Name Teacher Class Period US History

Name Teacher Class Period US History Era: Gilded Age 1877-1898 Chap 2: Settling the West Notes I. Introduction to the West A. Geography of the Frontier 1. Location of the Great Plains a. 100ºW to Rocky Mts b. Canada to TX 2. Geographical Characteristics that settlement of the Great Plains a. lack of (area often referred to as the Great American Desert ) b. lack of c. poor soil, drainage, d. extreme summer heat; extreme winter cold e. intense 3. Human Geographic Characteristics that deterred settlement of the Great Plains a. Home to such as Sioux, Kiowa, Comanche, Apache etc. b. Considered, savage, and dangerous B. 5 Factors that lured settlers to the Great Plains despite physical and human geographic challenges 1. Discovery of a. riches such as, silver b. raw materials for use in Eastern 2. completed 1869 a. transported settlers b. transported western to eastern factories c. transported eastern factory goods to western settlements 3. Technology that tamed the Great Plains a. treeless fences b. Windmill crucial to pumping water from deep c. gave settlers an advantage in fighting Indians d. Steel Plow and Mechanical Reaper 4. Land Policies of the US Gov t - gave away! a. Homestead Act of 1862: land to settlers b. Morrill Land Grant Act: gave land to states to build Agricultural and Mechanical c. Pacific Railway Acts: authorized Transcontinental RR + to RRs: gave land to RRs to fund construction 5. Gov t readiness to police and subdue a. containment policy through treaties b. policy

II. Groups that tamed the West A. The 1st wave of settlers 1. Began with 1848 Gold Strike at Sutter s Mill and lead to a series of gold/silver rushes a. Who came? 1) mostly men at first 2) later. - could property, businesses - became influential - cooks, laundry, saloon girls - significance? Because of opportunities available to women on the frontier, it was these western states and territories that eventually led the way in women s b. Big strikes 1) 1848 Sutter s Mill, CA gold 2) 1858 Pike s Peak, CO (Denver) - gold 3) 1859 Comstock Lode, NV silver 4) 1874 Black Hills, SD gold 5) 1896 in Yukon/Alaska gold 2. Individual Mining to Mining a. Placer and Sluice Mining: Individual miners search for ore with basic tools b. when surface supplies dwindled, large mine corporations with heavy equipment moved in with and quartz mining 3. Growth and decline of mining towns a. Camp Followers: businesses that moved in to miners 1) services: laundry, restaurant, grocery etc. 2) mail order: (JC Penney, Sears began as companies/catalogs) 3) new products (Levi s durable blue jeans) b. Diversified Economy: the more the economy, the more likely the town would survive after ore was depleted c. Boom town to Ghost town 1) : mining town during growth period - often grew faster than law enforcement - lawlessness and crime followed by organization - Committees unofficially enforced the law - eventually proper law enforcement established 2) : As gold/silver depleted, some towns became ghost towns (diversified became cities Denver et al.) 4. Impact of the Miners a. Fueled & funded in US b. Contributed to growth thru Rocky Mts c. Led to growth of amenities - Pony Express; Wells Fargo; Great Stories d. Led to rapid development of Plains e. Led to for US territories : (ex. ND, SD, MT) B. The Ranchers 1. Start of the (beef) Industry a. Role of Civil War: demand high+ supply low = prices high 1) where s the beef? 2) Challenge to get TX cattle to eastern markets b. Role of Mexico (area that is now TEXAS) 1) after Mexico driven from TX, millions of cattle left just roaming, unowned * Longhorns: breed of cattle adapted to Great Plains environment 2) Mexican Vaqueros (cowboys) have to round up and herd cattle

