Chapter 26
Clash of Cultures in the west American soldiers spread cholera, typhoid, and smallpox to Indians Reduced bison population by hunting
bison 1865: 15 million bison 1885: less than 1,000 Slaughtered for tongues, hide, and amusement
Reservation system 1851: Fort Laramie Treaty 1853: Fort Atkinson Treaty Reservations Signed with “chiefs”
Examples of conflicts w/ Indians Sand Creek Massacre: 400 innocent Indians killed by Am. Soldiers Battle of Little Bighorn/Custer’s Last Stand: Indian victory, about 700 killed Nez Perce: sent to reservation in 1877
“Taming” of indians Accelerated by railroad, alcohol, and diseases
1880s: Americanization Assimilation Dawes Severalty Act, 1887: no more tribes, reservations broke up into individual pieces Bureau of Indian Affairs, schools
mining 1858: silver and gold discovered in Rockies: 59ers or Pike’s Peakers Environmental impacts
Women Right to vote: WY: 1869 UT (1870) CO (1893) ID (1869)
Cattle Drives Cattle ranchers (TX) sold cows to cities in the east Texas Longhorn Cowboys Range wars (barbed wire)
Government incentives to move west Homestead Act, 1862: 160 acres of free land Live and for 5 years Pay about $30 Land is not great quality
“West”: 100th Meridian
The Far west comes of age 1870s to 1890s: huge population growth 1889-1890: Republican Congress admits 6 new states: ND, SD, MT, WA, ID, WY 1896: Utah 1907: Oklahoma
1890: Frontier line gone 1880: area from Rockies to Pacific- most urbanized in America Frederick Jackson Turner
Farms Factories Cash crops Use profits to buy stuff Mechanization of farms: wheat binder and combine
“one-crop economy” Dependent on one crop 1890s: deflation in crop prices Farmers lost money, became tenant farmers
Farmers mad Sell crops at: “unprotected world market” Buy products at: “tariff-protected home market” Victims: railroad trust, barbed wire trust, fertilizer trust, etc.
Farmers take a stand National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry Aka The Grange
The GRange Social organization Co-ops: stores for consumers and grain elevators and warehouses for producers Grange Laws: promoted public control of private companies
Farmer’s Alliance 1870s Populist Party (People’s Party) Silver standard
Coxey’s Army Panic of 1893- farmers and workers being oppressed Jacob S. Coxey leads protest in DC demanding government start a public works program
American railway union Eugene V. Debs
Election of 1896 Golden McKinley Silver Bryan
William mckinley Republican Gold standard “trickle down economics”
William jennings bryan Democrat (Populist) Silver standard Inflation
Mckinley wins
1898-1932 “fourth party system” Lower voter turnout Weakened political parties