Chapter 13

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Chapter 13Changes On The Western Frontier

• 1865 1896

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Cultural Differences

• Native Americans (NA)
• No formal leadership
• Land to be used/not owned
• Polytheistic

• White Settlers
• Elected representatives
• Land is to be developed since NAs not developing
  land not using it.
• Monotheistic
• Christianity

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1834 the US designated Indian Territory
www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/.../maps/it-1834.gif
The Great Plains Called the Great American
Desert, Whites thought land was not farmable
because the ground was too hard for wooden plows
to break the surface
4
Settlers Push West

• Gold and Silver California, Dakotas, Arizona
• Farming (American Dream)
• Railroad after 1860
• Mormons (Utah)

5
Steel Plow

• The steel plow was strong enough to rip through
  the compressed top layer of earth.
• Very fertile soil
• This land was now desirable and whites began
  moving in (ignoring the treaty of 1834)
• Government does not stop settlers giving tacit
  approval.

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Transcontinental Railroad (TCR)
www.tcrr.com

• In the 1860s Congress authorizes the building of
  the first TCR
• Extending from Missouri to California
• Right through NA land
• Allows for easy movement across the country (more
  settlers) 6 days instead of 4 months (on foot)

7
Expansion Post Civil War

• Despite the advances from 1830s to 1865, most of
  west still open
• One of the first casualties of expansion was the
  Bison/Buffalo
• As settlers were riding west they would shoot
  them from the train
• The destruction of the herds would have a huge
  impact on NA tribes across the GP

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Importance of Bison/Buffalo

• Food Source
• Clothing and shelter
• Tools
• Without it the NAs were at the mercy of the
  government to provide them with meat.
• 1865 15 million
• 1885 Less than 1,000

10
Broken Treaties

• The Gov tried to make treaties to move NA tribes
  to other areas.
• Both sides disregarded treaties
• NAs They did not recognize the people who made
  treaties as their leaders (whites assumed
  chiefs spoke for tribe)
• Whites simply took land if they wanted it whether
  treaty existed or not

11
Indian Wars

• As more whites took more land, killed more bison,
  broke more treaties
• Some NA tribes began fighting back in battles
  lasting from 1868-1890
• Battles of diminishing returns, even if they won,
  they could not replace dead warriors quickly
  enough, whites could simply send more soldiers by
  train in a week.

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Key Conflicts

• 1864 Sand Creek Massacre
• Colorado Regulars and volunteers slaughter
  hundreds who believed they were under the
  protection of the army.
• 1866 Sioux warriors kill 81 soldiers and
  civilians who were building the Bozeman trail

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Little Big Horn

• Col. Custer discovers gold in the Black Hills of
  South Dakota
• Thousand rush to the Sioux reservation
• Sioux go on warpath
• Destroy Custers 7th Calvary

bcm.bc.edu
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I shall fight no more, forever

• Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce
• The government shrunk their reservation by 90
• After bitter fighting Chief Joseph surrendered
  saying
• The tribe was forced from Oregon to Oklahoma
  forced to abandon their way of life

us.history.wisc.edu/.../indian_chief_joseph.jpg
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What to do with Native Americans

• A Century of Dishonor, by Helen Hunt Jackson
  exposed the plight of the NA
• Well meaning whites wanted to help them Walk the
  White mans road
• Others The only good Indian was a dead Indian
• None of the whites really cared about what the
  NAs wanted

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Massacre at Wounded Knee

• White missionaries urged the government to outlaw
  the Ghost Dance and force conversion on NAs
• NAs began a peaceful dance, soldiers fearing an
  uprising went to arrest Sitting Bull (died in the
  attempt)
• Others led the tribe to the reservation at
  Wounded Knee where they were slaughtered by the
  US Army

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Now we have avenged Custers death. Unnamed
Army Officer
Evans, Harold. The American Century,(14).
Alfred A. Knoph, New York, 2000.
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Dawes Severalty Act 1887

• Formally abolishes all NA tribes
• Reservation land was to be divided into parcels
  for each family
• Any land not given out went to the Railroad
• If NAs lived the white mans life for 25 years
  they could receive full citizenship

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Assimilation

• The giving up of ones own culture to take on
  that of another
• NAs had to sacrifice everything Way of life,
  clothing, religion, language, even their hair
  style
• Children would be separated from families and
  sent to white schools to become Americanized, not
  apart of either world

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Why were the NAs so easily defeated?

• Loss of Bison/Buffalo
• Loss of warriors
• Railroad to send more troops and supplies quickly
• Better weapons
• White mans disease
• No support for NAs in Government

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The Cowboys

• 1 Most people like meat
• 2 Most people live in the East
• 3 Most meat lives in the West
• 4 1,000 miles is a long way to travel for a
  steak
• 5 If the people cant come to the meat. . .
• Bring the meat to the people

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TCR and the Long Drives

• The job of the cowboys was to move the cattle
  from Texas to rail yards/slaughter houses
• Trains moved meat East but also moved settlers
  West
• Soon the great plains would become populated by
  farms using barbed wire to close-off the open
  plains

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The End of the Cowboys

• 1 Farmers close off the routes to the rail yards
• 2 Severe blizzards in the winter of 86-87
  covered up the grass, cattle starved
• 3 it was cheaper and easier to bring the
  railroad to the meat instead of the other way
  around.

