If we want to understand everyday life in early America we need to understand the everyday life of early American farms and farmers.
Roughly three-quarters of Americans in British North America and the early United States considered themselves to be farmers. So how did early Americans establish farms and what were the rhythms of their daily lives?
Richard Bushman, the Gouverneur Morris Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, joins us to investigate farms and farm life in early America with details from his book, The American Farmer in the Eighteenth Century: A Social and Cultural History.
About the Show
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.
It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.
Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.
Episode Summary
Richard Bushman, the Gouverneur Morris Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, joins us to investigate farms and farm life in early America with details from his book, The American Farmer in the Eighteenth Century: A Social and Cultural History.
During our agricultural exploration, Richard reveals why early Americans wanted to farm; How colonists and early Americans created and built new farms; And, details about the rhythms of work and farm life for early American farm families.
What You’ll Discover
- Early American farming population
- Why early Americans wanted to farm
- What went into creating and building a farm
- How 18th-century American farmers purchased land
- Everyday life of an 18th-century farmer
- The work of the 18th-century farmer
- Economies of the early American farmer
- Self-provisioning
- Families on the early American farm
- Gendered labor on the early American farm
- The various roles servants and enslaved people performed on farms
- Indentured servants and land grants
- Regional variations in farming
- The importance of growing seasons
- The agricultural lifestyles of the north and south
- The role of farmers and farming in westward expansion
- How farms and farming have impacted present-day American identity
Links to People, Places, and Publications
- Richard Bushman
- The American Farmer in the Eighteenth Century: A Social and Cultural History
- Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling
Meet Ups & Talks
- Albany, New York: April 25 at the New York State Cultural Education Center. Meet up at pre-talk reception.
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin: April 29, 6pm at Zaffiro’s Pizza
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin: April 30, 6pm free public talk at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Golda Meir Library
Sponsor Links
Complementary Episodes
- Episode 087: Sean Condon, Shays’ Rebellion
- Episode 115: Andrew Torget, The Early American History of Texas
- Episode 129: J.L. Bell, The Road to Concord
- Episode 130: Paul Revere’s Ride Through History
- Episode 135: Julie Holcomb, Moral Commerce: The Transatlantic Boycott of the Slave Labor Economy
Time Warp Question
In your opinion, what might have happened if slavery had not been adopted? How would the absence of slaves have impacted the work habits of early American farmers and regional farming variations?
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