Our American Land Author:1987 Yearbook of Agriculture Foreword: Land ownership has been a central force behind the growth of America's economic and political institutions from the fist moment settlers stepped upon this nation's shores. As every student learns most land in Europe was owned and controlled by aristocrats. With the promise of cheap, abundant land, people from all walks of life migrat... more »ed to the new world. By the time our Constitution was signed 200 years ago, about 90 percent of the people lived and worked on farms and most owned their land. Some historians argue that our very form of democratic government grew out of the economic and political problems which confronted those farmers.« less