yeoman farmers

Examples of yeoman farmers in the following topics:

• Jefferson's Agrarian Policy

  • The Jeffersonians believed in democracy and equality of political opportunity, especially for the yeoman farmer and the plain folk.
  • The Jeffersonians believed in democracy and equality of political opportunity (for white male citizens), with a priority for the yeoman farmer and the plain folk.
  • By contrast, yeoman agriculture, as depicted by the Democratic-Republicans, was a system of farming in which an independent (white male) farmer owned his own land and the fruits of his labor (and therefore, could impartially participate in the political process).
  • The frugality, austerity, and self-reliance of the yeoman farmer were virtues that should be emulated by the federal government: to circumscribe tyrannical powers in favor of encouraging individual industry and improvement .
  • Jefferson's vision of a decentralized agricultural society, in which yeoman farmers acquired land across vast amounts of territory, seemed a possibility in 1803 with such a vast opening for settlement.

• The Middle Classes

  • The middle classes of colonial America consisted mostly of yeoman farmers and skilled craftsmen.
  • In New England, the Puritans created self-governing communities of religious congregations of farmers (yeomen) and their families.
  • Many middle-class farmers lived in a style of home known as saltbox houses.
  • Migration, agricultural innovation, and economic cooperation were creative measures that preserved New England's yeoman society until the 19th century.
  • Farmers also expanded their production of flaxseed and corn, as flax was in high demand in the Irish linen industry and corn was in high demand in the West Indies.

• The Rise of the West

  • Westward expansion was motivated by the Jeffersonian ideal of the yeoman farmer and enabled by technological improvements.
  • Steamboat technology and the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 gave these farmers access to eastern markets.

• Agricultural Interest Groups

  • Agricultural interest groups are a type of economic interest group that represent farmers.
  • Agricultural interest groups represent the economic interests of farmers.
  • Specifically, the vision of the yeoman farmer was one of the important American archetypes moving into the progressive era.
  • One example are advocacy around the Farmers' Market Nutrition Program/Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program .
  • Small farmers are just one part of the larger group of farmers involved in agricultural interest groups.

• Middle Class

  • The South, before the Civil War, included a middle class of white farmers and professionals who did not own slaves, but owned land.
  • In the book he used statistical data to analyze the make-up of southern society, contending that yeoman farmers made up a larger middle class than was generally thought.
  • Jeffersonian and Jacksonian Democrats favored the term "yeoman" for the independent land-owning farmer.
  • Plain Folk argued that southern society was not dominated by planter aristocrats, but that yeoman farmers played a significant role.
  • Owsley believed that shared economic interests united southern farmers.

• "Poor Whites"

  • In his study of Edgefield County, South Carolina, Orville Vernon Burton classified white society into three groups: the poor, the yeoman middle class (also called the plain folk of the Old South), and the elite.
  • A clear line demarcated the elite, but according to Burton, the line between poor and yeoman was less distinct.
  • However, Stephanie McCurry argues that yeomen were clearly distinguished from poor whites because yeoman owned land.
  • They were "self-working farmers," distinct also from the elite because they physically labored on their land alongside any slaves they owned.
  • Wartime shortages increased the economic divide between planters and yeoman farmers; nevertheless, some planters honored their paternalistic obligations by selling their corn to plain folks at the official Confederate rate "out of a spirit of patriotism. " Wetherington's argument challenges other scholars' suggestions that class conflict contributed to the Confederate defeat.

• Plain Folk of the Old South

  • The "Plain Folk of the Old South" were a middling class of white farmers who occupied a social rung between rich planters and poor whites.
  • Plain Folk argued that yeoman farmers played a significant role in Southern society during this era rather than being sidelined by a dominant aristocratic planter class.
  • Owsley believed that shared economic interests united Southern farmers; critics suggest the vast difference in economic classes between the elite and subsistence farmers meant they did not have the same values or outlook.
  • In his study of Edgefield County, South Carolina, Orville Vernon Burton classifies white society into the poor, the yeoman middle class, and the elite.
  • A clear line demarcated the elite, but according to Burton, the line between poor and yeoman was less distinct.

• Early New England Society

  • Early New England Puritan society was characterized by yeoman farming communities and a growing merchant class.
  • A majority of residents of the region were small farmers.
  • Some farmers obtained land grants to create farms in undeveloped areas.
  • Other farmers became agricultural innovators.
  • Migration, agricultural innovation, and economic cooperation were creative measures that helped preserve New England's yeoman society.

• White Society in the South

  • Antebellum society in the South consisted of a class of wealthy plantation-owners, a middle class of yeomans, poor whites, and slaves.
  • In his study of Edgefield County, South Carolina, Orville Vernon Burton classified white society into the poor, the yeoman middle class, and the elite.
  • A clear line demarcated the elite, but according to Burton, the line between poor and yeoman was never very distinct.
  • Yeomen were "self-working farmers," distinct from the elite because they worked their land themselves alongside any slaves they owned.
  • Third, many small farmers with a few slaves and yeomen were linked to elite planters through the market economy.

• Farming As Big Business

  • American farmers approached the 21st century with some of the same problems they encountered during the 20th century.
  • And while farmers generally have favored holding down overall crop output to shore up prices, they have balked at cutting their own production.
  • In 1900, half of the labor force were farmers, but by the end of the century only 2 percent worked on farms.
  • And nearly 60 percent of the remaining farmers at the end of the century worked only part-time on farms; they held other, non-farm jobs to supplement their farm income.
  • As these numbers demonstrate, the American "family farm" -- rooted firmly in the nation's history and celebrated in the myth of the sturdy yeoman -- faces powerful economic challenges.