Many people who braved the dangers and hardship of settling these new lands were poor, and they often settled as "squatters," without clear title to their farms. Through the country's first century, many Americans believed land should be given away free to settlers if they would remain on the property and work it. This was finally accomplished through the Homestead Act of 1862, which opened vast tracts of western land to easy settlement. Another law enacted the same year set aside a portion of federal land to generate income to build what became known as land-grant colleges in the various states. The endowment of public colleges and universities through the Morrill Act led to new opportunities for education and training in the so-called practical arts, including farming.
Widespread individual ownership of modest-sized farmers was never the norm in the South as it was in the rest of the United States. Before the Civil War (1861-1865), large plantations of hundreds, if not thousands, of hectares were established for large-scale production of tobacco, rice, and cotton. These farms were tightly controlled by a small number of wealthy families. Most of the farm workers were slaves. With the abolition of slavery following the Civil War, many former slaves stayed on the land as tenant farmers (called sharecroppers) under arrangements with their former owners.
Plentiful food supplies for workers in mills, factories, and shops were essential to America's early industrialization. The evolving system of waterways and railroads provided a way to ship farm goods long distances. New inventions such as the steel plowshare (needed to break tough Midwestern soil), the reaper (a machine that harvests grain), and the combine (a machine that cuts, threshes, and cleans grain) allowed farms to increase productivity. Many of the workers in the nation's new mills and factories were sons and daughters of farm families whose labor was no longer needed on the farm as a result of these inventions. By 1860, the nation's 2 million farms produced an abundance of goods. In fact, farm products made up 82 percent of the country's exports in 1860. In a very real sense, agriculture powered America's economic development.
As the U.S. farm economy grew, farmers increasingly became aware that government policies affected their livelihoods. The first political advocacy group for farmers, the Grange, was formed in 1867. It spread rapidly, and similar groups -- such as the Farmers' Alliance and the Populist Party -- followed. These groups targeted railroads, merchants, and banks -- railroads for high shipping rates, merchants for what farmers considered unscrupulous profits taken as "middlemen," and banks for tight credit practices. Political agitation by farmers produced some results. Railroads and grain elevators came under government regulation, and hundreds of cooperatives and banks were formed. However, when farm groups tried to shape the nation's political agenda by backing renowned orator and Democrat William Jennings Bryan for president in 1896, their candidate lost. City dwellers and eastern business interests viewed the farmers' demands with distrust, fearing that calls for cheap money and easy credit would lead to ruinous inflation.
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Next Article: Farm Policy of the 20th Century
This article is adapted from the book "Outline of the U.S. Economy" by Conte and Carr and has been adapted with permission from the U.S. Department of State.
