Manifest Destiny

• It was before and during the Civil War that the foundation for westward expansion in the United States was set, known as Manifest Destiny.

• Expansion had begun near the end of the Reconstruction Era, 1877, and lasted long until the right before the beginning of the 20th century.

Governmental Acts

• Homestead Act of 1862• This act, enacted by Congress during the Civil War, allowed

that any adult citizen had the ability, if one so desired, to claim 160 acres of western territory.

• That citizen must remain a resident on the land for at least 5 years and on that land, they had the requirement to “improve” the land they were through building a dwelling and cultivating the land.– This act did not turn out as successful as planned due to laborers

and farmers not having the finances to cover the land and only the nearby residents of the neighbor states would move and claim land.

Western Movement• The Homestead Act was ultimately the only approach the United States

could utilize at the time because of the fear of “disturbing the peace.”• The Presidents in office during the Gilded Age would be known as the

“Forgotten Presidents” because they would not purposely deal with any controversial issues that would upset the nation through a decision or argument and disturb the peace made after the reconstruction and reconciliation of the Civil War.– Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Grover

Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison• Another reason for this being the only major approach was because of

the U.S. Legislation at the time, specifically the House of Representatives, would be constantly changing from Democrat to Republican, and vice versa, so establishing any sort of compromise was too difficult.

Western Movement

• The following acts came along in addition to the Homestead Act for the government to continue encouraging individuals to participate in westward expansion:

• 1. Timber Culture Act (1873): This act allowed a homesteader to claim an additional 160 acres of land on the condition that he would plant trees on 40 of the acres.

• 2. Desert Land Act (1877): This act allowed an individual to claim 640 acres of land on the condition that he would begin irrigating his land.

• 3. Timber and Stone Act (1878): This act allowed a citizen or immigrant to purchase up to 160 acres of western forest land for $2.50 an acre.

Western Movement

• In the 1860’s, there were three acts that helped initiate the move to the West:

• 1. The Homestead Act 1862 (any man 21 or older who had not gone against the US Government was able to apply to obtain 160 acres of public land)

• 2. Pacific Railway Act 1862 (provided loans for the construction of a transcontinental railroad)

• 3. Morrill Act 1862 (western states are able to establish colleges for their citizens which emphasized agricultural and mechanical arts)

Railroads• Railroads were a key significance to the settlement of the West.• They helped make the transportation of men, livestock, and other goods more

efficient.• Two major railways that ran through the country: Central Pacific, Union Pacific• Importance of Railroads:• Made the United States grow smaller by connecting its Eastern and Western

Fronts.• In a week travelers could make it from New York to San• Francisco• Interstate commerce grew rapidly.• Goods from foreign countries were transported further than just the coast they

arrived at.• Within ten years after its completion in 1869, $50 million worth of goods were

being shipped across the country.

Railroads• While the North and South were further industrializing, the West

focused on mining, farming, ranching.• Gold Rush exploded in the 1870’s.• This greatly increased the population in the West, beginning in

California, but eventually spreading to other lands, such as New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and South Dakota.

• Buffalo hunters and livestock farmers came for the vast plains to raise and hunt the animals.

• At this time there was a major demand for meats and hides in the Eastern part of the country.

• Immigrant workers flooded in from China, Mexico, Germany, Sweden, and many other countries.

Native Americans• As pioneers began to expand westward, the Native Americans were

angered with this sense of invasion and would not give up their land so easily as well.

• The West was known as “one big reservation” before the Civil War, to which Native American tribes had their rights to through the Nonintercourse Act (1834).– This act stated that there would be no alienation or interference between

the U.S. citizens and the Native Americans, specifically claiming their land for more.

• However, the sixth, and last, statute to this Act was that:• “[N]o purchase, grant, lease, or other conveyance of land, or of any

title or claim thereto, from any Indian nation or tribe of Indians, shall be of any validity in law or equity, unless the same be made by treaty or convention entered into pursuant the constitution.”

Native Americans

• This statute provided by the Secretary of War, Henry Knox, allowed legal alienation of the Native American land and claim it for westward expansion.

