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 addition, influential in the struggles of the American farmers were the Indians who constantly struggled with the white invaders.
As is displayed in document B, the railroads covered the United States by 1890. The purpose of this document is to show the sprawling of the national railroad service and just how dependent the railroads were of outside influence. In
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The land was tough, and profits were minimal compared to the costs of farming and getting one’s product to mark. Within document D, a landowner tells his audience of sharecroppers that whatever they make essentially half of the profit. Eventually, the debt that begins to loom over all the heads of farmers leads to the creation of the populist party, and a cry for inflation with the silver dollar. Farmers wanted to easily pay off their debts, and the result was the popularity of the silverite William Jennings Bryan. In document G, he speaks to an audience, convincing them not to “crucify mankind on a cross of gold.” His intended purpose was to sway voters into electing him for president, as he was running for election against William
It was May 10th, 1869. The presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad lines met at Promontory, Utah to declare the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. Spanning over 9,000 miles of track and built almost entirely by hand in just 6 years, the railroad was like nothing the nation had ever seen before. Not long after the railroad was completed, changes began rippling across the country. Economic, political, and social policies began to shift and transform.
Chapter eight is about William Jennings Bryan. Bryan made a speech called “Cross of Gold”, which had a strong reaction with the audience and included religious imagery. He cared about politics and his religion equally. The silver campaign of 1896 was a big controversy among the people. People who were free-silver thought that currency reform would end them.
Court cases were still going on due to the railroads irritation that they could not charge what they wanted. People started their own way of helping out against the over priced land and unfair protest. Those in small towns and cities would do a stock trade in the middle of town, scared they would one day run out of the supplies they were use to getting from farmers all over the nations. There were less food, clothing, and other supplies in stores. There were Great Demands during the time of the Grange so sell prices started to go up.
During the 19th century there was a tremendous amount of attention from the rest of the nation of the issues of land and Indian removal. These issues were centered around economic problems or developments that might arise as a result of Indian removal, Humanitarian issues, and finally political troubles that are caused by this act. During this time period senator Thomas Benton who represented Missouri wanted remove Native Americans off their land, he was a firm believer in extending the area of slavery. He was a huge advocate for “converting Indian soil to slave soil” as it a had a positive economic impact on the state and led onward on the march for cotton cultivation. The early and middle portion of the 19th century proved to be a difficult time for American Indians as they were constantly rattled by acts that led to them to emigrate their native land.
In P. Neimark, & P. Rhoades Mott (Eds.), The Environmental Debate: A Documentary History (2nd ed.). Amenia, NY: Grey House Publishing. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.apus.edu/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/ghed/railroads_and_westward_expansion/0?institutionId=8703 Railroad History Time Line 1860. (n.d.). Retrieved July 22, 2017, from
Prices were dropping quickly and farmers were getting to a point where they could not drop their prices anymore and still get a profit. An example of this is “in 1920 wheat sold for $2.94 a bushel in Chicago. In 1929 it commanded only $1.00, and by 1932 it sold for a scant $.30” (Baughman). President Hoover hoped to fix this problem by enforcing the Federal Farm Board (FFB) in 1929. The FFB did produce more cotton and wheat but failed to improve the problem of over-productivity.
Due to the success from the production of tobacco this allowed farm owners to acquire more indentured servants. Need for more land created conflicts with the Native Americans which meant the decrease of the Native population. As the rich farm owners acquired more fertile land the lower class and free indentured servants were assumed to obtain the overused or less fertile
The late 19th Century was a time in the United States of America where the majority of the country 's wealth belonged to few men. Marked in history as the “Gilded Age”, this was a time of immense industrial growth through building factories and territorial expansion through the development of railroads. At the helm of this industrial growth were men such as J.P. Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and John D. Rockefeller, railroad and factory owners who experienced incredible financial success during this time period. While these men prospered, most of the country was poor and struggled to survive despite working full time for the railroads and factories. “While the rich wore diamonds, many wore rags.
Domesticity is the ideology that one’s home should be distinct from the rest of the world, and that these separate spheres should be associated with gender roles. Moreover, a man’s role should be to work outside the home and a woman’s role should be to stay in the home to offer the family emotional and moral support. The cannon of domesticity developed in New England after industrialization and the market economy emerged in the mid-nineteenth century. Domesticity developed after industrialization because many people, presumably men, went to work outside the household, as opposed to doing labor near the home. Therefore, the cannon of domesticity served to counter the ideals of the working world, which were seen as corrupt and exploitative, by calling for women to uphold the traditional values of family and morality in the home.
Because of the rapid settlement of the western land in the 1850s, Congress wanted to enforce a transcontinental railroad to replace America’s current weak transportation system—horse-drawn carriages were still used and soldiers often had to walk. But due to the constant competition between the Northern members and the Southern
In the late 19th century, America underwent several changes that transformed the American way of life. The American Civil war played a significant role in the process of urbanization and industrialization, the rise of the corporate powers, and an increase in the wealth of rich people. The expansion of America towards the west was one of the significant reasons that contributed towards these changes. It was the time full of opportunities, and many people understood the importance of it. Many industrialists such as Andrew Carnegie made huge amount of money by investing in the steel and expanding the railroads.
In a time when America was coming out of the bloodiest war that was ever fought, against themselves, The Civil War, and when America looked overseas for a new frontier with Imperialism. It is in this context that America started to grow westward with farm land and in industry with the million of workers, but America still felt growing pains. Two significant ways in which farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age (1865-1900) were the formation of organizations to protect farmers, and the creation of labor unions and the use of strikes to protect the workers. One significant way in which farmers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age (1865 - 1900) was the formation of organizations to protect farmers. During Westward Expansion farmers fell victims to the low pricing of the crops.
During the Revolutionary period and the time of the New Nation, several changes were beginning in America. During the Revolutionary period, taxes were being imposed on the colonists by the British, which led the colonists to reject the monarchy of Britain, and create a rather weak government. After the Revolutionary period came the new nation, where political parties emerged. The settlers known as yeoman farmers in the eighteenth-century lived in the backcountry of the Americas. The yeoman were typically subsistence farmers who grew enough crops to sustain their families.
Poverty and corruption are only a few examples of the hardships faced by farmers in the late 19th century. When crop failures caused an economic downfall, farmers began growing an abundance of wheat to sell for a high price. When the economy recovered, however, the value of wheat dropped significantly, forcing many farmers to mortgage their land. Suddenly, farmers were faced with deflation and debt. Agrarian discontent, which was farmers’ dissatisfaction with the way things were going for them, was a direct result of these aforementioned struggles.
A farmer named Bill Bryson once said, “ There are only three things that can kill a farmer: lighting, rolling over in a tractor, and of old age.” Farmers during the Dust Bowl were evicted from their land, leading them to head West, to California, in hopes of finding work, maybe even acquiring their own farms that could not be taken away. In chapter 11 of the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the author’s purpose are to show the contrast between small farmers and “great” agribusiness owners and also to display how a land and farmer are nothing without each other. Throughout chapter 11 Steinbeck implies the differences of a small farmer’s devotion, respect, and connection to the land in contrast with the great owners, who view their land