Chapter 3

1. Chapter 3 1775-1820 On Our Own

2. The movement from subsistence to commercial industry T The colonial period and the early movements to a commercial business A A way of life business orientation modernization vs tradition

3. Abundant Land • Attracted immigrants (the magnet) - first to the Colonies and then to the new nation • Raised funds for new government • Inducement for service in the military Land was an important stimulus to the overall development of the nation.

4. Used to build schools and educational institutions • Financed roads, railroads, and canals • Food production • Encouraged investment/savings • Motivation to participate in a new form of government (democracy)

5. Land Aquisitions

6. Secondary (Western) Land Aquisitions Republic of Texas: (1845) won from Mexico 9 years before finally ceding to the U.S. Oregon Territory: (1848) purchased from England Mexican Cession: (1848) from Mexico, the only military conquest of land • Includes most of the southwest and west coast

7. Land Disposal • If feudalism would have continued in the U.S. • There would be no family farm • High inequality: wealthy land owners and many tenants • Impeded development of democracy, free markets, and new technology • Land would still have agreement issues • There would be no immigration incentives in the coming years • First conflicts between mercantilist and farmers • Jeffersonian Policies: create an egalitarian, small farm-based economy • Hamilton Policies: large farms, capitalistic

8. Land Disposal Objectives • never clearly articulated • Hamilton - dispose of land with prudence • generate revenue to build an industrial sector • Jefferson - free (cheap) land in small tracts • develop nation of small cultivators

9. Land Disposal • States Established a free land holding Policy through 5 common policies • Ended feudalistic practices such as primogeniture, quitrents, and ending proprietary grants • By the Proclamation of 1763 • Fee Simple Titles were given • This made land a true commodity, not a private gift • Gave land to private individuals instead of state-owned enterprises which stimulated capitalistic society • Selling smaller units of land to build many small communities • Use land sales revenues for government debt • Use land grants as enlistment incentives

10. Primary Land Aquisionts • 380 Million Acres in US in this period Midwestern States: (1790-1806) East of the Mississippi River gradually ceded to the US Louisiana Purchase: (1803) from France, Doubled the Area of the US Florida: (1819) From Spain obtained from Spain and included the important sea access to and from the Mississippi River

11. Conservative Land Disposal • During the Articles of Confederation • Conservative distribution • New England practice of careful planning; Failed to maintain its tradition of purposeful, directed growth • All white males could hold land • Ordinance of 1785: • Permitted for new territories to be explored and surveyed for distribution • Did not, however, provide for administration controls on disposal • Mandated 5 sections be reserved for government and one section for public school (a New England ideal)

12. Conservative Land Disposal • Northwest Ordinance of 1787: • Established the Northwest Territory • Equal rights as the other states (with statehood) • Statehood granted when population reached 60,000 free men • Guaranteed religious freedom and prohibited slavery • The Ordinance of 1875 established land surveys of township size, 640 acres. • Land prices were cheap because the amount of land flooded the market, driving prices down • Because settlers could not afford to buy or use that much land, speculators bought townships from the government and sold it at higher prices to settlers • Cash only transaction between speculator and government (Confederation was low on funds)

13. 640 Acres for Sale Settlers generally could only clear one to three acres of land a year. 80 Acres 160 Acres 1 Section = 640 Acres = 1 Square Mile 320 Acres 36 Sections in a township

14. Problems with the Ordinances • Indian conflicts continued • Individual States had their own, often conflicting disposal policies • Territories were connected with and controlled by existing states • Ex. New York and Pennsylvania

15. Problems with the Ordinances • Settlers were unable to pay for such large tracts of land which : • Slowed westward movement and settlement • Credit intuitions were slow to develop, since settlement was slowed and high risk • Land Speculation began as a result of poor administration, leadership, and organization • Debts to speculators were common and would soon be a serious problem • Created more squatters

16. Liberalizing Land Disposal • A shift in land policies occurred because • The ratification of the Constitution combined with… • an increased demand for land from a population boom • finical/political pressures • Land Act of 1796 • First land act under the constitution • No change in the minimum purchase amount (640 ac) • Price of land Increase to $2.00/ac • Paying $1280! • First substantial credit which provided for 1 year to pay for land

