Within the years 1865 and 1900, changes in farming allowed for the increased production of crops such as wheat, corn and cotton. Technology allowed the Great Plains to be opened to agriculture. Perhaps the most important advances were John Deere's steel plow (which made it much easier to break the thick and heavy soil of the area) and barbed wire (which could keep livestock out of fields). Also, according to Document A, in 1870, the production of wheat was 254 million bushels, cotton had a production of 4,352 million bushels and 1,125 million bushels of corn were produced. By 1900, the production of wheat, cotton and corn had increased to 599 million bushels, 10,124 million bushels and 2,662 million bushels respectively. This is the direct…
2007 DBQ – Because of the political, industrial, and economic challenges that the farmers were forced to face, American agriculture suffered during the late nineteenth century.…
By taking full advantage of the technological advances that occurred between 1865 and 1900, Americans began to inhabit what was believed to be the inhabitable West. This caused an agricultural revolution in these new territories, as production of many staple crops moved westward. Farmers that chose to make this move became aggravated by the government policy and economic conditions that ultimately seemed to inhibit their success.…
Documents A-H reveal some of the problems that many farmers in the late nineteenth century(1880-1900)saw as threats to their way of life.(a)explain the reasons for agrarian discontent and(b)evaluate the validity of the farmers' complaints.…
UNITED STATES HISTORY SECTION II Part A (Suggested writing time—45 minutes) Percent of Section II score—45 Directions: The following question requires you to construct a coherent essay that integrates your interpretation of Documents A-J and your knowledge of the period referred to in the question. High scores will be earned only by essays that both cite key pieces of evidence from the documents and draw on outside knowledge of the period. 1. Analyze the ways in which technology, government policy, and economic conditions changed American agriculture in the period 1865–1900. In your answer be sure to evaluate farmers’ responses to these changes.…
When technological advancements gave possibility to mass production, also called Fordism, the American agriculture system has ushered in a new era of rationality and standardization in production. In a profit-driven and efficiency-oriented, farming was gradually getting mechanical, chemical, and biotechnological. In addition to delivering the knowledge and techniques to farms, economists found “it was necessary to decontextualized the farm enterprise from the community and household setting in which it was embedded” (Lyson, 2004). There used to be mostly family labor in family farming. In order to overcome the problems in labor division and transform farming into a fully functional assembly line, social relations must be separate from the production and viewed as “externalities”. Thanks to three agricultural revolutions, in late twentieth century an increase in production can be finished with less labor as well as less…
Farming originally became an attractive occupation because of the successful cultivation of the Great Plains. Settlers were attracted by the short grass pastures for cattle and sheep, the sod of the plains, and by the meadowlands of the mountains that could be found in this region. An influx in rainfall after the 1870s turned the formerly barren plains into workable farmland. The initial journey westward for farmers was by wagon or cart. These journeys were often very difficult and dangerous (Doc E). Climate and the threat of territorial Native Americans in the West made the journeys last for long, grueling months (Doc H). Also, the idea of the farmer's lifestyle was that of the sturdy, independent farmer. However, as drought and debt plagued the farmlands of the Great Plains in the late nineteenth century, fewer farmers sought to be independent and more sought to be commercial (Doc C). The lifestyle of the commercial farmer was reasonably better and less self-sufficient than that of the independent farmer; however, they were still plagued by overproduction and economic distress. The settlement of farmers also contributed to the development of the west in different ways. Farmers helped to create new markets and new outposts of commercial agriculture in the Great Plains for the nation's growing economy. The independent farmer began by cultivating the land and selling to national markets…
Offers of free land under the Homestead Act of 1862 that promised 160 acres to any citizen who settled for a period of 5 years. The construction of the transcontinental railroad facilitated the migration of settlers into the territories. Increasing industrial consolidation occurred between 1870 and 1900. Blizzards, tornadoes, grasshoppers, hailstorms, drought, prairie fires, accidental death, and disease were a few of the many struggles that settlers faced in their migration to the west. The railroads were granted huge swaths of land by both the federal and state governments and actively sold the land for profit to speculators. Speculators made buying land difficult for settlers heading west as they inflated the price of the best quality land.…
The Great Plains has many agricultural activities and has a high agricultural sector in North America despite the dry climate, poor soils, and low vegetation. Many settlers moved to the Great Plains when farming became the largest economic sector in the region during the 19th and 20th centuries. The Great Plains economy became dependent on its primary sector, which this dependency brought the Great Plains vulnerable to decisions of distinct financial institutions, governments, and transportation authorities. By the 1890’s, many homesteaders and farmers abandon their lands due to the drought and the Great economic depression at the beginning of the 1890’s. Also, many farmers leave the Great Plains during the Great Depression in the 1930’s. The…
The European settlers, who first arrived at the Great Plains, found strong grasslands that held the fine-grained soil in place in spite of the long regular droughts and occasional heavy rains. A large number of the travelers settled down in this area and built farms and ranches. These lands used led to soil exposure and great erosion. The cattle ranches were very pleasing for the settlers; this led to overgrazing and humiliation of the soil. Farmers began to plow the natural grass cover and plant their own crops. Without the original root systems of the grass to anchor the soil, much of it blew away. The wide row crops were very dreadful because between the crops, the land was kept bare; as a result, this area was open to the elements.…
“We've transformed agriculture into something that needs far less labor and a lot more capital and technology, and a lot of people have been displaced as a result,” says John Cromartie, a population researcher at the USDA. “In a sense, the Great Plains is a victim of its own success, because…
The Homestead Act (1862): On May 20, 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act to provide travelers with 160 acres of public land. In return, the settlers would have to live there and improve the land for at least five years. This Act caused distribution of about eighty million acres of land to the public. With this great offer hundreds of people decided to pack their bags and move to the west.…
By the 1900 's, settler 's who came for gold, and had failed began farming. But the success of agriculture is dependant on surplus of water. This triggered a new demand for irrigation. Public and private companies irrigated the land to fulfill the need.…
In 1909, the federal government passed the Homestead Act. Thousands of families abandoned their daily lives in order to jump at the opportunity to own free land. As stated in the background essay, “What Caused the Dust Bowl?”, in order to keep their claim…
In the eighteenth century a major change in farming came about, it was called “enclosures.” Rich farmers came up with this new idea which would finish with a number of rights farmers in general had, such us common land and the open field system. Being able to enclosed an area of land meant that the owner had a significantly large land and the money to fence it. This new system brought a number of changes which were beneficial for some farmers and detrimental for others.…