17th century Small land grants commonly made
to individual settlers; large tracts often granted to well-connected colonists
1619 First African slaves brought to
Virginia; by 1700, slaves were displacing southern indentured servants
18th century English farmers settled in New England
villages; Dutch, German, Swedish, Scotch-Irish, and English farmers settled
on isolated Middle Colony farmsteads; English and some French farmers settled
on plantations in tidewater and on isolated Southern Colony farmsteads
in Piedmont; Spanish immigrants, mostly lower middle-class and indentured
servants, settled the Southwest and California.
1776-99
1776 Continental Congress offered land
grants for service in the Continental Army
1785, 1787 Ordinances of 1785 and 1787 provided
for survey, sale, and government of northwestern lands
1790 Total population: 3,929,214
Farmers made up about 90% of labor
force
1790 The U.S. area settled extended westward
an average of 255 miles; parts of the frontier crossed the Appalachians
1790-1830 Sparse immigration into the United
States, mostly from the British Isles
1796 Public Land Act of 1796 authorized
Federal land sales to the public in minimum 640-acre plots at $2 per acre
of credit
1800
1800 Total population: 5,308,483
1803 Louisiana Purchase
1810 Total population: 7,239,881
1819 Florida and other land acquired
through treaty with Spain
1820 Total population: 9,638,453
1820 Land Law of 1820 allowed purchasers
to buy as little as 80 acres of public land for a minimum price of $1.25
an acre; credit system abolished
1810
1820
1830
1830 Total population: 12,866,020
1830 The Mississippi River formed the
approximate frontier boundary
1830-37 Land speculation boom
1839 Anti-rent war in New York, a protest
against the continued collection of quitrents
1840
1840 Total population: 17,069,453
Farm population: 9,012,000 (estimated)
Farmers made up 69% of labor force
1841 Preemption Act gave squatters first
rights to buy land
1845-55 The potato famine in Ireland and
the German Revolution of 1848 greatly increased immigration
1845-53 Texas, Oregon, the Mexican cession,
and the Gadsden Purchase were added to the Union
1849 Gold Rush
1850
1850 Total population: 23,191,786
Farm population: 11,680,000 (estimated)
Farmers made up 64% of labor force
Number of farms: 1,449,000
Average acres: 203
1850's Successful farming on the prairies
began
1850 With the California gold rush, the
frontier bypassed the Great Plains and the Rockies and moved to the Pacific
coast
1850-62 Free land was a vital rural issue
1854 Graduation Act reduced price of
unsold public lands
1859-75 The miners' frontier moved eastward
from California toward the westward-moving farmers' and ranchers frontier
1860
1860 Total population: 31,443,321
Farm population: 15,141,000 (estimated)
Farmers made up 58% of labor force
Number of farms: 2,044,000
Average acres: 199
1862 Homestead Act granted 160 acres
to settlers who had worked the land 5 years
1865-70 The sharecropping system in the
South replaced the old slave plantation system
1865-90 Influx of Scandinavian immigrants
1866-77 Cattle boom accelerated settlement
of Great Plains; range wars developed between farmers and ranchers
1870
1870 Total population: 38,558,371
Farm population: 18,373,000 (estimated)
Farmers made up 53% of labor force
Number of farms: 2,660,000
Average acres: 153
1880
1880 Total population: 50,155,783
Farm population: 22,981,000 (estimated)
Farmers made up 49% of labor force
Number of farms: 4,009,000
Average acres: 134
1880's Heavy agricultural settlement on
the Great Plains began
1880 Most humid land already settled
1880-1914 Most immigrants were from southeastern
Europe
1887-97 Drought reduced settlement on the
Great Plains
1890
1890 Total population: 62,941,714
Farm population: 29,414,000 (estimated)
Farmers made up 43% of labor force
Number of farms: 4,565,000
Average acres: 136
1890's Increases in land under cultivation
and number of immigrants becoming farmers caused great rise in agricultural
output
1890 Census showed that the frontier
settlement era was over
1900
1900 Total population: 75,994,266
Farm population: 29,414,000 (estimated)
Farmers made up 38% of labor force
Number of farms: 5,740,000
Average acres: 147
1900-20 Continued agricultural settlement
on the Great Plains
1902 Reclamation Act
1905-07 Policy of reserving timberlands
inaugurated on a large scale
1910
1910 Total population: 91,972,266
Farm population: 32,077,00 (estimated)
Farmers made up 31% of labor force
Number of farms: 6,366,000
Average acres: 138
1909-20 Dryland farming boom on the Great Plains
1911-17 Immigration of agricultural workers from Mexico
1916 Stock Raising Homestead Act
1920
1920 Total population: 105,710,620
Farm population: 31,614,269 (estimated)
Farmers made up 27% of labor force
Number of farms: 6,454,000
Average acres: 148
1924 Immigration Act greatly reduced
number of new immigrants
1930
1930 Total population: 122,775,046
Farm population: 30,455,350 (estimated)
Farmers made up 21% of labor force
Number of farms: 6,295,000
Average acres: 157
Irrigated acres: 14,633,252
1932-36 Drought and dust-bowl conditions
developed
1934 Executive orders withdrew public
lands from settlement, location, sale, or entry
1934 Taylor Grazing Act
1940
1940 Total population: 131,820.000
Farm population: 30,840,000 (estimated)
Farmers made up 18% of labor force
Number of farms: 6,102,000
Average acres: 175
Irrigated acres: 17,942,968
1940's Many former southern sharecroppers
migrated to war-related jobs in cities
1950
1950 Total population: 151,132,000
Farm population: 25,058,000 (estimated)
Farmers made up 12.2% of labor force
Number of farms: 5,388,000
Average acres: 216
Irrigated acres: 25,634,869
1956 Legislation passed providing for
Great Plains Conservation Program
1960
1960 Total population: 180,007,000
Farm population: 15,635,000 (estimated)
Farmers made up 8.3% of labor force
Number of farms: 3,711,000
Average acres: 303
Irrigated acres: 33,829,000
1960's State legislation increased to keep
land in farming
1964 Wilderness Act
1965 Farmers made up 6.4% of labor force
1970
1970 Total population: 204,335,000
Farm population: 9,712,000 (estimated)
Farmers made up 4.6% of labor force
Number of farms: 2,780,000
Average acres: 390
1980-90
1980, 1990 Total population: 227,020,000 and
246,081,000
Farm population: 6,051,00 and 4,591,000
Farmers made up 3.4% and 2.6% of
labor force
Number of farms: 2,439,510 and 2,143,150
Average acres: 426 and 461
Irrigated acres: 50,350,000 (1978)
and 46,386,000 (1987)
1980's For the first time since the 19th
century, foreigners (Europeans and Japanese primarily) began to purchase
significant acreages of farmland and ranchland
1986 The Southeast's worst summer drought
on record took a severe toll on many farmers
1987 Farmland values bottomed out after
a 6-year decline, signalling both a turnaround in the farm economy and
increased competition with other countries' exports
1988 Scientists warned that the possibility
of global warming may affect the future viability of American farming
1988 One of the worst droughts in the
Nation's history hit midwestern farmers