Differing Attitudes to LandPlains Indians White Settlers• Land was sacred and part of

the circle of life and death• Spiritual belief in connection to

land• Believed some parts of land

were more sacred eg The Black Hills

• Didn’t believe in harming mother nature for oil or development

• Didn’t understand the concept of land being bought or sold

o Land indicated wealtho No spiritual connection to lando Moved west for more space to

develop and create better liveso Wanted to share land but

Indians refusedo Saw Plains Indians as an

obstacle to their better way of life

Mountain Men• Trappers hunted beavers and other animals for

their fur to feed fashion in East• Jed Smith found important South pass route

through the Rockies so that wagons could pass through

• Rendezvous: agreed spot where they traded the year’s catch

• Mountain men told merchants about rich fertile lands in the west

Force of law Role LimitationUS Marshalls Oversaw saw a state or

territory Large area hard to enforce law, appointed deputies who worked on local basis

Sheriffs Elected by people of a county for a two year period of office

Had to cover a too wide area to be effective

The Texas Rangers A small army of lawmen employed to enforce law in texas

The Pinkerton detective agency

Private company hired by banks and stage coach companies

Didn’t protect wider community

Judges Appointed by president to try cases. Three to supervise each state of territory

Too few so prisoners had to be held for a long time. Often lynched before trial

Plains Indian cultureSioux Nation

Never led by any individual

Is lead by a chief Is advised by a council of men

Is influenced by a warrior society

Tribes led by chiefs such as Crazy Horse

Chiefs not elected nor did they inherit power. Became chiefs due to wisdom, spiritual power and skills as warriors. Only great chiefs such as Red Cloud and Sitting Bull were able to persuade the warriors of many bands to follow them.

Councils Advice of the Medicine Man , chiefs and elders were listened to with respect. Council members would keep talking until everyone agreed. They believed smoke would inform the spirit world and make sure they made good decisions.

Warrior society All the men of the band belonged to a warrior society such as the Kit Foxes of the Sioux. Responsible for supervising hunting and travelling. Their opinions were always important when decisions were made.

Plains Indian belief about warfare

Status SymbolsFeathers

HorseLance

Coup Stick

No formal declarations of war, consisted of a series

of raids by small groups of warriors

Rivalry over territory and hunting ground.

Eg before settlers, Sioux had driven the

Crow from the Powder River

Country

War was not fought in cold winter

months. Wars were in summer when they had built up

food supply

Causes of Lawlessness

Geographical FactorsWest was a vast area with

poor transport.Difficult to enforce law

Political FactorsNew mining and cow towns

particularly lawless. Shortage of reliable law

enforcement as gov didn’t see it as important

Social FactorsMany sources of conflict between ethnic groups

After Civil War adjusting to civil war was difficult.

Many people on both sides unwilling to forget

Values and AttitudesWest dominated by a

primitive code of honour. It was your responsibility to settle issues. If you shot a

man in self defence you had not broken the law as long as the other was armed.

Economic FactorsMany sources of conflict

between different economic groups.

1840s and 1850s: Why go west?Push and Pull Factors• 1837: economic Depression Wages cut by

40%• Farmers had a feeling of overcrowding

Population grew from 14000 to 373,000

• Government: Homestead Act 1841: Gave each family 160 acres

• Discovery:1845: Gold Rush1848 Gold discovered in CA

• ReligionPerpetual Emigrating Fund 1854

• CommunicationEmigrant’s guide to California Published 1845

LandProblem: Hard land difficult to plowSolution: Invention of steel tipped plough by John Deere

WeatherProblem: Lack of rainfallSolution: Wind pumps drew up water from landNew Techniques such as dry farming and use of Turkey Red WheatProblem: Hot weather caused prairie fires