c. Role of the US Gov t 1) gov t owned vast grasslands known as the 2) gov t allowed Ranchers to graze their cattle of charge & unrestricted by boundaries of private farms. (no fences!) d. Role of Railroads 1) 1860s: Transcontinental RR through Great Plains 2) RRs had expanded into TX 2. The movement of cattle north from TX a. Beginning in 1867, ranchers began rounding up the Longhorns in Texas b. drove herds from TX to (shipping stations) c. sold cattle for high profit and shipped them East by RR 3. Cattle Drives ended. Why? a. Economics: 1) skinny cows (you d lose weight too if you walked1,500 miles!) cattle lost weight & on long drive 2) (supply > demand) drove down prices 3) Eastern (European Breeds tastier!) herds revived b. Expansion of RR 1) RRs into TX 2) ranchers moved herds closer to railheads c. Mother Nature drought, floods, blizzards in the 1880s d. treeless fencing that partitioned Open Range. Ranchers can no longer drive herds without restriction 4. Ranching became dominated by big business operations (like the mining industry) C.The Farmers 1. Who were the settlers? a. Former Civil War Soldiers, land speculators, children of eastern farmers, biz people etc. b. Exodusters black southerners who migrated to GP states in 1870s to claim land for farming c. lured to US by RRs came for promise of cheap land/instant success 2. encouraged farming in Great Plains a. of 1862 gave 160 acres 1) it for 5 yrs, pay filing fee it s yours!! 2) provided a legal method for settlers to acquire clear to property in the West 3) Homestead Act renewed several times. Millions of acres distributed b. Pacific Railway Act: authorized construction of the Transcontinental RR ( 1st one 1869) 1) gov t gave to RRs to encourage the RRs to construct their tracks where few people lived in order settle the country from coast to coast 2) gov t also hoped to link East West and to open up trade with 3) RRs recruited settlers (even overseas!) - for of RRs - for potential markets - RRs anxious to sell the land the tracks as quickly & profitably as possible - wanted paying customers who would ship goods to markets and buy things from the retailers. - From the settler's perspective, the closer a farmer was to the RR, the easier it was to crops and livestock

c. Land Grant Act (1882) 1) gave to states. 2) States were to sell the land and use proceeds to set up & maintain to provide knowledge and information - particularly to help farm. - 4-H programs; ROTC programs d. Hatch Act establishes the US Dept. of (cabinet level organization) 1) goal to develop suitable for region 2) set up experimental stations worked to solve problems facing farmers 3) Taught new farming techniques such as : method of farming in dry region w/o irrigation 3. Life on the Farming Frontier a. Environmental problems 1) lack of water forced them to drill wells up to 300 ft deep 2) danger of grass fires in hot, dry summer; danger of blizzards, extreme cold in winter 3) destroyed crops b. Other problems 1) lack of trees forced them to adapt to this environment by building homes out of soddies 2) lack of trees for fencing 4. Technology solutions a. lack of water? 1) to draw water from deep wells 2) resistant crops b. lack of trees? for fencing c. hard soil? Sodbuster plow with blade 5. New Laws a. state gov ts pass concerning irrigation, pollution of waterways etc. b. nat l gov t establishes new 6. becomes most important crop in GP a. More drought resistant b. New farming technology - result? Great Plains becomes new 7. Farming as Big Biz a. Like cattle & mining biz, farming becomes dominated by big biz: farms b. New machinery for harvesting increased acreage manageable - John Deere - McCormick Reaper - but equipment is expensive so harder for small farmer to purchase c. Bonanza farms owned by large corporations could lower through economies of scale 1) gave them bulk shipping rates 2) suppliers gave them seed/equipment at prices III. Closing the Frontier A. 1890 Census 1. Census Bureau reports settlement was so rapid, that frontier now closed (actually, lots of land still unoccupied) 2. Many saw it as an B. 1. Fredrick Jackson Turner saw absence of a frontier as a threat to America s unique character 2. Believed the opportunities & challenges of frontier life American lifestyle Frontier: region that forms the margin or boundary of settled territory a. The frontier was more than a place on a map. It was an experience that shaped many American institutions and ideas b. The frontier experience promoted

