Agricultural Reform

(Period: Growth and Transformation)

Synopsis:

For a brief synopsis of the history of this time and period: Click Here.

Historical synopsis courtesy of A Hypertext on American History from the colonial period until Modern Times by Department of Humanities Computing, University of Groningen, The Netherlands and the former United States Information Agency (1953-1999).

Key Facts:

• Between 1860 and 1910, the number of farms in the United States tripled and the population doubled

Key People:

• Cyrus McCormick - inventor of the reaper, which played a critical role in changing agriculture from hard manual labor to more machine-intensive.
• George Washington Carver - African American scientist who found hundreds of new uses for the peanut, sweet potato and soybean

Vocabulary:

• 1862 Morrill Land Grant College Act - set aside land in each state for agricultural and industrial colleges.