CHANGES ON THE WESTERN...
Transcript of CHANGES ON THE WESTERN...
Westward Expansion
Module 2:
America in the 1820s
Factors That Contributed to the
Settlement of the West
Manifest Destiny –
The belief that it was America’s mission to expand from
ocean to ocean, spreading democracy and freedom
Americans believed it was their God-given duty to conquer
the Western territories and unify the Nation
Gold Discovered in California -1849
Homestead Act of - 1862
Transcontinental Railroad -1869
The American Dream
Territorial Expansion of U.S.
1803 Louisiana Purchase
1845 Texas
1848 Mexican-American War:
Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, California,
Nevada, and Utah
By 1850, America gains the Oregon Territory
➢ Great Plains
● Wilderness
• Natural Resources● Gold, Silver, Copper, Trees
➢ The Indians had little contact with the
“white man”• Thought of a vast open land
➢ Great Plains – the grassland
extending through the west-central
portion of the US.
➢ The Great Plains were hunting
grounds for the Indians➢ Valued the land
➢Native American Way of Life
● Worshiped the land and Nature
• Sun Dance
• Ghost Dance
FAMILY LIFE ON THE PLAINS
➢ Lived in small extended families• “it takes a village”
➢Men were hunters, while women helped butcher the game and prepare it
➢ This is called a hunter-gatherer community.• Semi sedentary Life
● Summer, lived on plains, hunted and gathered food
● Winter, lived in low lands to escape harsh winters
➢ Buffalo➢ The Indians hunted the buffalo
• 30 Million Buffalo
➢ Buffalo was the target hunt and they used everything productively
What Happened to the Native
Americans?
Prior to Columbus (1492), between 1-10 million people lived in present day U.S.
By 1800, the number of natives dropped to about 600,000
By 1850, the number was on 250,000—the population of most other groups was rising in America.
Removal becomes Policy
Government Views
Great plains need to be “settled” and improved
Railroads increase expansion west
1834 – Great Plains are a great reservation
1850 – Gov’t creates territories
Boundaries for each tribe
Indian Removal Act of 1830--
--US Federal Government “negotiates” over 90 treaties with N.A. groups to help fund the movement of N.A. tribes from Eastern States….to WEST of the Mississippi River.
16,000 Cherokee, 15,000 Creek, and 14,000 Choctaw---45,000 people are “relocated” relocated to “Indian Territory”--(modern day Oklahoma)
-- Trail of Tears
1838--20,000 Cherokee were “Forced” by the US military to march 800 miles from Georgia to Oklahoma...more than 5,000 died due to weather, poor nutrition and lack of shelter...
Treaty Process
Reservations: small areas of land
within a group’s territory, land
was reserved exclusively for their
use
Natives were encouraged to farm &
have livestock—be more “civilized”
& adopt Christianity
The Federal Government never intended reservations to last forever.
The goal was to assimilationNative Americans into model American citizens.
Assimilation
Government and Assimilation
➢ Assimilation—the idea that Native Americans give up their own believes and take up those of white culture to blend (assimilate) in ● a. Many government officials felt the only way to
ensure Indian survival was absorption into ―white America.
• b. Government established schools where kids were forced to speak only English, wear ―proper clothes, and to change their names to ―American ones.
• c. Government officials tried to convince American Indians to farm but it did not take.