c. The frontier experience also encouraged the development of certain "American" characteristics self confident, optimistic, innovative, C. The West Lives On. The Legends stay alive! 1. cheap fictional books that told exaggerated tales of Cowboys & Indians 2. Buffalo Bill Cody & his - featured real cowboys, Indians (Including Sitting Bull), Buffalo 3. New Literary Genre The - The Virginian, by Owen Wister love story btwn cowboy & school teacher 4. Western Art 5. Rodeos, Cowboy Churches IV. Subjugating the Indians subjugate: to bring under complete control; conquer A. Characteristics of the Plains Indians 1. 2. organized in small bands of appx 500 3. very diff. culture than whites (called Indians by white frontiersmen); no concept of private property 4. put up fierce resistance to settlers troops and miners 5. expert hunters and 6. life revolved around the B. United States Indian Policies - reflected & aided white settlers desire for Indian lands 1. (Early 1800s) a. 1830: - forced removal of SE tribes to Indian territory present day OK (Trail of Tears) b. 1834: US gov t set aside the entire Great Plains as one enormous reservation where Indian tribes had protection with laws that strictly the access of white people to these territories c. fix until gold, oil or other valuable resource found on their territory 2. a. 1850s: more settlers and the US gov t supported RR expansion b. US gov t changed its policy and defined specific for each tribe. c. Native Americans did not respect these gov t treaties and continued to on their traditional lands. White settlers had no respect for Indian rights or treaties. d. This led to violent clashes with both settlers and miners 3. a. by 1860s, many Indian peoples agreed to move to reservations under federal supervision with support from the federal b. 1867 Treaty of Medicine Lodge: Southern Plains Indians agreed to move to Indian Territory c. 1868 Treaty of Ft Laramie: Sioux agreed to move to a reservation in the Black Hills 1) agreed to hunting ground boundaries from which federal authorities promised to. 2) gifts and promises of persuaded Indians to go along 4. Failure of Containment and Reservations a. In Theory: The US maintained that each tribe was a sovereign nation, to be treated as an equal in all treaties

b. In Reality: containment fails b/c 1) Plains Indians overreliance on buffalo often wandered outside their assigned boundaries in pursuit of game (+ we killed them all) 2) desire for minerals (g & s) prospectors had little respect for Indian territorial rights 3) (not a single treaty honored!) 4) Transcontinental across Indian territory 5) by 1860, Plains Indians had lost all but 1.5 m of 19m acres of hunting grounds given them in treaties C. Additional Threats to Native American Civilizations 1. from which Indians had no immunity 2. of the a. 1865: appx 15 m buffalo roamed the Great Plains, 1865: By 1885, only about 1000 remained. In 1937, only 37 remained. What happened? b. Transcontinental RR 1) 1863-1869: RR crews paid to kill buffalo for food & robes (fashionable in eastern US) 2) became a (herds so numerous that in 1868, a Kansas & Pacific train waited 8 hrs for herd to cross the track) c. Gold! 1) to make travel across GP safer for whites in route to CA gold, US adopted policy of destroying of Plains Indians - How? By encouraging the killing of buffalo herds the Indians livelihood 2) every buffalo dead is an Indian gone d. Participation in the Buffalo Kill 1) William F. Cody killed 4,280 buffalo in 18 mos. while working for Kansas- Pacific RR 2) RR ads for drew men from all over world (even royalty!) lean out of train windows or take a few steps out of train cars and shoot them D. The Indian Wars 1. Uprising summer 1862 a. DS confined to small reservation in MN b. promised, but often cheated by American traders 1) Annuities late. Dakota Sioux starving (Previous payments had been irregular and had been mostly usurped by unscrupulous white traders. Crops had failed in 1861. Game was scarce) 2) Pleas for release of foodstuffs from white-controlled granaries were ignored. - asked for food on. Response? If they are hungry, Let them eat grass or their own dung 3) Dakota Sioux attack American Traders and other settlers 4) US troops arrive to put down uprising 5) 38 Dakota Sioux executed in response (largest in US History) 2. Sand Creek Massacre ( Nov 1864) a. Rev./Col. Chivington leads troop of volunteers/soldiers to Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle s camp at Sand Creek - purpose to kill Indians b. accounts vary, but they kill at least 105 women & children + 28 men - took trophies back to Denver set up saloon c. investigation, but 3. Sioux Wars 1866-67 a. Sioux protested construction of being built by US through their hunting grounds in MT (trail being built for gold) 1) Led to Dec. 1866 fought near Ft. Phil Kearny WY territory

