UNIT 2 NOTES: THE FARMER’S REPUBLIC

1. UNIT 2 NOTES: THE FARMER’S REPUBLIC

2. 1790’S American Citizens • most people were outside of the world of the ruling elite • 9 out of 10 Americans lived on farms • Most farmer’s provided for their own and neighbors needs then sent surpluses down river to a world they didn’t know about • Not all took part in the argument that created the constitution and probably half opposed it • Citizens were white property holders • Non-citizens lived in patriarchal households of men who were • Women had no formal public role • 1/5 of the population was African American, nearly all were slaves who had little reason to cheer the creation of the new republic

3. HOUSEHOLDS • farm labor in post revolutionary American was divided by sex • men worked the fields • Rural America soon developed a prejudice against women working in the fields • Household responsibilities multiplied for women • Tended to vegetable gardens, tended to cattle for dairy products • to maintain household independence require a system of neighborhood cooperation • few farmers possessed all of the tools and equipment needed for total independence • they worked for one another and regularly traded borrowed oxen plows • Few transactions involved money

4. FAILURE OF RURAL PATRIARCHY • Rural republicanism was envisioned by Thomas Jefferson rested on widespread farm ownership and equality among adult male householders • In Revolutionary America fathers were judged on their ability to govern and support their households • After the war fewer farm fathers could meet those expectations • Many sons moved to eastern cities or western lands

5. STANDARD OF LIVING • homes had few rooms and many people, beds were in every room and few family members slept alone • few farms in the south and west bothered to keep their houses clean or attractive • signs of disparity between wealthy and not were that affluent neighbors could light their houses at night • another sign of wealth was outside appearance of homes, wealthier families painted their houses white as a token of pristine republicanism

6. THE BACKCOUNTRY • To easterners backcountry whites who were displacing Indians seemed no different than the heathens they were replacing • Differences • Easterners were appalled by poverty, lice, filth, and drunkenness, and violence of frontiersmen • Were often called “white savages” • After 1789 settlers of the western backcountry made 2 demands of the national government: • Protection from Indians • Guarantee of the right to navigate the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers • Settlers bought land from speculators who had bought land cheap during the NW ordinance • As time passed the term backcountry which easterners had used to refer to the wilderness and dangerous misfits who lived in it, faded away • By 1820 the term frontier replaced it

7. The Destruction of the Woodland Indians • Many woodland Indian tribes were still intact and living on ancestral lands in 1790 • however, they were in serious trouble • Problems in the NW • In the Old NW the Shawnee and Miami continued to trade furs with white settlers with the help of the British who still occupied 7 forts in the U.S. • However, skirmishes with settlers would bring reprisals from the Americans • Fallen Timbers • In the Ohio country punitive attacks failed so a third expedition was sent by George Washington in 1794 • Under the command of General “Mad Anthony” Wayne, defeated the Indians at Fallen Timbers • Treaty of Greenville forced Indians to cede 2/3 of present day Ohio and SE Indiana • This leads to despair and poverty in Indian Regions

8. ATTEMTPTED CULTURAL RENEWAL • out of this cultural wreckage came leaders who spoke of rejuvenating native society and expulsion of whites from old tribal lands • Cherokees did succeed in making a unified state in early 1800s • Angered by willingness of local chiefs to be bribed and sell lands they form a nation within a nation • Goal was to remain on ancestral homeland, migration was treason • Among the prophets, the one who came closest to military success was Tenskwatawa • First, all Indians must stop drinking and fighting amongst themselves • Must return to their traditional food, clothing, tools and must restart their lives without any European influence • All opposing the new order must be put down by force • When all of this was done God (borrowed from Christians) would restore the Indian world

9. TIPPECANOE • This message soon found its way to the Delaware’s • With the help of his brother Tecumseh he created an army in the lower 1,000s and pledged to end expansion of whites • Tecumseh took control of the movement announce to whites that he was sole chief of tribes north of Ohio river and land cessions by anyone else is invalid • Battle of Tippecanoe • This posed a serious threat to U.S. – 2nd war with Britain was coming and they were aiding the Indians with supplies • In 1811 William Henry Harrison led an army toward Prophetstown • With Tecumseh away, Tenskwatawa ordered an attack on Harrison and was beaten at the battle of Tippecanoe • Tecumseh’s army fought alongside the British in the War of 1812 and lost • This loss destroyed power of Indians east of Mississippi river • General Andrew Jackson forced the Creeks to cede millions of acres of land in Georgia and Alabama • By this time most whites simply assumed that Indians would keep moving west during expansion

10. CHESAPEAKE SLAVERY • In 1790 the future of slavery was uncertain in the Chesapeake • This was the states of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware – where the institution first took root in America • Tobacco market continued in decline in 1790, the crop depleted the soil, and many farms were giving out • As western lands opened up many Chesapeake farmers left, many whites had subconsciously voted with their feet

11. Slavery & the Republic • With slave labor becoming less necessary, Chesapeake planters switched to grain and livestock • These required less labor than tobacco, which began a question of what to do with slaves • Some divided and rented plots and slaves to other whites • Others hired out slaves as laborers or artisans • Some in Maryland and Delaware set their slaves free • Virginia’s economic and cultural commitment to the plantation and slavery was stronger • Few planters could afford to free their slaves without compensation • White Virginians feared the social consequences of black freedom

12. The Growing Dependence on Cotton • This dilemma eased in the south as cotton cultivation increased • British industrialization and the factory system created a large demand for cotton after the 1790s • Planters knew they could sell all the cotton they could grow • Types of Cotton • Cotton was a delicate plant and long-staple cotton only grew on sea islands off Georgia and South Carolina • Short-staple cotton could grow in more places but had sticky seeds that were very difficult to remove • It grew well in hot, humid south climate below the borders of Virginia and Kentucky • Labor intensive crop • One adult slave would work an entire day to clean one pound of short staple cotton • this limited cotton production

13. THE COTTON GIN • Cotton Gin • In 1793 Eli Whitney, a Connecticut Yankee set his mind to the problem • He soon created a cotton “gin” (engine) that combed the seeds from the fiber with metal pins fitted into rollers • Working with the machine a slave could clean 50 pounds of short staple cotton in a day • Cotton became the greatest American cash crop and plantation agriculture was rejuvenated • Slavery Increase • By 1820 Cotton accounted for more than half the value of all agricultural products • Plantation slavery was now rejuvenated and spread throughout the south • Helping the recommitment to slavery was the sharp rise in demand for rice (South Carolina and Georgia) • The demand for slaves was intense

14. RACE & GENDER • Cotton and the switch to grain and livestock imposed new kinds of labor on slaves • Wheat and grain economy required intense physical labor (plows and carts) which led to males working the fields • Women were left with lesser tasks of farm work: hoeing, weeding, spreading manure, cleaning stables – all of which were closely supervised • Contrary to popular belief most female slaves did not do housework

15. THE TASK SYSTEM • On the rice and cotton plantations of south Carolina and Georgia planters faced labor problems • Task System was created to solve issues • Planters solved these problems by organizing slaves according to the task system • Each morning the owner/overseer assigned a specific task to each slave and allowed them to work at their own pace • When the task was done the day belonged to the slave • Slaves who failed to finish their task were punished • When too many slaves finished early the owner assigned heavier tasks • Expectations • Most slaves were expected to tend to 5 acres of rice per day • This encouraged slaves to work hard without supervision • Slaves would work together until all tasks were competed • Younger stronger ones would help the older ones after their tasks were done • Once completed slaves would share leisure time out of the owners sight