responding to the demands of a new age and the his- 

 tory of our countr}' is being reexplored and rewritten 

 in order that we may better understand the present 

 with its complex economic and social problems : in 

 other words, that we may better interpret our own 

 times in the light of economic and social evolution. 



Fundamental Significance of the History of 

 American Agriculture. 



Of fundamental significance in the scientific study 

 of American develoi)ment is the economic history of 

 our agriculture. This phase of our history has not 

 liitherto received the attention at the hand of histor- 

 ians which its importance merits. It is time, there- 

 fore, first, to define the economic history of American 

 agriculture as a field of study ; second, to review some 

 of the reasons why special attention should be di- 

 rected to this field ; and, third, to suggest some of the 

 more important problems which this field offers for 

 investigation. 



The economic history of American agriculture in- 

 cludes much more tlian a mere account of progress in 

 the technique of agriculture. It is concerned with all 

 the facts, forces, and conditions which have entered 

 into the development of agriculture in the United 

 States, from the founding of Jamestown to the Pan- 

 American exposition. It deals with the influences 

 affecting the evolution of agriculture and of agricul- 

 tural societies in different sections; the problems en- 

 gaging the attention of the rural population in vari- 

 ous periods ; the relation of agriculture to other in- 

 dustries ; the contributions of the agricultural 

 population to the professions, to politics, and to leg- 

 islation; and the influences of our agricultural devel- 

 opment on our national life. It includes the study of 

 the whole life of the rural population, economic, social, 

 moral, religious, intellectual, and political. Viewed 

 in one way the history of the United States from the 

 beginning has been in a very large measure the story 

 of rural communities advancing westward by the con- 



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