Download File

Unit Two: The West
In this unit we analyze why people moved to the west and settled there. We identify and analyze the
inventions and events leading to the Agricultural Revoluti0on and the growth of mining and ranching in
America. We will investigate Native American relations from the 19th to 20th centuries and identify many
important acts such as the Morrill, Dawes, and Homestead Acts. We will complete the unit by
investigating and analyzing the Granger movement and the rise of Populism.
Key People to be identified:
William Jennings Bryan
J.G. McCoy
Joseph Glidden
Cyrus McCormick
John Deere
Eli Whitney
Key Events and Documents to be identified:
Morrill Act
Homestead Act
Pacific Railway Act
Interstate Commerce Act
Sherman Anti-trust Act
Klondike Gold Rush
Transcontinental Railroad
Chinese Exclusion Act
Credit Mobilier Scandal
Key Concepts:
Growth of Railroads
Agricultural Revolution
Grangers
Populist Party Muckrakers
Nativists
Third Parties
Industrial Revolution
Bimetallism
Sodbusters
Reservations
Key Questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Describe and identify American inventors who brought about the Agricultural and Industrial
Revolution in America.
Which Act do you think was the most important and why?
What was the most important development during this time and why?
Describe why people moved west and how they settled.
How do third parties effect the main two parties in our system of government.
TEKS Covered: 3B, 15B, 12A, 5C, 19C, 27A, 14C
The Native Americans
Manifest Destiny was the widely held belief in the US that American settlers were destined to expand
throughout the continent. They believed that they had been chosen by God due to their system of
government, individual freedoms, and religion to take all the land from the east coast to the west coast.
They did not consider the Mexican or Native American people already living in the South west. This
would ultimately lead to war with Mexico and result in the Mexican Cession as Mexico gave 1/3rd of its
territory to the US to make peace in 1848. With the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad in
1869, many Americans began to move and settle in the west further displacing the Native American
people.
In the 1830s, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act to forcibly remove all Native people in the east
to the west (Oklahoma-Indian Territory). This would result in President Andrew Jackson sending the US
Army to round up all the Native Americans, especially the Cherokee, and force march them all the way
to Oklahoma. 15,000 people were thus rounded up, and over 3,000 died on the journey that came to be
known as the Trail of Tears. As more Americans moved west, more Native people were being forced
onto reservations. Government officials were provided money for native movement and the Native
Americans were given subsidies of food, money, and shelter to move. Unfortunately there was lots of
fraud in the process and this led to the giving of rotten meat, diseased blankets, and reporting of
misleading numbers to the government.
Many Native tribes refused to live on the reservations or left the reservations after being victims of
fraud. This led to many of the “Indian Wars” of the 1870s. The Native Americans lost most of the
battles, but did manage to win at the Battle of Little Big Horn where General Custer and his 7th Cavalry
were all killed in what the Americans referred to as a “massacre.” Leading Native American chiefs such
as Sitting Bull and Chief Joseph were finally defeated and their people forced onto reservations.
Many Americans wanted to “civilize” the Native Americans and Congress passed the Dawes Act in
1877. In it every Native American family head would be given 160 acre farm, but they had to abandon
tribal practices and take on American citizenship. The Natives culture believed that no one could own
land and believed that this was an attack on their culture. Meanwhile the US began taking surplus
reservation lands and selling it to white settlers. 90 million of the 140 acres of reservation land was
considered surplus.
As the railroads were built into the west, they paid hunters to kill the huge buffalo herds as they would
tear up the tracks. As buffalo hides were used for clothes and belts, the sale of the hides became very
profitable. The US government even paid for the number of buffalo killed to help move the Plains
Indians onto reservations by destroying their culture and way of life.
The US also had new technology that would help conquer the west, such as trains and the repeating
handguns. Finally in 1924 Congress passed the American Indian Citizenship Act that made all Native
Americans citizens of the United States
Movement West
Manifest Destiny (the belief that the US should expand from the East Coast to the West Coast) led to
the growth of the United States and to a great movement west. Some people moved west due to Push
factors. They wanted to get away from negative events in their lives. This may have been due to lack of
jobs, opportunities, disease, or famine. Others moved west due to Pull factors as there were many
positives to be gained, such as gold being discovered in California and Alaska, cheap land, and the
growth of railroads made moving west easier. Many moved from the Rust Belt-an area straddling the
upper Northeastern United States, the Great Lakes, and the Midwest States, referring to economic
decline, population loss, and urban decay due to the shrinking of its once powerful industrial sector, to
the Sun Belt in the Southwest United States after the Mexican Cession of 1848.
Upon arriving in the west many settlers discovered that much of the land was too arid to farm (needed
water) or that the sod was too hard to farm. Many began moving to urban areas to find work in the new
towns and cities that developed around mining in the west. Many immigrants (such as the Chinese) and
freemen from the south moved west and worked on the Transcontinental Railroad.
