ENTRY#7 Reconstruction Wrap-up Question #1 Which statement best explains why Reconstruction ended? A) Reconstruction policies were no longer needed when the Southern states rejoined the Union. B) African Americans prospered financially. C) Reconstruction was intended to be a short-term event that would end in 10 years. D) Enforcement of Reconstruction Acts decreased because of political compromise.

ENTRY#7 Reconstruction Wrap-up Question #2 Which of these is the strongest evidence of the federal government showing its power over state governments during the Reconstruction period? A the creation of the sharecropping system B the migration of carpetbaggers into southern states C the military occupation of former Confederate states D the creation of the Freedmen’s Bureau

ENTRY#7 Question #3 Did Reconstruction achieve its goals? If so, which goals and how so? If not, why not? You may refer to your notes and Reconstruction packets in answering this question. Hint: Start first with asking yourself: “What were the goals of Reconstruction?”

The Great West: Economic Opportunity and Westward Migration Three groups of pioneers settled this last American Frontier: Miners; Cattlemen/Cowboys; Farmers

The Mining Frontier Mining is the first boom in the West The California Gold Rush is the first of several booms. Ex. The Comstock Lode: Huge Mineral Deposits Most of the new strikes can only be exploited by large mining companies.

Railroads Congress supported the building of railroads with land grants and loans. Railroads drastically sped up the process of settlement and commercial exploitation of the West. Railroad map of the US, 1884

Promontory Point: the Transcontinental Railroad Two huge railroad companies The Union Pacific Railroad company and Central Pacific Railroad met at Promontory Point, Utah on May 10, 1869. Used mostly immigrant labor for the backbreaking dangerous work.

The Cattle Frontier No one fenced in their cattle (open-range system) Each spring, ranchers hired cowboys to round up and drive their cows across the open range all the way up to the nearest railroad junction (cow towns like Dodge City, Kansas – home of Wyatt Earp) to ship to eastern markets. This is called “the long drive.”

End of the Open Range Invention of Barbed Wire – so large tracks easily and cheaply fenced by farming Homesteaders, and later, fellow ranchers Beef Prices dropped because of oversupply, then… Extreme and bad weather during 1880’s – brutal winters and summer droughts – cattle starved. So ranchers begin to grow hay/grains to feed cattle (instead of foraging) – more fencing and more tender meat breeds become favored.

The Farming Frontier Railroads sold land leftover from their land grants Homestead Act 1862: Gov. gave 160 acres to people who were willing to stay there for 5 years and improve it. Land was now cheap and available for settlement in the West, so people (both American and immigrant) came to make new lives for themselves. A “sodbuster” home

Morrill Act Life on the prairie was really hard (locust “storms”, blizzards, droughts, windstorms, loneliness). So the government passed the Morrill Act in 1862 to establish agricultural colleges so that new farming techniques and inventions could be explored.

Exodusters Black settlers moving west to find their “promised land” (Exodus of the Bible)

Time to Think: ENTRY # 8 What conflicts would have arisen between all the different types of people who were settling the last (western) frontier of America? And who was the perpetual loser in all this?