Transcript 17. the west exploiting an empire

17. The West: Exploiting
an Empire
1865 - 1900
Frederick Jackson Turner’s Thesis
• “American social development has been
continually beginning over again on the
frontiers. This perennial rebirth, this
fluidity of American life, this expansion
westward with its new opportunities, its
continuous touch with the simplicity of
primitive society, furnish the forces
dominating American character. The true
point of view in the history of this nation is
not the Atlantic coast, it is the Great West.”
“The Great American Desert”
Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains
In About 30 Years (1877-1900)
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Great buffalo herds had been wiped out
Open land was now fenced in
Steel rails crisscross the west
Modern new towns are built
Nine new states in the Union
Three more are awaiting statehood
Mining Frontier
Miners
• Western states
• Came from all over the
world
• Created “Nativist”
response
– Miner’s Tax of $20
– Chinese Exclusion Act of
1882
Settlement Patterns
• Rich strikes created
boom towns
• Some soon became
ghost towns
• Some grew larger and
industrialized
– San Francisco
– Denver
Effect of Mining
• Vast supply of silver creates a currency
crisis in years to come
• Environmental scars that are still visible
• Disastrous effect on Native Americans
During the Civil War
Originated in Mexico (Vaqueros)
Texas was cut off from the rest of the CSA
Five million head of cattle roamed free
Easy to start a business
Essential to the Cattle Industry
Railroads
• Connected the east and
west
• Provided markets
Cattle Trails
Cattle Drives End
• Droughts
• Cattle disease
• Arrival of the homesteaders and their
barbed wire
Industrialization and Cattle
Industry
• Created huge ranches to substitute for
open range
• Scientific techniques for more tender cattle
• Wild west was tamed by 1890s
Farming Frontier
• Homestead Act of 1862
• Offers 160 acres of public land to any one
who settles for 5 years
• About 500,000 families (1870 – 1900)
Problems
• Lack of building supplies
• Extremes of hot and cold
• Natural plagues (grasshoppers)
• Lonely
• Water was scarce
• Wood was scarce
• Half gave up by 1900
Solutions
• Barbed Wire
• Mail-order Windmills
• Dry Farming Techniques
• Hardy strains of wheat
• Dams and irrigation
The End of the Frontier
• 1889 the Oklahoma Territory was turned
over to farmers
• 1900 U.S. Census declares frontier closed
• 1893 Frederick Jackson Turner writes his
“The Significance of the Frontier in
American History”
• Frontier experience had promoted
Independence and individualism
Other Ideas
• Frontier had acted as a social leveler
• Challenges fostered social and political
democracy
• Turner saw west as safety valve with
promise of fresh start
• With the frontier gone, these advantages
would be lost.
• Migration shifts toward urban areas
By the 1850s
• Most tribes had been assigned to
reservations
• Most refused to stay closed up
Indian Wars
• Several rounds of warfare erupted
• Miners, cattlemen, railroads, farmers all
invaded Indian territories
• New treaties continued to lessen the
control of the Native Americans
Assimilationists
• Most proposed assimilation as the solution
• “A Century of Dishonor “ by Helen Hunt
Jackson (1881)
• Emphasized formal education
• Training and conversion to Christianity
• Force Native Americans to accept white
culture
Dawes Severalty Act (1887)
• Designed to break up tribal organizations
• Land was divided into plots of 160 acres
or more
• U.S. citizenship given to those who stayed
on the land for 25 years
• A great deal of reservation land sold to
white settlers
Ghost Dance Movement
• Last effort to resist federal government
• Ends in the Massacre of Wounded Knee
• Population had been reduced to 200,000
Farm Problems: North, South,
West
• Rapidly becoming a minority
• Farming becomes increasingly
commercialized
• Falling prices
• Rising costs
• Struggle to pay taxes
• High tariffs
Farmer’s Southern Alliance
• 1893
• Would join with farmers in the north to
work for reform
Fighting Back
• National Grange Movement: Social and
educational organization
• Grange becomes economical, political and
legally involved
• Organized “cooperatives” run by the
farmers themselves
• Laws to regulate railroads
Supreme Court Cases
• Munn v. Illinois (1877) upheld the right of a
state to regulate businesses of a public
nature (railroads)
• Wabash v. Illinois (1886) individual states
could not regulate interstate commerce
Interstate Commerce Act (1886)
• Rates should be reasonable and just
• Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
• Helped the railroad industry more than the
farmers
Ocala Platform
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Direct election of United States
Senators
Lower tariff rates
Graduated income tax
New banking system regulated by feds
Critical of two major parties as supporting
bankers and big business
• Increase money in circulation
• Federal storage and federal loans
Political Impact
• Formed the foundation of the Populist
Movement
• Populist Movement changes American
political scene in late 1890s.
Early explorers thought the trans-Mississippi
West best suited for
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Irrigated farmland
Ranching grassland
Settlement
Indians and buffalo
A nice place to visit
Government policy toward native Americans
a. Ignored or opposed tribal organization
b. Was consistent but not successful
because of tribal organization
c. Was based upon converting the Indians
to Christianity
d. Was a failure because the Indians
insisted on being farmers
e. Supported the native culture
By the 1700s the culture of the Plains
Indians had been revolutionized by
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b.
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d.
e.
Reservation life
New farming techniques
The Pueblo Indians
The introduction of the European horse
The invasion of the railroad
All of the following were problems for the
pioneer farmers of the Great Plains
EXCEPT
a. Lack of rain
b. Declining crop prices
c. Inadequate housing materials
d. Lack of available land
e. Isolation from other settlers
The unification of the farmers in
the west
a. Resulted in the second Civil War
b. Led to the formation of the populist
movement
c. Caused the Native American Indians to
revolt against the settlers
d. Had little impact on the U.S.
e. Was the result of many happy farmers.
The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887
a. Gave small plots of reservation lands to
individual Native Americans
b. Succeeded because it respected tribal
organization
c. Prevented the alienation of Indian
leaders.
d. Created large reservations allowing the
Indians to be self-governed
e. Led to more powerful Indian leaders