Arkansas History of Agriculture

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Arkansas History of Agriculture Module 1 Fact Sheet 4 – Page 1 Updated – September 2007 Arkansas Conservation District Directors Training Manual Arkansas History of Agriculture Agriculture has played a major role in waters formed backwater swamps, and the finer Arkansas’s culture from territorial times, when particles coalesced into clay. farmers made up more than ninety percent of the population, through the present (about forty- The rushing floodwaters also changed course five percent of the state’s residents were still frequently, carving new channels and leaving classified as rural in 2006). Beginning as a the old river behind as oxbow lakes and bayous. region populated by small, self-sufficient The almost constant flooding also challenged landowners, the state evolved through a plant life, and two types of vegetation came to plantation culture before the Civil War, to an era dominate. More than ninety percent of the when tenant farming and sharecropping region was covered with trees, eighty percent of dominated from the Civil War to World War II, which were bottomland hardwoods. The other before yielding to technology and commercial vegetation was a rhizome grass the local enterprise. For more than 150 years, agricultural population called cane. It grew in such dense practices had hardly changed. Hand tools and stands that early travelers from Memphis, draft animals limited an average farmer to Tennessee, to Little Rock (Pulaski County) often cultivating about four acres a day and made it hired guides to get through it. The flooding also difficult to accumulate wealth. But World War II helped shape two distinct Delta subregions. transformed agriculture, and in twenty-five One of these, the Grand Prairie, a vast treeless years, machines turned what had been a region between the Arkansas and White rivers, lifestyle into a capitalistic endeavor. occupies more than 500,000 acres of natural grassland in the south-central section. The Prehistory other, Crowley’s Ridge, was formed by Geography played a key role in shaping windblown dust deposited before the rivers Arkansas agriculture. Divided into six regions, flooded. It rises more than 200 feet above the each with unique soils, the state presented a floodplain and varies up to ten miles in width as variety of choices. One of the largest farming it stretches 150 miles from the Mississippi River regions, the Mississippi Alluvial Plain (formed by at Helena (Phillips County) to the Missouri the Arkansas, Mississippi, and Ohio rivers), border near Corning (Clay County). stretches about 250 miles from Missouri to Louisiana. Nearly 200 feet above sea level, the The state’s first agriculture began in the Grand elevation varies less than 150 feet. Over the Prairie–Crowley’s Ridge region. Almost 3,000 past two million years, rivers carried soil years ago, the Pre-Columbian Woodland people particles from the upper Midwest and cut began growing food to supplement their hunter’s through thick loess deposits in the lower diet. Living in small villages characterized by Mississippi River Valley. Flooding was frequent, earthen burial mounds, these native peoples and as the water rose out of the normal river planted vegetables and grains by tilling with channels, the principles of hydrology caused the hand-held wooden tools. The Mississippian heavier, coarser soil particles to fall to the culture that supplanted the Woodland people bottom. The lighter, finer soils were carried kept some of their vegetables but added corn farther from the main source. Over time the and became almost exclusively dependent upon coarser particles (sand) built a dike along the this new grain for food. Cotton, the crop most riverbank and frequently prevented water identified with the Delta, did not appear until carrying finer particles from returning to the after the United States acquired the region with main channel. Trapped in stagnant pools, these the Louisiana Purchase. The dead river Arkansas Natural Resources Commission w http://www.anrc.arkansas.gov w501-682-1611 Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts w http://aracd.org w501-682-2915 Filename: Mod1_FS4_Arkansas_history_of_agriculture Module 1 Fact Sheet 4 – Page 2 Updated – September 2007 channels were some of the first lands sought homestead, their farming operations were out by the white American cotton farmers usually far less. A typical hill country farm arriving from the East in the 1820s. through most of the nineteenth century had about thirty acres in cultivation—ten acres of In southwest Arkansas, the Red River formed corn, five acres of cotton, and the rest in cereal another alluvial plain and shared some of the grains, sometimes tobacco (particularly in the same qualities of the Mississippi River region. It Ozarks), potatoes, and vegetables. The had oxbow lakes, swamps, and dense remaining property was open range for undergrowth that presented a challenge to early livestock, was used for hunting or fishing, and farmers. But the Red River valley