• It was with this statute in the Act that the United States tried to encourage the Native Americans to sell their tribal lands and become “civilized” citizens of the country.

• The government interpretation for this statement was basically for the Native Americans to give up hunting, become farmers, and reorganize their society as a family unit rather than a tribe.

Native Americans

• The specific land the United States wanted that the Native Americans settled in was the area known as the Great Plains.

• Since the end of the Civil War, about 2/3 of all Indians were settled in the Great Plains.

• Many of these cultures in the Plains were dependent upon buffalos and horses.

• Pioneers also made the attempt to begin killing the buffalos, as the Native Americans in this region were very reliant on their existence.– 1 pioneer – 100 buffalo– From 1872 – 1874, about 3 million buffalo were killed a year.– By 1903, there were only 34 buffalos left in the Great Plains.

Native Americans

• Dawes Act (1887)• This act provided the allotment of lands to various Native

American reservations. It also recognized the Indian as an individual rather than a member of a tribe.

• These attempts by the United States to remove the Native Americans from their land was the attempt to “Americanize” the Native Americans into the ways of a U.S. citizen, also known as assimilation.

• As tribes would split into their separate allotments, the Native Americans start losing their sense of culture and “Indianness,” and would begin being assimilated into the population.

African American

• Jim Crow laws• In 1877, after the end of the Reconstruction Era, Jim Crow laws

were put into place, which were laws of racial segregation.• This name “Jim Crow” derived from was the name of a play

Jump Jim Crow.• Just about all public facilities from 1877 to the civil rights

movement in the 1960s separated “white people” from “colored people.”

• It was not until 1954, when the Supreme reversed the Plessy vs. Board of Education case with the Plessy vs. Ferguson case (1896), in which deemed unconstitutional actions by the school, abolishing segregation there, then eventually all public facilities.

African American

• Atlanta Compromise• This compromise, created in 1895, stated that African

Americans in the South would sustain an occupation but subject to white political ruling, and the South would provide the African Americans with a basic education and a due process in law.

• Supporters for this compromise were Booker T. Washington, the President of the Tuskegee Institute, some African American leaders, and some Southern leaders.

• There were however opposition for this compromise, people such as W.E.B. Du Bois, and other African American leaders.

The Surge

• This “surge” was an increase in materials and advancements in industry • Economy became increasingly dependent on cotton and tobacco production • There was an increase in labor force from Chinese and other immigrants (about 1 million immigrants) • All of these groups were looking to pursue the American Dream

– “New Immigration” Group – “Old Immigration” Group

The Great Surge cont.• Most supplies and wealth came from agriculture due to the increased

production from new inventions and increased work force. • Inventions in the 1800’s increased production rate of supplies • – Textile Mills: created to increase the rate of production of textiles.

Powered by water. Created jobs for many young women. Very poor conditions

• – Flour Mills: wheat and corn flour. Very important part in the rural community. jobs for most women and men, with dangerous work conditions.

• – Iron: By smelting iron a specific way with the addition of oxygen, people created steel. Which led to the creation of alloy steels, making it stronger. This allowed for the mass production of planes, trains and cars.

• – Shipbuilding: Started for trade, then for war production before World War I.

The Great Surge

• After the Civil War, industry grew a lot – Since agriculture increased, overuse of the land

increased, causing land scarring. – Coal production increased from only 20 million tons to

500 million tons from 1860-1910• – Petroleum increased from a half a million tons

in 1860 to 209 million tons in 1910 • Railroads increased – 1910: 240K miles of railroads were laid town for mass

transportation.

The Great Surge cont

• Thomas Edison• – Phonograph- December 1877 (Records Sound) – Light bulb- January 1880 (Created electrical

company) – Motion Picture- April 23, 1896 ( First projected

motion picture by Edison) • The invention and improvement of the

telephone and telegraph created a single, more national market.

