Farming In 1900's

6 Pages 1554 Words

Essay: Farming

Question: What were the Farmer’s problems in the latter part of the 19th century? How did they respond to their problems were they successful?

The late nineteenth century was a time of drastic change in the United States. The country was growing at an unprecedented rate, and the Industrial Revolution was sweeping the nation. This industrial revolution not only affected those working in the newly founded industries and those in the cities, but the revolution impacted the farmers as well. American farmers were, as a whole, dissatisfied with their state of affairs, and began an agrarian movement. The farmers' grievances were multifaceted, and generally had merit, though allegations of an organized conspiracy to thwart the farmers were unfounded. Further, the discontent of the farmers was displayed in the formation of an organized political movement, which never before existed to such a degree.
Hence the period between 1880 and 1900 was a boom time for American politics. The country was for once free of the threat of war, and many of its citizens were living comfortably. However, as these two decades went by, the American farmer found it harder and harder to live comfortably. Crops such as cotton and wheat, once the bulwark of agriculture, were selling at prices so low that it was nearly impossible for farmers to make a profit off them. Furthermore, improvement in transportation allowed foreign competition to materialize, making it harder for American farmers to dispose of surplus crop. Finally, years of drought in the Midwest and the downward spiral of business in the 1890’s devastated many of the nation’s farmers. As a result of the agricultural depression, many farm groups, most notably the Populist Party arose to fight what farmers saw as the reasons for the decline in agriculture. During the last twenty years of the nineteenth century, many farmers in the United States saw monopolies and trusts, railroad...