U.S. History Chapter 13 Notes Changes on the Western Frontier .

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U.S. History Chapter 13 NotesChanges on the
Western Frontier.

• The culture of the Plains Indians declines as
  white settlers transform the Great Plains.
  Meanwhile, farmers form the Populist movement to
  address their economic concerns

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Section 1Cultures Clash on the Prairie

• The cattle industry booms in the late 1800s, as
  the culture of the Plains Indians declines

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Geography of the West

• Area between the Mississippi Valley and the
  Pacific Mountains
• Areas where settlers and Indians lived
• By 1900 Indians had been forced off their lands
• - Transcontinental Railroad opened up the west
  for settlement a. carried materials and people

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Minors in the West

• 1859 - Gold found in the Rocky Mountains (Clear
  Creek near Pikes Peak)
• - 1st found by George Jackson
• 1959 - Gold found in Nevada
• - Lode produced 100s of millions of dollars
  worth of gold and silver
• - Lode - a deposit of a valuable mineral buried
  between layers of rock

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Mining Life

• Boom towns sprang up
• - They were rough towns
• Women worked in the mining towns
• - Cooked
• - Laundry
• - Dance halls
• - Boarding towns

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The Business of Mining

• Few prospectors became rich
• Lack of technology prevented most people from
  becoming rich
• - Most were placer mining - where people wash
  the sand and gravel from a stream

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The Business of Mining

• More efficient methods developed in the 1870' s
• - Water cannons were used to strip the dirt
  off the hillside
• - Exposed gold
• - Very harmful to the environment
• Only companies had the money to use water
  cannons
• Working conditions were brutal
• - 100 degrees fairenhight in some caves
• - Workers wore thick boots to protect
  against hot water
• - Accidents such as cave-ins and dynamite
  explosions were common

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Mining Boom Ends

• Most of the mining towns became ghost towns
• Gold rush changed the geography of the United
  States

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Mining Boom Ends

• The population grew so much in some areas that
  they were able to become states
• - 1864 - Nevada
• - 1876 - Colorado
• - 1889 - North Dakota, South Dakota, and
  Montana
• -1890 - Idaho

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Lumber Industry

• Logging became a big business in the west
• Pacific Northwest had an abundance of trees
• -Redwoods
• - Douglas fur
• Settlers needed lumber for homes and mine timbers

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Alaska

• 1867 - William Seward arranged for the purchase
  of Alaska from Russia
• U.S. Senators didn't want to buy it
• - Called it "Seward's Folly"
• Gamble paid off
• - Russia lost foothold in North America
• Alaska was rich in natural resources
• - Gold
• - Copper
• - Oil
• -Timber

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Government policy

• Early 1800's Plains Indians lived and hunted
  between the Mississippi River and Rocky Mountains
• - 1840' s - Whites begin to settle the west
  coast
• - U.S. Gov. ask Indians to let settlers pass
  safely
• - Asked the Indians to limit their hunting to
  certain are
• - Indians had to move with buffalo
• Mid 1800's - U.S. Gov changes policy
• - Established reservations - special areas used
  by a specific group
• - Indians agreed to live on reservations
  based on the promise that the land would be
  theirs forever (signed Treaties with the U.S.
  Gov.)
• - They were also promised food, money and
  other help

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Clash of culture

• Indians and settlers looked at the world
  differently
• Settlers felt that the resources were their to be
  used
• - Large scale hunting, mining, and farming
• Plains Indians used only the resources they
  needed for their actual needs
• - They saw the white settlers as being greedy
  and destructive

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Fighting begins

• By 1860's - Treaties were being broken by both
  sides
• Settlers continued to pass through areas where
  they were not allowed
• Groups of Indians raided white settlements and
  wagon trains
• 1864 - Sand Creek Massacre
• - Colorado militia attacked Cheyenne and Arapaho
  at Sand Creek
• - Indians thought they were under the
  protection of a nearby government outpost
• - Over 100 Indians were slaughtered (including
  women and children)

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Fighting begins

• 1866 - Chief Red Cloud (Sioux) defeated Captain
  W.J. Fetterman and 80 U.S. army soldiers
• Led them into a trap and killed them

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Fighting begins

• Little Bighorn (most famous battle of the Indian
  wars)
• The Black Hills of South Dakota had been set
  aside for the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne
• 1874 - U.S. Army exploring party found gold
• - Settlers went looking for gold
• - Gov. tried to buy the Black Hills (Sioux
  considered land sacred)
• - 1875 and 1876 - Sioux warrior left their
  reservations and united under the leadership of
  two Sioux chiefs (Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse)

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Fighting begins

• June 25, 1876 - George Armstrong Custer and
  several hundred army soldiers found a Sioux camp
  near the Little Bighorn River
• - Custer gained fame fighting in Civil War
• - Admirers considered him a daring brilliant
  officer
• - Critics considered him a dangerous showoff
• Custer had orders to attack any Indians he came
  into contact with
• When he attacked he was actually stepping into a
  trap
• Custer and all of his men were killed
• - Became known as "Custer's Last Stand"

