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.

• 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.

• Social Classes in the Colonies

  • Unlike Europe, where aristocratic families and the established church were in control, the American political culture was open to economic, social, religious, ethnic, and geographical interests, with merchants, landlords, petty farmers, artisans, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Quakers, Germans, Scotch Irish, Yankees, Yorkers, and many other identifiable groups taking part.
  • Beyond the plantations, yeoman farmers operated small holdings, sometimes a few slaves.

• "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.

• The Colonial Elite

  • In New England and the mid-Atlantic colonies, the elite were wealthy farmers or urban merchants; in the South, they were wealthy planters.
  • The gold and credit slips were sent to England where they were exchanged for manufactures, which were shipped back to the colonies and sold along with the sugar and rum to farmers.
  • Unlike the life of yeoman farm households, these merchants lived lives that resembled those of the upper classes in England.
  • Unlike the multipurpose interior spaces common to yeoman houses in which each room had to meet many different needs, each of the rooms in a wealthy town merchant's home served a separate purpose.
  • Large-scale farmers and merchants became wealthy, while farmers with smaller farms and artisans only made enough for subsistence.