Farmers have always been a major aspect of American society, providing food to fuel the nation to progress. Farmers have sacrificed the glamorous city life to support the mouths of many living what is considered to be a simple life. A farmer’s life relies on that year’s weather, production and market prices involving a crop. An instability in any of those can ruin a farmer’s livelihood. In the late nineteenth century, overproduction of crops and low market prices would give hardship to farmers in America.
Throughout the beginning history of America, the nation was mostly made up of farms. Country life was looked upon by most people as a simple way of life with good virtues. Even in the North, there were many farms at the beginning of the 19th century. Farmers were always depended on to provide food for the country. As time went on though, the city raked in more and more farmers attracting them with the glamor of the city. As the late nineteenth century came, American farm life became difficult and rough. Income for farmers declined, because of new machines and new ideas to increase crop turnouts. The old, small farms could not compete with the new, larger farms. Small farms lacked the resources and machines to create income. Many of these small farmers abandoned the farm life, because of failure and moved to the city to work in industrial jobs. Farmers that stayed in the country life struggled during these times due to overproduction and law market prices. Many of the farming families saw either tragedy through family death or disappointment as their children left for an easier life in the city. Most of these farmers were made up of people in the South and West.
Farmer’s began to be represented in the 1890’s with the creation of the Populist Party. This third party aimed to defeat the Democratic and Republican parties. The Populist Party emerged out of the Farmers’ Alliance which was formed to take away the control of the railroads and manufacturers over...