Download Ch 17- The West

Chapter 17: The West—
Exploiting an Empire
AP United States History
Week of February 29, 2016
Moving West — What “Pushed” Americans
After Civil War, Americans moved west of the Mississippi River, taking
over land for farms, ranches, and mines, forcing out the Native Americans
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1865: nearly 250,000 Natives lived in western half of US
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1889-1896: North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Montana,
Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah joined union
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“Push factors” and “pull factors” behind expansion
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“Push” factors: Impact of the Civil War – farmers, slaves, and
workers are all displaced; now in search of land
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Groups, including immigrants, sought refuge from persecution
Moving West — How The Government “Pulled”
Americans
Government incentives resulted in large tracts of land being either sold
inexpensively or given away, promoting western expansion
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Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864: government gave land grants
to Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad companies
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Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862: Congress gave state governments
land that they could later sell to raise money for so-called “land-grant”
colleges and universities. Land was sold to speculators
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Also created the United States Department of Agriculture
Homestead Act of 1862: settles could have 160 acres of land of they
met certain conditions – age, citizenship, construction, and duration of
residency on land
Moving West — How The Private Property “Pulled”
Americans
Laws such as the Homestead Act represented an extension
of of private property rights, private enterprise, and a free
market across the West
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Legal enforcement: cattle branding, establishment of
water rights, presence of state and local laws
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European immigrants also migrated west: Scandinavian
Lutherans, Irish, Italians, European Jews, and Chinese
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Discovery of gold
Conflict with Native Americans — Government
Policy
Conflict between Native Americans and settlers arose because of differing views on land
– settlers sought to make land more productive, while Native Americans took the
settlers’ advances as an invasion
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Government policy: initially, making treaties or having Native Americans live on
reservations
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1834: Indian Intercourse Act — whites may no tenter Indian country without a
license
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1850s — assigned tribes to specific land, as settlers moved west
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The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), within the Department of the Interior, was
charged with managing delivery of supplies to reservations, but was unsuccessful
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Over time, federal government came to view treaties as useless
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1871: declared they would no longer make treaties, recognize chiefs
Conflict with Native Americans — Sand Creek
Massacre
Violence erupted in 1864 between the Cheyenne, in Colorado territory, and Col.
John Chivington, commander of US Army in Colorado during Civil War
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Cheyenne chief Black Kettle reported to Fort Lyon to establish a peace treaty
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Chivington ordered his soldiers to attack Black Kettle’s camp, where they killed
roughly 130 Native Americans, most of which were women and children
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Remaining Cheyenne fled to reservations
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“I saw the bodies of those lying there cut all to pieces, worse mutilated than
any I ever saw before; the women cut all to pieces ... With knives; scalped;
their brains knocked out; children two or three months old; all ages lying
there, from sucking infants up to warriors ... By whom were they mutilated?
By the United States troops” – John S. Smith
Conflict with Native Americans — Battle of Little
Bighorn
“Custer’s Last Stand:” stunning defeat of Lt. Gen. George A. Custer by the Sioux of
the Northern Plains
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Government plans to build road – Bozeman Trail – through Sioux territory enraged
the Sioux
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Government abandoned plan and created a large Sioux reservation under the
terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868
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Custer claimed the Black Hills region had gold; hostilities erupted after two Sioux
chiefs (Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse) left the reservation
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June, 1876: Custer’s 265 soldiers were wiped out by an army of 2,500 Sioux in
roughly one hour
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Army were stunned; flooded the area with troops, eventually pushing the Sioux
back to their reservation
Conflict with Native Americans — Battle of
Wounded Knee, 1890
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Native American prophet, Wovoka, promised return to
traditional life if people performed purification ceremonies
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Included was the Ghost Dance, which was interpreted
as restlessness by the Sioux
Indian police officers shot and killed Sitting Bull, and
violence erupted as the Sioux were surrendering
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Roughly 200 were killed; this was the last major
episode of violence in the Indian Wars
New Policies Toward Native Americans
Many reformers felt that the Native Americans were uncivilized and had to be reformed, and as
“assimilation” began, tribal life ended
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Army Capt. Richard H. Pratt opened the United States Indian Training and Industrial School in
Carlisle, PA, in 1879
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Goal: assimilating Native Americans into mainstream white American culture
Dawes Severalty Act, 1887: divided Native American land into 160-acre plots, gave them to
Native American families while granting them U.S. citizenship
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Most of the land granted was unsuitable for agricultural purposes, much ended up in the
hands of whites
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Natives also did not know farming techniques
Final blow: extermination of plains buffalo as railroads pushed west
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Estimates: 40 million in 1830 to 541 in 1889; 360,000 today
Settlement of the West
From 1870 to 1900, Americans took over more land than had been occupied by 1870. What led
them out west?
