Frq Apush Farmers vs Industrialization
07.07 FRQ The Gilded Age, a time of industrious growth and a surge of new immigrants. Americans had witnessed the death of rural life dominated by farmers and the birth of an urban and industrial America dominated by bankers, industrialists, and city dwellers. Overproduction led farmers into debt leaving them just an overflow of crops due to the repressed prices. Tariff Policies forced farmers to buy manufactured goods for survival. Farmers lost their status and power due to industrialization. Let’s just say farmers felt betrayed by their government and not letting them have voice. Overproduction was the most vexing problem during this time. The American farmer produced too much for their own good. As levels rise, the use of farm machinery increased it allowed the farmer to grow even more, new farming techniques, and the spread of railroads l made markets full of produce. As more and more crops were in the markets, it made the prices fall for the produce. Farmers were growing more and making less money. Of all the problems a farmer faced, overproduction was the gravest. Not making enough to recoup expenses because of depressed crop values, farmers attempted to compensate by producing more. This made the problem worse. The lack of income drove farmers into ever-deepening debt. Farmers fell victim to a tariff policy of the U.S. during the Gilded Age. It forced them to buy all the manufacture goods they needed for survival on a market protected by tariff legislation at high prices while selling what they produced on an unprotected market at reduced prices because of oversupply and foreign competitors. The government put a tax on the manufactured goods being imported into the U.S. by other manufactures. They hoped to make them more expensive than the American goods. For consumers would buy American goods. During this process it made American rapidly industrialized. Famers felt doubly discriminated against because they felt the tariffs were applied