The West: Exploiting an Empire

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• The West Exploiting an Empire
• 1849?1902

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The West Exploiting an Empire, 1849?1902

• Beyond the Frontier
• What were the challenges of settling the country
  west of the Mississippi?
• Crushing the Native Americans
• How did white Americans crush the culture of the
  Native Americans as they moved west?

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The West Exploiting an Empire, 1849?1902

• Settlement of the West
• Why did Americans and others move to the West?
• The Bonanza West
• Why was the West a bonanza of dreams and
  get-rich-quick schemes?

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Video SeriesKey Topics in U.S. History

1. Conquest of the West
2. The Dawes Act
3. Chinese Exclusion Act
4. The Gold Rush

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Lean Bears Changing West

• 1863 Indian chiefs met with Lincoln
• Lean Bear, the Cheyenne Chief
• A few years later federal troops invaded Lean
  Bears land and killed him
• Promised peace
• The West became great colonial empire
• Place of conquest and exploitation

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Beyond the Frontier

• 1840 - Settlement reached Missouri
• Great Plains treeless, nearly flat
• Rockies formidable barrier
• Basin desolate areas of Idaho and Utah
• Pacific Coast past Cascades and Sierra Nevada,
  temperate
• Most pre?Civil War settlers headed directly for
  Pacific Coast

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Beyond the Frontier
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Discussion Question

• What were the particular challenges of settling
  the country west of the Mississippi?

Beyond the Frontier
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Crushing the Native Americans

• Life of the Plains Indians
• Searching for an Indian Policy
• Final Battles on the Plains
• The End of Tribal Life

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Crushing the Native Americans

• 1865 250,000 Indians in western U.S.
• Displaced Eastern Indians
• Native Plains Indians
• Pacific Coast tribes
• By the 1870s
• Most Indians on reservations
• California Indians decimated by disease

Crushing the Native Americans
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Life of the Plains Indians

• Two-thirds of all Native Americans lived on the
  Great Plains
• Many distinctive tribes
• Nomadic and warlike
• Migratory
• Labor divided by gender

Crushing the Native Americans
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Searching for an Indian Policy

• Early nineteenth century
• Indian Country - land west of the Mississippi
  River
• Whites could not enter without license
• 1850s Wagon trains, gold rush, and talk of
  transcontinental railroad
• Government ended one big reservation
• New policy of concentration
• Whites poured into West

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Searching for an Indian Policy (continued)

• Violence erupted as settlers moved west
• Sand Creek massacre
• Sioux War of 18651867
• Fetterman massacre
• Debate over Indian policy
• Humanitarians wanted to civilize Indians
• Others wanted firm control, swift reprisal
• Small reservation policy adopted
• Isolate Indians

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Crushing the Native Americans
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Final Battles on the Plains

• Small reservation policy failed
• Young warriors refused restraint
• White settlers encroached on Indian lands
• Final series of wars suppressed Indians
• Little Big Horn
• Wounded Knee Massacre - 1890
• To suppress Ghost Dances
• Most battles resulted in Indian defeat

Crushing the Native Americans
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Crushing the Native Americans
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The End of Tribal Life

• Assimilation policy
• Congress stopped making treaties - 1871
• Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania
• Dawes Severalty Act - 1887
• Near extermination of buffalo
• Native American loss of culture
• 1900 only 250,000 remained in U.S.
• Poor lifestyle

Crushing the Native Americans
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Crushing the Native Americans
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Discussion Question

• How did white Americans crush the culture of the
  Native Americans as they moved west?

Crushing the Native Americans
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Settlement of the West

• Men and Women on the Overland Trail
• Land for the Taking
• The Spanish-Speaking Southwest

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Settlement of the West

• Unprecedented settlement 18701900
• Most moved West seeking a better life
• Rising population drove increasing demand for
  Western goods
• West was not a major safety valve for social
  and economic tensions

Settlement of the West
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Men and Women on theOverland Trail

• Great migration westward
• First push aimed for California and Oregon
• Gold Rush of 1849
• Overland Trail
• Migration usually a family affair
• Journey was strenuous

Settlement of the West
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Land for the Taking

• 18601900 Federal land grants
• Homestead Act of 1862
• Most land acquired by wealthy investors
• Water was dominant issue
• 1902 - National Reclamation Act (Newlands Act)
• Railroads largest landowners in West
• Eager to have immigrants settle on land

Settlement of the West
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Settlement of the West
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The Spanish-Speaking Southwest

• Spanish-speakers of Southwest
• Contributed to culture and institutions
• Spanish?Mexican Californians
• Culture shaped society
• Continuous immigration kept culture strong

Settlement of the West
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Discussion Question

• Why did Americans and others to move to the West?

Settlement of the West
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The Bonanza West

• The Mining Bonanza
• The Cattle Bonanza
• The Farming Bonanza
• Discontent on the Farm
• The Final Fling

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The Bonanza West

• Quest to get rich quick
• Produced uneven growth
• Caused boom-and-bust economic cycles
• Wasted resources
• Constant change
• Instant cities
• Institutions based on bonanza mentality
• West - an idea as well as a region

The Bonanza West
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The Mining Bonanza

• Mining first attraction to the West
• California Gold Rush of 1849
• Placer mining gave way to big business
• Comstock Lode
• Black Hills
• Towns grew from camps that sprouted with first
  strike
• Governed by simple democracy
• More men than women
• Many foreign-born

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The Mining Bonanza (continued)

• Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
• Hostility toward foreign miners grew
• Suspended Chinese immigration for ten years
• 1890s - bonanza over
• Contributed millions to economy and helped
  finance Civil War
• Scarred and polluted environment
• Left ghost towns

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What New Economic Patterns Emerged in the West?

• How did railroad expansion shape population
  growth in the West?
• How did western agriculture develop during the
  late 1800s?
• How did the federal governments presence
  manifest itself as settlers moved west?

The Bonanza West
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The Bonanza West
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The Bonanza West
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The Cattle Bonanza

• The far West ideal for cattle grazing
• Cattle ranching dominated open range
• Getting beef to eastern markets
• Cowboys worked long hours for little pay
• Laws and rules
• End of the great cattle drives
• Farmers moved in
• Mechanization modernized ranching
• Weather connection
• Ranchers adapted

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The Bonanza West
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The Bonanza West
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The Farming Bonanza

• 1870?1900 Millions of farmers moved West to
  cultivate land
• Population on Plains tripled
• 1900 - 30 percent of population in West, compared
  to less than 1 percent in 1850
• Exodusters
• Problems on the Plains
• New farming methods

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Discontent on the Farm

• National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry (the
  Grange)
• Provided social, cultural, and educational
  activities
• Banned political involvement
• Farmers grievances
• Transformation of American agriculture
• Nations garden
• Commercial and scientific

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The Final Fling

• 1889 - Oklahoma opened to white settlement
• Indians forced to give up rights to land
• Sooners and Boomers

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Discussion Question

• Why was the West a bonanza of dreams and
  get-rich-quick schemes?

The Bonanza West
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Conclusion The Meaning of the West

• Historians differ in their interpretation of the
  American frontier experience
• Frederick Jackson Turner Turners thesis
• New Western historians
• Image of frontier and the West influenced
  American development

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