Grade 5
Social Studies
Unit: 08 Lesson: 01
Farming Gets a Boost
Think of a time when you were supposed to perform a difficult task by yourself.
Maybe you have to make the bed, or sweep the garage, or clean up a big mess,
or fix something that was broken. By yourself the task seemed too hard, but if
you had some help the task would be easier. What if there was an invention or a
machine that would help you complete the task? What if there was a machine
that would make the bed, or clean up the mess? In the early days of America, the
farmers who moved west did not have help. The work was hard and had to be
done by hand. There were no machines to help.
After the Louisiana Purchase was announced, it was difficult to keep farmers and
their families who lived in the eastern United States from moving west into the
Northwest Territory and the Great Plains. Where American Indian tribes and
bison had once freely roamed, now people were moving into that area to find a
plot of land, plow a field to plant crops, build a home, and settle down with their
families. Farmers were so happy to find mile after mile of rich soil with not so
many stones and trees as in the east. The West was perfect for farming-- except
the soil was hard and tough to plow.
Farming was hard, hard work. Most of the labor in those days had to be done by
hand, even plowing. The soil was so hard it broke the wooden plows! Planting
and harvesting was by hand, not machines. The farmers who were lucky had
oxen or a mule to help pull the plow. However, when they harvested grain, the
animals could not help. To cut grain people used a sickle or a scythe. Harvesting
was slow, hard, long work. To the relief of the farmers, there were soon two
important inventions. The first was the invention of the steel plow by John Deere.
The steel plow could break the soil without getting stuck in it, helping the farmer
plow and plant more easily.
Steel Plow
John Deere
Image credits:
Illinois State Museum. (Photographer). The John Deere Steel Plow [Web Photo]. Retrieved from
http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/agriculture/htmls/technology/horse-drawn/tech_horse-drawn_deere_plow.html
(2013). John Deere [Web Drawing]. Retrieved from http://www.deere.com/en_IN/index.html
©2012, TESCCC
4/24/13
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Grade 5
Social Studies
Unit: 08 Lesson: 01
The second invention was the mechanical reaper which was invented by Cyrus
McCormick. The mechanical reaper could reap as much grain as 5 or 6 men
could reap by hand in a day. Mr. McCormick built a factory in Chicago and
manufactured 500 reapers ready by harvest in 1848.
Mechanical Reaper
Cyrus McCormick
With the steel plow and the mechanical reaper, farmers could produce more
crops, feed more people and even make a little money. During this time, farming
became mechanized with machines and mechanical equipment that was
invented to help the farmer produce more crops.
Both John Deere and Cyrus McCormick began farming equipment companies
that still exist to help farmers all over the world today. They were entrepreneurs
and capitalists who followed their inventive ideas all the way through to
production and sales in the free market system. They were right that their ideas
would help farmers, and with modernization of the equipment today their
companies, John Deere and International Harvester, are still helping farmers
produce crops.
Image credits
(1845). McCormick Reaper, 1845 [Web Drawing]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:McCormick_Reaper,_1845.jpg
(2011). Cyrus Hall McCormick at National Portrait Gallery[Web Photo]. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cyrus_Hall_McCormick_at_National_Portrait_Gallery_IMG_4390.JPG
©2012, TESCCC
4/24/13
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