yeoman
(noun)
A former class of small freeholders who farm their own land; a commoner of good standing.
Examples of yeoman in the following topics:
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Jefferson's Agrarian Policy
- The Jeffersonians believed in democracy and equality of political opportunity, especially for the yeoman farmer and the plain folk.
- The Jeffersonians believed in democracy and equality of political opportunity (for white male citizens), with a priority for the yeoman farmer and the plain folk.
- The yeoman was the backbone of American society because independent farming, land ownership, and control of one's labor were values that Jeffersonian Democrats hoped to embody in a decentralized system of limited government and maximum individual liberty.
- The frugality, austerity, and self-reliance of the yeoman farmer were virtues that should be emulated by the federal government: to circumscribe tyrannical powers in favor of encouraging individual industry and improvement .
- Jefferson's vision of a decentralized agricultural society, in which yeoman farmers acquired land across vast amounts of territory, seemed a possibility in 1803 with such a vast opening for settlement.
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"Poor Whites"
- In his study of Edgefield County, South Carolina, Orville Vernon Burton classified white society into three groups: the poor, the yeoman middle class (also called the plain folk of the Old South), and the elite.
- A clear line demarcated the elite, but according to Burton, the line between poor and yeoman was less distinct.
- However, Stephanie McCurry argues that yeomen were clearly distinguished from poor whites because yeoman owned land.
- Wartime shortages increased the economic divide between planters and yeoman farmers; nevertheless, some planters honored their paternalistic obligations by selling their corn to plain folks at the official Confederate rate "out of a spirit of patriotism. " Wetherington's argument challenges other scholars' suggestions that class conflict contributed to the Confederate defeat.
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The Middle Classes
- The middle classes of colonial America consisted mostly of yeoman farmers and skilled craftsmen.
- Migration, agricultural innovation, and economic cooperation were creative measures that preserved New England's yeoman society until the 19th century.
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White Society in the South
- Antebellum society in the South consisted of a class of wealthy plantation-owners, a middle class of yeomans, poor whites, and slaves.
- In his study of Edgefield County, South Carolina, Orville Vernon Burton classified white society into the poor, the yeoman middle class, and the elite.
- A clear line demarcated the elite, but according to Burton, the line between poor and yeoman was never very distinct.
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American Republicanism
- Thomas Jefferson and the Democrat-Republicans, on the other hand, believed that federal government should be limited by state sovereignty, and that the national economy should be structured around yeoman agriculture.
- Yeoman agriculture, as depicted by the Democratic-Republicans, was a system of small-share farming in which an independent (white male) farmer owned his own land and the fruits of his labor.
- The yeoman was wholly self-sufficient and reliant on his industry to produce the items he required, rather than obtaining them through commercial activity with foreign nations.
- According to this vision, the yeoman was to be the backbone of American society, rather than the merchant or the artisan.
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The Rise of the West
- Westward expansion was motivated by the Jeffersonian ideal of the yeoman farmer and enabled by technological improvements.
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Middle Class
- In the book he used statistical data to analyze the make-up of southern society, contending that yeoman farmers made up a larger middle class than was generally thought.
- Jeffersonian and Jacksonian Democrats favored the term "yeoman" for the independent land-owning farmer.
- Plain Folk argued that southern society was not dominated by planter aristocrats, but that yeoman farmers played a significant role.
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Plain Folk of the Old South
- Plain Folk argued that yeoman farmers played a significant role in Southern society during this era rather than being sidelined by a dominant aristocratic planter class.
- In his study of Edgefield County, South Carolina, Orville Vernon Burton classifies white society into the poor, the yeoman middle class, and the elite.
- A clear line demarcated the elite, but according to Burton, the line between poor and yeoman was less distinct.
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Early New England Society
- Early New England Puritan society was characterized by yeoman farming communities and a growing merchant class.
- Migration, agricultural innovation, and economic cooperation were creative measures that helped preserve New England's yeoman society.
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Agricultural Interest Groups
- Specifically, the vision of the yeoman farmer was one of the important American archetypes moving into the progressive era.