Between 1865 and 1900 technology, economic conditions, and government policy influenced American Agriculture greater than it ever had before. Technologically, Railroads, factories, and farm equipment changed American agriculture by allowing the production of farmed goods to be increased substantially, while economic conditions caused the prices of these goods to go down and then fluctuate. Farmers hurting from the economic disarray began influencing the laws being passed to help them in their economic troubles. Because of the influence of technology, government policy, and economic conditions between the 1865 and 1900 American agriculture was affected.
Technology in this time period allowed for more crops to be produced. The use of new farm equipment was one of the things that generated more production. Document D shows a combine, a piece of farm equipment that harvests grain, being pulled by many horses. The use of the combine to trigger an increase in agricultural production as shown in Document A. Also with the invention of the grain elevator more farmers had the ability to store grain in bulk. Another technological advancement that developed during this time would be the railroad system. The railroads linked the farms to the big cities as shown in Document B. “Cowboys”, usually in Texas, herded cattle hundreds of miles along cattle trails, such as the Chisholm Trail, and the western trail, to cow towns along railroads. A drawback to the railroads, though, would be the “Robber Barons”, such as C. Vanderbilt, who had monopolistic power over the railroads. Things like cattle would be taken to factories more likely in Chicago as depicted in Document F. The packaged meat would then go into a railroad car that was possibly refrig...
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...ople did was urge the government to open land in Oklahoma. Oklahoma was home to many Indian reservations. These Indian reservations take up a lot of land. R.W. McAdams wanted to shrink land given to Indians for their reservations. The government opened up land, but with a clause. Anyone who tried to claim the land before the given date could not get that land. This clause was known as the “sooner” clause. These government policies opened up land and made things fairer to farmers, the people who make up the agricultural industry. They also let political parties know that the poor farmer needed to be heard too.
Advancement in technology brought more crops by enabling farmers to harvest more crops with less work and allowing them to store those crops. Though the economy did not favor the agriculture industry, it caused farmers to come together and improve the industry.
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Show MoreThrough 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.
New technologies not only allowed farming to become more efficient, but made the process of shipping crops west much easier. The most important innovation in farming itself was the horse-drawn combine, which required many horses to operate, but allowed wheat, a popular crop to grow in the west, to be harvested en masse. (Document D) However, railroads were also incredibly important for farmers, as they allowed Wheat, cotton, and corn to be transported across the country
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.
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.
The growth of agriculture and railroads in Texas and in the United States helped form our economy today. Railroads today pass through a lot of Texas, and even in big cities like Houston or Dallas. Since there are so many farms and open farmland (especially in south and west Texas), railroads can carry the produce and livestock to their destination. James Watt invented the first steam engine in about 1769, and from then on, railroads were a must for transportation, since cars had yet to be invented. Railroads began to be built before the Civil War. It originally took about 6 months to get from the west of the US to the east, but now it only took 7 days. With railroads expanding all across the country, agriculture was affected in a mostly positive way. Now, crops and other goods could be transported by train anywhere in the US, and fast.
Maturity is a coming of age when a person is growing emotionally and mentally. Maturity is gained by experiences and decision-making, thus learning from mistakes. This is evident in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Through characterization and symbolism Lee displays maturity.
The American culture was built upon farming and agriculture but since the end of the civil war and the abolition of slaves, things have changed dramatically to the American lifestyle. This time brought on the Industrial Revolution which sparked many factories and new ways of transportation across America. There were many acts passed to encourage the agricultural lifestyle still such as the Homestead Act of 1862, the Timber Culture Act of 1873, the Desert Land Act of 1877, and the Timber and Stone Act passed in 1878. As a result of these acts, farm income dropped and new machines and methods or systems to farm such as sharecropping and tenant farming became available and made it much easier to increase crop yields. The people who had the smaller farms, uncultivated land, or limited resources could not compete against the farms who were bigger, better, and more modernized with the new technology. After many people failed on the farms, they were seen heading to t...
