Historically, the United States was an agricultural nation with many people living on farms or small towns and villages. In the late 19th Century, rural populations continued to grow, but urban populations grew more rapidly. Nevertheless, the majority of Americans lived in rural areas in 1900.
In this period, various farming machines were invented, but horses, oxen, and people still provided most of the power for these machines. Despite growing cash crops (crops grown for sale), farmers were still remarkably self-sufficient, making or trading nearly everything they needed for their families.
Here are some historical portraits of rural Americans from the 1850s and 1860s.
