Farming in 19th Century America

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Evidently, during the 1870-1900 period, farmers expressed drastic discontent in which their attitudes and actions had a major impact on national politics. First and foremost, farmers began to feel that their lives were threatened by competition with railroads, monopolies, trusts, currency circulation shortage, and the desire for Mother Nature to destroy their crops. The majority of the people of America were slaves, and monopoly was the master (Document C). Monopolies were dictating the way the agricultural industry functioned as a whole. Additionally, the deflation of prices was particularly crucial, because it put the farmers in a high state of debt. Furthermore, competition was another major contributing factor liable for the farmers’ dissatisfaction.

Initially, as the Civil War concluded, many farmers were struggling to maintain their crops, but unfortunately, were unsuccessful in harvesting. As a result, they had to get a local merchant to supply the food while the first crop was being harvested. Nonetheless, for every dollar, the merchant charged from twelve to thirty percent interest. Oftentimes, the farmers could not afford to pay the interest requested and eventually found them in debt within the first year. Thus, the farmers were forced to take out loans that further pushed them into debt (Document B, F). Demonstrated in Document A, at the center of the illustration was a farmer expressing that he fed everyone, but surrounding the picture were various politicians quoting, “I plead, rule, carry, fight, preach, and sail for all”. The farmer was exemplified for providing the strength for everyone to perform their daily duties-plead, rule, carry, fight, preach, and sail.

Additionally, high prices prompted farmers to con...

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...d into politics and established Grange Laws, a series of laws intend to regulate railroad freight rates, rebates, to address long- and short-haul discrimination and other railroad abuses against farmers. In the 1870s, farmers organized the Farmers’ Alliance in Texas in order to break the grip of the railroads and manufacturers through cooperative buying and selling. Then, out of the Framers’ Alliance the Populists emerged. They requested nationalizing the railroads, telephones, and telegraph, instituting a graduated income tax, creating a new federal subtreasury, and free and unlimited coinage of silver. This proved to be an excellent way to provide farmers with loans for crops stored in government-owned businesses. Eventually, through the panic of 1893, it was proven that farmers and laborers were being mistreated by an oppressed economic and political system.

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