When did a house with a “white picket fence” become part of the American dream?  What’s so great about white picket fences?   Don’t they make mowing the lawn more difficult, and who wants to repaint them every few years?

 

While it might not seem so obvious, the dream of a nice house in the suburbs that is surrounded by a white picket fence goes a little beyond personal tastes.  The American dream is about owning your own piece of property, where you can live and raise a family as you please.  The white picket fence symbolizes this ownership, and it aids in keeping the hustle and bustle of the outside world away from the peace and simplicity at home.

 

With that said, who wouldn’t want a nice white picket fence?  Fortunately, this American dream is possible.  As disposable income and standard of living increase each year, so does the popularity of the suburbs.  Technically, what makes it all possible is the idea of “property rights.”  In the United States, and other free nations, the citizens are able to purchase their own piece of land, and build their own home upon it.

 

It might seem so simple in today’s world, but the issue of property rights wasn’t always so clear in America (and it still isn’t in many areas of the world).  In the western frontier, settlers argued that nobody should be able to claim their own piece of land.  There seemed to be enough for everyone to share.  In those days, you didn’t protect your property with a white picket fence—you used barbed wire.  Here’s a “historical perspective.”    

 

When Americans were settling the West during the early 1800s, most farmers simply let their livestock roam free and graze.  There was so much open land that this was never a problem.  The idea of open grazing was the norm, so there was no use in complaining when a cow came into your garden for a midday snack.  If there were areas that were off-limits (like a backyard, garden, or crop field), it was the owner’s responsibility to fence it off.  Since it was only practical to fence off small areas, it wasn’t considered a real violation of the open grazing policies.

           

All of that changed in the 1870s when Joseph Glidden invented barbed wire.  People could now easily fence off huge portions of land and keep the pesky cattle away.  The days of open grazing were no more.  This obviously upset the farmers who were still convinced that there was enough land in the West for everyone to use as they pleased.  It only added to the anger when livestock returned to the farms with serious injuries after being cut by barbed wire. 

 

In protest, the farmers began the "Fence Cutting War,” taking down barbed wire wherever they saw it.  Unfortunately for them, the fence was put back up again in no time.  Over time, the right to protect one’s property overran the open grazing policy, and fences became commonplace.  As the United States continued to expand westward and the population continued to grow, it became obvious that people needed a way to lay claim to their own piece of land.

           

Today, barbed-wire fences are usually used for the purpose of keeping cattle in as opposed to keeping unwanted cattle out.  The fence is effective for cows and horses, but other animals (sheep, goats, and pigs) can usually work around it.  Pigs, for example, can dig under the barbed wire fence, and therefore require a more secure pen.  Fortunately, white picket fences work a lot better!