American Farming In The 1800s

Before the 19th century, farming was done by hand and by using small tools. The Market and Industrial Revolutions brought about lots of new inventions that benefitted agriculture. Very few people changed American agriculture more than Cyrus McCormick did in the 1800’s. His invention, the McCormick mechanical reaper, revolutionized farming by putting together many parts involved in harvesting crops into one machine. The mechanical reaper was a revolutionary farming tool that saved effort and time for farmers by allowing them to more efficiently harvest and cut

The 19th century was an era of dramatic change in the lives of African Americans. By the early 1800s, cotton was the most profitable cash crop, and slave owners focused on clearing lands and securing laborers to proliferate cotton production. The lack of available, fertile land in coastal areas compelled the move into the southern interior, sparking a massive westward migration of planters and slaves. The demands and rewards of the "King Cotton" economy resulted in a fivefold population increase during the first six decades of the 19th century, but it kept the South an unsophisticated agricultural economy.

Between the 1820s and 1860s, a time period that was greatly influenced by the Industrial Revolution, people were willing to work hard so that they could provide for their families. Slaves were still being used to help develop the United States of America by harvest crops such as cotton, and please their “masters.” were forced to work and help develop the country. Both slavery and industry helped the country grow financially. Slaves had to work harder to meet higher cotton demands. The introduction of the cotton gin also aided in the aided in the rapid production of cotton (PIIP 9).

As the antebellum Americans made several advancements in technological innovations, this helped the North overcome the South agriculturally. With the new inventions such as the cotton gin, the reaper, the steel tipped plow, and new ways to revive unfertile soil, the North had many advantages to aid them while they were gone to war. As these new inventions were created each had an impact on how and why the differences between the North and South came to be. Although the creation of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney improved the South’s economy it also made the South more dependent on slaves.

By the early 1800’s, the vastly growing cotton industry soared as cotton became the nation’s most important and valuable export. The development of the cotton gin only further propelled the cotton industry into economic success. The cotton gin took care of the hard tedious work that slaves used to have to undertake and increased the pace and the quantities in which cotton bales were produced. Working among the cotton fields, slaves adopted the gang system. The gang system was most commonly used in the cotton industry; to speed up production but also formally used among tobacco and sugar production.

In the 1930’s farming and agriculture in general caused a lot of challenges to the American society. The Great Depression was at its peak, America was in the middle of the Dust Bowl, and everyone was tight on money including the upper class of The United States. In the 1930’s – 1940’s it was very common to see kids working on family farms, and running businesses outside of their homes to help put food on the table.

The South was able to produce 7/8 of the worlds cotton supply. The South became more dependent on the planted field system and it’s full of force part, slavery. Notably, at that moment, the North was flourishing industrially. The North depended on factories and others

Farmers suffered a great deal, because they were unable to grow crops. ”In the 1920s, many farmers found themselves in a continual cycle of debt.” (UShistory.org) They lost everything, with no crops to sell, they weren’t able to make ends meet. Their families went without eating for days at a time.

It revolutionized the cotton industry by making it more profitable. A machine was now used to remove seeds from cotton rather than having to remove them by hand. This allowed more cotton to be processed quicker which made production of cotton more efficient for farmers. Prior to the invention of the cotton gin, slavery was actually dying out in the southern United States due to how labor intensive the removal of seeds from cotton had become.

In the south, the warm, humid climate and southern, fertile soil allowed colonists to grow sugar cane, rice, as cash crops. The south was able to grow many crops and foods the middle colonies, northern colonies, and even many European countries could not produce. Even though large farming fields were a typical setting in the south, slave plantations quickly dominated the southern economy. “Profit-hungry settlers often planted tobacco to sell before they planted corn to eat” (Kennedy, 61). This quote and the 40 million pounds of tobacco annually exported during the 1630’s exemplified the desire and economic opportunity the south possessed.

Have you ever wondered how life was for the slaves in the South? Slaves in the South suffered through many consequences. For example, they suffered through many whippings with cow skin if they didn't obey their master, they also got separated from their family mostly the fathers, so, they can be sold to a very mean slave owner. Even if they were living a miserable life on the farms, they had their own culture and they managed to even get married in the farmland or where they worked. Not only did the slaves live on the farm.

The South had very little industry. It was based off of an agrarian economy (Document B). Slaves picked cotton off the plantation and the farmers sold the cotton to make money (Document A). The Southern weren't able to keep their money without slaves working for free. Slavery was vital in the South for the economy.

With the rise in the production of cotton, the south needed more slaves in order to control and to work the cotton production. This invention increased the demand for slave labor. The invention of The Cotton Gin led to a prosperity in the Southern economy creating a one-crop economy for the South. There was a pressure put on the relationship between the North and the South and their different perceptions of slavery

Farm technology made a lot of progress from 1890-1920. Before this time, all the farming was done by hand. There were many inventions from wire to tractors to help make farming easier. Three inventions that really changed farming were gas tractors, cream separator and horse drawn combine. Gas tractors were created so that you didn’t have to use your horses so much and so you could pull more.

Approximately three Southern states change their approach on forced labor without compensation, African American slaves would work for an amount of cash that was, generally, given to the masters of the slaves; However, some of these African American were freed and, therefore, kept all the earnings. In the mid 1800’s southern states, slavery was progressively headed towards salary base employment which would boost the states economically. Furthermore, Northern states were already using such economic structure to boost labor in the industrial region, which led to divide the country into sectors of specialized commodities. Southern state were no longer the only major contributor of economic growth, the Northern states were in large in foreign demands for cotton in the years of 1815-1843 as industries boomed in