CBSE - Peasants and Farmers

(i) A rich farmer
(ii) A labourer
(iii) A peasant woman

Answer

(i) As the prices of wool increased, rich farmers wanted to expand wool production to earn profits. They were eager to improve their sheep breeds and ensure good feed for them. They were keen on controlling large areas of land in compact blocks to allow improved breeding. So they began
dividing and enclosing common land and building hedges around their holdings. They drove out villagers who had small cottages on the commons, and they prevented the poor from entering the enclosed fields.

(ii) For the poor labourers, the common lands were essential for survival. They used to live with landowners, doing a number of odd jobs for them in return for board and lodging and a small pay. However, when the open field system began to disappear, labourers were paid wages and employed only at harvest time. This left them at the mercy of rich landowners and farmers.

(iii) For peasant women, the open field system was a good way of community living wherein everything was shared between the rich and the poor. They would use the common lands for grazing their cattle, gathering fruits and collecting firewood. However, all these activities were negatively affected because of the disappearance of open fields.

The factors which led to the enclosures in England were:

→ Increasing population and due to it increasing demand for food grains and other things led to the enclosure in England.

→ The rising prices of agricultural products such as wool, wheat, milk, fruits etc. also played a role as a factor in promoting enclosures in England.

→ Industrialisation and war needs made foodgrain prices soar, making it necessary to take steps to increase its production.

→ In the nineteenth-century, enclosure were seen necessary to make long-term investment on land and plan crop rotations to improve the soil.

→ Enclosures also allowed the richer landowners to expand the land under their control and produce for the market.

Threshing machines were opposed by the poor in England because they thought that these machines would deprive workmen of their livelihood. They believed that with the help of machines the richer farmers and big landlords would encourage enclosure movement. The commons would be distributed among rich farmers, and poor farmers, labourers, peasants women would have to- struggle for their jobs and they would be jobless.

Captain Swing was a mythic name used in threatening letters, written by the workmen against the use of threshing machines by rich farmers.
The name symbolised anger or unhappiness of the labourers against the use of threshing machines by rich farmers or big landowners

The westward expansion of settlers in the USA led to a complete annihilation of American Indians who were pushed westwards, down the Mississippi river, and then further west beyond that. They fought back, but were defeated; their villages were burnt and cattle destroyed. Also, with the cultivation of land for agricultural purposes, all grass and trees were razed. This led to terrible dust storms and blizzards in the 1930s, causing much death and destruction.

The advantages of the use of mechanical harvesting machines in the USA were:
→ The price of wheat was high and demand limitless. These new machines allowed farmers to quickly clear tracts, break up the soil, remove the grass and prepare the ground for cultivation.
→ The work could be done within a shorter time period and with a lesser number of labourers.
→ With power-driven machinery, four men could plough, seed and harvest 2,000 to 4,000 acres of wheat in a season.

However there were some disadvantages for the poorer farmers too:
→ They were thrown out of their jobs and they lost their means of livelihood.
→ Many of them bought this machine too but it adversly affect them as the machines were expensive and once the demand crossed its limit there was enough surplus grain in the market. Thus, farmers
needed to pay back the loan they had taken from banks to buy these machines, and the farmers
had no money.

The expansion of wheat agriculture in the Great Plains created the Dust Bowl. The American dream of a land of plenty had turned into a nightmare.
We need to learn a lesson from this. Use of land is good but overuse of land is bad. We need to realise that land is a precious natural resource which needs to be preserved and conserved. It serves as warning sign against the exploitative use of land for commercial purposes only leads to degradation and depletion. This gives rise to serious consequences. We must realise that we need to respect the ecological conditions of each region and work towards sustainable development and look after our earth.

The British insisted on farmers growing opium in India to balance their trade with China. Tea became extremely popular in England, and by 1830, over 30 million pounds of tea was being imported from China. The British could buy tea from China only by paying in bullion. Hence, there was nothing that England could offer to the Chinese in exchange for tea, except money. Opium was used in Chinese medicine, but was banned for use due to its addictive qualities. The British started an illegal opium trade, and by 1839, there were an estimated 12 million opium smokers in China. All the supplied opium came from India and it formed an easy, cheap way to pay for the tea imported from China.

The Indian farmers were reluctant to grow opium due to:
→The crop had to be grown on the best land, on fields that lay near the villages and were well manured.
→ This land was usually used for growing pulses. If opium was grown on fertile and well manured land then pulses would have to be grown on less fertile land and yield would not be good in quality as well as quantity.
→ The cultivation of opium was difficult and time-consuming as the plants required looking after. As a consequence, the cultivators would not have time to look after their other produce.
→ The farmers had to pay the rent for their land to the landlords. This rent was very high. The cultivators owned no land.
→ Finally, the price the government paid for the opium produce was very low and would provide the farmers with no profits.

