Ch. 26: The Great West and Agricultural Revolution: 1865-1896

AP US History

• WHAT MADE WESTWARD EXPANSION POSSIBLE?

1. Transcontinental Railroad (main reason)2. Land (Homestead Act 1862)3. People (immigrants)4. Opportunity for wealth • Mining, Livestock and Agriculture

Transcontinental Railroad

• Construction– First transcontinental Railroad was completed in

1869.– Five total during the 19th Centrury– Irish and Chinese workers played key roles in their

construction.– Land grants were given to the RR companies

Transcontinental Railroad

• Consequences for the Great Plains– Played a key role in the near-extinction of the

buffalo herds. • Devastated the culture of the Plains Indians

– Brought a tidal wave of troops, farmers, miners, and cattlemen to the Great Plains

– The buffalo was replaced by range-fed cattle as more farmers came. (Ranches, cowboys, fences)

Clash in Cultures

• What are the causes of the transformation of the Native American way of life? Especially on the Plains.1. Near extermination of the buffalo doomed the

nomadic lifestyle of the Plains Indians.2. White man’s disease/alcohol3. US Gov backed land claims with force (Army)• Ghost Dance, Custer, Etc.

4. Transcontinental RR transformed the economy of the whole region (now valuable)• Brought unlimited # of troops, pioneers, etc.

Reform Minded America

• Publication of Century of Dishonor (1881)– Written by Helen Hunt Jackson– PURPOSE:• To arouse public awareness of the federal

government’s long record of betraying and cheating the Native American’s. • EXAMPLES:

1. “Treaties”2. Land3. Buffalo4. Promises of food, clothing, supplies, etc

Reform Minded America

• Christian reformers– Would run schools on reservations– Often withheld food to force Indians to give up their

religious rituals and assimilate into white society.– EXAMPLE:

• “Ghost Dance”– The dance was a sacred ritual expressing a vision that the buffalo

would return and the white civilization would vanish.– Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)– As many as 200 Indian women and children killed at Battle of

Wounded Knee.

Reform Minded America

• The Dawes Act of 1887– GOALS:• Misguided attempt to reform Native American Policy

– Inspired by Century of Dishonor by Helen Hunt Jackson

• To assimilate Native Americans into the mainstream of American life by..– Dissolving tribes as legal entities– Setting up families with 160/acres– Making them citizens if they behaved like “white citizens” for

25yrs.

Reform Minded Americans

• CONSEQUENCES:• Ignored the inherent reliance of traditional Indian culture

on tribally owned land.• By 1900, Indians had lost 50% of 156 million acres they

had held just two decades prior.• Forced-assimilation doctrine of the Dawes Act remained

the cornerstone of the government’s official Indian policy for half century.– Indian Reorganization Act 1934 partially reversed the

individualistic approach of the Dawes Act by restoring tribal basis of Indian life.

Expanding West

• The West has been expanding at an unreal pace.– “great migration” 1870s-1890s– New states join the Union• N/S Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho and

Wyoming– This is a political move as well: Rep Congress was seeking

Rep votes.– Utah joined in 1896– Only Oklahoma, NM and Arizona were still territories.

» Oklahoma made available in 1888: “sooners”

The Fading Frontier

• A Watershed Report• IN 1890, the superintendent of the census

reported for the first time in American History a frontier line no long existed!– Frontier is the definition of America’s uniqueness– Land = opportunity/money: now gone– Secretary of War had said it would take 500 years

to populate in 1827– It was a safety valve

An Influential Essay

• “closing” the frontier inspired Fredrick Jackson Turner to write “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”– Significance:

• Argued cheap, unsettled land helped make American society more democratic (opportunity)

• Frontier helped shape distinct American spirit of democracy and egalitarianism

• Frontier was a safety valve for factory workers and immigrants to escape and find new opportunities

• Frontier stimulated American nationalism and individualism• Frontier killed any notion of a hereditary landed aristocracy

The Fading Frontier

• Frontier was a state of mind and symbol of opportunity: NOW GONE!– Government now began to set aside land for

national parks.• Yellowstone 1872• Remember George Catlin wanted to do this in the past.

– Where do we go now? Imperialism (ch.27)

New Way of Farming

• Single Cash Crop (like tobacco in S) = farming becomes big business.– If prices are high this is great system!

– More crop = more money = need for more land = need for machinery = need for money = loans = debts.

• FARMERS ARE NOW TIED TO BANKING, RR AND MANUFACTURING.

Problems with Single Crop

1. Success hinges on demand of global market2. No protection in world market3. Not enough cash to go around4. Machines increase output but decrease

prices5. Mortgages6. Nature (Grasshoppers, floods, droughts, etc)7. Corporations “farmed” farms.

Agrarian Discontent

• CAUSES of Agrarian Discontent1. Belief that railroads were using discriminatory

rates to exploit farmers.• Led to Interstate Commerce Act

2. Belief that Big Business used high Tariffs to exploit farmers

3. Belief that a deflationary monetary policy based on gold hurt farmers

4. Belief that corporations charged exorbitant prices for fertilizers and farm machinery (Trusts)

Farmers Political Organizations

• 1868 Greenback Party-fought against deflation

• 1867 Grangers- looked to improve farmers collective plight

• Farmers Alliance: break grip of RR and manufacturers through cooperative buying and selling of goods.

Farmers Political Organizations

• POPULIST PARTY:– Attempted to unite discontented farmers by

improving their economic conditions.– Supported the following• Increasing the money supply with the free and

unlimited coinage of silver and gold at the legal ratio of 16:1 (worth 32:1)• Prevent discrimination against small customers with

Interstate Commerce Act of 1887• Organize cooperative marketing societies• Supported William Jennings Bryan in 1896 Election

Farmers Political Organizations

• REASONS THE POPULISTS FAILED:– Western/Southern farmers didn’t agree on

political strategies (different candidates)– Racism prevented poor whites and blacks from

working together.– Increase in pop. In cities = higher agricultural

prices– New gold discoveries = easier credit– Democrats absorbed most of their programs– William Jennings Bryan lost the 1896 election.