transported. Document C states a prairie farmer , "...they carried a law through the Illinois legislature, which provides for the limiting of freight rates by a board of officials appointed for this purpose." Angered by these types of laws, farmers who used these railroads went against the laws in court.
The expansion of the railroad was one of the most significant elements in American economic growth. However, the railroad owners faced extreme competition and needed a way to win business. Therefore, the railroad companies started to use rebates to appeal to larger shippers and to make up for the loss, they would charge extremely high prices for small shippers such as farmers. The railroad companies justified this practice by saying that if they did not use rebates, they would not make enough profit to stay in business. (Doc. G) While the railroads felt that they must use this practice to make a profit, the fa...
For years, farmers had planted crops on the same land and neglected to use crop rotation (Wormser 32). Crop rotation is a method of planting crops in alternating areas to allow soil to regain nutrients and moisture. Farmers had chosen not to do this and instead overplanted their crops to gain a larger surplus. By destroying their land from over planting, farmers had a much harder time growing crops (Wormser 32). They no longer had the enriched soil that plants require. By then, it was too late to rotate the crops, because water evaporated so quickly and no nutrients were left. Reinhardt and Ganzel say that “it was constant work to put food on the table” (Reinhardt Ganzel). As a result of poor soil, farmers had a difficulty growing enough crops for a surplus, which meant they had a hard time selling produce. With little money, farmers had to be self-sustaining, although it was hard to even keep the family fed. farmers doomed themselves by not rotating crops, and the consequences were minimal crops and
Agriculture, the act of farming and cultivating soil to grow certain items, played a large and important role in how each of the four colonial regions were developed and how the regions attained a unique identity.
Most of the reasons concerning agrarian discontent in the late nineteenth century stem from supposed threats posed by monopolies and trusts, railroads, money shortages and the demonetization of silver, though in many cases their complaints were not valid. The American farmer at this time already had his fair share of problems, perhaps even perceived as unfair in regards to the success industrialized businessmen were experiencing. Nevertheless, crops such as cotton and wheat, which were once the staples of an agricultural society, were selling at such low prices that it was nearly impossible for farmers to make a profit off them, especially since some had invested a great deal of money in modern equipment that would allow them to produce twice as many goods. Furthermore, improvements in transportation allowed foreign competition to emerge, making it harder for American Farmers to not only dispose of surplus crop, but to transport crops period. Finally, years of drought in the Midwest and the degeneration of business in the 1890's devastated many of the nation's farmers, and as a result of this agricultural depression' many farm groups, most notably the Populist Party, arose to fight what farmers saw as the reasons for the decline of agriculture.
Farmers experienced both positive and negative effects of industrialization. The main thing that resulted from the growth was a new culture in America in which the majority of people benefited from.
Large corporations are coming in and taking over the farming industry. They are making it almost impossible for small, family operated farms to survive. 'The six and a half million small farms of 1935 decreased to 575,000 by 1998? (Abbey, 2002). The large corporations are using the land like miners-they strip it down and get what they need, but they don't put anything back to it. Studies have shown that the family farms take care of the soil and put back the nutrients they use. There are different anti-corporate farming laws around the country that are trying to protect the small family farming industry.
Throughout the late middle ages, and beyond, England was a relatively stable, prosperous nation, largely free from the petty conflicts and power struggles of the majority of Western Europe. This was due to a multitude of factors which impacted the nobility, but only one which really impacted the general populace: a stable, steady food supply. How was this possible? Again, it can be attributed to a multitude of factors, but I believe one stands out above the rest: the multitude of unique individuals, including such luminaries as Jethro Tull, who introduced new agricultural methods to Britain, which, of course, increased crop yields, and therefore advanced the general health, stability, and tranquility of the feudal and post-feudal peasantry.
Agriculture is quite possibly the most important advancement and discovery that humanity has made. It produces the one thing that we need the most: food. It has been around since 9500 BC, and can be the oldest sign of mankind’s acumen and the development and evolving of our minds and creations. Agriculture has been mastered throughout hundreds of years and is one of our most important resources on Earth, along with water and fossil fuels. Although the older farming methods from ancient times seem somewhat mediocre and barbaric, they were very ingenious and advanced for that time period. Over thousands of years, we have improved the way agriculture is used, how land is cultivated, the various techniques of farming and irrigation, and the tools and mechanics used. Numerous things that we see as aboriginal today, such as using a hand plow, were extremely contemporary in ancient times, and played key roles in the development of man and society, since quick labor was not abundant before this time. We are now extremely advanced in agriculture and irrigation and the tools used to farm and grow and harvest crops. We have learned from our past and ancestors how to grow and evolve in our methods and have advanced forward greatly.