THE NEW SOUTH AND THE FRONTIER Unit IVD AP United States History

Fundamental Questions ► ► Did the Civil War and Reconstruction solve the nation’s issues? ► ► How better off was the nation after the Civil War and Reconstruction?

The “New” South ► ► The Compromise of 1877 withdrew federal troops from former Confederate states, ended Reconstruction with a promise of development ► ► New vision   From slave-dependency to self-sufficient and diverse agricultural   Industrialization and infrastructure   Redemption…

Southern Agriculture ► ► Cotton remained the dominant crop   Cotton farms doubled   Large supply of world’s cotton drove prices down ► ► Sharecropping   50% white farmers and 75% black farmers   Crop liens kept small farmers in constant debt ► ► Diversity of crops   Peanuts, sweet potatoes, soybeans   Tobacco and cigarette companies

Southern Industry ► ► Growth of cities in the South   Textiles, steel, lumber, tobacco ► ► Industrialization spearheaded by cheap labor rates ► ► More railroads built and designed on national standards

“Southern” Economy ► ► Northern investment control and slow progress kept the South poor ► ► Cheap labor wages and sharecropping ► ► Poor education attributed to Southern poverty

Redemption ► ► Redeemers pledged to rid Republican control and enhance discrimination   Hamburg Massacre   Benjamin Tillman   Origin of Bible Belt ► ► Supreme Court Cases   Civil Rights Cases of 1883   Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) ► ► Separate but equal ► ► Jim Crow Laws and Disenfranchisement   Segregated facilities and institutions   Literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, white political primaries

Frontier Thesis ► ► Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893 ► ► The frontier defined the American identity ► ► It promoted independence and individualism unlike European conformity and social structure ► ► The distinct American political society was a result of surviving the frontier ► ► The edge of the frontier was the figurative border of civilization and the wild ► ► The loss of the frontier could signal the beginning of social conformity and rigidity

Settling the West ► ► Mining Frontier   Gold and silver strikes leading to boomtowns and states   Employed foreign-born miners ► ► Cattle Frontier   Ranchers and cowboys ► ► Farming Frontier   Homestead Act of 1862; Land Rushes   Barbed wire fenced off land   Environmental impact

Manifest Destiny and the Natives ► ► Most western tribes based on a nomadic lifestyle ► ► Reservations ► ► Indian Wars   Theaters   Sand Creek Massacre (1864)   Little Big Horn (1876) ► ► A Century of Dishonor by Helen Hunt Jackson in 1881   Nonfiction historical account of government policies toward Natives   Purpose was to shed light on atrocities and pursue humane and equal treatment ► ► Assimilation   Formal education and religious conversion   A “white” education ► ► Dawes Severalty Act (1887)   Broke up tribal organizations; lands divided into 160 acre plots; citizenship grants; disease, alcoholism, poverty, starvation ► ► Ghost Dance Movement   Wovoka’s attempt to drive the settlers out through circle dances and chants ► ► Wounded Knee (1890)   Massacre of Sioux men, women, and children signifying the end of the Indian Wars

Commercial Farming ► ► Agriculture became commercialized on cash crops for national and international markets   From subsistence to market/stores   Pushed out local/small farmers ► ► Competition and overproduction lowered prices while input costs increased ► ► Organization of farmers against unfair practices   National Grange Movement ► ► Cooperatives ► ► Granger laws ► ► Munn v. Illinois (1877) allowed for regulation of businesses in public sector   Interstate Commerce Act (1886) ► ► Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), federal regulatory agency   National Alliance and the Ocala Platform (1890) ► ► Unity against corporations and monopolies ► ► Favored direct election of Senators, lower tariffs, graduated income tax, federal banking system