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Farming in the late 19th century
Railroads impact on industrialization
Essay on railroads in the 19th century
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What was the nature of the urban and market development during the mid-19 century? This refers to the term the “Market Revolution”, for the many economic and social changes that occurred between 1812 and 1860s (Schultz, 2010). During a time when an enormous number of farmers chose to avert from being self-sufficient to focus on a single growing crop that could be sold at the market from assistance by an abundant transportation, communication, and technological innovations. First, the commercial agriculture changed the way farmers perform their livelihood. Instead of farm families growing a variety of crops for personal consumption, they focused on producing a high-quality product to bring to a local market for sale and to purchase products …show more content…
Some of the roads and turnpikes were rough, slow transporting, and dangerous, which made the shipping of large goods not reliable due to the unpredictable roads. Therefore, canals were constructed to improve shipments of large products safely and increase mobility time to its destination, thus, creating a continuous water route from the shores of the Atlantic to the Great Lakes. Henceforth, a more effective transport along broad rivers began as the Steamboat to carry commerce in the South, then reduced the cargo rates across the country (Schultz, 2010). Then, a new transformative transportation was the railroad that did not rely on natural waterways, however, the railroads would not freeze, and transport goods significantly faster than mules. During this time, another innovation occurred in communication invented by Samuel F. B. Morse. Significantly, this development of the telegraph was successfully transmission by utilizing electric wires to send a message from one place to another, allowing news about politics, prices of goods, and the arrival of new products throughout the nation within
Farmers began to cultivate vast areas of needed crops such as wheat, cotton, and even corn. Document D shows a picture of The Wheat Harvest in 1880, with men on earlier tractors and over 20-30 horses pulling the tractor along the long and wide fields of wheat. As farmers started to accumilate their goods, they needed to be able to transfer the goods across states, maybe from Illinios to Kansas, or Cheyenne to Ohmaha. Some farmers chose to use cattle trails to transport their goods. Document B demonstrates a good mapping of the major railroads in 1870 and 1890. Although cattle trails weren't used in 1890, this document shows the existent of several cattle trails leading into Chyenne, San Antonio, Kansas City and other towns nearby the named ones in 1870. So, farmers began to transport their goods by railroads, which were publically used in Germany by 1550 and migrated to the United States with the help of Colonel John Stevens in 1826. In 1890, railroads expanded not only from California, Nebraska, Utah, Wyoming and Nevada, but up along to Washington, Montana, Michigan, down to New Mexico and Arizona as well. Eastern States such as New Jersey, Tennesse, Virginia and many others were filled with existing railroads prior to 1870, as Colonel John Stevens started out his railroad revolutionzing movement in New Jersey in 1815.
Through the period of 1865-1900, America’s agriculture underwent a series of changes .Changes that were a product of influential role that technology, government policy and economic conditions played. To extend on this idea, changes included the increase on exported goods, do the availability of products as well as the improved traveling system of rail roads. In the primate stages of these developing changes, farmers were able to benefit from the product, yet as time passed by, dissatisfaction grew within them. They no longer benefited from the changes (economy went bad), and therefore they no longer supported railroads. Moreover they were discontented with the approach that the government had taken towards the situation.
The Market Revolution, from 1790 to 1840, inspired by the developments of commercialization, industrialization and the advances in transportation altered the lives of Americans in areas such as labor, transportation, commercialization, family life, new values and the new middle class. American entrepreneurs with new technology created an entirely different economy which shaped and affected all other aspects of society. The Market Revolution gradually shifted society from a rural agricultural lifestyle to the focus of work in the urban cities as it is today. While the vast majority of American citizens participated in agriculture and farming in 1800, the percent of farmers working in 2013 is less than 1 percent: this is the everlasting effect of the Market Revolution.
