Transcript The Western Frontier - Licking Heights School District

American Studies
THE WESTERN FRONTIER
PRACTICE QUESTION

Consider the following changes that occurred in
the United States in the late 19th century:
 Overcrowding
of cities
 Increases in immigration from Europe
 Opportunity for farming and mining in rural areas

These changes led to:
 A.
rapid growth of urban areas
 B. acquisition of overseas territories
 C. elimination of large suburbs around many cities
 D. movement of people to the western frontier
MANIFEST DESTINY

Our superior/dominant race is destined to
conquer the West and spread our culture
 Many
thought it was God’s plan
 Our nationalistic/ethnocentric ideas
 http://www.mdianeharrison.com/5th%20Grade%2
0Westward%20Expansion%20Manifest%20Destiny.
htm
PROGRESSION OF WESTWARD EXPANSION
THE FINAL FRONTIER
After the Civil War:
 The Great Plains: Flat grassy land between the
Missouri River and Rocky Mountains
 The Great Basin: Dry desert lowland between
the Rocky Mtns and the Sierra Nevada Mtns

THE PLAINS PEOPLE
Native Americans see Plains as sacred land
that supports their way of life
 Millions of buffalo used for:

 Meat
for food
 Pelt for clothes
 Skin for shelter
 Bones for tools
 Manure for fuel/fertilizer
WHO WE CONQUERED
PRACTICE QUESTION

In the 19th century, many Americans considered
Native Americans to be inferior to people of the
European ancestry. This resulted in discrimination
and conflict between European settlers and Native
Americans. One consequence of this discrimination
was that many Native Americans were:
A. removed from their former homeland
 B. prevented from trading with European settlers
 C. forced to maintain their cultural heritage
 D. persecuted for killing buffalo on the Great Plains

1850S: SETTLERS FROM THE EAST

Three groups that settled the final western
frontier:
 Miners:
Get rich quick off gold and silver
 Cattle Ranchers: Make money off raising cows
 Homesteaders: Farming families
MINING FRONTIER
California Gold Rush: 1849
 Rocky Mountain Gold Rush: 1859
 Silver in Nevada
 Copper in Montana
 Gold in Black Hills of the Dakotas


100s of remote mining towns pop up all over
the west
CATTLE FRONTIER
1860/70s: Best way to make money in Texas
 Hire cowboys to drive cattle to market in the
east
 Cattle can graze anywhere on open range
 Load onto train in Kansas for slaughterhouse in
Chicago meatpacking industry

HOMESTEADERS
The Homestead Act (1862): Govt invites people
to claim 160 acres of land just by settling on it
 Farmers of wheat and corn mostly
 Many acres taken by spectators: buy land only
to sell it for a higher price later

FRONTIER PIONEERS

Industrialization leads to new technology to
make farming easier
 Windmills
to power pumps for underground water
 Combines, silos, grain elevators
US Govt needs frontier settled in order to form
new states
 Railroads need laborers to build, goods to ship,
workers for the trains, and towns to go to
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w__1GyfQP
Q

THE WILD WEST: VIOLENT CONFLICT

Ranchers vs. Farmers: Barbed Wire Wars
 Barbed
wire invented in 1874 to fence in farmland
 Ranchers/Cowboys want open range for grazing
cows but farmers want their land protected
 Cowboys cut wires; get in gun fights with farmers
OUTLAWS VS. VIGILANTES
Outlaws: Criminals/con artists who steal others
gold or livestock to get rich quick
 Small towns have little govt: Citizens carry guns
and take the law into their own hands
 Vigilantes: Self-appointed police force
 Results in shoot-outs and death without trial
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DU0mdThj
g4

HAZARDS AND HARDSHIPS OF FRONTIER LIFE
Drought, disease, far from stores and
neighbors, hard physical labor
 Few trees: First homes made of sod/dirt
 Women: Never-ending chores, make everything
by hand, have 10+ children
 Women civilize mining/cow towns: Schools,
libraries, doctors, theaters

TREATMENT OF NATIVE AMERICANS
Removal from homeland since 1830s
 US breaks many treaties with Natives
 Wars between Natives and Pioneers

Sioux victory at Little Bighorn
 US Army revenge at Wounded Knee: massacre of Native
American men, women, and children
 Natives lose and surrender because:

 They
fight as tribes not united nation
 They were outnumbered; lost many to disease
 They had primitive weapons
PRACTICE QUESTION

During the 19th century, white settlers moved west
searching for a new life. However, they moved into
lands that were already claimed by the Native
Americans. After many broken treaties and battles
the Native Americans were forced to move to:
A. cities such as New York and Boston
 B. reservations which were lands settlers did not want
 C. mining towns of the west
 D. other countries like Mexico and Canada

NATIVE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS

Reservation: Designated undesirable land set
aside for Native Americans
 Often

barren, Natives don’t farm they hunt
Dawes Act: Offers 160 acre plots on reservation
 Natives
don’t believe in private land
1924: Granted full citizenship
 1960s-Present: Red Power

 Gain
more control over laws and land with more aid
and compensation