Westward Expansion

Great Plains  Vast grasslands between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains  Before 1850 it was home to 10 million Native Americans and 60 million buffalo

Factors Conditions that pushed people to move away from their homeland to a different region

Push Factors (continued) Thousands of people were displaced (homeless) after the Civil War. Land in the East was increasingly expensive. When a business failed, owners headed to a new location to try again. Some religious groups were seeking escape from persecution (e.g. Mormons) Outlaws on the run

Pull Factors Conditions that pulled or attracted people to move elsewhere by their own choice

Pull Factors (continued) Government Incentives - Free land grants from the government. Private Property - Laws were passed to make property rights enforceable and transferable. Land was measured, recorded, and deeded. Cattle were branded. Greed - Profit in new markets or mining precious metals.

Pacific Railway Acts (1862/64) The government gave RR’s 10 square miles of land on either side of the tracks. RR’s received over 175 million acres. RR’s sold much of this land to new settlers at a large profit.

Morrill Land-Grant Act (1862) The federal government gave state governments millions of acres of western lands. The states could sell this land to the public to raise money to start colleges that specialized in agriculture and mechanical arts.

Land Speculators People who buy land at a low price, hoping to sell it later for a profit.

Homestead Act (1862) The federal government offered 160 acres of western land for $10 if these conditions were met:

Homestead Act (continued) Must be at least 21 years old or the head of a household. Must be an American citizen or filing for citizenship. Must build a house at least 12’x14’ on their property. Must live in it for at least 6 months a year. Must farm the land for at least 5 years.

Indians of the Great Plains

Indian Removal Policy Beginning in the 1820s, Native Americans were forced off their lands to reservations in different parts of the country, usually in Indian Territory to open up land for white settlement.

Reservations Federal land set aside for Native American use. They were often restricted to the reservations by treaties the Indians did not fully understand.

B. I. A.  Bureau of Indian Affairs  Part of the U. S. Interior Department  Managed delivery of supplies to reservations  Often corrupt

Sand Creek Massacre

Sand Creek Massacre oCheyenne occupied the central plains in Colorado Territory o Chief Black Kettle wanted peace o The governor promised to protect the Cheyenne and told them to camp at Sand Creek

Chief Black Kettle

Sand Creek Massacre continued o700 soldiers then attacked the camp o Nearly 500 women and children were slaughtered o Most Cheyenne moved to the reservation the next year

Sand Creek Encampment

Painting: Sand Creek Phantoms

Sand Creek Massacre Memorial

Battle of Little Bighorn  Lakota Tribe - called Sioux by Americans - lived in Northern plains - Dakota, Wyoming, Montana. Hunted in the Bighorn Mountains.  U.S. Government built a road called the Bozeman Trail through this land.  Chief Red Cloud fought against this for 2 years

Battle of Little Bighorn continued  Treaty of Fort Laramie - U.S. abandoned the trail and forts but created the Sioux Reservation in South Dakota which included the sacred Black Hills  Col. George A. Custer reported gold in the Black Hills. Government offers to buy the Black Hills.

The Black Hills

Battle of Little Bighorn - continued  Chief Red Cloud tried to negotiate  Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse refused and led rebels off the reservation  June General Custer led 250 men of the 7 th Cavalry to round up the rebel Indians

Chief Sitting Bull

George A. Custer

Custer’s Expedition to Bighorn

Battle of Little Bighorn - continued  2000 Sioux killed the entire 7 th Cavalry within one hour at the Bighorn River in Montana  Sitting Bull escaped to Canada  Crazy Horse surrendered and was stabbed in the back

Custer’s Last Stand

The Ghost Dance Purification ritual performed by many plains tribes Believed the ritual would restore their traditional way of life

The Ghost Dance continued Dancers formed a circle, joined hands, and danced around a sacred tree. Sometimes they danced for days until they fell “dead” and saw visions of their dead ancestors.

The Ghost Dance continued Ghost Shirt - a sacred costume made of white cotton painted with symbols

The Ghost Shirt

The Ghost Dance continued Lakota believed the shirt protected them from the white man’s bullets

The Ghost Dance as described by a Lakota Sioux witness (Do not copy) “ They danced without rest, on and on... Occasionally someone thoroughly exhausted and dizzy fell unconscious into the center and lay there “dead”... After a while, many lay about in that condition. They were now “dead” and seeing their dear ones... The visions... ended the same way, like a chorus describing a great encampment of all the Dakotas who had ever died,

The Ghost Dance as described by a Lakota Sioux witness (Do not copy) where... there was no sorrow but only joy, where relatives thronged out with happy laughter... The people went on and on and could not stop, day or night, hoping... to get a vision of their own dead... And so I suppose the authorities did think they were crazy – but they were not. They were only terribly unhappy.”

