1. American History II - Unit 1
THe Great West
American History II - Unit 1

2. Manifest Destiny "...The American claim is by the right of our manifest destiny to over spread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and...self-government entrusted to us.” ~John O’Sullivan (1845)
Manifest Destiny: The belief that it is the God-given right of the United States to expand across the continent.

3. Reasons For It Reasons Against It
Because it’s there – meant to be (God)
Costly (money, war)
Trade and Resources (Land, Gold)
Oppressive
Spread Democracy and Christianity
Arguments over slavery
More powerful nation (nationalism)

5. 1.1 – Settling the Great Plains

6. The Great Plains
Grassland extending through the west-central portion of the US

7. The Great Plains
Cheyenne and Sioux – largest and most resistant tribes on the plains
Buffalo = survival
Food, clothes, shelter, tools, weapons
No sense of land ownership
Nomadic, followed buffalo herds
Land cannot be owned

8. The Great Plains New economic opportunities in the west
Land ownership (“improving upon the land”)
Cattle industry
Gold Rush, mining
Increasing clashes with American settlers and government in the mid-late 1800s

9. Clashes with Native Americans
1834 – Fed gov’t designated the Great Plains as one large reservation for NA tribes
1850s – Fed gov’t created boundaries for each tribe
Allowed for railroad expansion westward
Massacre at Sand Creek (1864)
Cheyenne tribe returned to Sand Creek to camp for the winter
Col. Chivington and US troops attacked Cheyenne  killed 150, mostly women/children

10. Clashes with Native Americans
Treaty of Ft. Laramie (1868)
Temporary peace between US gov’t and NA tribes
Sioux forced to live along the Missouri River
Sitting Bull (Sioux leader) never signed it
Battle of Little Bighorn(1876)
Miners entered Sioux territory, broke Treaty of Ft. Laramie
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse attacked Col. George Custer and killed Custer and troops (aka Custer’s Last Stand)
Sioux eventually lost and Sitting Bull fled to Canada until 1880s

11. Clashes with Native Americans
1890 – Sioux tribe starving  performed large scale “Ghost Dances” in hopes to bring prosperity
Activity caught attention of police who go to arrest Sitting Bull  one police officer killed  Sitting Bull killed
Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)
Starving Sioux taken to Wounded Knee, SD by US troops
US troops demanded Sioux give up weapons
Shot fired from unknown source  300 deaths
Marked the end of large scale conflicts with NA tribes

12.
Ghost Dance

13. Native American Assimilation
Not all Americans supported the killing of NAs
1881 – Helen Hunt Jackson published A Century of Dishonor that exposed NA treatment by fed gov’t
Some Americans encourage assimilation – a minority group’s adoption of the cultural beliefs of the dominant culture
Dawes Act (1887) – aimed to “Americanize” NAs, provided 160 acres of reservation land to each NA family
Rest of land would be sold to settlers  $ to help NAs start farms
Promote ideas of “land ownership”
By 1930s, 2/3 land bought by white settlers, NAs got no $

14. Growing Cattle Business
Settlers learned Mexican techniques for managing large cattle herds
Round up, rope, brand, maintain/care
Mostly longhorns taken from Texas to ranges via cattle trails (Chisholm Trail)
Ranching industry and demand for beef grew quickly with new inventions
Barbed wire – 1874, easily divided up land and secured animals, reduced cost of enclosing land
Refrigerated train car – 1875, could ship beef long distances without spoiling

15. Cowboys Herded cattle along cattle trails 1865-1866 – 55,000 cowboys
25% black
12% Mexican
As young as 15
NOT like Hollywood portrayals
hour days
3 months = 1 “long drive” (trip on cattle trail)
1 cowboy to every cattle
Always on alert for dangers to cattle
Gun to protect herd, not to hurt/chase outlaws
Expert rider and roper, but horse usually belonged to trail boss/supervisor

16. End of the Open Range
By the late 1880s, the land on the Great Plains was no longer profitable.
Wiped out by overgrazing
Series of cold and dry weather
Most ranchers scaled down ranches and focused on high-grade cattle = more meat per animal = more $
Barbed wire was used to divide up land (“tamed” the west)

17. Settlers Move West: Railroad Expansion
– Fed gov’t gave large land grants to railroad companies
Land grant = piece of land in exchange using the land how the gov’t wanted
Railroad companies sold some land to farmers
Central Pacific and Union Pacific raced to lay track to the Pacific
Used immigrant workers – Mexicans, Chinese, and Irish (+ Civil War vets and blacks)
8 miles of track/day
Very dangerous – explosives to blow through mountains
By 1890s – east and west coasts linked by many tracks

18. Settlers Move West: Government Supported Settlement
Homestead Act (1862) – gave 160 acres of land to any citizen over 21 who headed a household
By 1900, 600,000 families accepted land
Included exodusters – blacks who moved westward from the post-Reconstruction south
Not all families were successful – dry land, hard to enforce the 160 acre allotment against railroad companies and miners

19. Settlers Move West: Government Supported Settlement
Oklahoma Land Rush – (April 2, 1889) - Fed gov’t gave away land in Oklahoma to settlers
First come, first serve
Gun went off, land was claimed with flag in the ground
Some settlers claimed land the night before.
“too soon” = the Sooners

20. Closing the Frontier
1872 – Yellowstone National Park established by the fed gov’t
As western lands were claimed and settled so quickly, some believed that land should be protected and designated as wilderness.
By 1880, more than 19 million acres of land had been bought and settled.
By 1890, the frontier line no longer existed.

21. Challenges Settling the Great Plains
Terrible weather  hard to farm
Drought, floods, fire, blizzards, locust plagues, etc
Native American attacks and raids by outlaws
Few trees  hard to built homes
Built homes in the sides of hills
Soddy-home – prairie home built from blocks of hard dirt

22. Challenges Settling the Great Plains
Women experienced very difficult conditions and had to be completely self-sufficient.
Plowed land, planted seed, and harvested wheat
Sheared sheep and cattle to make clothes for family
Helped dig wells and carry water to home
Cooked, cleaned, and raised children
Sponsored schools and churches to create communities

23. Challenges Settling the Great Plains
Morrill Act (1862) – federal land given to states to establish universities with agriculture programs
NCSU in Raleigh established in 1887 due to Morrill Act
Led to better agricultural practices and improved equipment and technology
Farmers quickly in DEBT by late 1800s!
Bad weather
Expensive machinery
Falling wheat prices
Increasing railroad shipping costs
High interest rates on loans