UNITED STATES HISTORY AND THE CONSTITUTION South Carolina Standard USHC-4.1 Mr. Hoover, Abbeville High School

America Heads West  During and after the Civil War, the United States entered a period of rapid economic growth and westward expansion fostered by government policies.  This growth created a national market but also threatened the cultural survival of the Native Americans of the west.

Kansas Nebraska Act  The Civil War marked an important turning point in the development of a national system of transportation.  Railroad construction prior to the Civil War had impacted the growing tension between the regions as Northerners and Southerners vied for routes to the Pacific Ocean.  The Kansas Nebraska Act had been passed in order to provide a route west for the railroad. Kansas Nebraska Act Kansas Nebraska Act

Republicans Do As They Pleased  The absence of Southern Democrats from Congress during the war allowed Republicans to pass laws that reflected their understanding of the broader role of the national government.

Land Grants?  The authorization of subsidies in the form of land grants.  The Pacific Railway Act promoted the building of transcontinental railroads because it provided both a route and land to sell to raise capital for the building of the tracks. Pacific Railway Act Pacific Railway Act

Homestead Act  The passage of a law granting western farm land to settlers for free as long as they created a home there [Homestead Act] also promoted the growth of the west and of the national economy. Homestead ActHomestead Act

Railroad  The transcontinental railroad fostered the development of a national market by linking all parts of the country. transcontinental railroad transcontinental railroad  The railroad provided access for farmers and ranchers to markets in the east as well as access for emerging industries to the natural resources of the west.

Railroad Wipes Out Bison  The building of railroads profoundly impacted Native Americans in the west. Native Americans Native Americans  Because the roaming buffalo posed a threat to the integrity of railroad tracks on the plains, the railroad encouraged the killing of the bison. bison

Free Land?  Plains Indian, largely dependent on the buffalo, could no longer sustain themselves.  White settlers were attracted to the west by the availability of free land with access to markets via the railroad.

Trail of Tears, Again?  Just as the Trail of Tears had resulted in the removal of eastern Native American tribes to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma, a similar policy of moving native peoples off of their traditional lands to reservations to make way for white settlers was followed for western tribes.

Corrupt Agents  Native peoples were forced to agree to treaties that moved them onto smaller reservations where they were taken advantage of by corrupt agents of the U.S. government.  Some Native Americans resisted but were relentlessly pursued in a series of Indian Wars by the U.S. cavalry.

Precious Metals  Others acquiesced only to be driven from the reservations because of the discovery of some precious mineral in the lands they had been granted. reservations

Breaking Treaties  Criticisms of the U.S. policy of breaking treaties with the Native Americans resulted in a change of policy. The new policy attempted to foster Native American assimilation into American society [Dawes Severalty Act]. Dawes Severalty ActDawes Severalty Act

Land Ownership  Tribal lands were divided into farming parcels and given to individual families. However this arrangement did not match the cultural habits of native peoples who believed in tribal ownership of lands and who did not know how to be farmers.  As a result, many Native Americans lost the land to whites.

Assimilation  In an additional attempt to promote assimilation, Native American children were taken from their families and sent to boarding schools in the east where they were taught English and how to dress and act like white Americans, thus losing their cultural heritage.

Poverty  Native Americans’ attempts to revive their traditions, such as the Ghost Dance, were viewed as threat by the United States army and resulted in a massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Wounded KneeWounded Knee  Native Americans were left in poverty and cultural decline, without a voice in America’s democracy.