Westward Expansion Part 1

Westward Migration Gold was discovered in California in 1849. Between 1870 and 1900 what we refer to as “The West” was essentially completely settled.

Great Plains Indians The Indians of the Great Plains had just relatively recently incorporated horses into their lifestyle. Horses were introduced by Spanish settlers in the late 1500’s. This caused a shift in lifestyle, and many tribes went from living in farming villages to roaming the Plains and hunting Buffalo.

Tribal Conflict This constant roaming brought tribes into contact with each other more often than when most tribes were anchored to their villages. This led to a lot of conflict. Battles were one of the only ways for young warriors to gain prestige, so fighting occurred often.

Concept of land ownership. All land was held communally, and tribes were led by a council rather than by a single Chief.

Settlers push into the Plains Railroads made this settlement much easier. Railroads had been building track to get West ever since the discovery of gold in California. The Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869.

Homestead Act In 1862 the US government passed this act that gave 160 acres of land, free, to the heads of households of American families. This didn’t always work out as intended, however, and often people would claim land and defend it by themselves. In Oklahoma people claimed land sooner than they were supposed to, which led to the nickname the “Sooner State.”

Life on the Plains It was tough. People lived in “soddies,” houses made out of sod, because trees were so scarce. They were very leaky and attacked snakes and other animals.

Self-Sufficient They were often hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from large cities and had to be incredibly self-sufficient. Women worked alongside men in the fields. They mostly farmed wheat. John Deere developed a steel plow that was especially good at plowing the soil of the Plains.

Farmers go into debt Farmers had to pay high prices for this new fancy equipment and often went into serious debt. They needed to plant more grain to help get out of debt, which meant they needed more land, which they bought on credit, and went further into debt.

The “Populist” movement develops. Farmers were taken advantage of by Railroad companies. The Railroads charged the Western farmers more than they charged farmers in the East This puts Plains farmers further into debt.

The “Grange” develops This was an organization started by Oliver Hudson Kelley and it originally was designed to be a social club for farmers. Soon it began to put all its energy towards fighting the railroads. Other groups, like the “Farmers’ Alliances” organized and began fighting the railroads as well.

The Populist Party Populism means “the movement of the people,” and the Populist party emerged in the late 1800’s. Platform Graduated income tax Senators elected by popular vote, not state legislatures Federal Loan system.

Success! Then failure…. Their Presidential candidate won 10% of the popular vote in the election of 1892! But in the Election of 1896 they Populists joined forces with Democrats and nominated William Jennings Bryan, who ended up losing to William McKinley. This was end of Populism.

Reading Assignment, take note! 5.3- Farmers and the Populist Movement.

16th Income tax- Now you would be taxed a proportional amount of your income.

17th Direct popular votes for Senators. No longer would State Legislatures decide who our 2 Senators would be, the power would no be in the hands of the people.

So, here’s the question… Why do you think speeches like this were popular with the farmers of that era?

Silver and Gold…. It’s complicated. I honestly don’t completely understand it. But here it goes. Populists want the money system (dollars) to be based on silver. There is more silver in the world than gold. This means there would be more actual dollars in circulation (inflation). This is good because it means there is more money for farmers to borrow. Gold. The “elite” of the country wanted the gold standard, because it meant less money in circulation, which meant money was worth more. And if you had more money, gold meant that you had more wealth.

What to look for when reading these speeches. 1. Who are they blaming? 2. What else is a common thread in their arguments?