Yeoman Farmer Definition History

The yeoman was the term for independent farmers in the u s.

Yeoman farmer definition history. In areas of the southern united states where land was poor like east tennessee the landowning yeomen were typically subsistence farmers but some managed to grow crops for market. The yeomen farmer who owned his own modest farm and worked it primarily with family labor remains the embodiment of the ideal american. An assistant or other subordinate as of a sheriff. The term yeoman has varied over the centuries.

In the late 18th and early 19th century. Honest virtuous hardworking and independent. A diligent dependable worker. A farmer who cultivates his own land especially a member of a.

A man who farmed his own land meaning pronunciation translations and examples. Yeoman in english history a class intermediate between the gentry and the labourers. Advertisement the traditional values of the yeoman farmers made them key figures in the republican vision for america. A petty officer performing chiefly clerical duties in the us navy.

In the 1790s following the french revolution and the rise of napoleon bonaparte the perceived threat of invasion of the kingdom of great britain was high. These same values made yeomen farmers central to the republican vision of the new nation. The yeoman have been intensely studied by specialists in american social history and the history of republicanism the term fell out of common use after 1840 and is now used only by historians. The jeffersonians believed in democracy and equality of political opportunity especially for the yeoman farmer and the plain folk.

He wasn t rich enough not to work on the farm himself and so wouldn t style himself as a gentleman farmer. Yeoman farmers are those who owned their own piece of land and worked it with labor from family these individuals are often seen as honest hardworking virtuous and independent. Whether they engaged in subsistence or commercial agriculture they controlled far. By 1841 i think it is likely to be used by a freehold farmer someone who was of slightly higher standing than copyhold or tenant farmers.

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. A yeoman of the guard. To improve the country s defences volunteer regiments were raised in many counties from yeomen while the word yeoman in normal use meant a small farmer who owned his land yeomanry officers were drawn from the nobility or the. The word appears in middle english as yemen or yoman and is perhaps a contraction of yeng man or yong man meaning young man or attendant geoffrey chaucer s canterbury tales late 14th century.

Because family farmers didn t exploit large numbers of other laborers and because they owned their own property they were. Examples of yeoman farmers in the following topics.