America in the Gilded Age 1877-1898
So do you recall.. "(It is)..our Manifest Destiny to over spread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty" O'Sullivan was expressing the long held belief that white Americans had a Godgiven right to occupy the entire North American continent. written by John O'Sullivan, a democrat leader and editor of the New York newspaper 'The Morning Post'.
Advertising and Paintings In a bid to encourage people onto the Plains advertisements told success stories of those who had claimed land under the terms of the Homestead Act and had become successful. Artists painted pictures to encourage people to fulfil Manifest Destiny Manifest Destiny A painting by John Gast 1872
Definition: The belief in the 1800 s that the US was destined by God to expand across the continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
Herding cattle from Texas to Kansas Take the Chisolm Trail North Dangerous & difficult work Irish & Chinese immigrants Brigham Young leads Mormons to Great Salt Lake Found Utah for religious freedom Former slaves escaping the South Head to Kansas due to legend of John Brown Moving west for land Homestead Act (1862) gives acres of land for free to settlers Forced further west Constrained to reservations Gold discovered outside San Francisco, CA in 1848 Gold rush begins in 1849
The US in 1870
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 Frontier: a region that forms the margin of settled or developed territory 2. Physical Geographical Characteristics that deterred settlement of the Great Plains a. lack of rain (area often referred to as the Great American Desert ) b. lack of trees c. poor soil, drainage, d. extreme summer heat; extreme winter cold e. intense winds
3. Human Geographic Characteristics that deterred settlement of the Great Plains a. Home to Plains Indians such as Sioux, Kiowa, Comanche, Apache etc. b. Considered wild, savage, and dangerous
Topic for Discussion:
B. 5 Factors that lured settlers to the Great Plains despite physical and human geographic challenges 1. Discovery of Natural Resources a. riches such as gold, silver b. raw materials for use in Eastern industries 2. Transcontinental RR completed 1869 a. transported settlers west b. transported western resources to eastern factories c. transported eastern factory goods to western settlements
3. Technology inventions that tamed the Great Plains a. Barbed Wire treeless fences b. Windmill crucial to pumping water from deep wells c. Colt Revolver gave settlers an advantage in fighting Indians d. Steel Plow and Mechanical Reaper 4. Land Policies of the US Gov t - gave away a lot of land! a. Homestead Act of 1862: gave land to settlers b. Morrill Land Grant Act: gave land to states to build Ag Colleges c. Pacific Railway Acts: authorized transcontinental RR. + Land Grants to RRs: gave land to RRs to fund construction
5. Gov t readiness to police and subdue Indians a. containment policy through treaties b. reservation policy Shoshone Indians at Ft. Washakie, Wyoming Indian reservation
II. Groups that tamed the West
A. The Miners 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) women later. - could own property, businesses - became influential community leaders - 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 voting rights
West led the way in women s voting rights
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 Klondike rush in Yukon/Alaska gold
3. Growth and decline of mining towns a. Camp Followers: businesses that moved in to supply miners 1) services: laundry, restaurant, grocery etc. 2) mail order: (JC Penney, Sears began as mail order companies/catalogs) 3) new products (Levi s durable blue jeans) b. Diversified Economy: the more diversified the economy, the more likely the town would survive after ore was depleted
c. Boom town to Ghost town 1) Boom Town: mining town during growth period - often grew faster than law enforcement - lawlessness and crime followed by organization - Vigilance Committees unofficially enforced the law - eventually proper law enforcement established
2) Ghost Town: As gold/silver depleted, some towns became ghost towns (diversified became cities Denver et al.) Ghost Town today City Today St. Elmo, CO Denver, CO Current population: 663,192 Goldfield, NV Boom to bust Helena, MT Current population: 28,190
4. Impact of the Miners a. Fueled & funded Industrial Revolution in US b. Contributed to RR 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 statehood for US territories : (ex. ND, SD, MT)