17. Liberalizing Land Disposal • Land Act of 1800 and 1804 • Representatives form the South and West wanted liberalization • Decreased minimum purchase to 320 acres • Increased credit, up to 4 years to pay debt • Greatly increased the disposal of land, especially during the cotton boom (1/2 of all debt was owed in Alabama and Mississippi) • Importance of this Act: • Increased land sales and speculation • Failed at earning money for the government (by 1819 only half the land had been paid for) • When farmers/speculators could not pay, they asked congress for relief. They got it, 12 times • Congress was basically underwriting land speculation

18. Liberalizing Land Disposal • Land Act of 1820 • Reduced the minimum sale to 80 acres • Reduced the minimum price to $1.25 an acre • Abolished credit • Purpose was to help successfully earn revenue for the Government • Was a great help for the small farmer that was flooding the west • There was also a huge amount of land given as military bounties • 73.5 million from 1775-1855

19. Settlers: A Profile • 1790: 4 million people in the new nation • 95% rural population • Rural was synonymous with farming • Hearty farmers from the Eastern Seaboard • Younger sons and daughters of established communities • Land speculators • Traders • Soldiers

20. Settlement Patterns • 2 main routes during expansion • Virginia Valley (moving Southwest) • Pittsburg along the Ohio River

21. Economics of Early Prioneering • Conditions and terms of public land sales • The size of land was too much for any one person • The cost combined with the minimum size was too much • Created land speculation • This failed as a profit making enterprise, because farmers could not even pay speculators • Lack and price of Credit • Few institutions (if they existed) in settlements offered credit at feasible rates because • The merchants were usually borrowing too • There was a high rate of default

22. Economics of Early Pioneering • Lack of markets • No western population or infrastructure to transport surpluses • Without incentive to grow, subsistence farming continued • This however was not the case in the south with many rivers and varying culture and crops

23. Economics of Early Prioneering • Result of these 3 problems: the Farmer-Speculator: • As a way to make money and because small plots of land were not being sold, farmers would clear and settle (build shelter) on a few acres and attempt to sell it • They ran into the same problems: migrating settlers did not have the money to afford the property • However, this meager property was the only possession worth anything because of poor farming techniques

24. Farm Practices/Conservation • Exhaustive farming was still being practiced because of • Abundant land • Scarce labor • No real means of commercial agriculture because of poor infrastructure and technology

25. Labor • Severe shortage began in 1810 and would last for another 30 years • This was because of competition from a new and booming industrial sector • This began a stronger need for farm mechanization

26. “Although many factors play a part in any rural stratification system, without question, ownership and access to the land is the key factor.” 325XW Discussion Question Why is land ownership central to understanding rural stratification in our society or any other nation?

27. Agricultural Ladder • Unpaid family labor

28. Agricultural Ladder • Paid family labor • Unpaid family labor

29. Agricultural Ladder • Paid non-family labor • Paid family labor • Unpaid family labor

30. Agricultural Ladder • Tenant-sharecropper • Paid non-family labor • Paid family labor • Unpaid family labor

31. Agricultural Ladder • Part-owner operator • Tenant-sharecropper • Paid non-family labor • Paid family labor • Unpaid family labor

32. Agricultural Ladder • Full-owner operator • Part-owner operator • Tenant-sharecropper • Paid non-family labor • Paid family labor • Unpaid family labor A model of social mobility is agriculture. Is it still relevant?

33. Alternative Land-Ownership Models • Tribal (communal) • access and rights to land existed by virtue of their membership in the relevant social units • Native Americans, Amana Colonies • Feudal (Western Europe) • took root in Colonies • serf (peasant) attached to land • Rental system • Owner-operator • Large scale business • state farms, collectives, corporations

34. Farm Types • Family Farm • Hacienda • Plantation • Estate • Corporate • State Owned/Privately Managed

35. For Jefferson and other agrarians, in the 18th Century small farms were championed for political and social reasons. • Freedom • Independence • Self-reliance • Ability to resist oppression Dominant Cultural Values

36. The right to own land ensured the right to a job and freedom of occupational choice. • Seedbed of democracy and independence • Full employment policy • Guaranteed competitive market structure