The Transformation of the West 1860-1900 Key Events Set the Stage

A. Land Ordinance of 1785 and NW Ordinance of 1787 Blueprint for expansion Territories into states

B. Louisiana Purchase Double size of US Remove foreign threats

C. Indian Removal Act of 1830 and Trail of Tears Open Land in South and Midwest Precedent of Govt. involvement

D. Gold Rush of '49 Quick Rich Scheme Captures of Imagination California ready for statehood

E. Kansas/Nebraska Act Funding for RR First Reservations

Factors that encourage Western Settlement Post Civil War A. Impact of the Civil War New Life far from War

Factors that encourage Western Settlement Post Civil War B. New Technologies

Feb. 10, 2017 Discuss Chapter 17 Questions The Western Frontier HW: Read Vision Chapter 18.1 and answer questions 1-5 Students will be able to explain the relationship among territorial expansion, westward movement of the new population, new immigration, growth of cities, and the admission of new states to the Union.

Westward Movement What factors drove people west? Economic incentive Farming Mining RR Ranching Markets Forced relocation For Indians Reservations Legislation Homestead Act Morrill Act

Laws Homestead Act (1862) Problems? Gave 160 acres (for a $10 fee) to anyone who would live on land and farm it for 5 years Attracted easterners and immigrants from Europe Problems? 160 acres not sufficient in dry Great Plains Speculators took advantage of the law (only about 11% of land went to pioneer farmers)

Laws Morrill Act Set aside funds for the creation of agricultural schools and colleges (“Tech” and “A&M” type schools)

Oklahoma 1889 Land that was once set aside for the American Indians, was opened for settlement in 1889 Hundreds of homesteaders took part in the last great land rush in the West The next year, the US Census Bureau declared the entire frontier-- except for a few pockets-- had been settled https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxaJY8UZxn4

What was life like on the Great Plains? Life on the Plains What was life like on the Great Plains? Many hardships!!! Droughts, floods, blizzards, insects Lack of irrigation sources Distance from neighbors/isolation Building materials Soddies – sod homes

The Mining Frontier A series of gold and silver strikes kept the flow of hopeful prospectors pushing into the West. Rich strikes created boomtowns overnight. Most became ghost towns, but a few such as San Francisco, Sacramento, and Denver, became prosperous cities. Most of them were more like industrial cities. In many mining towns, half the population was foreign born

Chinese Exclusion Act About one-third of the western miners in the 1860s were Chinese immigrants. 1882– political pressures from western states moved Congress to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act Prohibited further immigration to the US by Chinese laborers Immigration from China was severely restricted until 1965 The was the first major act of Congress to restrict immigration on the basis of race and nationality

Railroads Transcontinental RR 1862– The Pacific Railroad Act authorized the construction of a new transcontinental RR 1869 – Promontory Point, Utah Labor force? Mexican, Chinese, Irish Effects? Spurred agri. by connecting markets Could ship cattle and grain to the East faster Hastened decline of buffalo Useful in the Army’s battle against the Native Americans

Cattle Ranching Era of the Cowboy – 1870-90 (peak 1880-85) Made possible by? RR – connecting markets Indian relocation Longhorn breed (capable of long drives) Willing labor Problems/decline: Wild market fluctuations = massive debt Overgrazing Farmers vs. free rangers Barbed wire (Joseph Glidden) Expansion of RR No need for long drives

Changes in West Effects of westward movement: Indian Wars End of Indian way of life Women’s rights Conservation movement emerges Literary genres emerge

Indians What led to the end of the Indians’ way of life? Relocation to reservations Dawes Act (1887)– goal? End communal way of life Promote American individualism Broke up reservations into small pieces (private property) Too small for profit, sold to whites for cheap Proponents wanted assimilation – Helen Hunt Jackson & others When that failed, they opted for relocation How did Indians respond? Many resisted – led to continuation of Indian Wars US gov’t often broke treaties (land, food, etc) Tribes often didn’t follow treaties De-centralized power https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45HATCWo2PQ

Indian Wars Famous examples of resistance: Nez Perce – Pacific NW – Chief Joseph surrenders when his people tried to flee to Canada Sioux – spread from Dakotas to Wyoming 1876 – battle of Little Bighorn – “Custer’s Last Stand” – US 7th Cavalry (led by George A. Custer) vs forces of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse – all 200+ US troops killed Cheyenne – Ft. Robinson – break out of captivity, then hunted down and killed Indian Wars http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/battle-of-the-little-bighorn/videos/the-battle-at-little-bighorn

Indian Life Buffalo: Overhunted by whites & Indians Many Plains Indians were not originally from Plains – had been forced west by US gov’t Plains overcrowded, buffalo over-hunted Also their trails disrupted by farming

Indian Life Ghost Dance – Sioux perform dance to ask for better hunting, agriculture, etc. Dance looks menacing to US scouts US cavalry arrests/kills Sitting Bull US cavalry massacres over 300 Sioux men, women, children at Wounded Knee in 1890 Sand Creek massacre in 1864 (Cheyenne) End of the Indian Era

Women’s Rights New states and territories in west: Women’s suffrage in WY in 1869, Utah in 1870 Why in west and not east? West – women’s work more visible Wanted women’s “sensibilities” to tame wild west Encourage settlement Offset black votes Women still did not have national suffrage until 1920

Movements Conservation Movement to protect land from development, mining, deforestation, etc. Land used for parks (Yellowstone, Yosemite, etc.) John Muir leader of movement

Movements Literature: Dime novels – cowboys, gunslingers, lawmen, outlaws, bank robbers, etc. More myth than reality Still shapes our concept of the west