Looking to the West, 1860-1900

STANDARDS

g. Identify and evaluate the influences on the development of the American West

h. Analyze significant events for Native American Indian tribes, and their responses to those events, in the late nineteenth century

THE AMERICAN WEST Stereotypes?

Take 2 minutes and write down everything you know about the west.

Great Plains, Pacific Northwest, and the Southwest develop

WHO MOVED WEST AND WHY? (1860)

Searching for land and opportunity 1. Miners searching for gold and silver2. Railroad workers3. Cowboys 4. farmers

Pacific Railways Acts of 1862 and 1864

Union Pacific and Central Pacific RailroadsReceived huge land grants from the federal

govt10 square miles of public land on each side of

trackRailroads profited from selling land near

tracksFarmers needed railroads to transport

goods to city

Railroad challenges

Rough terrain and expensiveLabor? Ex-slaves, soldiers, immigrants

especially Irish and Chinese (paid lower wages and discriminated against)

LIFELINE of the WEST

Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862

Homestead Act 1862 – 160 acres of public land to anyone who met these requirements

By 1900 – 600,000 claims of 80 million acresPROBLEMS

Life in the West

African Americans in the West

Sodbusters – a farmer

Exoduster- African Americans who left the south for Kansas led by Pap Singleton (planned a mass exodus) to escape violence and exploitation

Frontier Women

Women’s Suffrage in the West

Native Americans – 1830s Jackson removed… to the Great Plains

Indian Territory

Culture of Native Americans

Nomads Followed the Buffalo How did they kill the Buffalo and what did they

use the buffalo for?

Railroads and Settlers

Settlers felt they had a right to the landSome settlers signed treaties with natives,

but both sides had different intentions of what the treaties meant

The Federal Government wanted to place natives on Reservations (federal land set aside for natives)

Sitting Bull and Fall of the Sioux

1868 – Sioux agreed to live on reservations in the Dakotas.

1875 –Gold found in Black Hills so miners moved in and Chief Sitting Bull left

Massacre

Nez Perce - Northwest

September 30, 1877Nez Perce headed to

Canada, but was blocked by the military

Many died while being held in the Indian territory, including all of Joseph’s children

Eventually Nez Perce were moved to a reservation in Washington state

Dawes Act of 1887

Indian Territory (Oklahoma)

Farming on the Plains

Farming

Dry farming – crops that do not require a great deal of water

1870s – improvements – plow, harrows to break ground, seed drills

1875 – steam powered threshers1890s – corn huskers and corn binders

1862 – Department of Agriculture – added under the Morrill Act

1880s and 1890s – formulated statistics on markets, studied crop and plant diseases

Distributed publications on crop rotation, hybridization, topsoil

Bonanza farms – farms controlled by large businesses and managed by professionals

Single cash cropsSurplus – prices fell

Debt

Farmers bought to much land and had to mortgage

1849 – California Gold Rush (Sutter’s Mill, California 1848)

1859 – rumors of gold strikes in the area of Pike’s Peak, Colorado

“Pikes Peak or Bust!”Nevada – Comstock Lode

Mining towns led to gambling and drunkeness

Mining Techniques

placer mining – shoveled loose dirt into boxes and ran through water

1850s and 1860s – deeply buried gold which was harder to get

Larger companies had to do the mining

Cattle Industry

Texas – early 1800sLonghorn cattle1860s and 1870s – booming periodPlains – areas to pastureDemand for beef in large citiesRailroad aided in cattle industryLong drive – cowboys would move cattle from

place to place (18 hours in the saddle)

Changes in the cattle industry by the 1880s

1874 – Joseph Glidden – invented barbed wireOverstocking of cattle1885 – beef prices began to fall

1885 – 1886 – hard winter (loss of 85% of cattle)

Problems

Tariffs

Tariffs – encourage the sale of goods produced at home by taxing imports

Hurt farmers Raised price of manufactured goods Foreigners had no $ to buy American crops

Helped farmers Protecting them from farm imports from other

countries

Money Issue

Value of money is linked to amount in circulationIf money supply goes up =value of money goes

downCAUSES INFLATION

Reduce the supply of money and the value of money goes up

CAUSES DEFLATION

After Civil War – period of deflation

Monetary policy – printing/producing money or not

Disagreement over which is best

Farmers want more money in circulationManufacturers and other businesses want

less money in circulation

1873 – nation went on the Gold Standard

Silverites were mad! Silver miners and western farmers are furious.

Want free silver – unlimited coining of silver to increase the supply of money

1878 – Bland Allison Act – required government to purchase and coin more silver, increase $ supply, and cause inflation

Vetoed by President HayesCongress Overrode his veto

However, the treasure refused to buy more than the minimum under the law and refused to circulate silver dollars

1890 – Sherman Silver Purchase Act

Government was required to purchase an amount of silver each month

Repealed in 1893

1867 – The Grange (Patrons of Husbandry)Farms form cooperativesSave money by buying in large quantities

Greenback Party – wanted to circulate more paper money to cause inflation

Elected 14 members to Congress in 1878Power faded because of the focus on silver

Farmer’s Alliances

Natural Disasters with no Federal Help

1882 – Mississippi flooded1886 – 1887 – drought1887 - blizzard

1876-1892 – no president won a majority of the popular vote

Not powerful presidents – usually protected American industry

1887 – Texas Seed Bill – seed grain to aid drought victims

Grover Cleveland vetoed it“though the people support the government,

the government shouldn’t support the people”

1887 – Interstate Commerce ActRegulated railroad pricesIllegal to give special ratesDeveloped the Interstate Commerce

Commission

1890 Sherman Anti-trust ActCurb power of trusts and monopoliesLax enforcement

Populists

1890s – success in the SouthPeople’s Party – Populists1. increased circulation of $2. unlimited minting of silver3. progressive income tax – percentage

increases4. government ownership of communication

and transportation5. 8 hour workday – opposed use of

Pinkertons (private police forces)

Populists

Focused on poor whites and blacks

1892 – James Weaver – won barely a million votes

Grover Cleveland won Angered laborers when he ended the Pullman strike Angered farmers by supporting gold Angered manufacturers by supporting tariff

1893 – depression – millions out of work

1896 – William McKinley vs. William Jennings Bryan

McKinley – for the gold standardBryan – for silver – LOST

Bryan – most known for his “Cross of Gold” speech

Silver movement diedReturned to gold standard (more gold found

worldwide)Farm prices rosePopulism died

Progressivism developed

Frontier - disappearing

1900 – West U.S. territories, state constitutions, statehood

Frontier fading

Tenant farming on the rise 1872 – Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming,

Montana, Idaho) 1st National Park 1890 – Superintendent of the census declared the end

of the frontier

Turner Frontier Thesis 1893

Frederick Jackson TurnerSpeech detailing the importance of the

frontier and the end of the frontier

Frontier – individualistic, restless, socially mobile America

Didn’t take into account women, minorities, government

Frontier Realities

Men and womenWhites, African Americans, Chinese, and

JapaneseChinese – railway workers9,000 African American cowhands“buffalo soldiers” – all black regiments1883 – Buffalo Bill Cody – Wild West Shows

1912 – Juliet Low – Girl Scouts – girls have been made too soft