Western Illinois University

A Foundation for Sustainable Rural Community Development

1900

During the last half of the nineteenth century, farmers saw the closing of the frontier, which put an upper limit on the availability of cheap and free land. Farmers also faced economic challenges related to the expansion of large-scale corporations. Rapid industrialization, oligopolistic transportation and food processing, overproduction and competition with other farmers, and government neglect challenged farmers economically. As the economy and society became more urbanized and industrial, agricultural America lost prestige and respect. These factors influenced the creation of the Populist Movement.

After the Civil War, organizations such as the Grange and Farmers’ Alliance and publications including the Western Rural sought political and economic equality for farmers by organizing them to face larger economic operations. Farm interests became the foundation for the Populist Party, which played a significant role in the nation’s politics during the 1890s. Although the party’s candidates influenced the elections of 1892 and 1896, the party faded by the end of the century. Many of its ideas, however, were continued in the twentieth century by President Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) and his Country Life Commission.

While influenced by Populist ideas, the Country Life Commission also addressed rural migration to urban areas and the survival of farming. According to William Bowers (1974), people of the time believed the accelerating rural-urban migration of farmers at the turn of the century threatened to destroy the nation’s agrarian foundation. They were alarmed at the diminished importance of rural society because much that was good in the nation’s past was being lost. They feared an America dominated by the city.

A primary objective of Roosevelt’s Country Life Commission was to improve living conditions of country life, especially in agricultural communities. The goal was to maintain farmers and attract people to the country.

Recommended Resources

  • Bowers, W. 1974. The Country Life Movement in America, 1900-1920. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press.
  • Brands, H.W. 1995. Reckless Decade: America in the 1890s. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Hofstadter, Richard. 1955. The Age of Reform. New York: Vintage Books.