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Settlers on the Great Plains

• Homestead Act 1862
• 160 acres of land for 30.00 and a pledge to live
  on the land for 5 years
• Or for the rich folk?
• 1.25 per acre after 6 months on the land
• 4,840 square yards about the size of a football
  field end line to end line (the amount 2 oxen
  could plow in a day)
• The government was essentially giving land away
  to encourage settlement

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Too Good to be True?

• Half a million families take advantage offer
• Problems were many
• Land might not be good for growing
• 160 acres was often not enough land to support a
  family
• Lack of necessities
• Weather Tornadoes, Droughts, Blizzards
• Illness/Injury Every person needed to work
  everyday (also lack of care)

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What attracted the settlers?

• 1 The American Dream to be a land owner
• 2 Importing of a Russian variety of Wheat ideal
  for the great plains (made growing crop easier)
• 3 World markets were down meaning high prices
  for wheat (Law of Supply and Demand High supply
  and low demand low prices, low supply and high
  demand high prices) Farmers move west for profit

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Needs/Priorities

• 1 Water. If your land didnt have a stream then
  you needed to dig a well.
• 2 Shelter. Soddy no wood to be spared for
  house.
• 3 Food. Growing food takes time.
• 4 Winter time? Food, Clothing, Heat?

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Technology Aid the Farmers
Barbed Wire could fence in large areas without
much wood
Steel Plow Able to break hard soil
Reaper Allows 1 farm hand to do the work of 14
Windmill Allows for the pumping of water from
wells. Man over nature.
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13/04/13_04_14---Barbed-Wire_web.jpg,
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Fraud and Abuses

• Many families took advantage of the Homestead Act
  but . . .
• 10xs the amount of land given to families went
  to land speculators (people who buy a product
  expecting the value to increase so they can sell
  it for profit later (buy low, sell high)).
• Told gov. there was 12x14 dwelling on the land.
• There was 12x14 inches.

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Results of Homestead act

• 1 increased tension with NAs
• 2 large influx of population to Mid and Western
  states leading to statehood for all but 3
  continental US territories by 1900
• 3 Closing of the frontier land was not
  infinite, leads to the formation of first
  national parks Yellowstone (1872), Yosemite and
  Sequoia (1890)

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Populism

• By the 1880s the plight of the farmer was
  terrible
• 1 World wheat markets rebound, high supply means
  less money for farmers
• 2 Drought, grass hopper swarms (eat crops) and
  extreme heat weaken farms
• 3 Local, state and federal government gouge
  farmers (high taxes)

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• 4 Railroads charged high prices to move goods
  because farmers had no other options
• 5 Middle-men took huge cuts (People who do
  jobs between product and market place (load and
  unload trucks, transportation and stores))
• 6 General stores the only place to buy products
  in a given area no competition means higher
  prices

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The Grange

• Founded in 1867
• Oliver Hudson Kelley
• Purpose provide social, educational and
  fraternal opportunities to the isolated farmers
• 1875 800,000 members across Midwest

http//www.mnhs.org/places/sites/ohkf/images/Kelle
ydrawing1875.jpg
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Origins of the Movement

• When people get together they complain about
  their lives.
• Farmers realized they had mutual problems and
  enemies
• Individually they were easy targets but banded
  together they were a force that could not be
  ignored.

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The Enemies and What They Wanted to Defeat Them

• Railroads Price Gouging
• Banks High Interest loans from Eastern power
  banks
• Government High taxes

• Nationalization of the RRs if Gov is controlling
  them then prices will be fair
• End national bank in favor of local banks
• Graduated Income Tax the more money one earns
  the higher their taxes are.

• Would become a major part of the election in 1896
  and win small concessions from the late 1870s
  until 1896

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Election of 1896

• William McKinley
• R, Ohio
• Conservative
• Laissez faire No government regulation of
  business
• Gold Standard Backing US dollars with gold only

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• William Jennings Bryan
• D, Nebraska
• Bimetallism Using silver and gold to back
  dollars
• Became the choice of both Democrats and Populists
  after Cross of Gold Speech

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Importance of Election of 1896

• First election to be decided on economic class
  rather than politics.
• Rich/Business support McKinley
• Poor/Farmers support Bryan
• Election would be decided by the emerging Middle
  Class
• The main issue was Bimetallism

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Money

• 1 Why is money worth anything?
• Because we and others value it.
• 2 Why does it have value?
• Because there is a limited supply.
• 3 How is someone rich?
• Because they have more of the limited supply than
  everyone else.
• 4 So why dont we just make more of it?
• Greater supply means less value.

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Why does Bimetallism matter?

• Gold standard means we only have as much cash in
  circulation as we have gold to back it up (100
  in gold 100 in cash).
• If we print money based on the amount of gold and
  silver, there will be more money in circulation
  decreasing its value.
• This would be good for farmers but bad for banks.
  

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Example

• 50 in gold standard money 50 dollars in gold
• Paid back in Bimetallism money 50 50 in gold
  and silver.
• NOT EQUAL IN VALUE
• On paper 50 loaned - 50 paid back 0 owed
• Therefore, good for farmers bad for banks

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On the Stump

• Campaign speeches made at various stops.
  Speakers used to literally stand on a stump to
  see over the crowd.
• Republicans sent speakers all over the country
  saying a vote for Bryan will make you less
  wealthy because the value of your money would go
  down.
• Who wants less money?

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Results

• McKinley wins easily taking the heavily (and
  wealthier) populated East and Upper Midwest
• Bryan won the less populated (and poorer) South
  and West
• In the end, the Middle Class voted to maintain
  their status/Wealth over helping those who needed
  it.

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