• d. Dawes Act to try and encourage individualism
Indian Resistance
Hundreds of battles, wars, and massacres took place on the Plains between 1865-1890 in an effort to resist reservations and preserve the Indian way of life:
Sand Creek Massacre (1864) US military attack killing 150 native women and
children Sand Creek was the first major attack on the Indians
Red River Wars (1874)● US Army, under command of General Phillip Sheridan, herded
friendly Indians onto reservations and attempted to kill all others
“Destroy their villages and ponies, to kill and hang all warriors, and to bring back all women and children”
-General Phillip Sheridan
Treaty of Fort Laramie, 1868
Restricted the Federal Government from taking more land from the Northern Plains Indians for railroads and settlers
Native Americans agree to move to Reservations
Native American Resistance
Battle of Little Big Horn (1876)
Between Sioux (put up greatest resistance) led by Chief Sitting Bull and U.S. cavalry led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer
Custer & more than 200 soldiers killed
Marked the Indian’s final victory
Battle of Wound Knee (1890)
Following the death of Sitting Bull, U.S. cavalry tried to arrest his followers
While surrendering and handing over weapons, a shot rang out=soldiers opened fire
Killed more than 200 unarmed Sioux, including around 70 women & children
THE DAWES ACT - 1887➢ The Dawes Act called for the break up of
reservations and the introduction of natives into American life Native Americans would lose their way of life
US Wanted them to become landowners and Farmers
➢ Most Indian land would soon become white land
Native Americans forced onto dry unlivable land
NATIVE LANDS BY 1894
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE
BUFFALO➢ Whites began to hunt buffalo for fur and sport
(sometimes from trains) – they would only take the fur
➢ 1800: 65 million buffalo roamed the plains
➢ 1890: less than 1000 remained
➢ Indians saw this as a insult and a waste of resources
William F. Cody “Buffalo Bill”
Organizer of Wild West Shows
Killed over 4,300 Bison
Signed a pact with RR Companies to provide Bison Meat to workers
Section 2:
Mining & Ranching
SETTLERS PUSH
WESTWARD
The white settlers began to push Westward in search of land to start a living
● Indians – shared the land
● Settlers- own the land• Gaining wealth from the land
➢ There’s gold in them there hills!!!• 1849 - Gold in San Francisco
• 1,000 people 1848 to over 100,000 in 1849
● Denver, Colorado was a mining town
➢ This lead hundreds of thousands of settlers west into the Great Plains● Irish, Chinese, Germans, Polish, African
Americans
● RR Companies Advertised the West
Settlers push West
➢ Many different people moved westward● a. White Americans from East—mainly middle-class farmers moved in
search of fertile soil while others (Civil War veterans from south) sought a new start.
● b. African Americans from South—moved to escape violence and seek a new life. Biggest rush was called Kansas Fever Exodus of 1870 in which 20,000—40,000 African Americans moved.
Exodusters
● c. Many European immigrants (including Irish, German, and Polish) also sought a new life in the west.
● Advertisements from RR Companies
● d. Chinese immigrants also sought to farm in the west after gold rush was over.
Helped to build RR. Employment
Cattle Business
Cattle Ranchers and big business
Settlers learn ranching from Mexicans
and Spanish settlers
The Chisholm Trail
Drive cattle overland from ranches in Texas to Kansas
railheads. cattle would be sold and shipped eastward.
Demand for Beef
The Civil War soldiers & Population Boom in the
East Coast
The only problem—how to get the cows across
the country?
Longhorns
1. The real-life cowboy:
1. About 55,000 worked on the plains
between 1866 and 1885.
1. About 25% of them were African Americans
2. 12% were Mexican.
The Long Drive:
The overland transport of animals usually lasted about three months.
One Cowboy to every 250-300 heads of cattle.
All in a day’s work:
10-14 hr days
As young as 15 yrs old. Many broken down by the
time they were 40 years old
The Roundup:
Cowboys would herd up all the longhorns they could
find and take off the open range and into a corral.
End of the Open Range
Changes in Ranching
Overgrazing, bad weather from 1883 to 1887 destroy whole
herds
Ranchers keep smaller herds that yield more meat per
animal
Fence land with barbed wire; turn open range into separate
ranches
SECTION 3: SETTLING ON THE
GREAT PLAINS
Homestead Act
➢ 1862 – Congress passed Homestead Act which allowed 160 free acres to any “head of household”● 600,000 Families moved west
● Each homesteader had to live on the land, build a home, make improvements and farm for 5 years before they were eligible to "prove up".
● Race to grab land – best available • RR Companies rush to claim land
• Exodusters – African Americans who from the South to the West.
● Still faced discrimination
● Provide an opportunity to start a life● Law was misused.
