NOTHING THAT CAN BE MEMORIZED IS HISTORY

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NOTHING THAT CAN BE MEMORIZED IS HISTORY
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CHANGE IN THE AMERICAN WESTConvergenceConflict
Continuity
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SIGNIFICANCE OF 1821

• Mexico won its independence from Spain
• Seeking new trading partners, new allies
• Hugh Glenn and Jacob Fowler
• Taos Trail Pueblo to Taos via Sangre de Cristo
  Pass
• Taos becomes southern trapping center
• William Becknell
• Opens the Santa Fe Trail to American trade
• Franklin, MO to Santa Fe 1200 miles

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SANTA FE TRADE

• Profitable
• Mexicans paid hard cash for American goods
• 1822 Trade totaled 15,000 (250,000 in todays
  dollars)
• 1860 Trade totaled 3.5 million (81.4 million
  in todays dollars)
• Romantic
• Exotic location for descendants of Puritans
• Fandangos, Flirting, and Fumar

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EARLY FUR TRADE

• Based on trapping beaver
• Diversity among the trappers
• French-Canadians
• Mexicans
• Americans from the East
• Set basis for Middle Ground
• Trappers established long-term relationships
• 40 of Mountain Men married Indian women
• 20 of Mountain Men married Mexican women
• Average length of marriage 15 years
• Average number of children 3

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IN THE 1830s BUFFALO ROBES BECAME THE CHIEF
ARTICLE OF WESTERN TRADE.

• CHANGES THAT OCCURRED
• Buffalo robes obtained through trade not
  trapping
• Permanent trading posts replaced the rendezvous

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• SEVERAL TRADING POSTS ESTABLISHED ON THE
  EASTERN PLAINS
• 1832 Gantt and Blackwell near Pueblo
• 1833 Bents Fort between Las Animas and
• La Junta
• 1835 Fort Vasquez near Platteville
• 1836 Fort Lupton
• 1836 Fort St. Vrain (Fort Lookout)

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1833 1848 BENTS FORT DOMINATED THE PLAINS
From its position on the north side of the
Arkansas River, astride the Mountain Branch of
the Santa Fe Trail
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• Rectangular, Grey Adobe Structure 180 feet by
  135 feet
• Round bastions at SE and NW corners
• Walls 2 4 thick and 15 high
• Midway along eastern wall sheet metal and iron
  doors
• Center of facility fur press

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Council Room Trading Room
Kitchen
Living Quarters
Blacksmith
Corrals
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• BENTS OLD FORT
• Stood for nearly 20 years
• International Center of Commerce
• It was the DIA of its time

BENTS FORT AGENT OF CHANGE CONVERGENCE
CONFLICT CONTINUITY
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• CONVERGENCE
• Brought cultures together BENT ST. VRAIN CO.

Marcellin St. Vraub Married Red Ogalala Sioux
William Bent Married Owl Woman Yellow
Woman Cheyenne
Ceran St. Vrain Married Maria de la Luz Taos
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• CONVERGENCE
• Mexican Skilled Labor

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• CONVERGENCE Native Americans
• Procured robes and principal trading partners

COMANCHE
CHEYENNE
ARAPAHOE
KIOWA
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• CONVERGENCE
• Brought different economic systems together
• American Capitalist Spanish Closed Mercantilist
  and Native American Barter

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• CONVERGENCE CREATED MIDDLE GROUND
• Santa Fe and Taos Families increased wealth
• New trading partners had more and better goods
• Native Americans increased wealth and prestige
• Cheyenne and Arapahoe gained favored status
• Increased wealth and position on the Plains
• Bent and St. Vrain Company profitable
• 1842 Income of 190,000 (4.5 million today)

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• SO
• WHAT HAPPENED?

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• CONFLICT WAR WITH MEXICO
• Victory upset political, economic and social
  balance
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
• Added all of SW to United States
• Mexican citizens became US citizens
• Charles Bent became Governor of New Mexico -
  killed
• Ceran St. Vrain led militia in revenge/retaliation
  
• William Bent lost Owl Woman to cholera
• Brought by Army of the West
• Native Americans victims of cholera epidemic
• Lost one-third to one-half of population

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• CONFLICT
• BASIS FOR MIDDLE GROUND GONE
• Victory in War with Mexico opened door to new
  lands
• First event California Gold Rush
• Changed image of the West
• Changed westward settlement
• Arrivals after 1848 have different goals
• Extraction of natural resources is primary
• Goals do not involve the assistance of ANY
  previous group
• Both groups OBSTACLES to be removed, not
  accommodated

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• CONFLICT
• HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THE BASIS IS GONE?
• BENT ST. VRAIN CO DISSOLVED - 1849
• BENTS FORT IS GONE
• William Bent blew up Bents Fort in 1849
• IMPORTANT TO NOTE SYMBOLISM
• Charles Bent killed in anti-European revolt in
  1848
• Cholera - European borne disease destroyed trade
• Dynamite - European technology destroyed fort

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• CONTINUITY
• Once introduced, Anglo-American presence was
  permanent
• American-style capitalism entrenched
• Mexico City lost control of trade to Bent St.
  Vrain Co.
• Political conditions turned in favor of Americans
• Stephen Kearneys Army of the West entered Santa
  Fe without firing a shot.

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• THE NATURE OF CHANGE BEFORE 1850
• Convergence Middle Ground is basis for
  relationships
• Conflict Emerged OUTSIDE the area
• Not generated within as in King Philips War,
  French and Indian War, Blackhawk War, Cherokee
  Wars
• Continuity American culture established as PART
  of the system

• THE NATURE OF CHANGE AFTER 1850
• Conflict originated within the area and dominated
  relationships
• Continuity American culture dominated the system
• Convergence is not an option
• Acculturation not accommodation became the
  standard