The Great Surge cont

• Steele: – Bessemer Process- first inexpensive mass production

of steel by openly heating iron at high temperatures.• – Greatest use was used in railroads. – Steel increased from 13k tons in 1860, to 1 million

tons in 1879, and 28 million tons in 1910 • Andrew Carnegie• - Richest man in the world from steel production

by cutting costs in steel production.

The Great Surge cont

• Vertical and Horizontal Impacts • – Vertical- Andrew Carnegie and the

production of steel produced buildings and controlled the stage of production

• – Horizontal- More first stage projects including the Lance Railway Companies

Money

• Greenback Money: Government issues paper money and bonds, didn’t work out and didn’t establish a central bank

• Metal money was also created but held more firmly to its value

• Silver: – was more rare than gold in the mid 1870s – held mining interests in the west for both farmers

and miners, was considered “soft money”

Money

• Bland-Allison Act of 1878 : provided for freer coinage of silver, passed house not senate, offered a revised version.

• Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890- supplanted the Bland-Allison Act; purchased twice as much silver and added to money in circulation. Repealed in 1893 after the panic of 1893.

Banks

• Banks:• – Cities had national banks while towns and

rural places had state banks. • – Wall Street generated necessary capital that

was very valuable and depended on in economics. Opened in 1865

Stores

• Retailing: • – General Stores- Became more rural and began trading

for goods• – Department Stores- No bargaining with consistent

prices; Women became prominent in department stores • – Chain Stores- each store makes its own profit; cash

only • – Mail Order Houses- firms that receive orders and ships

through the mail; Usually found in small or rural towns

Workers

• Coal Strikes of 1902-Miners on strike asking for higher wages, shorter work days and recognition of their union (The United Mine Workers of America;

• – threatened winter fuel supply for all major cities

• – resulted in reforms the “Square Deal” by Roosevelt

Workers

• Labor from 1865-1900s:• – Work was very oppressed, – Blacks were losing a

great deal of economic freedom, worked in factories, construction and transportation had less freedom

• – awful work conditions which led to many riots and organizations like the Knights of Labor (a secret workers organization)

• – without work unions, workers were subjects to their bosses and the poor conditions they suffer in

Workers

• Strikes (Evolution of the labor movement): • – Railroad Strike of 1885: which was very

bloody and their success didn’t last for long due to the laws passed about employees hurting employers later after the strike.

Workers

• Haymarket Riot in 1886:• – national strike for an 8 hour workday • – police came firing on strikers outside of McCormick

Harvester factory • – moved to Haymarket Square, strikers threw a bomb,

killing an officer and 6 more officers died in the fight, Knights ceased to be any more of a major force.

• Homestead Steel Strike of 1892: Conflict at a steel plant, tarnished Carnegies reputation as a benevolent employer and champion of labor.

Women

• Women in the workforce• In 1880, 2.6 million women were working, –

only 1/7 of the workforce – Single women• Suffered from male prejudice and monopoly,

angered a lot of women,• Unions Arise

Women

• Began to teach, become nurses and take part in social work

• Teachers were women – 25% in 1860 – 60% in 1880; – 80% in 1910

• Before the evolution of work women were usually servants or more “domestic” workers (meaning they only were used for reproduction and household work)

• Factory work for women was harsh

Children

• Child Labor: – introduction of machinery increased the demand for

child labor dramatically. – industrial growth created a lot of unskilled jobs,

which could be done by children who employers preferred over adults.

• In the 1890s, The National Consumers League began to abolish child labor due to the unfair and deadly working conditions for children.

• Restrictions were set

Government Impact

• Role of the government was miniscule during the industrial revolution

• The role increased as population and riots increased.

• Supreme Court eventually limited the power of state governments to regulate businesses to a certain extent

• 14th Amendment-Provides people equal protection under the law; Clause put into effect in 1868

Government Impact

• 1887 Interstate Commerce Act: made the railroads the first industry subject to Federal regulation – in response to public demand that railroad operations

needed to be regulated due to the natural monopoly railroads held

• – Taken to Congress • Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890- Prohibited trusts,

was tried at smaller levels but only Congress could make it large-scaled due to their constitutional power to regulate commerce.