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Fighting begins

• People in the East were shocked by the news of
  the Battle of Little Bighorn
• - U.S. Gov. sent 1000's of troops to fight the
  Indians
• The Battle of Little Bighorn was the last Indian
  Victory in the Indian Wars
• - 1876 - U.S. Army defeated the Sioux
• - Sitting Bull and his followers escaped to
  Canada
• Crazy Horse was arrested
• - He was fatally stabbed as he was being
  arrested
• - Not sure if guard or another Indian
  stabbed him

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Chief Joseph

• Led the Nez Perce people
• Nez Perce lived in northwest (Oregon and Idaho)
• - Fished for salmon, gathered food, and hunted
• Chief Joseph refused to sell land to government
• 1877 - Gov. ordered the Nez Perce people to move
  to a reservation
• - They fled and tried to evade the army
• Captured about 40 miles south of Canada
• - Chief Joseph made speech
• - Said that he would fight no more

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Southwest Indians

• Navajo were forced to move to reservations in the
  east
• - March called "The Long Walk"
• Reservation was a failure
• - Navajo allowed to return home
• Mid 1870's - Apache were forced to move away from
  their traditional territory
• - Geronimo - led his people off the
  reservation
• - Evaded the army many times due to their
  knowledge of southern Arizona
• - 1886 - Geronimo captured and forced to live
  far away from his people

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Indians way of life destroyed

• Whites killed buffalo
• Indians depended on buffalo
• Indians were unable to survive without the
  buffalo
• Many Indians turned to the Ghost Dance Religion
• - It taught that the spirits of the dead Indians
  would return to help the Indians reclaim their
  land
• Many whites were fearful of this movement
• - Asked the army for help
• - Cavalry rounded up Sioux men on the Pine
  Ridge Reservation
• - Place called wounded knee

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Indians way of life destroyed

• Wounded Knee Massacre
• - 300 men, women, and children Sioux were killed
• - Considered to be the last battle of the
  Indian Wars

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Assimilation

• Conditions grew worse as more Indians were forced
  on to reservations
• Reformers began calling for changes
• Many white though that only solution was to make
  the Indians become more like the whites
• - Assimilation - to adopt the culture of the
  people around you

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Assimilation

• Dawes Act (1887) - intended to make Indians give
  up their traditions and accept White customs
• - Reservation lands were divided up in farm
  plots for families and individuals (40 to 160
  acres)
• - Any remaining land was sold to white settlers
• - Profits used to pay for Indian schools
• - Indians who accepted the plots of land could
  become citizens for the 1st time
• Dawes Act failed
• - Many western Indians didn't want to settle
  down as farmers
• - Lacked tools and training
• - Many sold their plots to white settlers
  cheap
• End 1800's - situation of the American Indians
  was tragic
• - Lost land, people, and culture
• - 20th century U.S. government finally realizes
  importance of Indian way of life

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Cowboys

• 1/6 were Mexican American
• Some were black
• - Nat Love - born in a slave cabin
• - Moved west when he was a teenager
• - Became famous performing in rodeos

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Birth of the Cattle Industry

• Cowboys' roots were in Texas
• Small herds - (only sold cattle locally)
• Joseph McCoy organized 1st cattle drive
• - Drove cattle to Abilene Kansas (Railroad)
• - Cattle sold for 40 per head in the east (3
  per head in Texas)
• Dodge city also becomes a cattle town

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Long drives

• Cowboys herded cattle over the open plains to
  cattle towns
• 12 cowboys 3000 head
• Made sure that cattle had plenty of grass to eat
  along the way
• Drives were tough
• - Had to keep cattle together
• - Watch for thieves

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Wild West

• Cowboys ended drives in cattle towns
• - Were dirty and nasty
• - Weren't always law abiding
• - Had money to spend
• Large spaces with little settlement made it hard
  to catch outlaws
• - Frank and Jesse James became legendary bank
  robbers
• - Belle Starr became famous cattle thief
• Westerners formed vigilante groups
• - Groups that took the law into their own hands

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The End of the Open Range

• Late 1800's -long drives end
• Overgrazing, bad weather from 1883 to 1887
  destroyed whole herds
• Ranchers began keeping smaller herds that
  yielded more meat per animal
• Tick fever caused land owners to cutoff land from
  the long drives
• Fence land with barbed wire turn open range
  into separate ranches

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Section 2

• Settling on the Great PlainsSettlers on the
  Great Plains transform the land despite great
  hardships.