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Gold Rush of 1849: discovery of gold in California and elsewhere
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Families migrated on Overland Trail, sharing tasks along the way
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Arduous journey took roughly six months
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Gradually, locomotives replaced wagon trains, but were expensive
Land laws…
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Homestead Act, 1862 gave 160 acres of land to people who could pay $10 registration fee,
live and cultivate for five years
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Timber Culture Act of 1873, Desert Land Act of 1877, Timber and Stone Act of 1878 followed
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National Reclamation Act (Newlands Act) of 1902 set aside proceeds from land sale to
finance irrigation projects
The Bonanza West — Mining
From 1850 to 1900, the possibility of wealth in mining and cattle ranching drew settlers into the region
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Mining was the first magnet that drew settlers west
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California Gold Rush of 1849: discovery of gold in California and elsewhere
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Many newcomers followed to work in other industries as mining towns grew
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Placer mining with shovels and pans gave way to large mines and rock crushers
1859: Pikes Peak, CO; Comstock Lode in Nevada, Black Hills in SD
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Miners flocked to new areas, developing towns overnight
Miners met and organized a “district” and established rules
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Men outnumbered women in mining towns, immigrants were25-50% of population as foreign
born
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Hostility followed: Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882, prohibited Chinese laborer immigration
for ten years
The Bonanza West, Part II — Cattle Ranching
After 1865, cattle ranching dominated the “open range” from Texas to the Canadian border
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American cowboys learned ranching techniques from vaqueros
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Moved Texas longhorns (cattle) up north
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1867: Joseph McCoy signed a contract with Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad
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Life of the cowboy: hard, dangerous work, long days
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Cowboys pushed steers northward to cities like Abilene and Dodge city
Established their own law/government
End of cattle boom: barbed wire divided ranches, mechanical improvements modernized the
industry
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Ranching became big business
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1885-1887: hot summers and cold winters killed cattle; ranchers switched to sheep, and new
people settled west
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After 1887, who is moving west?
The Bonanza West, Part III — Farming
The mining and ranching booms gradually gave way to a farming boom. Between 1870 and 1900,
farmers cultivated more land than at ay other time in American history
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Farming followed gradual, predictable settlement patters
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Exodusters: African Americans who fled the South to farm in Kansas
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Other African Americans moved to Oklahoma
Farming was challenging and required new adaptations
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Little surface water, sod houses, brutal winters
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New farming methods: dry farming, new tools, new varieties of wheat
In late 1870s, bonanza farms run by machinery and financed by capital
Farm discontent: National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, or, the Grange
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Provided social, cultural, educational activities for members
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Farming boom was hurt by drought, declining crop prices, heavy mortgages
The Bonanza West, Part IV: “Boomer, Sooner!”
As the west filled, pressure mounted on President Benjamin Harrison to
open the last Indian territory, Oklahoma, to settlers
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1880s: squatters overran the land, and Congress agreed to buy out the
Indian claims to the region
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Land Run of 1889: Tens of thousands of homesteaders lined up at the
territory’s borders; at noon on April 22, 1889, they rushed to claim land
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Boomer: people who campaigned for the land to be opened and
waited for signal
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Sooner: people who settled on the lands before they were opened
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They had an unfair advantage on finding, claiming farmland