HARDY INDIVIDUALISM? OR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT POLICY AND ENCOURAGEMENT?

HARDY INDIVIDUALISM? OR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT POLICY AND ENCOURAGEMENT?

MYTHOLOGY OF THE WESTERN FRONTIER

1893 Frederick Jackson Turner s The Significance of the Frontier Frontier thesis presented at the 400 th anniversary of Columbus coming to the New World US census closed the frontier Analysis of past, warning for future -what will happen to democracy if there is no frontier Meaning of Frontier - meeting point between savagery and civilization - Line of most rapid Americanization Individual -reliance on your own wits and strengths Successfully links economic opportunity with the west

Continued debates Political Correctness v. Good Scholarship? 1. Slavery, Civil War, immigration, industrial capitalism more important factors to understanding American history than the frontier 2. Was the frontier free land? Factors Turner does not address a. Native Americans had to be subjugated b. Land is not fairly distributed to yeoman farmers 3. Idea of the moving frontier disputed West more a region a. can Puritan New England be compared to California & the Transcontinental railroad? 4. Role of the individual a. was the West truly settled by individuals or settled by cooperation and communities i. wagon trains composed of families ii. large corporations funded infrastructure railroads 1) cowboys low-level employees of corporations iii. goverment used military to rid West of Native-Americans

Iconic Frontiersman Alternative to refined society Uncorrupt, simple, innocent, virtuous

New Masculine Idea Virtue triumphs Morality Plays

Eastern establishment impacted by western myths Teddy Roosevelt Wister, The Virginian Frederick Remington

Decline of Indian Lands 1492-1890 Loss of nomadic lifestyle and traditions

IMPACT OF SETTLEMENT ON NATIVE POPULATIONS Plains Indians 1. Northern Plains Dakotas, Montana, Nebraska a. Lakota, Flatheads, Blackfeet, Assiniboins, n. Cheyennes, Arapahos, Crows 2. Central Region a. Five Civilized Tribes, Pawnees 3. Southern Region - Migratory Tribes Comanches, Kiowas, s. Arapahos, and Kiowa, Apaches

Characteristics 1. very diverse 2. nomadic & agricultural 3. extended family, tribal cooperation a. Children not physically punished, decisions by consensus b. relatives band tribe- nation 4. Perspective on life: Cyclical

Indian Policies 1. Decimate the bison herds a. government policy, overhunting by NA, development 2. Established reservations to protect both Indian tradition and settlers needs a. Treaties broken when new mineral wealth discovered, some tribes never agree to treaties. 3. Indian schools set up to assimilate natives into western culture

Native American Reactions 1. Accept their fate a. Pueblos, Crows, Hidatsas 2. Opposition to policies a. Navajos, Dakota Sioux 3. Extreme resistance to policies a. Western Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahos, Kiowas, Comanches

1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie a. traditional territorial claims in return for $50,000 for 50 years and safe passage for settlers along Oregon Trail (except Crows) b. forts and roads allowed within Indian territory c. failed: US refused to stop emigration after gold discovered 1869 Board of Indian Commissioners a. Unsuccessful in reforming reservation system Nov. 29, 1864 Sand Creek Massacre a. Indians starving attack settlers militia attacks Indians attack b. Chivington attacks a group of Cheyenne and kills mainly women and children (150) after a peace agreement c. Indians flew US flag to symbolize their peace settlement Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians!... I have come to kill Indians, and believe it is right and honorable to use any means under God's heaven to kill Indians. - Col. John Milton Chivington, U.S. Army[13] 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867 a. Set up the Oklahoma reservation 1868 Second Fort Laramie Treaty a. established the Great Sioux Reserve b. not all sign-do not want to live like whitemen

1874 Red River War a. Indians unhappy with broken treaties b. Independence of Plains Indians ends Custer s Last Stand 1876 a. Objectives: find location for new fort, keep an eye on renegade Indians, ****confirm gold was in the Black Hills 1. buy back the Black Hills b. June, 1876 march on Little Bighorn and meet Chief Sitting Bull c. Result: Immediate-US defeated Long term: 5 years of harassment

