Westward Expansion

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Westward Expansion
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After the Civil War, railroad building exploded
in the US. In 1869, the first railroad spanning
the US was completed the Transcontinental
Railroad
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As the railroads moved farther West, they brought
settlers with them.
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In 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act to
encourage people to move west. This act gave 160
acres of free western land to the head of any
household. By 1900, 600,000 people had taken
advantage of the government's offer.
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Suddenly, these white settlers found themselves
moving onto Native American land. Needless to
say, the Native Americans were not happy about
that.
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As more and more white settlers moved west,
fighting broke out among the western tribes like
the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Apache, and the white
settlers.
Geronimo
Chief Joseph
Sitting Bull
Crazy Horse
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Most tribes were rounded up and sent to large
tracts of land called reservations, which were
set aside for the Indians. Some decided to fight.
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One of the saddest events happened in 1864 when
150 peaceful Cheyenne were slaughtered by the
Army in the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado.
Those killed were mostly women and children.
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In June, 1876, US General George Custer led the
7th Cavalry against the Sioux and Cheyenne near
the Little Bighorn River in Montana.
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He thought there were only a couple of hundred
warriors camped on the plains. There were
actually as many as 8,000. When Custer attacked,
the warriors surrounded him and his men, killing
every one of them. This is called Custer's Last
Stand.
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In December, 1890, the Army took 350 Sioux to a
camp at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. During a
weapons search, a shot was fired, and the army
opened up with a cannon. Within minutes, nearly
300 Indians were dead, and their corpses were
left to freeze on the ground. The Battle of
Wounded Knee brought the Indian Wars to a close.
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In an effort to restore peace, Congress passed
the Dawes Act in 1887. This act tried to
"Americanize" the Indians by breaking up the
reservations and giving 160 acres to the head of
each Native American household. All the land
left was then sold to white settlers. By 1932,
2/3 of all reservation land belonged to whites.
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The people who came west found the land on the
Great Plains unsuitable for large-scale farming.
So they started using the plains to graze
thousands of beef cattle on the open range.
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There were no fences out there at first. Cattle
just wandered around in herds, identified by
brands, and managed by cowboys.
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Remember, the populations of eastern cities was
skyrocketing because of industrialization and
immigration. The people in the cities needed
food, so agents came to the west, bought cattle
from ranchers, loaded them on trains, brought
them to the eastern cities, and sold them to
slaughterhouses.
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The cities where cows were driven by cowboys to
be loaded on trains suddenly went from being
sleepy little tiny villages to wide-open boom
towns with exploding populations.
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Cities like Abilene, Kansas, Cheyenne, Wyoming,
and Denver, Colorado came to be called Cowtowns
after their main money source.
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The open range ended as quickly as it began, due
to overgrazing and extended bad weather. But the
thing most responsible for ending the open
ranging of cattle was barbed wire.
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Invented by Joseph Glidden, barbed wire was cheap
and easy to put up. It allowed ranchers to
change to raising small herds of high quality
cattle.
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The federal government supported famers and
ranchers by financing agricultural education.
The Morrill Act gave federal land to the states
to build agricultural colleges.
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Agricultural researchers developed grains for dry
soils and techniques for dry farming. One of the
most important inventions for taming the west was
the steel windmill.
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In regions with little rainfall, the steel
windmill could bring water from deep underground
for use in the household and for irrigation.
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In the late 1800s, farmers were experiencing
unpredictable times. Crop prices rapidly rose
and fell, and many farmers who had borrowed money
to buy land couldn't make their payments. They
lived under the constant threat of foreclosure.
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Furthermore, railroads and banks had taken
ownership of 1,000s of acres of good western
farmland, and railroads were charging very high
prices for crop shipping and storage. Why could
they do this? There was no COMPETITION!
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In response to this situation, Oliver Hudson
Kelley started an organization of farmers called
the Grange. The Grange taught farmers how to
organize and how to sponsor laws to regulate
railroads.
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In 1892, farmers took a step beyond just
organization they formed their own political
party, the Populist Party.
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The Populist Party sought to lift the burden of
debt from farmers and other workers, and to give
the people a greater voice in their government.
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What did the Populists want? -An increase in the
money supply (which would then cause a rise in
prices for goods) -A federal loan program for
farmers -Single terms for Pres. And
vice-Pres. -A secret ballot in all elections -A
required 8-hour work day -Restrictions on
immigration
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The Populist Party was successful in America
until the election of 1896. The Populists and
Democrats both nominated William Jennings Bryan.
The Republicans nominated William McKinley.
McKinley
Bryan
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McKinley won, and the Populist Party rolled into
the Democratic Party. The movement left the US
with the message that people could organize for
political power. Many of their reforms were
later adopted as law.
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Summary more than anything else, the settlement
of the west was brought on by railroads. The RRs
did great things for the country, but carried
with them tough times for Native Americans and
farmers. Just like most things, good and bad
could both be found in the effects of the
railroads on the Wild West.