B. The Ranchers 1. Start of the Cattle Industry a. Role of Civil War: demand high+ supply low = prices high 1) where s the beef? TEXAS 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 Longhorn cattle left just roaming, unowned * Longhorns: breed of cattle adapted to Great Plains environment 2) Mexican Vaqueros (cowboys) have skills to round up and herd cattle
The Texas Longhorn Longhorn cattle, a hardy hybrid of Spanish criollo stock and English cattle," thrived on the Texas plains and prairies
c. Role of the US Gov t 1) gov t owned vast grasslands known as the Open Range 2) gov t allowed Ranchers to graze their cattle free of charge & unrestricted by boundaries of private farms d. Role of Railroads 1) 1860s: Transcontinental RR through Great Plains 2) RRs had not expanded into TX 2. The Long Drive movement of cattle north from TX a. Beginning in 1867, ranchers began rounding up the Longhorns in Texas b. drove herds from TX to railheads (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 & value on long drive 2) overproduction (supply > demand) drove down prices 3) Eastern (European Breeds tastier!) herds revived b. Expansion of RR 1) RRs expanded into TX 2) rancher moved herds closer to railheads
c. Mother Nature drought, floods, blizzards in the 1880s d. Barbed Wire treeless fencing that partitioned Open Range. Ranchers can no longer drive herds without restriction
5. 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. Immigrants lured to US by RRs came for promise of cheap land/instant success
2. Gov t encouraged farming in Great Plains a. Homestead Act of 1862 gave 160 acres 1) cultivate it for 5 yrs, pay filing fee it s yours!! 2) provided a legal method for settlers to acquire clear title 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 ( 1 st one 1869) 1) gov t gave land grants 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 Asia
Promontory Point, Utah
3) RRs recruited settlers (even overseas!) - for construction of RRs - for potential markets - RRs anxious to sell the land beside the tracks as quickly & profitably as possible - wanted paying customers who would ship goods to markets and buy things from the urban retailers. - From the settler's perspective, the closer a farmer was to the RR, the easier it was to ship crops and livestock
c. Morrill Land Grant Act (1882) 1) gave land grants to states. 2) States were to sell the land and use proceeds to set up & maintain colleges to provide knowledge and information - particularly to help farmers farm. - 4-H programs - ROTC programs Morrill Hall: University of Idaho
d. Hatch Act establishes the US Dept. of Agriculture (cabinet level organization) 1) goal to develop crops suitable for region 2) set up experimental stations worked to solve problems facing farmers 3) Taught new farming techniques such as dry farming: method of farming in dry region w/o irrigation Yep..it s still around
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; high winds danger of blizzards, extreme cold in winter 3) grasshoppers and other pests destroyed crops b. Other problems 1) lack of trees forced them to adapt to this environment by building homes out of sod soddies 2) lack of trees for fencing
soddies
4. Technology solutions a. lack of water? 1) Windmills to draw water from deep wells 2) drought resistant crops b. lack of trees? Barbed Wire for fencing c. hard soil? Sodbuster plow with steel blade
5. New Laws a. state gov ts pass laws concerning irrigation, pollution of waterways etc. b. nat l gov t establishes new regulations 6. Wheat becomes most important crop in GP a. More drought resistant b. New farming technology - result? Great Plains becomes new breadbasket
7. Farming as Big Biz a. Like cattle & mining biz, farming becomes dominated by big biz: bonanza 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 costs through economies of scale 1) RRs gave them bulk shipping rates 2) suppliers gave them seed/equipment at discounted 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 end of an era B. Turner Thesis 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 defined American lifestyle
Frontier The frontier was more than a place on a map. It was an experience that shaped many American institutions and ideas The frontier experience promoted democracy The frontier experience also encouraged the development of certain "American" characteristics self confident, optimistic, innovative, self-reliant