• People claimed land, put up fences, took advantage of natural resources
➢ 1871 – Federal government made land available ● Union Pacific and Central Pacific
• Two companies began a race ● Central – Sacramento● Union – Omaha
1860s, Central Pacific goes east, Union Pacific west, meet in Utah
• By 1880s, 5 transcontinental railroads completed • Railroads sell land to farmers, attract many European
immigrants
➢ The West was expanding rapidly – the transcontinental railroad (connected East and West of the USA
➢ In 1869, Americans celebrated the first transcontinental railroad as the Union Pacific’s tracks from NE and the Central Pacific’s from CA met at Promontory Point, UT.
Railroad Expansion
The transcontinental railroad was completed in 1868. The Central Pacific
and Union Pacific railroads met in Promontory Point, Utah and laid a
Golden Spike
Building the RR’s
➢ Chinese Immigrant Workers
● Low wages
● Helped to clear land
Irish Immigrant workers
● Laid down track
2.2m foreign-born settlers between
1870-1900.
The Railroad’s Impact
Transportation of people and goods was quicker and cheaper
New era of interstate trade and commerce
1865 – it cost $3.45 to ship a barrel of flour from NY to Chicago
1890 it costs .68 cents
New jobs – Irish/Chinese
Westward Expansion – Safer/Quicker/Cheaper
Native American wars and removal
SETTLERS ENCOUNTER
HARDSHIPS➢ The frontier settlers faced extreme
hardships – droughts, floods, fires, blizzards, locust plagues, and bandits● Native Americans
● Lack of Natural Resources (Trees)• Used sod (Soddy Homes)
● Advancements• 1837 – John Deere – Steel plow
LOCUST SWARM
JOHN DEERE’S
STEEL PLOW HAD
TO BE PULLED BY
A HORSE OR
MULE
Settlers from all walks of life including newly arrived
immigrants, farmers without land of their own from the East,
single women and former slaves came to meet the challenge
of "proving up" and keeping this "free land".
Norwegian settlers in 1898 North Dakota in
front of their homestead, a sod hut.Families of former slaves who had fled to Canada prior
to the Civil War returned to the United States in the
early 1900s and settled in DeWitty, Nebraska, taking
advantage of the opportunity to own their own land.
Blocks were laid, grass side down, layers
staggered like brickwork, usually in 2 parallel
rows resulting in walls 24 inches thick. Spaces
were left for doors and windows.
The roof was the most difficult and dangerous
part of the house to build. The lack of normal
roofing materials, like wooden shingles or
slate tiles, led to the inventive use of natural
materials. A series of poles held up layers of
brush tied into bundles, mud, grass and sod.
ECONOMIC DISTRESS HITS
FARMERS➢ Educating Farmers
● Morrill Act - gave federal land to the states to help finance agricultural colleges. (1862, 1890)
• Breadbasket of America
• First time federal government provided money for higher education
➢ Farmers hit hard times● Between 1867 and 1887 the price of a bushel of wheat fell
from $2.00 to 68 cents• Farmers couldn’t pay their loans
● Railroad companies charged the farmers high prices to ship grain to buyers
➢ In response, a new type of farm emerged called a Bonanza farm.
• (needed more crops to pay their loans)
➢ Bonanza Farm – huge single-crop farms of 15,000 –50,000 acres.
Section 4: Farmers And The
Populist Movement
Lesson Two Review:➢ 1862 – Congress passed Homestead Act
which allowed 160 free acres to any “head of household”
➢ Many flocked to the “open range” to start their lives – huge farms
➢ Since so many were producing excess crops, prices fell drastically
➢ Railroads also started to charge extremely high prices for crop transportation
➢ Farmers couldn’t keep up and fell into great debt
➢ In addition, bad weather spells were wreaking havoc on the crops
Populist Movement
➢ BIG IDEA:•Farmers united to address economic problems
➢Why it matters:•Many Populist reform issues are still seen today
● Income Tax
● Rights of workers
➢Populist Platform•Increase money supply
•Regulate the banks
•Income tax
•Government regulation of RR’s
HIP HUGHES: POPULISTS MOVEMENT
What is Populism?
• An appeal to the hopes and fears of the common people…
• …especially in opposition to the political, social, intellectual
or economic elite
The Plight of the Farmers
1870s-1880s The numbers of farmers declined from 60% of the population in
1860 to less than 37% in 1900.
They experienced falling prices.
