I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute.
The U.S. economy was still primarily agriculturally based in the early 19th century. Westward expansion continues, including the Louisiana Purchase, plus the building of canals, the introduction of steamboats, opening new areas for agriculture. Still, most farming was designed to produce food for the family and maybe service small local markets.
But in times of rapid economic growth, a farmer could still improve the land for far more than he paid for it, and then move further west and repeat the process. And while land was cheap and fertile, the process of clearing it, building farmsteads, wasn’t. That’s today’s American Agriculture History Minute. I’m Mark Oppold. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next time.