Agriculture Dbq

From 1865-1900, America was going through a lot of agricultural changes due to the growth of industrialization. Farmers were the most influenced because they found themselves not making any profit from their crops. The new technologies, government policies, and economic conditions all impacted America’s agriculture. In response to these changes, farmers were being treated poorly and found themselves at a loss when it came to working with large corporate companies such as the railroads. During this time period, the shift from American farmers was beginning to surcome to industrialization.
Many technological advances were starting to arise during the mid to late nineteenth century. Especially for farmers, equipments such as the reaper, plow
But these railroads soon created trouble as they started to implement unfair freight rates on farmers that had to ship their products to the cities. The government did try to step in by putting in the Interstate Commerce Act to stop railroads from having unfair rates but the act was not enforced enough. Illinois was one of the only states that fought the laissez-faire philosophy by going through with controlling the freight rates (Document C). The railroads were a huge impact on the agriculture of America because many southern states depended specifically on them to ship their products. For example, Chicago became the leading meat packing center and the productions of railroads led to the growth of cattle ranching while also making industrial growth (Document F). Unfortunately for the farmers, the railroads were not being unfair towards them which led to many farmers blaming railroads for their poverty. So although technology was a big advancement during the time, it created an overproduction of goods for the farmers and also led railroads to charge unfair shipping
During this time period, the large businesses were greatly influencing America politically, socially and economically. It was the large companies that were making all the money while farmers found themselves in poverty due to the overproduction of products. The farmers thought that government should produce more money by adding silver to the Gold Standard. By creating this inflation, there would be a more economic balance between the farmers and large companies. The people in the cities of course did not favor changing the Gold Standard because then they would lose power because the value of their money would go down (Document J). As a result of the industrialization in America, there was an increase in economics because of smart business people like Rockefeller and Carnegie that was able to use their knowledge to increase wealth in the nation. Farmers were being left behind in this economic advancement because they were no longer the primary economic influence in America. As a result of farmers getting into more and more debt, it led to the crop-lien system and sharecropping (Document E). The crop-lien system allowed farmers to gain credit before the planting season by borrowing from merchants the anticipated value of their harvest. The economic conditions were hard on the farmers due to the freight rates and high land prices. A radical supporter of the agricultural movement, Mary