Farm protests
Farm protests refer to organized movements by farmers advocating for their rights and addressing economic hardships. In the late 19th century, particularly during the 1870s and 1880s, American farmers faced significant challenges, including adverse weather conditions and a long-term decline in crop prices following the Civil War. As the farming landscape expanded with the settlement of the Great Plains, many farmers became increasingly burdened by debt and reliant on the crop lien system.
In response to these economic pressures, farmers formed alliances and organizations, such as the National Grange and various farmers' alliances. These groups initially started as social and educational entities but evolved into politically active organizations, seeking to influence legislation and advocate for fair treatment from railroads and agricultural processors. Notably, the Northern and Southern Farmers' Alliances, along with the Colored Farmers' National Alliance, collectively represented millions of farmers and had some success in electing sympathetic candidates and passing laws to regulate unfair practices.
The culmination of these efforts led to the formation of the People's Party, also known as the Populist Party, in the early 1890s, which aimed to advance agrarian reforms. While the Populists struggled to achieve significant political change, some of their ideas later influenced the Progressive and New Deal movements. By the mid-1890s, as agricultural conditions improved, the intensity of the protests diminished, marking a shift in the farmers' plight.
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Farm protests
The Event Demonstrations by farmers throughout America against falling prices, the rise of indebtedness, and general business trends they believed to be detrimental to their economic opportunities
Date Culminating during the 1880’s and early 1890’s
Place U.S. agrarian states, especially in the Midwest, the western plains, and the South
Although the population of the United States grew dramatically during the late nineteenth century, the vast expansion of land being farmed and the beginnings of mechanized agriculture soon led to overproduction and falling prices. Farmers protested these developments, blaming government policies, the railroads, and the processors of agricultural products.
During the 1870’s and 1880’s, a series of bad weather cycles plagued American farmers. Compounding these cycles was the general downward trend of prices from the end of the U.S. Civil War to the early 1890’s. The amount of land being farmed in the United States more than doubled as the Great Plains were settled and brought into production. Prices for many farm commodities fell by 50 percent over a thirty-year period, before reaching some stability during the mid-1890’s. Many farmers became involved in the crop lien system, and farm indebtedness rose dramatically.
In the West, farming and cattle ranching would have hardly been possible without railroad connections to the markets of the East, yet producers felt at the mercy of the railroads, the grain elevator operations, and the millers, meatpackers, and other agricultural processors. Farm organizations that had begun as social and educational ventures, such as the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry and the various farmers’ alliances, became politically active during the late 1870’s and into the 1880’s.
These alliances organized protests and other political activities designed to make their voices heard. They backed the political candidates of both the Republican and the Democratic Parties who promised to represent their interests. The major farmers’ alliances were the Northern Farmers’ Alliance, with about two million members; the Southern Farmers’ Alliance, with about two million white members; and a separate Colored Farmers’ National Alliance that represented about one million southern black farmers. These organizations had some success in electing state and local legislators and governors and in passing state laws regulating railroads and grain elevator operations.
During the early 1890’s, representatives from several of these farm organizations helped form the People’s Party, also known as the Populist Party. The Populists never achieved much of their agrarian reform agenda, although some of their proposals were later adopted in the Progressive and New Deal eras. During the mid-1890’s, agricultural production began to level off and commodity prices rose, ending much of the discontent that had fueled the earlier protests.
Bibliography
Argersinger, Peter H. The Limits of Agrarian Radicalism: Western Populism and American Politics. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1995.
Kazin, Michael. The Populist Persuasion: An American History. Rev. ed. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1998.
Schwartz, Michael. Radical Protest and Social Structure: The Southern Farmers’ Alliance and Cotton Tenancy, 1880-1890. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.