SETTLING THE WEST

Could buy it for a small amount of $$$ HOMESTEAD ACT Homestead Act was a law developed in 1862 by Congress to promote settlement of the Great Plains. Age 21 and the head of the family could have 160 acres of land if they improved it in five years Could buy it for a small amount of $$$ The US Government encouraged westward expansion and the Homestead Act allowed thousands of settlers to move west and start new lives.

Population Changes in the West, 1850 to 1900

Population Changes in the West, 1850 to 1900

A Pioneer’s Sod House, SD

Discovery of gold was often in the West. Mining became an important form of income Individual miners lacked the resources to mine and cart big loads, so mostly they prospected; when they found a rich mine, they staked a claim and sold their rights to a mining company.

“The Big Four” Railroad Magnates Financed the Central Pacific Hired Chinese men to do the labor They had to cut through the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Charles Crocker Collis Huntington Mark Hopkins Leland Stanford The arrival of the railroad changed the West in many ways. The railroads, although owned privately, were built largely as the public’s expense. Both federal and local governments were anxious for rails to be completed and so provided substantial assistance.

Promontory, Utah Although the public had paid for the rail system, rail proprietors strenuously objected to any government control of their industry, and it took years for railroad rates to come under regulation. Until they were regulated, the railroads would typically overcharge wherever they owned a monopoly and undercharge in competitive and heavily trafficked markets. This practice was harmful to farmers in remote areas.

“The Wedding of the Rails” Central Pacific and Union Pacific 1st TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD May 10, 1869 at Promontory, Utah “The Wedding of the Rails” Central Pacific and Union Pacific The railroads brought other changes as well. Rails quickly transformed depot towns into vital cities by connecting them to civilization. Easier, faster travel meant more contact with ideas and technological advances from the East. Developments in railroad technology had applications in other industries and so accelerated the industrial revolution. In addition, “railroad time,” by which rail schedules were so determined, gave the nation its first standardized method of time-telling.

Westward Expansion’s Negative Effects The big losers in this expansionist era, of course, were the Native Americans. At first, pioneers approached the tribes as sovereign nations. They made treaties with them, which the settlers or their immediate successors broke. The result was warfare, leading the government to try another approach: forcing them onto reservations.

Tribes of the Great Plains Sioux Cheyenne Crow Arapaho Kiowa

Differences in land ownership Railroad INDIAN CONFLICTS clash Differences in land ownership Railroad Settlers trespassing on Indian Land Discovery of gold Slaughter of the buffalo Broken treaties

1871 to 1875, the US supported the extermination of 11 million buffalo. As railroad construction crawled across the nation, rail companies organized massive hunts for buffalo (considered a nuisance).

US INDIAN POLICY Taking away the food source from Native Americans forced them to submit and go to the reservations. Railroad bounty hunters hunted the herds to near extinction, destroying a resource upon which local Native Americans had depended.

Sioux reservation declined over the years…Why? Black Hills

Gold! Gold discovered in the Black Hills. There goes the neighborhood! Gold discovered in the Black Hills. Govt. tries to purchase the land, but the Sioux refused Gold fever and miners refused to respect Sioux land….. Conflict erupts!

Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse Sitting Bull (Sioux) and Crazy Horse (Cheyenne) were two chiefs who refused to sign the treaty. They defiantly left the reservation. "One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk" Crazy Horse

Little Big Horn River, Montana - 1876 George Armstrong Custer was sent to force the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho back to their reservations. He was in command of the 7th Calvary. June 26, 1876

The Battle of Little Big Horn 1876 He was heavily outnumbered and trapped. Custer & all 220 of his men died. “Custer’s Last Stand” outraged Americans and led to govt. retribution. The Sioux and Cheyenne were crushed within a year.

Little Bighorn

Little Bighorn

Little Bighorn

Little Bighorn

Memorial-Little Bighorn

Negotiate treaties to sell land to US U.S. INDIAN POLICY Negotiate treaties to sell land to US Take away food source to force to Reservations = tracks of land The United States government forced Native Americans onto reservations, which typically were made up of the least desirable land in a tribe’s traditional home region.

Map 13 of 45 The reservation system failed for a number of reasons, including the inferiority of the land, the grouping of incompatible tribes on the same reservation, and the lack of autonomy granted the tribes in managing their own affairs.

