Captain Swing was a mythic name used in letters addressed to landowners to break their threshing machines.

The landlords were alarmed because they were attacked by armed labourers at night and also because their farm houses were put on fire. Most of the landlords destroyed threshing machines.

Captain Swing’s name symbolised agrarian resistance and revolt by agricultural labourers against well-to-do farmers and landowners.

The westward expansion is a great event in the history of America. The expansion from east to west by white men was a slow and steady process, which ranged from late 18th century to the 20th century.

In decades after 1800, the US government followed the policy of westward movement, beyond the river Mississippi and further west. The local American-Indian tribes resisted and revolted. They were massacred and the villages were burnt. The local tribes initially won many wars ultimately, had to sign treaties and give up their lands. The settlers settled in waves between 1820 and 1850. They slashed and burnt forests, cleared large areas for cultivation and erected fences around their fields. In course of time, the great plain across the river Mississippi became major wheat producing areas of America.

Consequently, the westward march of white Americans led to agricultural prosperity and they were able to amass vast natural and mineral resources of that country.

(i)A rich Farmer : In England, open fields and common lands had started changing from about the sixteenth century. The rich farmers wanted to expand wool production to earn profits. They were eager to improve their sheer breeds and ensure good food for them. So, they began dividing and enclosing common land and building hedges around their holdings to separate their property from that of others. They drove out villagers who had small cottages on the commons and they prevented the poor from entering the enclosed fields.

(ii)A Labour : As the fences came up, the enclosed land became the exclusive property of one landowner. Now poor could no longer collect their firewood from the forests, or graze their cattle on the common lands. They could not collect apples and berries, or hunt small animals for meat. Even they could not gather the stalks that lay on the fields after the crops were cut. Everything belonged to the landlords, everything had a price which the poor could not afford to pay.

As a result the poor were displaced from the land. They found their customary rights gradually disappearing. Deprived of their rights and driven off the land, they tramped in search of work. From the Midlands, they moved to the southern countries of England. This was a region that was most intensively cultivated and there was a great demand for agricultural labourers. But nowhere could the poor find secure jobs.

(iii)A Peasant Woman: The worst sufferer of the change in the land pattern were peasant women. In fact, the open field system was replaced by as Enclosure system. As a result, local people had to shed all their rights and privileges over common land. Now they could not collect forest produces as fuel woods, fruits and berries. Not only that it was difficult for them to pet herds. Because common land, grazing land and forest land were taken under the fence and it was protected to improve breeding and for commercial crops. Therefore, peasant woman had to face a lot of difficulties in making her life sustainable to the new circumstances.

The Enclosure system appeared in agricultural field in England in 16th century. The Enclosure movement was necessitated by the Industrial Revolution in Britain which obviated the need for the larger section of society to cultivate land as people shifted to towns.

(iii) During this period, Britain was industrialising very fast. There was a great exodus of people from rural areas to towns in search of jobs. As the urban population grew, the market of foodgrains expanded and the prices of foodgrains rocketed. Therefore, the peasants were encouraged to produce more and more, hence the Enclosure movement.

(iv) France was at war with England during the end of 18th century. This slowed down the import of foodgrains in England. This led to soaring up of prices of foodgrains in England. Thus the landowners were encouraged to enclose lands and enlarge the area under foodgrain cultivation.


(v)Enclosures were now seen as necessary to make long-term investments 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 more for the market.