The Pacific Railway Acts were a series of acts that promoted the construction of a “Transcontinental
Railroad (the "Pacific Railroad" that connected the East Coast to the West Coast) in the United States
through authorizing the issuance of government bonds and tracts of land to railroad companies. The
Transcontinental Railroad was completed by crews working from California eastward and from the
middle of the nation westward. The Central Pacific Railroad used Chinese labor to go from California to
Utah, while the Union Pacific drove from the Great Plains west to Utah. They were finally connected in
1869 at Promontory Point, Utah. As railroads, roads, and canals were developed, the national market
for goods expanded. Shipping of raw materials and finished goods became less expensive. With the
Industrial Revolution, mass production required this large market to be profitable. This led to the
growth of stores and mail-order houses like Sears and Roebuck that sold goods throughout the nation.
As goods could be easily transported, more people used the railroads to move west and this would
eventually close the frontier as it would be settled within forty years. Unfortunately, there were many
scandals involving railroads including the Credit Mobilier Scandal as railroad tycoons with the Union
Pacific Railroad purchased bonds on credit (with US money), bought them at par value, then sold them
on the stock market at huge gains, and the end result was the US govt. was paying to make them hugely
wealthy and it had no effect on the building of the railroad at all. Many American came to distrust the
government due to such business practices.
In 1862, President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act. It allowed any citizen to occupy 160 acres of
government land. I f they improved the land by making a home and growing crops, after five years the
homesteader would own the property. Almost 1,400,000 people were granted homesteads with this
act.
Mining, Agriculture, and Ranching in the Old West
I.
II.
Gold Rush
a. California Gold Rush of 1848 brought the 49’rs to California increasing the population
and leading to California becoming a state in 1850.
b. Klondike Gold Rush 1896-1899
i. In Alaska, gold was discovered.
ii. Used Placer Mining Techniques to pan for gold.
Ranching- After Civil War, millions of cattle roamed wild in Texas.
a. These “Longhorns” were rounded up and the big ranchers needed to get them north
to be slaughtered. This led to the growth of Cow Towns, such as Abilene, Kansas by
Ranchers like McCoy.
b. Rise of Cattle Barons
i. Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving created the Goodnight-Loving Trail to
bring cattle north.
ii. Led to the growth of Agriculture in the southwest.
c. Morrill Act of 1862- gave land to the states to help build and finance Agricultural
colleges such as Texas A&M
i. Many farms were failing due to falling prices and drought, but the new
Agricultural Education led to new irrigation and dry farming techniques.
1. The Grain Drill-An early form of a tractor that would dig and plant
grain.
2. John Deere invented the steel plow that helped farm the Great Plains.
3. Joseph Glidden invented barbed wire.
The Grange and the Rise of the Populist Party
In 1867 the Grange was founded as a farmer’s social club. By 1877, there were 1.5 million members and
they pushed for economic and political reforms. Many farmers joined together and formed
cooperatives where they could buy goods wholesale for cheaper prices, but they failed due to lack of
business experience. Many farmers blamed the railroads for overpricing short shipping costs. In 1877,
Munn V. Illinois Supreme Court case decided that a “state can regulate business for the public interest.”
This was reversed in 1886 and the farmers went to Congress hoping to gain legislative help.
Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 stating that railroads cannot charge more for
short hauls than long ones and established the Interstate Commerce Commission to investigate
complaints and enforce the act. The Congress also passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act-the first law to
outlaw trusts/big monopolies. Companies could no longer attempt to remove all elements of
competition by buying everyone out.
As the Grangers grew in political power, many joined with the Populist Party. It was a party of the
“Common Man,” that is farmers, industrial workers, and miners. They opposed big banking and
railroads and even involved women as organizers and speakers. As a third party, they wanted bigger
government, and an end to injustice and poverty in America. They wanted to increase the circulation of
money by unlimited minting of silver. The US, at the time, only used gold to back the US money supply.
They wanted a progressive/graduated income tax, government ownership of transportation and
communication, an eight hour work day, direct election of senators (states nominated senators at this
time), a secret ballot election, and immigration restrictions.
In 1896, William Jennings Bryan represented the Democrats and ran against William McKinley for
President. He was supported by the Populists as well. He gave a famous speech called the “Cross of
Gold” speech in support of bimetallism- using both gold and silver to increase the circulation of money
in the nation. McKinley and the Republicans won the election and though Bryan would run again in
1900, an improved economy meant he would lose again.
Third parties generally have short life spans and have proven to be an outlet for minorities. They
often generate new ideas and these ideas are eventually adopted by the Big Two political parties
(example: direct election of senators and graduated income tax).
Ultimately, the Populist Party gave the common man a voice in government.