I. THE PERIOD 1860-1920

In the Nineteenth Century the United States was a developing country, perhaps like Brazil today. In general, the period after the Civil War, 1865 to 1920, was the period of American industrialization. This was the "take-off," when the economy became airborne (if we use an analogy from flight). Economically it can be seen as a single period. Politically 1860-1912 was the period of Republican ascendancy. With two exceptions, every president in this period, from Abraham Lincoln in 1860 to William Taft in 1908 was a Republican. The exceptions were of course Andrew Johnson and the conservative, pro-business Grover Cleveland, (1885-1889 and 1893-1897). In many respects Cleveland had the same politics as the Republicans anyway. For 44 of the 52 years between 1860 and 1912, a Republican was in the White House.

The period of industrialization corresponds to the period of Republican Ascendancy. Thus the Republican Party was identified as the party of business, and the wealthy. Industrialization is said to have occurred under the auspices of the Republican Party.

In contrast, in this time period agricultural interests, which is to say farmers, increasingly came to be identified with the Democratic Party. And over time labor, or the urban working class, also came to be identified with the Democratic Party. This association was strengthened by the politics of Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921.

Politically, one can also identify this time period with respect to the Populist Movement (1880s-1908) and Progressivism.

II. URBANIZATION

The fifty or so years between the end of the Civil War and the end of World War I was also the period of rapid, intense urbanization for the United States. Part of this was the result of immigration from Europe. But it was also the result of the younger sons of farmers leaving the countryside to seek jobs in the towns and cities. Industrialization was accompanied by a profound shift from a rural, agarian society to an urban, industrial society. To people living in this period, this shift was NOT welcome. This change was seen as troubling, dangerous, and menacing. It was perceived not as progress, but as the erosion and destruction of the traditional American way of life.

III. THE JEFFERSONIAN IDEAL

In the 1700s and 1800s, down to World War I, many Americans revered what was called the Jeffersonian Ideal. This was the vision of America as a rural, agricultural nation of owner-producers, that is small, independent, self-sufficient landowners or family farmers. In 1790, at the first census, 95% of the population lived on farms or in towns of fewer than 2500 people. By 1920, the percentages were about 51% in towns and cities, and 49% in the countryside. Jefferson had believed America would forever remain a nation of small farmers. He and many Americans viewed the agrarian way of life as simple, pure, honest, noble, virtuous, and superior to manufacturing. For the traditionalists, the shift to an urban, industrial society reflected the loss of a way of life. And even today the family farm remains a nostalgic image for many people. The traditionalists did not like change, and for them the rise of the city was change. It was different. And it was not only undesirable, it was positively evil.

IV. THE MODERNIZATION OF AGRICULTURE

The causes of this shift were economic, growing out of changes in technology and what is called the modernization of agriculture. Labor saving devices and machinery transformed agriculture, and (1) there was an enormous increase in productivity and output.

Between 1860 and 1910 the number of farms and improved acreage trebled:

PRODUCT 1860 1910

Wheat 173 million bushels 635 million bushels

Corn 838 million bushels 2,886,000,000 bushels

Cotton 3,841,000 bales 11,609,000 bales

2. EXAMPLES OF INNOVATION

In the 1830s and 1840s Obed Hussey and Cyrus McCormick had pioneered with the mechanical reaper. A.D. Church and George Westinghouse had developed a thresher, and John Lane and John Deere developed a chilled plow. In 1861 some 100,000 reapers were in use. By 1865 this number had doubled to 250,000. There were rotaries that could plow the soil and drill a hole for the seedling all in one operation. There were combines that could reap, thresh, clean and bag the grain in a single operation (Morrison, Commager, Leuchtenburg, p. 125-126).

3. REDUCTION IN DEMAND FOR LABOR

The effect of this was to reduce the demand for labor.

In 1830, with a hand cradle, a man could harvest 20 bushels of grain in 61 hours. In 1900 he could perform the same work in 3 hours.

In 1850 it took 21 hours to harvest a ton of timothy hay. In 1900 it took 4 hours.

One machine could do the work previously done by 9 or 10 men.

4. AGRICULTURE BECOMES MORE CAPITAL-INTENSIVE

Of course this labor-saving machinery was expensive. Agriculture became more capital-intensive, which also made it harder for people to get into farming and stay there.

