Profiles in Farming: The Other Isaac Newton
Before you get too far, not that Isaac Newton. Not the physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, and theologian who was knighted. No lets talk about Isaac Newton the agriculturalist, a (slightly) less heralded name in the book of history, but one with an interesting impact on agriculture 150 years later
Isaac Newton was born in 1800 in New Jersey to a Quaker family. His father passe away when he was but a baby, forcing the family to move to his grandfathers farm. Newton got two educations then, one at school and one at the farm, deciding not to continue his studies into college. At a young age Newton moved to Pennsylvania where he became the manager of a pair of farms, even extending his entrepreneurial spirit to opening an ice cream and sweets shop in Philadelphia.
Always on the lookout for an opportunity, Newton purchased 1000 acres of farm ground in Virginia in 1854, but was never able to farm it himself. He instead was forced to hire someone else to manage it due to the fact that his wife refused to live there. Sounds like there might have been at least a minor breakdown in communication in that household. The farm struggled for a couple of years and with the advent of the Civil War, Newton was forced to travel to Washington D.C. in search of a stable government job. Here he leaned on connections he had made throughout his long career in the agricultural industry to attain a job with Abraham Lincolns new government. Interestingly enough, Newtons connection was directly to Lincoln himself, as opposed to a member of his team. Newton sold farm products directly to the White House from his Virginia operation, resulting in a direct line to the president.
At this time, the White House had open hours to the public, and one of the main requests was jobs. The government was expanding with the new war effort, and politicians were taking advantage of the willingness to spend by creating more of the enticing, stable government jobs that were coveted. Administrations filled these roles with cronies to reward them for their support in the previous election or as a way to trade favors. Interestingly enough, Lincoln broke slightly from this tradition when he was making his cabinet. He filled it with political rivals who represented different aspects of the Union and had more governing experience than the relatively inexperienced Lincoln possessed.
Newton took advantage of his connections and secured the position of superintendent of the Agricultural Division of the United States Patent Office. This was quite a large deal at the time, as agriculture was undergoing a technological revolution of sorts and there was a heated race amongst companies to be first to market. In 1855, Abraham Lincoln defended inventor John Henry Manny against a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Cyrus McCormick’s company. This trial was highly public and carried great weight, even being dubbed the Great Reaper Trial of 1855. There is a lot to unpack about this case, so be on the lookout for a future piece about it. But just so you know, being in charge of the agriculture patent office was not a write off job.
In 1862, Congress established the United States Department of Agriculture, and Newton was charged to be the first commissioner. This decision was met with criticism, as some journalists questioned his intelligence, with one even saying he was illiterate. In general though, Newtons ideas were sound for the fledgling department. He championed two key programs that aided farmers, implementing a data collection initiative to analyze agricultural data and pushing forward a nationwide system of weather reports for farmers. This was crucial information for farmers because it allowed for more sound decision making on their farms. Weather information was hard to come by, as it takes a view of the whole picture in order to make predications, making it hard for states to collect this data. This eventually became the U.S. Weather Service under the direction of the USDA.
The access to agriculture statistics was a game changer for the government. It allowed for somewhat reliable yield and growing data that could help the government in trade agreements. Agriculture was the primary export of the United States for a very long time, as it still is today. In particular, Southern states relied heavily on the exports of agriculture. This was a major point of contention for most of the 1800’s, as Northern states pushed more into manufactured goods and keeping a strong national market while the South favored using excess agricultural production to trade for the other goods they needed. Somewhat reliable data allowed for better decision making by the government while providing a clearer picture of where they stood.
The final major accomplishment of Newton was to establish an experimental farm on a piece of ground not far from the capitol, on what is now known as the National Mall. This farm allowed for the government to test theories in the time before widespread land grant universities took over the primary research. He combined all of this accumulated information and released monthly and annual agricultural reports to farmers that spread their findings and helped the farmers on their operations. This lead to another clash with the media, as members of the agriculture media felt as though the government was trying to run them out of business.
Newton was not without his own character flaws though. He viciously attacked those who sparred with him in the press and his appointments were biased towards family. He charged his son with operating the experimental farm and appointed a nephew to be the chief clerk of the USDA. These appointments were rather small in the scope of the politically biased government jobs system of the time, but it was still notable. In 1866, Newton suffered a heat stroke while visiting his experimental farm and never recovered, dying in 1867.
While agriculture’s Isaac Newton doesn’t compare to Sir Isaac Newton, he still left a lasting impact. By prioritizing research and access to information, Newton provided significant value to the farmers he served. He laid down solid fundamentals for a fledgling department that grew into a major player in today’s political system. President Lincoln saw something in Isaac Newton that many others of the time didn’t; forward thinking and a vision for how the government could best serve its farmers.