TransportProblem: First railroad to cross the plains

didn’t open until 1869Meant lack of importation of resources

and ability to export a surplus

Animals and InsectsProblem: Cows strayed onto crops which

damaged them Solution: Invention of Barbed Wire by

Joseph Glidden in 1867Problem: Locusts destroyed crops

Problems Faced by the homesteaders

The Johnson County War

Barons lost cattle to rustlers and blamed

homesteaders

Falling Beef Prices 1886-87

Causes

Homesteaders and small ranchers caused

disputes over land

Stage 11889: Jim Averall and Ella Watson lynched as barons thought they were rustlers

Stage 2Full scale was planned, death

list of 70 names drawn up. Gunfighters and cattlemen made up roughly 50 men

Stage 3 Cut telegraph wires to cut off

Johnson CountyStopped by Nate Champion who

raised the alarm in town of buffaloLocal people armed and ready,

besieged by 300 men

Development of the Cattle

Industry

Plains Indians

defeated and moved onto reservations

Railroads shipped cattle live to

Chicago. After being slaughtered

they were refrigerated and

sent East

Discovered the Texas Longhorns

could survive winter and the cold would kill

disease carrying ticks

The buffalo that had previously

grazed the plains had been slaughtered by

hunters

1878 Gustavas Swift developed refrigerated railroad wagons

Was The Battle of Little Bighorn a Victory?

Short Term Victory

General Custer and more than 250 of his army officers were killed

Long term defeat

Within 12 months the army had defeated the Sioux for good and Crazy Horse was dead (1877)

Sources of conflict between the Cattle Ranchers and the Homesteaders

LandBoth wanted the same land, disputes from the 1870s onwards were about access to water. Cattle Ranchers wanted an ‘open

range’ for access to water.

By the 1880s flocks of sheep were a threat to cattle as they competed for grazing. Five

million sheep in New Mexico. Texas Longhorns also carried disease causing Tics

Invention of Barbed wire led to trouble. Homesteaders used it to fence off their land.

This is initially roused hostility. Later the cattle ranchers saw the value of barbed wire.

1. TerritorialThrough a series of laws,

government reduces size of reservations

2.PoliticalPolicy changed from rations being distributed by chief to

heads of family collecting own rations.

Dawes Act

3. Economic Ban on Sioux leaving

reservations destroyed economic foundations. No

buffalo meat or hides.

4.ReligiousFeasts, dances and ceremonies

were banned. Power of medicine man undermined.

5.EducationChildren sent to boarding school, prepared for life in ‘white man’s

world’. Not allowed to speak own language. If they resisted

school rations were taken away.Government1828 onwards system of reservations established, Indians expected to live as farmers.By 1870s Indians were prisoners on the land.Poor farming conditions made them dependant on government hand-outs for survival. Completely destroyed culture.

Success at Salt

Lake City

Organisation of LandBY decided no private

ownership of land, church assigned farm land to

people according to needs.10-80 acres for large

families

Perpetual Emigrating FundSent missionaries to

Europe, Far East and South America to win converts,

appealed to poor. Money lent to emigrants,

repaid upon arrival.Strategic Spread across

UtahWhen new town set up,

people sent to dig irrigation ditches and mark out farms. Settlers carefully selected to balance skills.

Impact of the California Gold RushMining Townsconsisted of one street. Miners lived in shacks. Disease Common. Miners went to saloons for pleasures. Gambling common.Big businesses in CaliforniaAfter initial gold rush miners brought their families out west where permanent mining towns were established. Farmers, Merchants, Businessmen, Lawyers and Doctors settledLaw and OrderClaim-Jumping major problem. No official law enforcement. Most camps banned Mexicans, Chinese and Indians. Indians were slaughtered.

Factors to development of the cattle

industry

The Civil WarTexan ranchers

returned to increase in cattle

5000,000 estimated

Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving

Pioneered Goodnight-Loving

Trail to Fort Sumner where they sold to

the reservations

Joseph McCoy Created town of

Abiline and advertised town as a shipping point to

ship cattle east.