Dawes Act of 1887 U.S. INDIAN POLICY Quicker Americanization Assimilate, mainstreamed and absorbed into US society Adopt Christianity and White education Individual land ownership Abandon tribe, culture and become farmers Male could get 160 acres of land if they left the reservation & farmed Children would be sent to Indian schools Poverty led many to sell their land to whites, leaving them literally homeless. Dawes Act was reversed in 1934 Some Westerners simply ignored the arrangement and poached on reservation lands. Reformers pushed for change, which came in the form of the Dawes Severalty Act. This law gave tracts of land to those who left the reservations. Its goal was to accelerate the assimilation of Native Americans into western society by integrating them more closely with whites; Native Americans, naturally resisted. Furthermore, poverty drove many to sell their land to speculators, leaving them literally homeless. By the time the policy set by Dawes was reversed (in 1934), the Native American nations were decimated.

This opened the Indian Territory to the settlers. Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 This opened the Indian Territory to the settlers. What used to be Indian Territory out west was opened to Americans once Indians were moved out State of Oklahoma would be formed so Native Americans could live there.

The Ghost Dance Movement -1890 Paiute medicine man Wovoka promised the return of the buffalo and Indian way of life. The religion prophesied the end of the westward expansion of whites and a return of Indian land. The ritual lasted five successive days, being danced each night and on the last night continued until morning. Hypnotic trances and shaking accompanied this ceremony, which was supposed to be repeated every six weeks.

Telegram to Washington, D.C. Nov. 15, 1890 GHOST DANCE Telegram to Washington, D.C. Nov. 15, 1890 "Indians are dancing in the snow and are wild and crazy. I have fully informed you that the employees and the government property at this agency have no protection and are at the mercy of the Ghost Dancers. ... We need protection and we need it now ...nothing [short] of 1000 troops will stop this dancing." Dr. Daniel F. Royer, Agent, Pine Ridge Agency Ghost Dance 4

GHOST SHIRT Indian warriors fighting against the US wore Ghost Shirts which were to stop the penetration of American soldiers bullets. It was supposed to give them supernatural powers. Ghost Shirt Ghost Shirt

The Ghost Dance Movement -1890 Ghost Dance movement spread to Sitting Bull and the Sioux They religiously danced even after they were told to stop by reservation authorities. Military went to arrest Sitting Bull, where he was killed. Many Sioux followers left the reservation and became hostile

Battle of Wounded Knee – Dec.1890 7th Calvary rounded up starving and freezing Sioux and took them to Wounded Knee camp. They attempted to confiscate all weapons.

Battle of Wounded Knee – Dec.1890 Violence erupted, 300 Indians and 25 whites lay dead. This is the last of the Indian conflicts. Chief Big Foot

Battle of Wounded Knee – Dec.1890 The dead of Big Foot's people were buried in a mass grave. The still frozen stiff bodies were dumped unceremoniously into the hole. The United States handed out over twenty Congressional Medals of Honor to soldiers of the Seventh Cavalry who had participated in the battle.

Nez Percé tribal retreat (1877) Chief Joseph, Nez Perce Nez Percé tribal retreat (1877) Refused to recognize the authority of a 2nd treaty with the US Government reducing his tribal land. Refusing to go to the reservation, he led his tribe on a 1,400 march trying to get to Canada. Trying to meet up with Sitting Bull. Eventually surrendered. In 3 months, the band of about 700, 200 of whom were warriors, fought 2,000 U.S. soldiers in 4 major battles and skirmishes

CHIEF JOSEPH I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are -- perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.

Geronimo, Apache Chief Apache & Navajo Wars (1861-1886) Apache in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado territories Navajo in New Mexico, Colorado territories Geronmino surrenders in 1886.

A CENTURY OF DISHONOR Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885), activist for Native American rights and author of Century of Dishonor was published in 1881. Jackson also began work on a book condemning the government’s Indian policy and its record of broken treaties. When Jackson sent a copy to every member of Congress with the following admonition printed in red on the cover: "Look upon your hands: they are stained with the blood of your relations."  To her disappointment, the book had little impact.

Frederick Jackson Turner “RUGGED INDIVIDUALIST” TURNER THESIS With Indians on the reservation by 1890, the United States Census Bureau announced the official end of the frontier. The population in the West had become dense, and the days of free western land had come to an end. In 1893, historian Frederick Jackson Turner claimed that the frontier had played a key role in forming the American character. The Turner Thesis, stated that frontier life created Americans who were socially mobile, ready for adventure, bent on individual self-improvement, committed to democracy and able to withstand difficult times to accomplish the American Dream… Frederick Jackson Turner “RUGGED INDIVIDUALIST” The frontier created the American character of one who was self-sufficient, persistent and able to withstand difficult times to accomplish the American Dream… As the rails pushed the country westward, settlers started filing in the territory. By 1889, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, and Montana were populous enough to achieve statehood; Wyoming and Idaho followed in 1890. In 1893 historian Frederick Jackson Turner made his famous pronouncement that the American frontier was gone, and with it the first period of American history.