C. The West Lives On. 1. Dime Novels cheap fictional books - exaggerated tales of Cowboys & Indians
2. Buffalo Bill Cody & his Wild West Show - featured real cowboys, Indians (Including Sitting Bull), Buffalo film Annie Oakley
3. New Literary Genre The Western - The Virginian, by Owen Wister love story btwn cowboy & school teacher
4. Western Art
Romanticizing the West
IV. Subjugating the Indians subjugate: to bring under complete control; conquer
A. Characteristics of the Plains Indians 1. Nomadic 2. organized in small bands of appx 500 3. very diff. culture than whites (called wild Indians by white frontiersmen); no concept of private property 4. put up fierce resistance to settlers troops and miners 5. expert hunters and horsemen 6. life revolved around the buffalo
B. United States Indian Policies - reflected & aided white settlers desire for Indian lands 1. Removal (Early 1800s) a. 1830: Indian Removal Act - 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 limited the access of white people to these territories c. Temporary fix until gold, oil or other valuable resource found on their territory
2. Containment a. 1850s: more settlers moved west and the US gov t supported RR expansion b. US gov t changed its policy and defined specific boundaries for each tribe. c. Native Americans did not respect these gov t treaties and continued to hunt on their traditional lands d. This led to violent clashes with both settlers and miners
3. Reservations a. by 1860s, many Indian peoples agreed to move to reservations under federal supervision with support from the federal gov t 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 exclude whites. 2) gifts and promises of annuities 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 a) Plains Indians overreliance on buffalo often wandered outside their assigned boundaries in pursuit of game (+ we killed them all) b) desire for minerals (g & s) prospectors had little respect for Indian territorial rights c) broken promises (not a single treaty honored!) d) Transcontinental RR across Indian territory e) 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. Disease from which Indians had no immunity 2. Destruction of the Buffalo
a. 1865: appx 15 m buffalo roamed the Great Plains, 1865: appx 15m buffalo roamed GP. 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 which were fashionable in East 2) became nuisance (herds so numerous that in 1868, a Kansas & Pacific train waited 8 hrs for herd to cross the track)
c. 1) to make travel across GP safer for whites in route to CA gold, US adopted policy of destroying nomadic life of Plains Indians - How? By encouraging the killing of buffalo herds the Indians livelihood 2) every buffalo dead is an Indian gone
Rath & Wright s Buffalo Yard 1878 40,000 hides Dodge City, KS
Slaughtered buffalo lying dead in the snow in 1872, courtesy National Archives
d. Participation in the Buffalo Kill 1) William F. Cody killed 4,280 buffalo in 18 mos. while working for Kansas-Pacific RR Buffalo Bill 2) RR ads for buffalo safaris 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
Good News? The buffalo population has been rescued from extinction by preservationists. By the early 21 st century, the number of buffalo had increased to about 300,000
America s largest herd is owned by Media Mogul, Ted Turner (50,000 bison +) sometimes you have to eat an animal to save it Bisonomics
D. The Indian Wars 1. Dakota Sioux Uprising summer 1862 a. DS confined to small reservation in MN b. promised annuities, 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 whitecontrolled granaries were ignored. - asked for food on credit. Response? If they are hungry, let them eat grass or their own dung
3) Dakota Sioux attack Am. Traders and other settlers 4) US troops arrive to put down uprising 5) 38 Dakota Sioux executed in response (largest mass execution in US History) Mass Execution of 38 Sioux Warriors
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 peaceful 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 no punishment Black Kettle (seated center) and other Cheyenne chiefs conclude successful peace talks with Major Edward W. Wynkoop (kneeling with hat) at Fort Weld, Colorado, in September 1864. Based on the promises made at this meeting, Black Kettle led his band back to the Sand Creek reservation, where they were massacred in late November.