The Ghost Dance

Wounded Knee Massacre 1890 Sitting Bull now back on the South Dakota Reservation encouraged the Lakota Sioux to practice the Ghost Dance ritual. The ritual frightened whites who thought the Indians were preparing for war.

Wounded Knee Massacre continued  The 7 th Cavalry was sent to arrest Sitting Bull. They shot and killed him.  His followers men and 230 women and children - were rounded up at a creek called Wounded Knee  As the Indians were being disarmed, someone fired a shot. Soldiers began firing and killed over 200 Lakota.

Encampment at Wounded Knee

The Dead of Wounded Knee

Chief Big Foot dead at Wounded Knee

Medicine Man Dead at Wounded Knee

Wagon of the Dead at Wounded Knee

Gate to Wounded Knee Memorial

Assimilation The process of making one society part of another. Usually the dominant society forces its culture and values on the subordinate culture.

The Dawes Act  Divided reservation land into individual plots.  Each Indian family was given 160 acres to farm.  The goal was to make Indians self- supporting and make them believe in private property like Americans do.  Idea was offensive to most Indians and many sold their land to whites or were cheated out of it.

FARMING ISSUES

Tariffs A tax on imported products. Hurt farmers in 2 ways: Raised prices of manufactured goods, such as farm machinery. Overseas markets which were not selling goods to America could not afford to buy American farm products.

Painting: American Gothic by Grant Wood, 1930

Money Supply The amount of money (coins and/or paper currency) in circulation in a country’s economy.

Monetary policy The government’s plan for controlling the money supply.

Inflation More money issued = every dollar worth less Dollars worth less = price of goods goes up Good for farmers – sell their products at higher prices Good for people who are in debt – dollars used to pay back debt worth less than the dollars they borrowed

Deflation Less money issued = every dollar worth more Dollars worth more = price of goods goes down Good for people lending money (bankers) – dollars being paid back are worth more than dollars they lent out

Tight Money When the government reduces the money supply in order to encourage deflation.

Tight Money (continued) After the Civil War, the federal government pulled the money that had been issued during the War out of circulation, causing a period of deflation. Many farmers went in debt and lost their farms.

Treasury Notes Paper currency (like dollars) that the government issues for people to use Could be traded in for coins (species) minted of precious metal (gold or silver)

Bimetallic Standard Having a nation’s currency backed by both gold and silver (2 precious metals) in the U.S. Treasury. Until 1873 we were on a bimetallic standard. (In other words, people used coins made of gold or silver or had U.S. treasury notes that could be traded in for actual gold and silver.)

Gold Standard Having a nation’s money supply backed ONLY by gold. In 1873, the government put our currency on the gold standard to stop inflation and stabilize the economy. This greatly reduced the amount of money in circulation because the money supply was limited by the amount of gold owned by the U.S. government.

“Gold Bugs” Conservatives who wanted the U.S. to be on the gold standard Mainly bankers

Free Silver The unlimited minting of silver dollars to increase the money supply

“Silverites” People who supported “free silver” Mostly farmers and silver miners

The Grange organization that helped farmers by forming cooperatives in which farmers could buy goods in larger quantities and lower prices. Also pushed for regulatory laws on industries on which farmers depended - like the RR’s and grain storage elevators.

Farmers’ Alliances 1870’s – Political organizations formed by farmers across the nation to fight for reforms, such as –Federal regulation of the RR’s –More money in circulation –A state department of agriculture –Antitrust laws –Farm credit –Federal help for natural disasters

The Populist Party Political party founded in 1891 by the Farmers’ Alliances Also called the People’s Party They wanted:

The Populist Party (continued) –Increased circulation of money –Free silver –A progressive income tax (higher incomes pay higher tax rate) –Government control of communication and RR systems –8-hour workday –End to the use of Pinkertons

Election of 1896 William Jennings BryanWilliam McKinley

Republican governor from Ohio Supported the gold standard

William Jennings Bryan Democrat from Nebraska Supported the coinage of free silver Nominated by both Populists and Democrats

The Cross of Gold Speech W. J. Bryan’s speech at the Democratic National Convention in “You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!”

The Cross of Gold Speech