Episode 234: Richard Bushman, Farms & Farm Families in Early America

by Liz CovartApril 16, 2019

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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

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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?