Agricultural population transfer in the United States

The transfer of agricultural population in the United States began after the War of Independence, completed in the middle of the 20th century, and lasted for nearly two centuries. In this process, although many farmers went bankrupt and had to leave their homes to work in cities, what is more important is to promote the realization of agricultural modernization, provide sufficient labor for the rapid development of urban industrialization and accelerate the transformation to industrial civilization. The historical facts of American agricultural population transfer show many successful historical experiences, which are embodied in the following aspects. Generally speaking, there are two kinds of transfer of agricultural population in the United States: one is to transfer to the "agricultural frontier"; The other is to move to the city. There are three kinds of intra-departmental transfer: one is the transfer of agricultural internal system to agricultural departments other than planting, such as the transfer from tobacco industry to cotton industry in the early south of the United States; The second is to transfer to urban non-agricultural system, such as to urban manufacturing or service industry; The third is to transfer to the rural non-agricultural system, such as the agricultural product processing industry. The above two kinds of regional transfer and three kinds of departmental transfer constitute five basic forms of agricultural population transfer in the United States, some of which are intertwined. For example, the transfer to urban non-agricultural sectors is not only a regional transfer, but also a departmental transfer. In the agricultural system, the agricultural population has changed from planting to aquaculture, both regionally, such as turning to the western prairie, and in the pure agricultural system, such as changing the original plantation into pasture. Therefore, the transfer of agricultural population in the United States includes both regional transfer and departmental transfer, including both breadth and depth.

Secondly, seize the favorable opportunity of "western development" and accelerate the transfer of agricultural population. Shortly after the victory of the American War of Independence, it began to expand to the west. Historically known as the "westward movement." The "westward movement" and the westward movement of the American agricultural population go hand in hand. After several generations of efforts, three specialized agricultural areas have gradually formed in the West, namely, the wheat kingdom, the cotton kingdom and the animal husbandry kingdom. The industry of these three agricultural kingdoms marks the rise of American agricultural empire, which is the foundation of modern American development. With the rise of agriculture in the west, the industry, commerce and transportation in the west have also risen. Finally, agriculture and animal husbandry go hand in hand, industry and agriculture promote each other, and transportation and commercial trade develop in an all-round way, which accelerate the transfer of agricultural population.

Third, seize the opportunity of rapid industrialization and realize the transfer of agricultural population to urban non-agricultural system. For a long time, most people in America lived in rural areas and worked in agriculture. 1790, there were only six cities in the United States with a population of over 8,000, accounting for 3.3% of the national population and 96.7% of the agricultural population. By 19, in the 1940s, shortly after American industrialization began, more than 90% people still lived in rural areas. By 1860, although the semi-mechanization of agriculture in the United States has been widely developed and has a considerable foundation, the rural population still accounts for 83.9%. However, from the perspective of employment, engaging in non-agricultural labor has gradually approached. 1860, the agricultural labor force was 6.2 million, accounting for 58.9% of the national labor force, and the non-agricultural labor force was 4.33 million, accounting for about 4 1. 1%. In 2004, the urban population was 4 1.8% and the rural population was 58.2%. This is not much different from my staff structure.

After the American Civil War, with the rapid development of American industry, the urban population increased rapidly. By 1900, the agricultural working population will be reduced to 35.9%, and the proportion of non-agricultural working population will be increased to 6 1.4%. At the same time, the proportion of rural population has also dropped to 60%, while the urban population has increased to 40%. By 19 10, the urban population of the United States was 42.62 million, accounting for 46.3% of the total population. There are two main reasons for the transfer of agricultural population to urban non-agricultural system: first, the development of industry requires a lot of labor, and the high wages and good cultural life in cities attract a large number of agricultural population to flow to cities; Second, the United States completed modern agricultural mechanization in the middle and late period of19th century, and by the beginning of 20th century, it had transitioned to agricultural mechanization powered by steam engines and internal combustion engines. Modern agricultural mechanization saves agricultural labor. For example, in 1850, an agricultural labor force can support 4.7 people, and in 19 10, it can support 8. 1 person, which reduces the labor force needed by agriculture and makes it possible to provide labor force for industry. It can be seen that the transfer of agricultural population to urban non-agricultural population system is conditional, which is carried out in the process of rapid development of urban industry and gradual realization of agricultural mechanization. If the agricultural labor force is not liberated, it will not be able to provide labor for industry, nor will it be able to transfer from the agricultural population to the urban population. The rapid realization of various forms of agricultural population transfer in the United States is closely related to the powerful policies and measures adopted by the federal government.

(1) set out to solve the land problem in the west and accelerate immigration to the west. 178 1 year, the federal government formulated the northwest territory regulations, which guaranteed the life safety and personal and property freedom of immigrants and laid the basic rights of immigrants. Thus encouraging people to move westward. 1790, the federal government revised the land policy, stipulating that the minimum amount of land for sale was 640 acres, with a one-time payment of $640 and a further payment of $640 a year later. 1860, the federal land law (called the Hessian law) was changed to a minimum land sale of 320 acres at a price of $640. At the same time, it is stipulated that credit purchase is allowed and it will be paid off within 4 years. To some extent, these laws encourage wealthy farmers to migrate to the west.

1820, the U.S congress passed a new land law, which abolished the credit purchase policy of 1800 land law and changed it to the price of $65,438+$0.25 per mu, and the minimum number of mu sold was 80 mu. 1832 land law further stipulates that the price per mu remains unchanged, and the minimum number of mu for sale is 40 mu. 1830, Congress passed a law, and farmers who "occupy land" have the preemptive right. 184 1 year, the federal government promulgated the Law of Preemption, which stipulated that illegal immigrants could buy at the price of $0.25 per mu 160 mu, and the minimum sales area was160 mu.

1862, American President Lincoln promulgated the Homestead Act. It stipulates that American citizens aged 2 1 can acquire 1/4 square miles of land, that is, 160 acres, and pay the handling fee of 10 for five years. Later, 1873 promulgated the Tree Planting Law, 1877 promulgated the Wasteland Law, and 1878 promulgated the Wood and Stone Law. The promulgation of these decrees attracted a large number of immigrants, accelerated the development of the western region, promoted the development of agriculture and the invention and application of agricultural mechanization, and accelerated the transfer of agricultural population.

(2) Accelerate the realization of agricultural mechanization, help agricultural mechanization to replace agricultural labor and crowd out agricultural population. Lenin pointed out: "When capitalism develops to a certain stage, that is, when the whole country's agriculture is completely organized in a capitalist way and machines are widely used in all kinds of agriculture, the absolute number of agricultural employees (different from industrial workers) will definitely decrease." This is the development of American agriculture. The United States is the first country in the world to realize agricultural mechanization. From 65438+1920s to 1850, semi-mechanization driven by animal power was realized, and then modern agricultural mechanization was completed in 1850- 19 10, and it was realized in10. After the civil war, we attached great importance to the improvement of farm tools. 1862 In July, President Lincoln signed the Decree on Granting Public Land to States and Territories that set up colleges to promote agricultural and mechanical technology, and the federal government promulgated the Hatch Experimental Station Law in 1877, and established the Agricultural Technology Extension Association in 19 14. All this forced farmers to leave the land and go to the city to make a living. Marx pointed out that the peasants' "extensive use of steam engines and new machines" resulted in "liberating short-term agricultural workers and creating an artificial surplus population". Some of these agricultural surplus population were absorbed by various departments in the city, and some joined the urban industrial reserve army, which provided sufficient labor for American industrial development.