sat higher and was a source for firewood, wood for tool was not as subject to flooding, and the soil had handles, roofing shingles, and other needs. a sandy loam rather than clay base. Because it Such farmers usually made enough from cotton required less effort to cultivate, it became the to pay taxes and buy a few finished goods. first region to be dominated by the cotton monoculture. After 1850, commercial agricultural in the Delta eclipsed subsistence farming. Cotton became Between the Mississippi and Red River the dominant crop as white Americans floodplains lay the West Gulf Coastal Plain. discovered that the alluvial soil typically Formed by erosion from the upland regions, the produced about fifty percent more cotton than Coastal Plain was characterized by shallow the state’s average pounds per acre, and Delta soils that were excellent for growing loblolly pine raw cotton regularly sold above market price at trees but had limited use for traditional row the Memphis cotton exchange. In the decade crops. Cotton and corn farmers survived by before the Civil War, the region’s population planting in the Ouachita-Saline River watershed increased more than 100 percent, and the slave valleys. population grew more than 120 percent. But even then the plantation cotton-slave culture West and north of the Mississippi River flood exceeded the self-sufficient hill farmers’ only in plain lay the Ouachita Mountains and the Ozark the dollar value of their investments in chattel uplift. Farming in these regions was also a and land. challenge. Soils were shallow, the terrain usually sloped, and most of the nutrients In some ways, the Civil War had a major impact leached out through centuries of erosion. There on Arkansas agriculture, but in others, little was some fertile land along the many streams changed. The most obvious change came after that drained the upland watershed, but these 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation valleys were typically narrow and subject to freed Arkansas’s 111,115 slaves. Related to flooding. A crop lost to floods often offset soil that were the thousands of acres of farmland fertility. that lay fallow, some for the duration of the war, depriving individuals and the state government The Arkansas River Valley bisects the Ozarks of income. Perhaps the most divisive impact of and the Ouachitas and offered the best the war was a policy that allowed those owning farmland in the upland region. Beginning on the twenty or more slaves to be exempt from state’s western border, it ranges from twenty- military service. Historian Carl Moneyhon five to thirty-five miles wide and extends almost established that many large landowners 150 miles into the state. Originally valued for its persisted through the war and continued to cotton land, by the time of the Civil War, the dominate Arkansas agriculture economically region had the state’s most diverse agriculture. after the war. Agriculture in the Nineteenth Century As the war ended, federal army officers Before 1840, the upland region dominated confiscated some of the abandoned land and production. Most farming was done on hillsides, used it to resettle former slaves. These “home and even though many of the early immigrants farms,” established outside Little Rock, Pine staked out more than 100 acres for a Bluff (Jefferson County), and Helena, provided a Arkansas Natural Resources Commission w http://www.anrc.arkansas.gov w501-682-1611 Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts w http://aracd.org w501-682-2915 Filename: Mod1_FS4_Arkansas_history_of_agriculture Module 1 Fact Sheet 4 – Page 3 Updated – September 2007 few African Americans with their first experience In 1867, only 167 freedmen made claims in in managing their affairs. For most, having spent Arkansas. The next year, 161 filed. The their lives close to the soil working crops and numbers picked up over the next eight years. livestock with a limited selection of tools, But even as late as 1876, when the original continuing in agriculture was expected. But legislation was amended to allow for gaining access to farmland was a major “unrestricted access,” there were only 26,395 challenge. In response to the former slaves’ “original entries.” These individuals claimed 2.3 need for land, Congress adopted two programs million of the nine million acres set aside in designed to make individual land ownership a 1866. But fewer than half (12,680) of the original priority. The first extended the responsibilities of claimants lived on their homesteads long the Freedmen’s Bureau to assist with farming. enough to make a final entry. The second came in 1866 with the Southern Homestead Act, which provided “free land” from Congress’s amending the Southern Homestead the public domain in the former Confederate Act led to a wave of speculation as states. Arkansas was second only to Florida in representatives of timber and railroad acres still in the public domain and offered an companies descended on the South to buy opportunity for thousands of Arkansans, black millions of acres from the public domain.
