Give Me Liberty Chapter 1 Summary

After reading Chapter 17 in our history book "Give me Liberty" by Eric Foner, I was fascinated by the farmers Revolt which took place around the late 1800's and dealt with the growing debt, poverty and financial challenges of the farmers in the West and in the South. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that my fathers family had cotton farms in Paducah, Texas and were so poor but rich in land. I felt compelled to learn more and understand about the Farmers Alliance aka Populist Party.

I used to think the banks were supportive of our United States agricultural market especially in the days of the 1800-1900's when farming was an essential element of livelihood and the American way. I learned in this chapter that the Farmers in the West and in the South, who were primarily cotton and wheat farmers found themselves in a troublesome situation in the late 1800's. The farmers had found themselves locked into their land and indebted because of the rising prices primarily due to the expansion of cotton exports and production in other places during the Civil War, along with the merchants, who were exhausting the farmers with high-interest rates and the banks who refused to help. The farmers had to react quickly in order to get help before they lost their land and their farmsteads from the economic insecurity that had bequeathed them. The farmers were facing poverty and at risk of losing their farms.
This large group of citizens spurred on from a result of the challenges in lack of financial support faced by the farmers, the Alliance began an incentive to help the farmer so they would not have to rely on the banks who refused to help and the merchants who charged high-interest