1. THE AMERICAN WEST America Moves West

2. CONFLICTS WITH NATIVE AMERICANS  American policy towards Native Americans changed in the mid 1800s.  Prior to the mid 1800s, the Army would remove Natives from their land and relocate them to lands in the western territories  However, beginning around the 1850s, many Americans were moving into the western territories  To allow for American settlement in the west, the government began to seize Native land and move them onto reservations

3. CONFLICTS WITH NATIVE AMERICANS  The purpose behind this policy change was to break up the power of the Plains Indians (Sioux, Comanche, Cheyenne, etc…)  Plains Indians depended on the buffalo for almost all of their needs (food, clothing, shelter, weapons) so they followed the migration patterns of the buffalo  Because Plains Indians followed the buffalo, white settlers felt that it was ok to take their land since they didn’t develop / cultivate it

4. THE PLAINS INDIAN WARS  Tensions between the U.S. and Plains Indians eventually grew into outright war – war for control over Plains territories  Notable events of the Plains Indian Wars: Sand Creek Massacre: The U.S. Army massacred a tribe of Cheyenne Indians after convincing them to return to their reservation (150 Cheyenne killed and reservation was burned) – the commander was not punished

5. PLAINS INDIAN WARS  Notable Events Continued… Battle of Little Bighorn (aka Custer’s Last Stand): Custer was sent in to remove Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians from the area. The area legally belonged to the Natives, but precious metals had been discovered in the area and white miners were being attacked as they moved into the area. Custer and his men were slaughtered by the Natives It was the last major victory for the Plains Indians against the U.S. government

6. PLAINS INDIAN WARS  Notable Events Continued… Wounded Knee Massacre: A group of Sioux Indians, being held in a camp at Wounded Knee Creek, were performing the Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dance was a spiritual revival among the Plains Indians (think 1 st and 2 nd Great Awakening for Americans ). The Ghost Dance concerned the U.S. troops as they believed it could lead to rebellion by the Natives. When the Sioux refused to stop performing the Ghost Dance, the troops carried out an unprovoked attack against the Sioux – 300 men, women, and children were killed. This symbolically serves as the end of Plains Indian resistance against the U.S. government

7. NOTABLE PLAINS INDIAN WARRIORS  Chief Joseph – Leader of the Nez Perce  Geronimo – Leader of the Apache

8. RESERVATION LIFE  One of the main goals of Reservations was to attempt to assimilate Native Americans to the “white” way of life  The Bureau of Indian Affairs was a federal agency that oversaw the development of schools for Indian children – schools were often far from their home, the children had to speak English, and wear traditional American style clothing

9. THE DAWES ACT  The Dawes Act was also part of American efforts to assimilate Native Americans  Under the Dawes Act, reservation landed was divided up and given to Native American families for the purpose of developing agricultural programs (farming and raising livestock)

10. MINING AND RANCHING  Discoveries of gold and silver attracted many American settlers to the western territories  Examples of major gold / silver rushes were: the Comstock Lode in Nevada and the Yukon Territory in Canada  Most of the early mining settlers who moved to the West were men, only a few women and children came to the new mining towns

11. MINING AND RANCHING  The first miners who came to the West were looking to strike it rich on their own  Over time, the mining operations were taken over by large companies and miners worked for the companies as opposed to for themselves – this led to small mining camps turning into major western cities

12. MINING AND RANCHING  Ranching in the West grew after the Civil War as demand for beef in the cities exploded (a $4 steer in Texas would sell for $40 in Eastern cities)  Ranchers hired cowboys to drive herds of cattle to the nearest railroad towns – the most important trail was the Chisholm Trail which went from San Antonio to Kansas

14.  The explosion in cattle drives led to fierce battles over enclosed grazing lands  Barbed wire had been invented to enclose grazing lands to better control cattle herds – however, this upset the landless cattle owners who had been accustomed to free range grazing MINING AND RANCHING

15. farmers on the Great Plains  Initially, the Great Plains was difficult to attract farmers to because many viewed the area as a desert.  To encourage settlement of the Great Plains, Congress passed 3 new laws Homestead Act – Any head of household 21 or older could claim 160 acres of land Each homesteader was required to build a home, make improvements to and farm the land for 5 years – if they did so, the land was free (2 million Americans became Homesteaders under the Homestead Act

16. FARMERS ON THE GREAT PLAINS  A second act passed by Congress to encourage settlement of the Great Plains was the Pacific Railway Act Under this act, the government gave millions of acres of land to railroad companies to encourage them to build railroad and telegraph lines in the Great Plains Many Railroad companies were corrupt in their use of the land – they built some rail lines, but sold much of the land to American settlers for a profit

17. FARMERS ON THE GREAT PLAINS  The 3 rd major act passed by Congress to encourage American settlement of the Great Plains was the Morrill Act The Morrill Act gave states large areas of Federal land to be used to build colleges – specifically to teach agriculture and the mechanic arts. Many state universities were established under the Morrill Act: UK, Texas A&M, Kansas State University, University of Tennessee, Oklahoma State University – to name just a few

18. FARMERS ON THE GREAT PLAIN  The Oklahoma Land Rush is one of the primary examples of the government encouraging Americans to move west.  In 1899, 2 million acres of land that had previously been set aside of Native Americans, was opened for homesteading.  On the set date / time, 50,000 +/-, people rushed to stake their claim to some of this free Oklahoma land

19. FARMERS ON THE GREAT PLAINS  Here are some of the push / pull factors that brought people to the Great Plains: push factors are reasons for leaving and pull factors are reasons for moving where you move to. For white settlers, most came from the Mississippi Valley and were looking for new opportunities after the Civil War For African-Americans, they moved west during this time to escape the Black Codes and KKK in the South – they were known as Exodusters

20. FARMERS ON THE GREAT PLAINS  Push / Pull factors for Europeans included economic opportunity – many who came were land poor and the homestead programs allowed for easy land ownership – also the Irish moved to the West looking for railroad work  The Chinese also sent many immigrants to the U.S. West during this time – they came looking for gold or jobs building rail lines – many also turned to farming

21. HARDSHIPS IN THE GREAT PLAINS  Life in the Great Plains was difficult.  The weather was harsh: severe winters and summers  Water was scarce so they depended on wells and irrigation  Wood was scarce so homes were built out of soil in the side of small mounds

22. A GREAT PLAINS FAMILY AND THEIR DUGOUT

23. INNOVATIONS IN THE GREAT PLAINS  New plow innovations allowed for easier tilling of the tough sod in the Great Plains making farming more viable  Combine harvesters cut wheat, separated out grains and removed husks all at once  Bonanza farms became popular – specialized in one crop (very profitable in good years, but very risky)

24. THE CLOSING OF THE FRONTIER  In 1890, the Census Bureau, based on the most recent census issued a momentous report stating that the frontier was closed  There had been so many settlers in the Great Plains that they had broken up the new land – no new frontier areas  In 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner wrote an influential essay with the thesis being that frontier is what had given the U.S. its distinct culture and identity – By settling the American West, the U.S. had formed its own identity – one uniquely separate from Europe