Recommended publications
  • The Agrarian Protest in Louisiana, 1877-1900. William Ivy Hair Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1962 The Agrarian Protest in Louisiana, 1877-1900. William Ivy Hair Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Hair, William Ivy, "The Agrarian Protest in Louisiana, 1877-1900." (1962). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 722. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/722 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This dissertation has been 62-3648 microfilmed exactly as received HAIR, William Ivy, 1930- THE AGRARIAN PROTEST IN LOUISIANA, 1877-1900. Louisiana State University, Ph.D., 1962 History, modern University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan THE AGRARIAN PROTEST IN LOUISIANA 1877-1900 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by William Ivy Hair B.A., Louisiana State University, 1952 M.A., Louisiana State University, 1953 January, 1962 ACKNOWLEDGMENT _ Many individuals have given generous aid and counsel during the course of my research and writing. A special debt should be acknowledged to Professors Burl Noggle, Edwin A. Davis, and John L. Loos of Louisiana State University, whose professional help and understanding proved vital to the completion of the dissertation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Agrarian Crusade, a Chronicle of the Farmer in Politics 1 the Agrarian Crusade, a Chronicle of the Farmer in Politics
    The Agrarian Crusade, A Chronicle of the Farmer in Politics 1 The Agrarian Crusade, A Chronicle of the Farmer in Politics Project Gutenberg's Etext The Agrarian Crusade, by Solon J. Buck Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! Please take a look at the important information in this header. We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an electronic path open for the next readers. Please do not remove this. This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they need about what they can legally do with the texts. **Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** **Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** *These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and further information is included below. We need your donations. Presently, contributions are only being solicited from people in: Texas, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa, Indiana, and Vermont. As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. These donations should be made to: Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation PMB 113 1739 University Ave. Oxford, MS 38655 Title: The Agrarian Crusade, A Chronicle of the Farmer in Politics Author: Solon J. Buck Release Date: November, 2001 [Etext #2899] [Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] Edition: 10 Project Gutenberg's Etext The Agrarian Crusade, by Solon J.
    [Show full text]
  • The Elaine Riot of 1919: Race, Class, and Labor in the Arkansas Delta" (2019)
    University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations May 2019 The lE aine Riot of 1919: Race, Class, and Labor in the Arkansas Delta Steven Anthony University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Anthony, Steven, "The Elaine Riot of 1919: Race, Class, and Labor in the Arkansas Delta" (2019). Theses and Dissertations. 2040. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/2040 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ELAINE RIOT OF 1919: RACE, CLASS, AND LABOR IN THE ARKANSAS DELTA by Steven Anthony A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee May 2019 ABSTRACT THE ELAINE RIOT OF 1919: RACE, CLASS, AND LABOR IN THE ARKANSAS DELTA by Steven Anthony The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2019 Under the Supervision of Professor Gregory Carter This dissertation examines the racially motivated mob dominated violence that took place during the autumn of 1919 in rural Phillips County, Arkansas nearby Elaine. The efforts of white planters to supplant the loss of enslaved labor due to the abolition of American slavery played a crucial role in re-making the southern agrarian economy in the early twentieth century. My research explores how the conspicuous features of sharecropping, tenant farming, peonage, or other variations of debt servitude became a means for the re-enslavement of African Americans in the Arkansas Delta.
    [Show full text]
  • 2009Winter Index.Pdf.Pdf
    INDEX A Andover Theological Seminary (Mass.) 109 Aberdeen (Scotland) 170 Anesthesia 179; photo 176. See also Surgery and surgeons Abilene (Dickinson Co.) 49, 162, 248, 252, 254, 265 Annapolis (Md.) 167 Abolitionism 9, 28, 205, 210, 213. See also Proslavery/free- Anthony, Dan sidebar 256 state conflict Antibiotics 180, 182 Abortion 48, 57, 72–73 Anti-Masonic movement 33 “’A Brave and Gallant Company’: A Kansas City Hospital Anti-Monopolist 7 in France during the First World War”: article co- Anti-Saloon League 29 authored by Anthony Kovac, Nancy Hulston, Grace Anti-Semitism 34, 37, 42 Holmes, and Frederick Holmes 168–85 Antle, Jay: film reviewed by 137–39 Across the Continent: “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Antrim 172 its Way”: lithograph reproduced 6 Apartheid, in South Africa 60, 62 Adams, Franklin G. 13–14; photo 13 Apostolic Faith 118–19, 121; advertisement reproduced 120; Adams, John Quincy 32, 33 photo 119 Adams, Kevin: book by, reviewed 222 Appaloosa: DVD cover reproduced 131; reviewed 131–32 Advertising 62, 110, 259; political 58, 60, 62, 71, materials Argersinger, Peter H. 20 reproduced 56, 58, 59, 71, 72, No. 1 back cover; Arizona 171, 193 railroads, materials reproduced 2, 5, 17 Arkansas City (Cowley Co.) 162 Age of Reform, The: From Bryan to F. D. R. 20, 34, 36 Arkansas River 187, 188, 189, 190, 192–93, 195, 196–97, Agricultural Wheel 42 198–99, 200; map 196; photo 189 Agriculture 48, 49, 170, 190, 229, 241, 248, 249, 251; and Arkansas River valley 157, 188, 189, 190 embargoes 60, 62; equipment 160, 162, 193; and Art: Prairie Print Makers No.