Q.1. The continuous movement of the pastoral communities helps in
(a) Recovery of the pastures (b) prevention of their overuse
(c) Reduction in the demand of houses (d) both A and B

Q.2. which practice disappeared by 1800, drastically changing the lives of the labourers?
(a) Till 1800, the labourers lived with landowners, ate with their masters and helped themthroughout the year doing various jobs
(b) Now they were paid wages and employed only during harvest times
(c) To increase their profits the landlords cut the amount they had to spend on their workers
(d) All the above

Q.3. why did the white settlers want to push away the Indian Americans from their lands?
(a) The land possessed by the Indians could be turned into cultivated fields
(b) Forest timber could be exported, animals hunted for skins, mountains mined for gold and Minerals
(c) Both (a) and (b)
(d) It was a committed policy of the US Government

Q.4. Who was Captain Swing?
(a) A farmer (b) A labourer (c) A mythical name (d) A landlord

Q.5. Which of these reasons led to a radical transformation of the landscape by the early 20th century?
(a) White Americans had moved westward (b) Local tribes were displaced
(c) Entire landscape was carved into different agricultural belts in the USA (d) All the above

Q.6. what were the reasons of the dust storms?
(a) Early 1930s were years of persistent drought
(b) The wind blew with ferocious speed
(c) The entire landscape had been ploughed over, stripped of all the grass that held ittogether.
(d) All the above

Q.7. In the 19th century, the two major commercial crops India came to produce for the world Market were
(a) indigo (b) opium (c) maize (d) both (a) and (b)

Q.8. Why were the Confucian rulers of China, the Manchus, suspicious of all foreign Merchants?
(a) The British were buying tea at very low rates
(b) They feared that the British would interfere in local politics and disrupt their authority
(c) China was self­sufficient and did not want to trade with any country
(d) All the above

Q.9. Name the US President who said “Plant more wheat, wheat will win the war.”
(a) President Roosevelt (b) President Clinton (c) President Bush (d) President Wilson

Q.10. How much land did the wheat barons possess at this time in the USA?
(a) 1000­2000 acres of land (b) 2000­3000 acres of land
(c) 3000­4000 acres of land (d) 4000­5000 acres of land

ANSWERS
Q.1.(d)2.(d)3.(c)4.(c)5.(d)6.(d)7.(d)8.(b)9.(d)10.(b)

Q.11. In 1831, Cyrus McCormick invented the first mechanical reaper. What was its most Important advantage?
(a) In could harvest 50 acres of wheat (b) 500 acres of wheat could be harvested in two weeks
(c) It could cut grass on large areas (d) It could prepare the ground for cultivation

Q.12. Which one of these is not the correct option for the cause of the Great Agrarian Depression in the USA?
(a) Production had declined rapidly (b) Storehouses overflowed with grain
(c) Vast amount of corn and wheat were turned into animal feed (b) Wheat prices fell and export markets collapsed

Q.13. What did the settlers of the Great Plains realise after the 1930s?
(a) Using older methods of cultivation were better than modern machines
(b) Competition with other countries was not healthy
(c) They had to respect the ecological conditions of each region
(d) None of the above

Q.14. What was Chinese Emperor’s order about the use of opium in China?
(a) The British were allowed to sell opium in China
(b) The Chinese Emperor told his people to cultivate more and more opium
(c) The Emperor had forbidden its production and sale except for medicinal purposes
(d) None of the above
 
Q.15. In 1839, who was sent by the Emperor to Canton as a Special Commissioner to stop the opium trade?
(a) I­tsing (b) Lin Ze­xu (c) Lao­Tsu (d) None of the above

Q.16. What was the result of the ‘Opium War’ (1837­42)?
(a) China was forced to accept the humiliating terms of the subsequent treaties signed
(b) It had to legalise the opium trade
(c) It had to open up China to foreign merchants
(d) All the above

Q.17. What did the enclosure imply?
(a) It meant green fields (b) Piece of land enclosed from all sides
(c) It meant open fields (d) Vast area of marshy land

Q.18. The Great Agrarian Depression of the 1930s was caused by
(a) overproduction of wheat (b) fall of wheat production
(c) rise in the price of wheat (d) overproduction of rice

Q.19. Opium was exported from India to:
(a) China
(b) Rome
(c) U.K.
(d) Portugal

Q.20. The Manchus were
(a) Chinese rulers
(b) Roman rulers
(c) Indian rulers
(d) Portuguese rulers

ANSWERS
11.(b)12.(a)13.(c)14.(c)15.(d)16.(d)17.(b)18.(a)19(a)20(a)
 

Wilson

45 million

Cyrus McCormick invented the mechanical reaper 

In 1930s 

1. By the end of the 18th century, France was at war with England.

2. This disrupted trade and the import of food grains from Europe.

3. Prices of food grains in England sky rocketed, encouraging landowners to enclose lands and enlarge the area under grain cultivation.