But in part it was changes in technology that were driving the process of urbanization, which is really the process of pushing people off the farm and out of the countryside. With respect to the demand for labor, machinery meant there was less demand for farm workers.
 
 

5. THE AGRARIAN PROBLEM: OVERPRODUCTION AND DECLINING COMMODITY PRICES

However as the supply of farm commodities rose, the price declined. Farmers began to suffer from the problem of overproduction.

WHEAT CORN

1866 $1.45/bushel 1869 (Chicago) 75cts

1869 .76/bushel 1879 .38cts

1889 .69/bushel 1889 .28cts

1894 .49/bushel

RYE

1867 23 million bushels = $23 million

1889 28 million bushels = $12 million

COTTON

1866 31 cents/pound

1886 9 cents/pound

1893 .6 cents/pound

In 1860 the farmer received 30% of the national income

In 1890, 19%

In 1910 18%

In 1920 13%

In 1933 7%

To put it simply, the farmer was producing more and getting less for it. All of this is generally referred to as the Agricultural or Agrarian Problem. It was this economic decline that gave rise to agrarian unrest, the Granger movement of the 1870s, and Populism in the 1880s and 1890s. And the Agrarian Problem reached its height, or worst depths, in the Great Depression of the 1930s.

V. THE GRANGE MOVEMENT

Let me refresh your memories about the Granger Movement. In the 1860s and 1870s grain farmers in the Midwest (Illinois, Iowa. Wisconsin, Minnesota) suffered from declining prices. And they complained that the prices charged by middlemen for their services were too high. These middlemen were the owners of grain silos, called elevators, who stored the grain. They were the railroads and barge operators who charged a fee for transportation, and the banks. The farmers formed an organization called the Patrons of Husbandry about 1867. Easterners called them the Grange, or Grangers. Iowa and other midwestern states passed laws to establish state commissions to regulate railroad rates. The Grange organization died out in 1874. In 1877, in the case of Munn v. Illinois, the Supreme Court ruled that states can regulate railroads within their boundaries. However in 1886 the Supreme Court heard the case of Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad Company v. Illinois, otherwise just called the Wabash case. In this case the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot regulate interstate commerce in the absence of any federal law on the subject. Recall that the Constitution gives Congress, or the federal government, jurisdiction over interstate commerce. Here the court made a distinction between intra-state and inter0state commerce, and in essence said that Congress has exclusive jurisdiction over interstate commerce. In response to this case, at the urging of agricultural interests, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The Act established the Interstate Commerce Commission, the ICC. And the Act authorized the ICC to investigate complaints of rate discrimination. This was the birth of federal regulation. Over the decades additional legislation would expand the powers of the ICC.

Also note that economic discontent gave rise to a movement, which sought redress or a remedy through government action, through legislation. Movements usually arise in response to some grievance or discontent. And typically they seek soem type of governmental or legislative or court action as a remedy to their grievance. As we examine movements in this course, we will see this pattern repeated over and over again.

VI. CYCLICAL DEPRESSIONS

The economy also ran through cycles of overproduction and collapse. From 1873-1878 there was a depression, and again from 1897-1897. In 1907 there was a serious panic and recession. From 1919-1921 there was a recession at the end of World War I.

VII. RISE OF THE FACTORY SYSTEM AND MASS PRODUCTION

There were also significant changes in the industrial sector. When we speak of industrial production we are talking about the factory, mass production and the rise of the modern corporation. Before the Civil War most businesses employed between five and twenty-five workers. A great deal of the work was done by hand. Skilled craftsmen, called artisans, did the work. A shoe maker constructed the entire shoe, a tailor made the entire garment, and so on. But as new technology and machinery was invented, the work was broken down into simple tasks. One person did the sleeves, and only the sleeves. One person did only the soles of the soles, and machines stitched the tongue to the soles. For skilled workers this represented the erosion of their jobs. Artisans who owned their own small shops were replaced by large mass production factories with semi-skilled workers and machines. This created the demand for an urban working class, and a class of people who might never become self-employed owners but would remain all their lives wage workers. This was a departure from the traditional American way of life. In 1790 95% of the people had been farmers, and only 5% had been urban workers.