1790-1820 Following the Constitution.....

Social History- what was it like like to be living in a certain place at a certain time?

Life in the North- Farming

• Few farmers considered farming a business.
• Most just grew enough to provide for their families (subsistence)
• Farmers worried about taking care of their sons and being able to pass on the farm to them.
• Soon a market for American agricultural products like meat and grain grew in the West Indies and Europe.
• American farmers only sold whatever they had surplus of their crops on the market but did not become entirely dependent on the market.

Farming Families and Neighbors

• As the farmers started producing crops for money, the farming family was affected.
• Jobs were now separated by gender.
• Instead of Mr. and Mrs. Farmer working in the fields side-by-side, Mr. Farmer and his son(s) worked outside.
• Mrs. Farmer ran the household, which meant taking care of the children.
• Since Mr. Farmer is outside in the fields all day, the lady of the farm has to administer punishments to unruly children, a job the once belonged to the father so he could assert his authority, thus gaining their respect.
• Due to a variety of new crops, diets become healthier.
• Industrial Outwork- gives farmers another way to supplement income.
• Merchants who were trying to meet the needs of cities realized that America can make finished products too, not just England.
• Products like brooms, chairs, cloth etc. could be made just as easily by purchasing the raw materials instead.
• Merchants gave the raw materials to farm families to make the product and once they had, the families gave them back to the merchant to sell.
• This was especially good for farmers after harvest time (fall-winter) because there was no farming that could be done.
• It also organized families and strengthened the father's authority (which had been taken away by his inability to inflict punishments)
• Neighborly cooperation also increases.
• Since farmers generally didn't have all the tools needed, all the food they wanted to eat or labor they needed, neighbors came together to work for each other and trade or buy products.
• Jobs like barn raising needed many people to complete (it was a common occurrence because barns didn't last long due to roting etc.) The task of husking corn was turned into a festival that brought neighbors together too.
• This improves the living standards of some.Farmhouses were often small, one story buildings with very few rooms (hardly any privacy)
• An open fire was used for warmth and light.After the 1800's, place settings like knives, forks, plates and chairs were common.
• Traditional benches were replaced by chairs with backs (way more comfortable)
• Some sons left their homes because their fathers were not able to provide farm land for them and had to provide for themselves.

Indian Issues

• By 1790's, white Americans lived along the Atlantic Coast and near major rivers.
• Indians were settled away from the major rivers and lived in the interior of the United States.
• Members of the Iroquois Federation were restricted to reservations in New York and Pennsylvania.
• Cherokee Indians were forced to give up 3/4 of their land to the U.S.
• North of Ohio to Mississippi, some Indian tribes traded fur to the British in their seven forts around the Great Lakes.
• Fights break out and since the U.S. has a new constitution, they are able to raise an army against the Indians.
• In 1794 President George Washington sends General "Mad Anthony" Wayne against the Indians at Fallen Timbers.
• The U.S. wins and produce the Treaty of Greenville which states that the Indians must give up 2/3 of their land in Ohio and Southeastern Indiana.
• The British soon leave their forts and allow the Americans to move in.
• Indians now have to compete with settlers and other Indians for game (which is growing scarce) and hunting grounds.
• The Woodlands Indians who move West confront the Indians already there and start Indian wars.
• The Cherokee Indians come together in hopes of reuniting, make a constitution and try to become farmers (only Indian group that was mildly successful)
• Tecumseh's brother "The Prophet" tries to unite the Indians- tells them to stop drinking and fighting amongst themselves so God would bring things back to the way things were before the whites came.
• He creates an army that poses a threat to the U.S.
• The British supply the Indians with arms from Canada.
• In 1811 William Henry Harrison led an army to Prophetstown (Tippecanoe) and defeated the Indians.
• After the British lose the War of 1812, there is no one left to help the Indians.