3. Sioux Wars 1866-67 a. Sioux protested construction of Bozeman Trail being built by US through their hunting grounds in MT (trail being built for gold) 1) Led to Fetterman s Massacre Dec. 1866 fought near Ft. Phil Kearny WY territory 2) Sioux and Cheyenne warriors led by Chief Red Cloud were able to decoy 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 War Dept. tougher policies
b. Battle of Little Bighorn June 25, 1876 Last major battle of Indian Wars 1) 1874: Hordes of gold seekers move into Sioux territory. - Fed. Troops tried to prevent miners from area (was Sioux ancestral burial ground), and even tried to buy back the land 2) Sioux, led by Sitting Bull on warpath to stop gold rush concentrated forces near Little Big Horn River in MT territory 3) Col. Custer s 7 th Cavalry sent in to bring peace 4) On 6/25/1876, Lt. Col Custer 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 turning point and the last great Indian victory on the Plains 1) US Army troops set out on a vengeance to capture Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse and force the Plains Indians to live on reservations. 2) Crazy Horse surrendered in 1877, Sitting Bull in 1881 opening up the Plains for unimpeded white settlement
Sitting Bull Crazy Horse
b. Indians are no match for US Troops. Troop advantages: 1) telegraph = speedy communication 2) RR allowed army to outrun even fastest horses 3) army had firepower advantage: colt revolver 4) professionalism of soldiers (who were experienced thanks to the Civil War) including famous troop of black-americans known by the Indians as Buffalo Soldiers
c. Nez Perce and Chief Joseph 1877 1) location: Oregon & Idaho 2) Nez Perce had helped Lewis & Clark 1803; most were converted Christians 3) 1877 Nez Perce under Chief Joseph refused to be moved to a smaller reservation in Idaho 4) Chief Joseph led his tribe on 3 mo. 1300 mi + journey to escape to Canada, caught 30 mi from border, shipped to reservation Nez Perce were pursued by over 2,000 soldiers of the U.S. Army on an epic flight to freedom of 1300 miles across 4 states and multiple mountain ranges. The 800 Nez Perce warriors defeated or held off the pursuing troops in 18 battles, skirmishes, and engagements. More than 300 US soldiers and 1,000 Nez Perce (including women and children) were killed in these conflicts It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are--perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.
d. Apaches of the SW 1) the last to resist capture 2) led by Geronimo 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. Wounded Knee 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 Ghost Dance: 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 troops 4) troops fired on and killed 200+ Indian men, women and children at a creek called Wounded Knee in present-day SD buried in common grave
Wounded Knee Common Grave
E. A Way of Life Destroyed 1. Movement in 1880s to save the Indians a. Led by Helen Hunt Jackson, whose A Century of Dishonor (1881) chronicled gov t s mistreatment b. Won sympathy from many
2. The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 a. Many Americans believed the situation for Indians would only improve if they assimilated into white culture by abandoning collective, tribal society and become individual property owners like white people! b. Broke up reservations into farm plots/allotments 1) Began to educate Indians to read/write and learn farming skills 2) sent kids to boarding school to learn a white education
c. Failure of Dawes Act 1) many Indians had no training or desire to farm or ranch 2) land allotments too small 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 tribal ties
3. The Plight of the American Indian a. Failure of Reservations 1) usually on poor land 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 depend upon gov t 4) poor conditions led to illness, alcoholism, 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 Indian Citizenship Act: granted citizenship to ALL Native Americans born in the US 3) Native Americans remain among the poorest and most unemployed Americans President Calvin Coolidge with four Osage Indians after Coolidge signed the bill granting Indians full citizenship. Source LOC, LC-USZ62-111409 DLC.
Problem: Unrest in Rural America 1. Populism: the movement to increase farmers political power and to work for legislation in their interest
A.The Populists: 1. Who were they? a. mostly farmers, rural Americans b. mostly poor, uneducated
What you farmers need to do is to raise less corn and more hell! We want the accursed foreclosure system wiped out! We will stand by our homes and stay by our firesides by force if necessary, and we will not pay our debts to the loanshark companies until the Government pays its debts to us! - Mary Elizabeth Lease
Farmers want to add more money into circulation Farmers want the government to coin more More money produces inflation With inflation, prices are higher, and it
Having behind us the producing masses of this nation and the world, supported by the commercial interests, the laboring interests, and the toilers everywhere, we will answer their demand for a gold standard by saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. - William Jennings Bryan
What is the message of this cartoon? What aspects o the Populist Party s platform might appeal to non farmers?