Droughts and storms caused crops to fail
Falling prices
Farmers cannot pay back loans, so banks foreclose on mortgages
A rise in the costs of farm machinery and freight costs
They experienced a heavy tax burden
Dependent upon railroads
Railroads overcharging the farmers
Railroad Abuses
Railroads making secret
deals- bribes
Unfair pricing- long haul
cheaper than short hauls
Use of rebates for large
customers
Politicians
There are three great crops raised in Nebraska. One is a crop of corn, one is a crop of freight rates, and
one is a crop of interest. One is produced by farmers who sweat
and toil the land. The other two are produced by men who sit in
their offices…and farm the farmers.”
~ Nebraska Newspaper
Editorial
Farmers Organize
• The Grange• Founded in 1867 by
Oliver H. Kelley
• Organized social gatherings
and farmer education
• Created cooperatives to
control supply of crops and
buy supplies in bulk
• Granger laws passed in
western states attempted to
regulate railroads
• Farmers Alliances• Endorsed candidates
running for state offices (R
– Midwest, D – South)
• Northern, Southern &
Colored Alliances:
regionalism and racism
limited its effectiveness
Decisions on Railroad Regulation
• Munn v. Illinois,
1877• Intrastate commerce
• States can regulate
POPULIST PARTY IS BORN
➢Populism – the movement of the people
➢ The Populist or People’s Party was formed● The Populist Party (The
People’s Party): formed by farmers, labor leaders, and reformers
THIS POLITICAL CARTOON SHOWS A
POPULIST CLUBBING A RAILROAD
CAR
POPULIST REFORMS
➢ What did the Populists want?
➢ 1. Graduated Income Tax● More $ = higher tax rate
➢ 2. rise in crop prices➢ 3. coinage of silver
➢ (which would increase money supply thus producing a rise in prices received for goods and services)
➢ 4. Lower taxes➢ 5. Restrict Immigration (losing jobs to immigrants)➢ 6. Loans for farmers➢ 7. 8-hr. workday
➢ Political Reforms;➢ 1. Direct election of senators➢ 2. Single terms for presidents
Election of 1892
The Populist Party marked its entrance into national politics in the Election of 1892.
Delegates from several states met in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1892, to draft a political platform and nominate candidates for president and vice president
James Weaver 1st
Populist Candidate for President
Money TroublesPanic of 1893, a financial panic that sent stock
prices plunging, occurred 3 million people lost their jobs – putting
unemployment at 20%
Govt. gold supply depleted, leads to rush on banks
Business, banks collapse
Panic become depression lasted 4 years
J.P. Morgan bails out govt.
Silver or Gold➢ 1. ―Silverite’s favored bimetallism—monetary system
which is backed by gold and silver ● a. Backing with both would make more currency which would make
the value of a dollar worth less—more purchasing power
● b. Supporters believed it would help stimulate the economy
● c. Supporters also believed it would allow farmers and others to be able to pay off their debt to banks
➢ 2. ―Gold Bugs favored gold standard—backing dollars solely with gold
● a. Supporters argued retaining the gold standard would provide a more stable currency
● b. Industrialists and bankers would not lose money from the loans they had made
SILVER OR GOLD?
➢ The central issue of the 1896 Presidential campaign – how is our money backed?
➢ Bimetallism - those who favored using both gold and silver
➢ Gold Standard – American dollar would be backed just by gold
➢ Why did it matter?
➢ People regarded paper money as worthless unless it could be exchanged for gold or silver.
BRYAN AND THE
“CROSS OF GOLD”➢ Republicans favored the Gold standard and
nominated William McKinley
➢ Democrats favored Bimetallism and nominated William Jennings Bryan
➢ Despite Bryan’s stirring words, “You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold,”
➢ McKinley won the 1896 election
BRYAN’S CROSS OF
GOLD SPEECH
THE END OF POPULISM
➢With McKinley’s election victory, Populism collapsed, burying the hopes of the farmer
➢Populism left two important legacies:
➢ 1) A message that the people can organize and be heard
➢ Impact of 3rd Political party
➢ 2) An agenda of reforms, many of which would be enacted in the 20th
century The People’s Party Ended But
Left An Important Legacy
Leading to Progressivism