There were many key elements of the market revolution. During the early nineteenth century, large economic changes known as the market revolution forever changed America.What triggered these massive changes was new innovations in communication and transportation. During the colonial times, technology was not very advanced, there were not any canals, ships were not very fast and all manufactured goods were created by hand. Many farm families in the 1800s were not bound to the marketplace and just made most of what they needed to live on at home. With the lack of canals or other means of transportation, it was almost impossible for many farmers to reach distant cities or waterways to get their goods to market. The serious demand for quick
In the first half of the nineteenth century, the Market Revolution was famous in America. It was an economic revolution marked by industrialization, improvements in transportation, and expansion. People had difficulties selling their production because of the poor transportation and many family lived in the self-sufficient mode. However, this problem was solved because of the invention of the steamboat,
The Market Revolution was a drastic change in the economy of the 19th century. The Marketplace expanded exponentially. This marked the most significant change in American communities. This era was a time of great technological and economic innovation. The Industrial Revolution was taking off and American inventors were transforming the U.S. economy with new innovations and technological advances. The rapid development of manufacturing and improved farming had great impact on American
The mid 19th century was an age of growth like no other. The term “Industrial Revolution” refers to the time period where production changed from homemade goods, to those produced by machines and factories. As industrial growth developed and cities grew, the work done by men and women diverged from the old agricultural life. People tended to leave home to work in the new factories being built. They worked in dangerous conditions, were paid low wages, and lacked job security (Kellogg). It is difficult to argue, however, that the economic development of the United States was not greatly dependent on the industrial revolution.
In 1820 we had at least one half million separate family economies trading with several thousand local economies. On small family farms, family members spent the majority of there time working to produce for there families own use. Each family farm was like its own economy, with free time and the stock of produce shared, jobs assigned to each family member, and chores expected. On farms with slaves or larger plantations, planters established routines and enforced them with rewards and punishments. Today's more unified economy is much better than the separate economies of the nineteenth century.
As people continued to move west, and as products began to increase, the need for effective communication from one end of the country to the other was vital. These needs were facilitated by both the postal system and the invention of the telegraph. The postal system allowed correspondence, mass communication, and other commercial information to be distributed accurately throughout the country. Postage was fairly inexpensive allowing communication to be relatively cheap.
Without farmers, there would be no food for us to consume. Big business picked up on this right away and began to control the farmers profits and products. When farmers buy their land, they take out a loan in order to pay for their land and farm house and for the livestock, crops, and machinery that are involved in the farming process. Today, the loans are paid off through contracts with big business corporations. Since big business has such a hold over the farmers, they take advantage of this and capitalize on their crops, commodities, and profits.
The agricultural revolution of the nineteenth century was caused by many important factors. Before the revolution, people working in the farms were living entirely on what they could produce. Most farmers were extremely hesitant to make any changes in the methods they had been using for farming mainly because, although the payoff would be fairly large, if it didn't work, the mistakes could cost them their lives (Kagen).
One modernization in agriculture was the utilization of the railroads for distribution. Railroads provided farmers with the ability to ship their products vast distances. No longer were their markets limited to their local towns, but they could now reach a market on the opposite side of the country. Competition between railroad companies also contributed to lower fares, which helped the farmers cheaply move their wares to their chosen markets (Text Pgs. 524-525).
Agriculture has changed dramatically, especially since the end of World War II. Food and fibre productivity rose due to new technologies, mechanization, increased chemical use, specialization and government policies that favoured maximizing production. These changes allowed fewer farmers with reduced labour demands to produce the majority of the food and fibre.
Scientific farming method allows high yield production of agriculture goods. An association between technology and agriculture sector rises. Agriculture industry is more integrated Jennifer Clapp, one of the writers of The Rise of a Global Industry, mentions, “The production methods that were developed, often referred to as the industrial agricultural model, involved heavy capital inputs and included the adoption of new varieties of hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides, monocropping, infrastructure for irrigation, and mechanization for planning and harvesting”(26). These new types of scientific farming method and tool directly help to harvest more crops than before, so it leads agriculture surplus. Agriculture surplus is uni...