Page 67 - Demo

CHAPTER 7 Hammering Out a Federal Republic, 1787%u20131820 269In New York, as in Kentucky and Ohio, well-connected speculators snapped up much of the best land, leasing farms to tenants for a fee. Imbued with the %u201chomestead%u201d ethic, many New England families preferred to buy farms. They signed contracts with the Holland Land Company, a Dutch-owned syndicate of speculators that allowed settlers to pay for their farms as they worked them, or moved west again in an elusive search for land on easy terms.Innovation on Eastern Farms The new farm economy in New York, Ohio, and Kentucky forced major changes in eastern agriculture. Unable to compete with lower-priced western grains, farmers in New England switched to potatoes, which were high yielding and nutritious. To make up for the labor of sons and daughters who had moved inland, Middle Atlantic farmers bought more efficient farm equipment. They replaced metal-tipped wooden plows with cast-iron models that dug deeper and required a single yoke of oxen instead of two. Such changes in crop mix and technology kept production high.Easterners also adopted the progressive farming methods touted by British agricultural reformers and shifted land and resources to livestock production. %u201cImprovers%u201d in Pennsylvania doubled their average yield per acre by rotating their crops. Many farmers raised sheep and sold the wool to textile manufacturers. Others adopted a year-round planting cycle, sowing corn in the spring for animal fodder and then planting winter wheat in September for market sale. Women and girls took advantage of new urban markets by milking the family cows and making butter and cheese to sell in the growing towns and cities.Whether hacking fields out of western forests or carting manure to replenish eastern soils, farmers now worked harder and longer, but their increased productivity brought them a better standard of living. European demand for American produce was high in these years, and westward migration%u2014the settlement and exploitation of Native American lands%u2014boosted the farming economy throughout the country.The Jefferson PresidencyFrom 1801 to 1825, three Republicans from Virginia %u2014 Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe %u2014 each served two terms as president. Supported by Cutting Hay on a New Hampshire Farm This painting, attributed to Francis Alexander, illustrates the growing productivity of many New England farmsteads. In this idyllic scene, a group of men loads hay onto an overflowing cart on the Leete family farm in West Claremont, New Hampshire, nestled in the foothills between the White and Green mountain ranges. Though this was marginal agricultural land, the Leete farm appears snug and prosperous. A large house is dwarfed by a series of outbuildings for livestock and storage. The barn nearest the house is filled with fodder to feed livestock during the winter months.The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1972.skills & processesCAUSATIONWhy were westward migration and agricultural improvement so widespread in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries?%u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Do not distribute.