THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION IN THE WEST I. Lincoln and the West. II. Wartime Policies in the American West. A. Political Control. B. Social Control. C. Military/Physical Control. III. Reconstruction and the American West. A Dispossessing Native Nations. B. Federal Control and Private Ownership.

I. Lincoln and the West.

Romantic Vision of Lincoln the “Rail Splitter”

Lincoln in 1846 The year he was elected to his single term in Congress.

II. Wartime Policies in the American West.

A. Political Control.

Western Territories on the Eve of the Civil War

Brigham Young

1856 Republican Platform Resolved: That the Constitution confers upon Congress sovereign powers over the Territories of the United States for their government; and that in the exercise of this power, it is both the right and the imperative duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those twin relics of barbarism — Polygamy, and Slavery.

The “Utah War” Col. Albert Sidney JohnsonPres. James Buchanan

Site of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, September 11, 1857

The Organized West at the End of the Civil War.

B. Social Control.

The Homestead Act  Based in the Jeffersonian vision of Agrarian Capitalism.  Blocked by Southern Congressmen before the Civil War.  Allowed a citizen or someone who declared their intent to become a citizen to claim 160 acres of the public domain. After five years, improvements, and paying a filing fee the land was theirs.  Aridity and the failure of Congress to reserve adequate acreage posed severe problems.  The Preemption Act and the Timber Culture Act provided a means for homesteaders to more land in arid West.  By 1900, 1.6 million homestead patents led to the distribution of 80 million acres of land.

1868 Homestead Certificate from Nebraska

Morrill Act or Land Grant College Act of 1862 Morrill Act or Land Grant College Act of 1862  University Land grants had been common since the Northwest Ordinance.  Morrill Act was intended to further agricultural and mechanical arts and be open to the “industrial” classes - i.e. the average American.  Provided 30,000 acres for each senator and representative – more advantageous for Eastern states!  Because of poor management in some states Congress passed a second Morrill Act in 1890 that provided annual cash allotments. Justin Smith Morrill, Vermont Rep , Sen

C. Military/Physical Control.

The Bear River Massacre Col. Patrick E. Connor Sagwitch

Sand Creek Massacre November 29, 1864 Chivington Black Kettle

The Pony Express – April 1860 to October 1861

The Telegraph Made the Pony Express Obsolete – October 18, 1861

The Overland Mail

Pacific Railway Act of 1862

III. Reconstruction and the American West.

A Dispossessing Native Nations.

B. Federal Control and Private Ownership.

General Mining Law of 1872  Essentially uses the same philosophy behind the Homestead Act.  “ That all valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States, both surveyed and unsurveyed, are hereby declared to be free and open to exploration and purchase, and the lands in which they are found to occupation and purchase, by citizens of the United States and those who have declared their intention to become such, under regulations prescribed by law, and according to the local customs or rules of miners, in the several mining-districts, so far as the same are applicable and not inconsistent with the laws of the United States.”  Miners could patent a claim of up to 160 acres of the public domain by paying $2.50 an acre for pit mined minerals and $5.00 for vein and then performing $100 of work a year on the land.  The claim was then in perpetuity and the US reserved no portion of the public resource for pubic use - no royalties !  Hard rock mining has produced about $250 billion in minerals since 1872.

One Legacy of the General Mining Law of 1872 Every black “x” represents an abandoned mine.