The Last West And The New South 1865-1900

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The Last West And The New South1865-1900

• The American West and South underwent profound
  changes after the Civil War

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The West The Last Frontier

• After the Civil War many Americans turned to
  settling the West
• Within 35 years the frontier no longer existed
• Buffalo nearly exterminated and damage to
  environment
• Miners, cattlemen, cowboys and farmers

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Mining Frontier

• 1848 gold in CA 49ers
• 1859 in CO and NV
• Boomtowns created saloons, dance halls, and
  vigilante justice
• San Fran., Sacramento, Denver
• Chinese Immigration inc.
• Congress passed Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

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Cattle Frontier

• Vaqueros
• Vast open grasslands
• Texas longhorns
• RRs opened eastern markets to western cattle
• Cow towns along RRs
• Soon open range ends with barbed wire and
  homesteaders
• Ranches are developed

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Farming Frontier

• Homestead Act of 1862 offers land
• sodbusters
• Lonely and isolated life
• At the mercy of mother nature
• Many failures
• Planted hardy strains of Russian wheat
• Eventually dams and irrigation saved many

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Turners Frontier Thesis

• 1890 the U.S. Census Bureau declared the frontier
  had been settled
• Turner wrote The Significance of the Frontier in
  American History (1893)
• Said the frontier had promoted independence and
  individualism
• Broke down social classes

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Removal of Native Americans

• Hopi, Zuni, Apache and Navajo, Sioux, Crow
• Destruction of buffalo contributes to loss of
  culture
• Reservations established
• Indian wars
• Assimilation?
• Dawes Severalty Act

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