2. Western Movement

4. Manifest Destiny Renewed 1) The decades following the Civil War settlement of the Great Plains and the Western frontier would greatly increase (region between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Coast)

5. What is driving this western push?

6. American Exceptionalism The idea that the United States and the American people hold a special place in the world.

7. Causes Manifest Destiny Excess of Land Abundant resources Oceans East to West Peaceful frontiers to the North and South

9. Proviso “Things that go wrong are glitches, not examples of larger trends.”

10. The Homestead Act (1862) 1) Congress passed the Homestead Act in 1862 to encourage settlement and farming in the Western territories 2) The Act gave free public land (160 acres to each family) if they agreed to live on and farm the land

11. The Homestead Act (1862) Many Americans had to rebuild their lives after the Civil War and they moved west to take advantage of the Homestead Act

12. Morril Land Grand Act Gives federal government funds to start agricultural schools and research

13. Native American Culture American Indian cultures vary greatly in clothing, religion, language, traditions, etc. The tribes in this time period are referred to as “The Plains Indians”

14. Native American Culture

15. The Buffalo American Indians in the plains rely on the Buffalo as a source of food, clothing, bone (for tools), etc. Around 1750, there are approximately 40 to 50 million buffalo in North America

16. American Indian Culture Mobility – they have very few established towns –Move from place to place following buffalo herds No system of land ownership –General locations where certain tribes hunt, but no established borders

17. Trail of Tears

18. The Five Causes of Indian Sorrow Published by the Native American Handsome Lake –Cards –Money –Fiddle –Whiskey –Blood corruption

19. “Suppose the people living beyond the great sea come and tell you that you must stop farming, and kill your cattle, and take your houses and lands, what would you do? Would you not fight them?” - Gall

20. The Plains Wars (1860s - 80s) 1) The Native American tribes of the Plains begin to attack settlers and the US Military to protect their land and their way of life 2) Many of the tribes were fighting to keep the land that had been promised to them 10 years earlier in a treaty

21. The US Military 1) Many believe that the United States had an official extermination policy toward Native Americans

22. Sand Creek (Chivington) Massacre Poorly trained Colorado militia, led by Col. John Chivington, massacre and mutilate 200 American Indians

23. The Battle of Little Bighorn (1876) 1) Sioux Chiefs “Sitting Bull” and “Crazy Horse” led attacks against miners and the military in the Black Hills Sitting Bull Crazy Horse

24. The Battle of Little Bighorn (1876) 2) General George Custer led the American troops 3) The Native Americans defeated and killed Custer and all 240 of his men at the battle of Little Big Horn XX

25. Wounded Knee (1890) 1)The US Military came upon a group of 300 Sioux at Wounded Knee, South Dakota 2) One Sioux fired a gun and the Military proceeded to systematically kill all 300 Sioux (Men, Women, and Children) 3) Wounded Knee marked the end of the Plains Wars

26. Assimilation The process where a minority group gradually adopts the customs and attitudes of the dominant culture.

27. Xenophobia Fear and contempt of strangers or foreign peoples.

29. Nativism When current residents fear the arrival of new immigrants 1) Americans feared that immigrants would take jobs for lower pay than Americans 2) Americans were also discriminated on the basis of cultural and religious reasons (Jews, etc)

30. Impact on Native Americans Buffalo population drops to about 10,000 –Up to 25,000 in the wild now Native American population drops from about 5-10 million to around 250,000 in 1900 because of disease, warfare, etc

31. Population growth

32. The Dawes Act (1887) 1) This was passed by Congress to give each Native American family 180 acres to farm 2) This failed to work

33. The Dawes Act (1887) A)Plains Indians were Nomadic (life was based on the moving Buffalo hunt) B) Between 1887 and 1943, Native Americans lost 86 million acres of the 138 million acres promised to them in the Dawes Act

34. The Age of the American Cowboy 1)This was during the years immediately before, during, and after the Civil War 2) Great cattle herds began in the Texas territory and began to rapidly move into the Great Plains

35. Cattle industry “cowboy mentality” Causes – Demand for beef in growing cities in the North. Beef replaces pork as major meat consumed Longhorn cattle raised in South Texas

36. Bonanza Farm These farms were huge acreages created from the sale of land by the Northern Pacific Railroad to its investors to cover its debts. They covered thousands of acres and produced large wheat crops.

37. A Bonanza Farm

38. Richard King’s Ranch Texas ranch was 825,000 acres – bigger than the state of Rhode Island

39. Rancheros Move the cows from farms in Texas north to the railroads in Kansas. Who were these cowboys? –½ of the cowboys were Hispanic –¼ were Black

40. The Cash Cow Cost - $3-5 to drive the cattle – only $1 to feed Profit - $20-30 for each cow on slaughter

41. Meatpacking Began in Cincinnati and Chicago Unskilled labor Dangerous and dirty work The Jungle by Upton Sinclair describes conditions Refrigerated railroad cars

42. Technology makes farming more prosperous Iron bladed plows make it easier to dig into hard prairie soil

43. Technology makes farming more prosperous 1)The cast iron wind mill and drilled wells made it possible for farmers on the Great Plain to have a constant water supply 2)The invention of the mechanical reaper made it much easier to harvest crops

44. Barbed Wire Designed by Joseph Glidden Defines boundaries of land and keeps cattle from escaping –Changes concept of land ownership out west