In the 1920s the American agricultural complex embraced the new technologies being developed. The internal combustion engine brought about new tractors and more sophisticated combines and harvesters. These new machines made it possible for
The Market Revolution, from 1790 to 1840, inspired by the developments of commercialization, industrialization and the advances in transportation altered the lives of Americans in areas such as labor, transportation, commercialization, family life, new values and the new middle class. American entrepreneurs with new technology created an entirely different economy which shaped and affected all other aspects of society. The Market Revolution gradually shifted society from a rural agricultural lifestyle to the focus of work in the urban cities as it is today. While the vast majority of American citizens participated in agriculture and farming in 1800, the percent of farmers working in 2013 is less than 1 percent: this is the everlasting effect of the Market Revolution.
Economic growth was the foremost force driving the rigorous transformation of the West following 1865. One major industry reconstructed the West, farming. While the tendency of the period was expansion and gain, the actuality for many farmers was conflict, defeat, and failure. Farmers faced irregular weather tendencies, which brought high levels of rainfall and drought causing hardships. In addition to the irregular weather, "swarms of insects such as grasshoppers attacked their crops" (Keene, 452). Another struggle that farmers encountered was the variation of the prices of their crops. For example, "in the 1880s, wheat farmers on the Plains saw a price fall due to competition with less expensive wheat grown in Russia, South America, Canada, and Australia" (Keene, 452).
With the economic system, the south had a very hard time producing their main source “cotton and tobacco”. “Cotton became commercially significant in the 1790’s after the invention of a new cotton gin by Eli Whitney. (PG 314)” Let alone, if they had a hard time producing goods, the gains would be extremely unprofitable. While in the North, “In 1837, John Deere patented a strong, smooth steel plow that sliced through prairie soil so cleanly that farmers called it the “singing plow.” (PG 281).” Deere’s company became the leading source to saving time and energy for farming as it breaks much more ground to plant more crops. As well as mechanical reapers, which then could harvest twelve acres a day can double the corn and wheat. The North was becoming more advanced by the second. Many moved in the cities where they would work in factories, which contributed to the nation’s economic growth because factory workers actually produced twice as much of labor as agricultural workers. Steam engines would be a source of energy and while coal was cutting prices in half actually created more factories, railroads for transportation, and ships which also gave a rise in agricultural productivity.
From the expanding of railroads country wide, to limiting laws on the goods farmers sold and transportation of the goods,to starvation of the economy, agriculture began to take its own shape from 1865 through to 1900 in the United States.
The time period between 1880’s and 1900’s was generally good for politics. The U.S did not face the threat of war and many of the citizens were living peacefully. However, as time went by, the farmers in America found that life was becoming very rough for them. The crops they planted such as, wheat, cotton, etc. were once the sustenance of the agriculture industry, but now they were selling at such a low price that it was hard for farmers to make a profit. Rather many of the farmers were falling deep into debt. Furthermore, the improvement in transportation helped the foreign market gain an upper hand. Farmers often had to pay rebates and drawbacks to railroad companies to ship their goods. Railroad companies used rebates to win over the large business owners and made up the loss in profit by charging smaller shippers way more. During the last twenty years of the nineteenth century, farmers considered monopolies, trusts, railroad, and loss in silver backed dollar as threats to their agrarian lifestyle. Overall, the farmers blamed their problems on two things; the money supply, and the railroads which were valid complaints.
What was the nature of the urban and market development during the mid-19 century? This refers to the term the “Market Revolution”, for the many economic and social changes that occurred between 1812 and 1860s (Schultz, 2010). During a time when an enormous number of farmers chose to avert from being self-sufficient to focus on a single growing crop that could be sold at the market from assistance by an abundant transportation, communication, and technological innovations.
The farming economy was greatly helped by the expansion of the railroad system. The railroad became one of the main and most efficient ways to transport farmers produce. This was especially helpful to farms in remote locations. The expanded railroad system enabled farmers to produce more crops because of the greater potential shipping locations that became available. This also made products such as corn and grain available to locations that the crop wasn't produced in. It made things that used to be a luxury to some regions a common item to have.