    [Show full text]
  • Arkansas Historical Quarterly Index A
    Arkansas Historical Quarterly Index 1942-2000 43:184, 341, 45:182 A Abid, Omar, 37:121n Abiding Mother, Genuine Mother: Mother through the A. J. Rife Construction Co., 48:172 Ages; Tributes to Mother, by Henry F. White, A. K. A., by Sandi Garrett, noted, 52:364 revd., 7:96–97 A. L. Barnett (company), Leslie, 33:279 Abilene or Bust, by Bill Gulick and Thomas Rothrock, "AAA Cotton Plow-Up Campaign in Arkansas," by noted, 5:191–92 Keith J. Volanto, 59:388–406 Abington, Eugene H., Backroads and Bicarbonate: The Aaker, Jerry, book by, noted, 53:398 Autobiography of an Arkansas Country Aalseth, Margaret, 49:286 Doctor, noted, 14:77, 286; revd., 14:392–94 Aaron, Nadine (Mrs. O. R. Aaron), Little Rock, 57:163, Abington, Mrs. Eugene H., Beebe, 2:363 164, 167, 171 Abington, W. H., 3:227, 237–38, 243n, 39:32 AAUP. See American Association of University Ables, Hamp, 14:145, 237 Professors Abner (of Lum and Abner), 30:64, 69–70 AAUW. See American Association of University Abney, James F. (CSA), 15:172, 175 Women Abolitionist incident at Camden, 11:332–33 Abadie, Silvestre, 1:297–98 Abolitionists, 3:76, 29:200, 30:123–44, 44:329–30 Abandoned lands (1864), 1:72–73 Abolitionists and the South, 1831–1861, by Stanley Abandoned Orchard, by Eleanor Risley, noted, 4:370 Harrold, revd., 55:329–31 Abbey, Fred (USA), 49:10 Abraham, James, 1:69 Abbey of Saint Walburg, 56:81 Abraham, James B., 5:372 Abbot, Mr., Dallas Co., 35:278 "Abraham G.
    [Show full text]
  • Chronological Landmarks in American Agriculture (AIB-425)
    A. 2 '/^i> 'è ^¿^ //?^{S United States i)] Department of ^"' Agriculture Chronological Economics Research Service Landmarks In Agriculture Information Bulletin American Number 425 Agriculture It's Easy To Order Another Copy! Just dial 1-800»999"6779. Toll free (in the United States and Canada). An other areas pïease dial 301-725-7937. Ask for Chronological Landmarks in American Agriculture (AIB-425). The cost is $11.00 per copy. For non-U.S. addresses (including Canada), add 25 percent. Charge your purchase to your VISA or MasterCard, or we can bill you. Or send a check or purchase order (made payable to ERS-NASS) to: ERS-NASS P.O. Box 1608 Rockville, MD 20849-1608. We'll fill your order by first-class mail. Revised version, Washington, DC November 1990 CHRONOLOGICAL LANDMARKS IN AMERICAN AGRICULTURE Compiled by Maryanna S. Smith and Dennis M, Roth INTRODUCTION This chronology lists major events in the history of U.S. agriculture. A source to which the reader may turn for additional information on the subject is included with most of the events. Generally, each source appears only once, although it may apply to more than one chronological citation. The reader interested in a particular subject can compile a short bibliography by consulting each citation for that subject. Key inventions, laws, changes in land policies, individuals, contributions, the development of institutions, and the introduction of new types of crops and livestock are included. There are also notes on all commissioners, secretaries of agriculture, and agencies established in response to new programs in the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Dictionary of the Gilded Age
    HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES OF U.S. HISTORICAL ERAS Jon Woronoff, Series Editor 1. From the Great War to the Great Depression, by Neil A. Wynn, 2003. 2. Civil War and Reconstruction, by William L. Richter, 2004. 3. Revolutionary America, by Terry M. Mays, 2005. 4. Old South, by William L. Richter, 2006. 5. Early American Republic, by Richard Buel Jr., 2006. 6. Jacksonian Era and Manifest Destiny, by Terry Corps, 2006. 7. Reagan–Bush Era, by Richard S. Conley, 2007. 8. Kennedy–Johnson Era, by Richard Dean Burns and Joseph M. Siracusa, 2008. 9. Nixon–Ford Era, by Mitchell K. Hall, 2008. 10. Roosevelt–Truman Era, by Neil A. Wynn, 2008. 11. Eisenhower Era, by Burton I. Kaufman and Diane Kaufman, 2009. 12. Progressive Era, by Catherine Cocks, Peter Holloran, and Alan Lessoff, 2009. 13. Gilded Age, by T. Adams Upchurch, 2009. Historical Dictionary of the Gilded Age T. Adams Upchurch Historical Dictionaries of U.S. Historical Eras, No. 13 The Scarecrow Press, Inc. Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Plymouth, UK 2009 SCARECROW PRESS, INC. Published in the United States of America by Scarecrow Press, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefi eld Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.scarecrowpress.com Estover Road Plymouth PL6 7PY United Kingdom Copyright © 2009 by T. Adams Upchurch All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Upchurch, Thomas Adams.
