As we celebrate Independence Day, I thought it would be interesting to look at how agriculture was entwined with the Revolutionary War. Agriculture played a larger role than you may have thought.
Audio: World of Agriculture
Our first three presidents: George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson all had farms in addition to their chosen professions. In fact, Adams was known to have preferred the time he spent on his farm in Braintree, Massachusetts, to the time he spent being a lawyer.
Trade and agriculture played a big role in the tension that led up to the war of independence. The British only allowed their subjects to ship tobacco and cotton back to England. From there England traded the valuable commodities, not the colonials who produced them. It was the British who restricted the colonies to buy food products only from England, such as tea. This meant the British could hold a trade monopoly over their subjects.
During the revolution, it was American colonies who kept their army fed. In fact, food was the one supply the colonials did not have to beg off other countries. We could get food easier than we could get ammunition. Also, these American food products were coming from the farms of American soldiers. Most often it was the wives, elderly parents and children of soldiers who tended those farms back home, while the fathers were off fighting the lobster backs.
Agriculture products and trade helped convince the French to recognize the American colonies as a sovereign nation and compel them to offer military support. The French much preferred to trade with the colonies directly, versus dealing with their old nemesis, England.
Once the war was won, the colonies were ceded all British imperial holdings south of Canada. This meant westward expansion to the Mississippi River, and the acquisition of even better farm land.
In the years following the Revolution, President Jefferson used the threat of curbing agricultural exports to both Britain and France, to get them to change their maritime policies towards the United States.
So when you are chowing down on that burger, hot dog or ribs, remember American agriculture has played a large role in the independence we are celebrating. You may be lucky enough to have had an ancestor who fought in the revolution. But it is more likely an ancestor of the ear of sweet corn, or the wheat that made the flour of your hamburger bun did more to help win our war for freedom. Celebrating with American grown food might just be the best way to show your patriotism.
