1. The South and West Transformed
Chapter 3.3

2. Focus Question
What were the most important developments in the South and West?

3. The New South
After Reconstruction came to an end, citizens hoped that the could create a new economy by developing their own mills instead of shipping products to the North.
You begin to see the development of Textile, Timber, and Steel Mills develop.
Even railroad industry quickly developed
However, much of the industry that was developed was financed with help from the north due to shortage in capital ($$$)

4. Southern Farmers Face Difficult Times
Farmers hit hard times due to their dependence on cotton and the declining profits for the crop.
Crops were infested with boll weevil, and could completely destroy a crop… Farmers would abandon farms and move North for jobs.
Sharecropping also contributed to hardships, because owners would dictate what could be planted and costs for everything the tenant use or sell.
Sharecroppers would often forfeit everything to pay for previous debt.

5. African Americans Suffer Setbacks
Although some African Americans were able to buy land and get an education, many could not.
Many were stripped of any civil rights after the military left from reconstruction.
Groups such as the Ku Klux Klan terrorized African Americans who sought to exercise their political rights.

6. Cultures Clash in the West
For over a century European settlers had been pushing Native Americans off their lands
Though they were lumped together as “Indians,” they had diverse beliefs, religions, political systems
In the 1830’s the Indian Removal Act forced many off their lands in the South and to move West of the Mississippi River in Oklahoma

7. Cultures Clash in the West
Plains Indians Under Pressure
After the Civil War, the federal government decided to move Plains Indians onto reservations
If any chose to stay they would be forced off or killed and removed.
On reservations many fell into a cycle of poverty and despair.
Children of the Plains

8. Cultures Clash in the West
Plains Indians Under Pressure Continued
There were approx. 250,000 Plains Indians the lived West of the Miss. River after the Civil War.
Livelihood was based on hunting buffalo and wild game.
Large numbers of buffalo were killed off due to sport and hides by white Americans traveling by train or settling into the area.

9. Cultures Clash in the West
Native Americans Resist
Some decided to fight instead of moving onto the reservations and defend the land that they believe belonged to them.
During the Civil War a conflict between Minnesota settlers and the Dakota tribe led to the US Govt. rounding up 300 warriors and sentencing them to death.
In the end 39 were executed in the largest public hanging in US history.

10. Cultures Clash in the West
Native Americans Resist Continued
US was in return defeated by the Sioux tribe in the Battle of Little Bighorn in It became known as Custer’s Last Stand, because no US soldier survived.
The Nez Perce tribe in the Northwest was a peaceful people who did not want to leave their ancestral land. However when threated with violence, Chief Joseph moved them reluctantly to Idaho.

11. Cultures Clash in the West
Native Americans Resist Continued
There were 20 young Nez Perce warriors that were upset and attacked white settlement
Led to the remainder of the tribe to have to fight as they retreated toward Canada, 40 miles before the border Chief Joseph surrendered.

12. Cultures Clash in the West
The Government Promotes Assimilation
After govt. has moved most tribes onto reservations and most resistance is crushed did they begin to force assimilation.
In 1881 Helen Hunt Jackson wrote a book titled A Century of Dishonor, in which she accused the US Govt of perusing a dishonorable policy toward Native Americans.

13. Cultures Clash in the West
The Government Promotes Assimilation
In response to her work, The govt passes the Dawes Act in 1887… Purpose was to destroy the Native American was of life through assimilation.
To assimilate would be to be absorbed into the main culture of society (not to participate, use language, dress like, etc… anything representing your culture).
Act let govt. split the reservations into 160 acre plots to give Native Americans opportunity to own in hopes that they would become citizens. Ultimately failed… Fell further into poverty.

14. Cultures Clash in the West
The Government Promotes Assimilation Continued
Many Native Americans looked to traditions as a way of uplifting their spirit.
In 1890, following advice from spiritual leaders, many northern plains people performed the “Ghost Dance.”
Fearing it would lead to insurrection, federal officials banned them.

15. Cultures Clash in the West
The Government Promotes Assimilation Continued
They had been defeated and confined to reservations. Many Sioux believed that if they practiced the Ghost Dance and rejected the ways of the white man, the gods would create the world anew and destroy all non- believers, including non-Indians.
On December 15, 1890, reservation police tried to arrest Sitting Bull, the famous Sioux chief, who they mistakenly believed was a Ghost Dancer, and killed him in the process, increasing the tensions at Pine Ridge.
A gun being misfired, triggered a massacre that killed 200+

16. The Transformation of the West
Miners and Railroads
Discovery of gold in CA, NV, CO, MT, ID, SD- attract prospectors well into the 1800’s to move West.
It is with Railroads through that expansion was possible, connecting parts of the US together as it had not been before.
Railroad allowed farmers and ranchers to get equipment and ship good quick and easy for a fee.

17. The Transformation of the West
Ranchers and Farmers
Plains area had few trees, very little rainfall, and miles of land. Land was barbed wire for fencing. Very isolated life
For heat, they burned buffalo chips.
Cattle Ranches that started in Texas by Mexicans, and cattle roamed free.
After moved ranches and cattle toward N. Plains and a brutal winter, ranchers could better protect their cattle by keeping the closer to provide shelter and food. It was the end of the free range system

18. Summary
Write 2-3 Sentences to tell me what these notes were about.
Don’t forget to answer the focus question and write your connections to the left of your notes.