    [Show full text]
  • Agriculture and Rural Life Day Material for Its Observance
    UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION BULLETIN, 1913, NO. 43 - - WHOLE NUMBER 553 AGRICULTURE AND RURAL LIFE DAY MATERIAL FOR ITS OBSERVANCE By EUGENE C. BROOKS PROFESSOR oF EDUCATION:. 1 RINI1 Y COLLEGE I)l'RFIAM. N C. WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 11911 lit 205564.: .A(0 AUG 28 1916 a. .&tts CONTENTS. 43- S4 3 4 Pate. Letter of transmiTtal - 1- 5 The country boy's creed The footpath to peace Part I.Man's struggle for food Man and nature How nations have fought for laud 7 The struggle for food 8 Ancient knowledge of cooking 9 Ancient use of vegetables 10 The bread of the world___ 10 The plowman 12 The sower's song 13 After the rain 14 Part II.The application of science to agriculture The mysteries of mother earth The ortgki of food plaids 10 The farmer's victory 16 Effect of invention on agriculture 17 What American inventors have done for the former 18 The growth of. agricultural instruction 20 Cooperation among farmers 21 Wonders Af a single acre 22 The little brown seed In the furrow 23 Green things growing_ 23 September 23 Deep 24 Part influential In Improving agriculture 25 George Washington Seaman A. Knapp_ 26 8pme of Knapp's epigrams 28 Knapp's ten commandments of agriculture 29 Luther Burbank ..L 30 Mr. Burbank's love of children 32 Louts Pasteur 32 Justin S. MorrilL 82 Isaac Newton 88 James Wilson 83 Significant things every schoolboy should know 33 G. A. Kelley 34 Horace Greeley 84 Gregor Mendel J Liberty Hyde Bailey 8b Wilbur 01 In Atwater 95 Stephen Babcock_ 86 David .Dickson a 86 4 CONTENTS.
    [Show full text]
  • Florida Agriculture and the Collapse of the State Farmers Alliance, 1880-1891
    Florida Agriculture and the Collapse of the State Farmers Alliance, 1880-1891 Shira Birnbaum Florida State University In the last half of the 19th century, a new na tional economic system emerged from the factory expansions of the Civil War. Characterized by tight money supplies, expensive credit, and powerful bankers and railroad monopolies, the post-war economic regime established an industrialist class in Northeastern cities while leaving millions in poverty and farm tenancy in the countryside, particularly in the South and the Midwest. In the process, it set in motion a new populist consciousness among the poor. The Farmers Alliance was one of many organizational expressions of this emerg­ ing consciousness. Originally founded in Texas by a small coalition of politically astute hardscrabble farmers, the Alliance movement expanded quickly throughout the midwest and the former Confed­ eracy, gaining members by the tens of thousands. The Alliance was short-lived, however. By the tum of the century, internal divisions had divided the movement's supporters, and mainstream political parties had adopted watered-down versions of its populist goals. This paper is about the Farmers Alliance in late-Ivth-centu ry Florida. When Alliance organizers from a dozen states met in Ocala, Florida, for their second annual national convention in 1890, the movement was reaching the height of its power nationally and had an estimated three million members (Woodward 1951). In Florida at the same time, ironically, the movement was flagging. Membership in the Florida Alliance, numbering 25,000 in 1889, fell to just a few thousand in 1891 and to nothing the following year (Knauss 1926).