2) Sioux and Cheyenne warriors led by Chief Red Cloud were able to Capt. William J. Fetterman and 80 men out of the fort - the carefully planned ambush worked to perfection. Fetterman and every man (80) in his detachment died 3) authority over Indians then passes from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the Dept. tougher policies b. June 25, 1876 Last major battle of Indian Wars 1) background: all started with - 1874 gold discovered on Sioux reservation in Black Hills of SD (US gave this land to Sioux as permanent home in 1868 Treaty of Ft. Laramie) - Fed. Troops tried to prevent miners from area (was Sioux ancestral ground), and even tried to buy back the land 2) Sioux on warpath to stop gold rush concentrated forces near Little Big Horn River in MT territory 3) On 6/25/1876, Lt. Col disobeyed orders to wait for help - ordered an attack 4) Sioux and Cheyenne under Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse surround Custer kill him & all 264 soldiers 4. The Final Roundup a. Battle of Little Big Horn is a and the last great Indian victory on the Plains 1) US Army troops set out on a to capture Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse and force the Plains Indians to live on 2) Crazy Horse surrendered in 1877, Sitting Bull in 1881 opening up the Plains for unimpeded b. Indians were no match for US Troops. Troop advantages: 1) = speedy communication 2) allowed army to outrun even fastest horses 3) army had firepower advantage: 4) professionalism of soldiers (who were experienced thanks to the Civil War) including famous troop of black-americans known by the Indians as c. Nez Perce and Chief Joseph 1877 1) location: Oregon & Idaho 2) Nez Perce had helped Lewis & Clark 1803; most were converted 3) 1877 Nez Perce under Chief Joseph refused to be moved to a smaller reservation in Idaho 4) led his tribe on 3 mo. 1300 mi + journey to escape to Canada, caught 30 mi from border, shipped to Oklahoma d. of the SW 1) the last to resist capture 2) led by until his capture in 1886. He was initially taken to OK reservation 3) Celebrity Status - 1904 Geronimo sold pictures of himself at St. Louis World s Fair - 1905 rode in Pres. Theodore Roosevelt s inaugural parade - died at age 80 in 1909

e. 1890 1) last Indian battle 2) 1884 US Dept of Interior issued a criminal code forbidding Indian religious practices - Indians disregarded code, Plains Indians turned an emotional religion as they faced an end to their way of life * The : emphasized coming of a Messiah, return to a life before white man s arrival, if performed, could be immune from white man s bullets 3) US agents on the Sioux reservation feared an insurrection and summoned 4) troops 200+ Indian men, women and children at in present-day SD buried in common grave E. A Way of Life Destroyed 1. Movement in 1880s to the Indians a. Led by Helen Hunt Jackson, whose (1881) chronicled gov t s mistreatment b. Won sympathy from many 2. The Severalty of 1887 a. Many Americans believed the situation for Indians would only improve if they into white culture by abandoning collective, society and become individual property owners like white people! b. Broke up into plots/allotments 1) Began to educate Indians to read/write and learn farming skills 2) sent kids to to learn a white education c. Failure of Dawes Act 1) many Indians had no training or desire to farm or ranch 2) land to be profitable 3) some Indians attached to reservation and didn t want them to be broken up 4) goal not achieved: by 1934, 86m acres out of 138m acres given to them were in the hands of whites d. Disaster of the Dawes Act * Destroyed the culture of the Plains Indians by breaking up 3. The Plight of the American Indian a. Failure of Reservations 1) usually on where Indians were unable to hunt enough food or raise sufficient crops 2) Indians lacked the tools and training to succeed as farmers 3) forced Indians to 4) poor conditions led to illness,, unemployment and despair b. Life for Native Americans after 1890 1) total Indian population fell to less than 250,000 btwn 1890-1910 2) 1924 : granted citizenship to ALL Native Americans born in the US 3) Native Americans remain among the poorest and most unemployed Americans