4. Profits flowed in and landowners pressurized the parliament to pass the Enclosure Act. 

1. British rule was gradually established in India after the Battle of Plassey in 1757.

2. After that the roots of colonial rule was established in India.

3. British got control over Bengal the most fertile area of India. 

1.  Lin Ze xu special Commissioner at Canton in 1839, estimated that there were over 4 million opium smokers in China. 2

2. Lin arrested 1600 men involved in the opium trade and confiscated 11000 pounds of opium.

3.  Then he forced the foreign factories to hand over their stocks of opium burnt 20000 crates of opium and blew the ashes to the wind.  

4. When he announced that Canton was closed for foreign trade, Britain declared war. 

1. Cyrus McCormick’s reaper could work as 16 men with sackers.  

2. The new harvesting machines were able to harvesting 500 acres of wheat in two weeks.

3.  The new machines reduced their dependence on the labour.

4. The new harvesting machines made the farmers to sow and harvest a big traits of land. This led to increase in production. 

1. After the war of Independence from 1775 to 1883 and the formation of the United States of America, the white Americans began to move westward.

2. By the time Thomas Jefferson became president of USA in 1800, over 700000 white settlers had moved on to the Appalachian plateau through the passes.

3. Seen from the east coast, America seemed to be a land of promise. Its wilderness could be turned into cultivated fields. Forest timber could be cut for export, animals hunted for skin, mountains mined for gold and minerals.

4. In the decade after 1800 the US Government committed itself to a policy of driving the American Indians westward, first beyond the river Mississippi, and then further west.

5. It was however only after the 1860s that settlers swept into the Great Plains across the river Mississippi. In subsequent decades this region became major wheat- producing areas of America

1.  After the American War of Independence from 1775 to 1783 and the formation of United States of America, the white Americans began to move westward.

2. By the time of Thomas Jefferson become President of USA in 1800, over 700000 white settlers had moved on to the Appalachian plateau through the passes.

3. In the decades after 1800 the US government committed itself to a policy of driving the American Indians westward, first beyond river Mississippi, and then further west.

4. Numerous wars were waged in which Indians were massacred and many of their village burnt.

5. After 1860s the settlers swept into the Great Plains across the River Mississippi.

There is one dramatic fact which makes the period after the 1780s different from any earlier period of English history. In earlier times, rapid population growth was most often followed by a period of food shortages. Food grain production in the past had not expanded as rapidly as the population. In the nineteenth century this did not happen in England. Grain production grew as quickly as population. Even though the population increased rapidly, in 1868 England was produced about 80per cent of the food it consumed. The rest was imported. 

1. Machines were nightmares for the small and marginal farmers.

2. The poor farmers purchased the machines on loan but could not repay back the loan.

3. The poor farmers were forced to abandon their land and searched for jobs.

4. The use of harvesting machines made poor jobless as the big farmers started to use machines instead of man-labour. 
 

1. In their greed for new field, the White Americans landowners played havoc with the natural ecology they slashed and burnt forests indiscriminately.

2. The lesson which we have learnt, that in the mad race for growing more and more crops, one should not play havoc with ecology.

3.  No trees should be cut and not of leaf of grass should be cut.

4. The ecological balance must be maintained at all cost otherwise everything will turn into a nightmare. 

1. She could no longer collect fuel wood for fire and barriers and fruits for her children to eat.

2. It became difficult for her to graze her sheep, goats and cows and supplement her income and food requirements.

3. The life became worst than a hell for her and her family. 

1. An open field system held great attraction for the labourer. He could meet almost all his needs from such open fields.  

2. But when most of this open area came under the control of rich farmers who enclosed it for their personal use.

3. Labourers were derived of all the benefits which he was drawing before

1. The expansion of wheat agriculture and overgrazing of the prairies were responsible for the dust bowl tragedy.

2. It was natural as well as man- made as he farmers recklessly uprooted all vegetations.

3. Tractors turn the soil over, and broken the sod into dust.

4. In 1930, terrific dust storms began to blow over southern plains which affected economic and social life of people.

5. The black blizzards were responsible for natural disaster where people were blinded, cattle suffocated to death. 

1.  The English East India Company was buying tea and silk from china for sale in England. The Tea trade becomes more and more important. But England at this time produced nothing that could be easily sold in China.

2. Britishers could finance the tea trade only by paying in silver coins or bullion. This would impoverish the nation and deplete is wealth.

3. To stop this loss of silver they wanted trade opium in China.

4. As China became a country of opium addicts, British trade in tea flourished. The return from opium sale financed the purchase in china.

5. Export of opium from India to China proved cheaper for Britishers.