This thesis examines the dynamic change the market revolution had on social and
cultural institutions in the American West. Specifically, it investigates how market forces
influenced rural life patterns for farmers, urban mercantile culture and regional
commercial interests. Davenport, Iowa is the focus for the narrative’s hinge, as this
midsized western marketplace represented a link between its farmers and the regional
markets in Chicago. This project uses wheat and the prairie region in antebellum Iowa
and Illinois as a case study and examines the cultural and social development of farmers
and merchants in the marketplace. Following wheat from farm to market, both locally
and regionally, helps to explain how Americans understood the commodity at each
economic level. Time and place were central to the American West's economic, social,
and cultural development and this thesis considers just a moment in its history. A
intersect of rural, agricultural, technological, and environmental histories are at the
project's core, but it also attempts to make sense of frontier capitalism and the ramifications it had on farming and the grain industry. The market revolution gradually
influenced and shaped the nation’s agricultural economy and the people that preformed
its labor and production. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_33489 |
| Contributors | Salcito, Matthew (author), Engle, Stephen D. (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History |
| Publisher | Florida Atlantic University |
| Source Sets | Florida Atlantic University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 130 p., application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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