Railways Solved the problem of

shipping cattle east to feed

growing demand

cattle could be sold for 10x their worth

End of the Open Range

Ranchers had over-grazed the plains.

Overstocking had also led to a fall in prices.

Extreme weatherDrought followed by a scorching summer and then a winter storm. Half the cattle on the plains died in a single

year

Homesteaders increasingly settled on the plains and fenced off their farms with

barbed wire

John Iliff was the first rancher to set up an 'open range' ranch - in Wyoming in 1867. In 1868 John Iliff won the contract to supply beef to the Sioux, who had been forced onto a reservation in the Black Hills.

The Great Sioux War 1876

December 1875 Sioux ordered to reservations but not possible due to winter

Approx 7000 indians in Powder Country showing

strength of anger

By Feb 1876 army instructed to treat all indians off

reservations with hostility led to battle of little bighorn

Expedition into the Black Hills broke Fort

Laramie Treaty

Army unable to prevent influx of

miners to the Black Hills

Plains Indians attitude to land meant they did not accept offer to buy

black hills

Public shocked

by defeat at the

Battle Of Little

Bighorn

New Forts built on

Yellowstone river and

reinforcements

One by one bands gave in and returned

to reservations

Joseph McCoy

ImpactBought land, built stock pens and advertised the town as a shipping point.Cattle driven from Texas to Abilene then shipped East. Cattle could be sold for 10x their worthCaused development of Dodge City and Newton

Impacts of the RailroadContributed to Destruction of Plains Indian’s way

of lifePacific Railroad company wanted to sell land to homesteaders to finance the workRailroads brought buffalo hides back eastSplit the great buffalo herd in two

Easier for homesteaders to get to the Plains More people settled

Cheap to buy land Railroad companies sold off land on either side at low prices

Technology-Wind pump drew up water from ground-Steel Plough or ‘Sod Buster’ by John Deere-Barbed wire by Joseph Glidden 1874

GovernmentTimber Culture Act gave settlers 160 acres of free land provided they planted 40 acres with treesDesert Land Act gave them the right to but 640 acres cheaply where scarce rainfall

New TechniquesTurkey Red Wheat and

Dry Farming

Hard WorkSuccess

explained by determination, hard work and adaptability.

Solving Problems on the Plains

Joseph SmithAged 14 a pillar of light appeared and told him not to join any religion and to prepare for great work1827 angel told smith where the book was to be foundSmith claimed no one else was allowed to see the plates.Built up followers to several hundred by 1830Took followers to Kirtland, Missouri and Nauvoo

1844 received revelation that some mormons could practise polygamySome denounced him as a false prophet and critisised him in a local newspaper, Smith destroyed the pressesTaken to jail

Brigham YoungMade the decision to move to the Great Salt LakeBrilliant Organiser: -careful preparations with a pioneer band to establish first-way station-Split into separate wagon trains with a captain in charge of eachDecided no private ownership of landSettled new towns with balanced skills

Mormon Failures

Industrial DevelopmentDid not have

enough money or workers.

EducationSchools badly equipped and

parents resisted extending school

beyond 3 months as needed for farming.

Mormon WarMormons charging extortionate prices

for ferry crosses and exports.

Suspicion around equality. When US

sent to assert authority towns

were abandoned.

Opposition to the MormonsIn New York

People claimed he was a fraud and a clergyman denounced the book of

Mormon as blasphemous.

Success in KirtlandMormons worked hard and

owned a mill, store and bank which collapsed.

Many Non-Mormons lost their savings = last straw

Referring to them as Gentiles was patronising

and antagonising

Their Religious BeliefsLost tribes of Israel migrated to America before Christ was born

Attitudes towards Non-MormonsLooked down on them and called them gentiles

Their SuccessVery hard workers and had a lot of land

Attitudes towards slavesWere against slavery and oppression of Indians which was controversial

PolygamyDeemed sinful and wrong and feared it would cause rapid Mormon pop growth

Why was it impossible to live in the East?