Problem: Unrest in Rural America Populism: the movement to increase farmers political power and to work for legislation in their interest A. The Populist: 1. Who were they? a., rural Americans b. mostly poor, 2. Problems facing farmers a. Overproduction = - new technology led to production increases (more crops), which led to increased (surplus). This leads to lower prices (remember, when supply is greater than demand, prices fall!) b. High tariffs = lack of Export sales higher prices for manufactured goods + harder for farmers to sell their. 3. Additional concerns why? Because in response to US tariffs on manufactured goods from Europe, Europe retaliated with tariffs on US goods agricultural goods!! c. Victimized by = farmers paid higher rates because: - faraway banks set loan rates, they don t realize the struggle of the farmers because they can t see it. - RRs set shipping rates and favor. They allow discounts to businesses who ship more products a. The Money Supply - tight money supply = high interest rates = hard to pay their debts 1) to help finance the Civil War, gov t issued. greenbacks: paper currency that could be exchanged for gold or silver 2) rapid increase in money supply w/o rapid increase in goods for sale caused inflation: a decline in the value of $ which causes an increase in prices 3) To control inflation, gov t stopped printing greenbacks and paid off bonds, stopped making silver coins result? Not enough money supply to meet the needs of a growing economy 4) Decreased money supply = deflation: an increase in the value of $$ which causes a decrease in prices)

b. Deflation Hurts 4. The Grange Takes Action 1) Farmers had to borrow $ to plant crops - Money is in short supply which caused a rise in - rising interest rates increased amt. that farms owed made mortgages & other loans more expensive & when farm prices dropped, they still had to pay mortgages & other loans at those high rates 2) falling prices meant farmers sold their crops for less 3) some farmers wanted more to expand $ supply others wanted gov t to a. The Grange: a national farm organization formed for social & educational purposes 1 st national farm org. 1) pressured state legislatures to regulate which they thought were too high 2) some joined Greenback Party wanted more greenbacks to increase $ supply 3) put their $ together & created (store where farmers bought products from each other; an enterprise owned and operated by those who use its services) - They pooled members crops & held them off market to force price increase - negotiated shipping rates from RRs b. The Grange because: 1)They were unable to improve economic conditions for farmers 2) co-ops failed 5. The Farmers Alliance 3) by late 1870s, many farmers left the Grange & joined other orgs that helped to solve their problems a. formed in 1877 most members from. b. organized large co-ops called for the purpose of forcing farm prices up & making loans to farmers at low interest rates c. Co-ops fail again

E. The People s Party, or is formed 1. To push for political reforms that would help farmers solve their problems 2. Farmers met in Ocala, FL & made a list of demands intended to guide farmers in choosing whom to vote for in the 1890 midterm elections. These demands included: a. free coinage of silver b. end to protective tariffs & national banks c. tighter regulation of RRs d. direct election of senators by voters instead of state legislatures e. adopt sub-treasury plan ( an attempt to help farmers by holding their crops off the market long enough to force prices up) 3. Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 passed: a. pushed this through in an attempt to keep farmers from voting for Populists b. authorized US treasury to purchase - put more $ in circulation - did little to help though 4. 1892 Election a. Populist Party held 1 st nat l convention -Nominated James B Weaver as their presidential candidate 5. Populist Demands and Reforms (how did they think their problems could be solved?) a. more gov t regulation of big biz b. Gov t ownership of RRs c. lower tariffs d. labor positions: 8 hr workday, less immigration, denounce strikebreaking e. silver standard = increased money supply + lower interest rates f. graduated income tax **** Populists fail. Grover Cleveland (D) wins 1892 election 6.. Their legacy? - fail to get their desired reforms or improve the economic condition of farmers, - BUT others will take on their cause and call for reform! This group will be called the