    [Show full text]
  • Sectionalism, Nationalism, and the Agrarian Revolt, 1877-1892
    University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2014 Sectionalism, Nationalism, And The Agrarian Revolt, 1877-1892 Benjamin Houston Turner Purvis University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Purvis, Benjamin Houston Turner, "Sectionalism, Nationalism, And The Agrarian Revolt, 1877-1892" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 642. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/642 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SECTIONALISM, NATIONALISM, AND THE AGRARIAN REVOLT, 1877-1892 A Dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History The University of Mississippi by BENJAMIN HOUSTON TURNER PURVIS MAY 2014 Copyright Benjamin H.T. Purvis 2014 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT The Southern Farmers’ Alliance led the largest coalition of late-nineteenth-century farmers’ and urban reformers. The reform movement called for laws opposing speculation on agricultural prices, restricting the powers of business trusts, regulating railroad freight rates, and increasing the circulation of currency based on silver. Advocates also strongly opposed the proponents of sectionalism who emphasized differences and conflicts between the primary sections of the country, the North and the South. Differences between the North and South largely revolved around the issue of slavery and emerged shortly after the founding of the nation. Tension accelerated in the years following the Mexican-American War and reached a climax during the American Civil War and post-war Reconstruction.
    [Show full text]
  • The Agrarian Tradition in American Society
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange History of the Institute of Agriculture: Publications History of the Institute of Agriculture 1976 The Agrarian Tradition in American Society Clinton B. Allison Harold F. Breimyer Walter N. Lambert Frank O. Leuthold Joe A. Martin See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_aghistory Part of the Agriculture Commons Recommended Citation Allison, Clinton B.; Breimyer, Harold F.; Lambert, Walter N.; Leuthold, Frank O.; Martin, Joe A.; Seigenthaler, John; Smith, Frank E.; and Wheeler, William Bruce, "The Agrarian Tradition in American Society" (1976). History of the Institute of Agriculture: Publications. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_aghistory/5 The publications in this collection represent the historical publishing record of the UT Agricultural Experiment Station and do not necessarily reflect current scientific knowledge or ecommendations.r Current information about UT Ag Research can be found at the UT Ag Research website. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the History of the Institute of Agriculture at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in History of the Institute of Agriculture: Publications by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors Clinton B. Allison, Harold F. Breimyer, Walter N. Lambert, Frank O. Leuthold, Joe A. Martin, John Seigenthaler, Frank E. Smith, and William Bruce Wheeler This book is available at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange: https://trace.tennessee.edu/ utk_aghistory/5 Ag-VetM~ S II.,!) ,P'1 /Cf 7" ~.
    [Show full text]
  • Layout, Cost of Pro- of Strawberries to Production Planning
    comprehensive bibliography of Arkansas newspapers has Introduction already been compiled, Arkansas Union List of News- Purpose papers (Fayetteville: University Libraries, 1993). This bibliography was compiled in order to provide Notes on Coverage and Subject Areas a resource for scholars and researchers who wish to ac- cess the universe of material relating to Agriculture and Because Arkansas had an overwhelmingly rural Rural Life in Arkansas, 1820-1945. population, and its economy was primarily based on ag- The compilation aims to list the universe of publi- riculture during the period covered, the selection process cations which make up the historical record of Arkansas’ was made intentionally broad to include nearly all areas agriculture, rural economy and societal activities. The of economic and social activity in the state. This was done rural and agricultural world is viewed as group activities in order to give researchers comparative materials (i.e. of people who live in the countryside and the effects these urban/rural, agricultural/manufacturing) to work with and activities have on the farm people themselves. This in- was based on the premise that the rural and agricultural cludes outside influences as well as those within the state influences were pervasive in Arkansas and all facets of which affected the activities and character of rural people. life in the state were touched by them in some way. Scope of Coverage Arrangement Included are books, monographs and pamphlets The bibliography is arranged within three broad published before 1946, including Arkansas government categories: Agriculture, Rural Life, and Miscellaneous. documents, theses and dissertations published in or about The Agriculture and Rural Life categories are further bro- Arkansas.
    [Show full text]