Custer moves his troops to Little Big Horn, Montana Underestimates his enemy and divides his army Sitting Bull decimates Custer s troops

Helen Hunt Jackson Century of Dishonor Highlights broken treaties by US government Dawes Severalty Act - Break up Indian reservations and assimilate Indians Indians should be treated as individuals not tribes Replace nomadic traditions with agriculture Indian lands would be held in trust for 25 years Result: Speculators get the best land Bureau of Indian Affairs (1870)

http://www.sunflower-health.com/resources/ghost-dance.html Ghost Dance Movement 1890 s a. Prophet: Wovoka restore Sioux to original dominance b. Fear prompts agents to arrest Sitting Bull, but bodyguard shot agent c. Battle of Wounded Knee 300 die

Bureau of Indian Affairs: a. Existed in one form or another since 1775 b. 1832-Commissioner of Indian Affairs c. 1869 Ely Samuel Parker, first Native American to hold office d. set up to manage reservations

Mining - Gold WHY THE WEST? Cattle - Rancher Farm Land - Farmer

May 10, 1869

Pacific Railroad Act, 1862 1. Government provides land and subsidies to railroads for each mile of track laid Result: West becomes more accessible Railroads largest landholders in West Impact of Railroads on the West 1. Chinese enter US as railroad laborers 2. Ship men to kill Native Americans and their food supply, buffalo 3. Bring new settlers to the west 4. Ship cattle and grains to market 5. Recruit settlers from the Europe 2.2 million 6. Land is available to single women (unintended consequence) 7. Rise of cash crops: wheat, corn, cotton, tobacco

Mining Discovery of Gold, 1849 Forty-Niners Comstock Lode, 1860 s 1870 s Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Canadian Klondike, Alaska Result: Melting Pot Boom-Bust Cycles Environmental Damage Conflicts with Native Americans

Virginia City, Nevada

RANCHERS: Cattle Frontier:Joseph McCoy Objective: Raise cattle cheaply in Texas, herd them North to ship Shortens the Chisholm Trail First Wild West Show Cowboys: low pay, generally young, 1-2 years

Homestead Act, 1862 1. Goal: Allow poor people to achieve economic independence 2. Offer: 160 acres for $10 registration fee and live on land for 5 years Impact: Immigration of British, Germans, Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Czechs Result: 1. Land speculators (1 in 9 acres goes to pioneers) 2. In dry climates, farmers need more than 160 acres (acts passed) 3. Difficulties in adjusting psychologically (1/2 give up) FARMERS

DISADVANTAGES FOR FARMERS IN THE WEST 1. Start-up expenses - $1,200 2. Crop specialization makes them dependent 3. Unpredictable weather 4. Insect infestations

ADVANTAGES FOR FARMERS IN THE WEST 1. Production increases corn, wheat; new strains 2. Technology advancements plows, spring-tooth harrows, wheat planters, grain binders, threshers, windmills results in tenfold increase, barbed wire

Acts: Timber Culture Act of 1873 Additional 160 acres if 40 acres are planted with trees Desert Land Act, 1877 640 acres available at $1.25 if irrigated within 3 years Timber and Stone Act, 1878 160 acres of forest land at $2.50/acre EXPLOITED BY: Lumber Companies, Land Speculators, Cattle Ranchers

Oklahoma Land Rush, 1889 2 million acres available to settle (against Indian protests) Sooners arrived illegally Dawes Severalty Act Indian reservations broken up for non-indian settlement

The Grange-National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry Established to assist farmers; fight against railroads practices such as: discounts to large shippers, bribery of state legislators; higher rates for short runs versus long runs Granger Laws Fix maximum rates for freight shipments

Supreme Court Decisions Munn v Illinois, 1877 Granger laws not unconstitutional Maximum rate for storage of grain Wabash Decision, 1886 States cannot regulate interstate railroad rates Interstate Commerce Act, 1887 Federal government investigates and oversees railroad activities Establishes Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)

Conservation Movement Push for government protection of western lands John Wesley Powell, Report on the Lands of the Arid Regions of the United States

Yellowstone National Park created 1872

John Muir First president of the Sierra Club Influenced by the writings of George Marsh, Man and Nature