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Farming the Plain

• Gov. encouraged western settlement
• (1862) Homestead Act - Gov. offered 160 acres to
  head of family over age 21 in return for living
  on the land 5 years and improving it
• - 1862 to 1900 6000,000 families settled in
  the west

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Farming the Plain

• Exodusters - Southern African-American settlers
  in Kansas
• Gov. created Department of agriculture
• Introduced new crops (Russian wheat) that could
  survive harsh winters
• Morrill Act of 1862, 1890 financed agricultural
  colleges

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Life on the farming frontier

• Lumber was scarce
• Many settlers dug homes into sides of ravines or
  hills
• Made soddy or sod home by stacking blocks of turf
• - Snakes bugs sometimes crawled into cracks
• - Burned cow chips for fuel
• Grew cash crops (wheat and com)
• Had to fight year around battle against weather
  (blizzards and extreme heat)

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Life on the farming frontier

• Homesteaders were virtually alone (Had to be
  self-sufficient)
• Women did mens work (plowing, harvesting,
  shearing sheep)
• - Also did traditional work (carding wool,
  making soap, canning vegetables)
• - Some worked for communities (sponsor
  schools, churches)

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Farmers in Debt

• Railroads, investors created bonanza farms (huge,
  single-crop spreads)
• 1885 to1890 - droughts bankrupted single-crop
  operations
• Rising cost of shipping grain pushed farmers into
  debt

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Closing the Frontier

• 1872, Yellowstone National Park created to
  protect some wilderness
• 1890s - No frontier left
• - miners, ranchers, and farmers had swelled
  the population
• April 22, 1889 - Governemt gave signal for
  settlers to settle the Oklahoma territory
• - It was laid out within the day
• - 60,000 people lived there by the end of the
  year
• Sooners - some people snuck into Oklahoma before
  the Gov. gave the signal

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Section 3

• Farmers and the Populist MovementFarmers unite
  to address their economic problems, giving rise
  to the Populist movement.

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Unrest in Rural America

• The growth of urban America made possible because
  farmers were so productive
• Farmers felt poor compared to city people
• Farm life seemed boring compared to the exciting
  opportunities of the city

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Hard Times for Farmers

• 1867 - Oliver H. Kelley started the Patrons of
  Husbandry (Grange)
• - Hoped to fight the loneliness of farm life and
  farming methods
• - Open to both men and women
• Meetings were held at local schools
• - Both social and educational
• Late 1800's - most farmers weren't self
  sufficient
• - Grew cash crops
• Most were in debt
• - Western farmers owed banks money for their
  land and equipment
• - Southern farmers had taken on debt to
  rebuild farms destroyed in the Civil War

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Low Prices and High Cost

• Farmer's lives were hard
• - droughts, floods, insects, and animal
  diseases
• 1870's - faced another problem
• - Low prices for their crops
• - Sank farther into debt
• Caused by overproduction
• - More people became farmers
• - Farming methods improved
• Became more expensive to operate a farm
• - Tariffs on imported farm equipment
• - Railroads raised prices

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The Granger Movement

• Turned their attention to economic and political
  issues
• Economic goal - avoid using middlemen
• - People who made a living storing,
  transporting and selling product
• - Cut into farmers profits and added to cost
  for buyer
• Grangers created cooperatives
• - An organization owned and operated by those
  who use its services
• - They shared crops in some places
• - Allowed them to set their prices
• Politically - they elected legislatures that put
  limits on railroad and storage prices
• - Called Granger laws

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The Populist Party

• 1880's - Several political parties combined
• Populism - movement of the people
• Populist Party wants reforms
• Economic increase money supply, graduated income
  tax, federal loans
• Political Senate elected by popular vote,
  secret ballot 8-hour day
• 1892 - Populist candidates elected at different
  levels of government
• Democratic Party eventually adopted platform

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Debate Over Money Policy

• Pitted debtors against creditors
• Debtors wanted more money to be put into
  circulation
• Wanted the government to coin more silver
  (bimetallism)
• Bimetallism - system using both silver and gold
  to back currency
• Silverites - would create more money, stimulate
  economy
• Creditors wanted to limit the amount of money
• - Favored gold standard
• Gold standard - backing currency with gold only
• Paper money considered worthless if cannot be
  exchanged for metal
• Gold bugs - gold only would create more stable if
  expensive currency

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Election of 1892

• 1892 - Populist nominate James B. Weaver for
  president
• He had the following proposals
• - Wanted Gov. to control and operate
  railroads, telegraph and telephone systems
• - Wanted secret ballot in elections
• - Wanted graduated income tax
• - Wanted U.S. senators to be elected directly
  by the people rather than state legislatures
• - Demanded shorter working hours for labor
• Grover Cleveland won 1892 election

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The Panic of 1893

• Railroads expanded faster than markets
• - Some went bankrupt
• Governments gold supply became depleted
• - Led to rush on banks
• - Businesses, banks collapse
• - Panic became depression

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Election of 1896

• Money was the central issue
• Republicans nominated William McKinley
• - Supported big business (gold standard)
• Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan
• - Supported silver
• Populists endorsed Bryan chose own VP to
  maintain party identity

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Election of 1896

• Candidates ran different campaigns
• - McKinley didn't go out and campaign
• - Considered undignified
• - Accepted visitors at his home Bryan launched
  something like a modem campaign
• - Traveled by train made speeches
• Bryan carried the south and west (except
  California)
• McKinley carried northeast and California
• - Won more electoral votes
• Urban America defeated rural America

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The End of Populism

• 1896 - McKinley elected president
• Populism collapsed
• Left legacy
• - Showed the powerless could organize have
  political impact
• - Agenda of reforms enacted in 20th century